when the usage of Philo and Josephus
permits a looser meaning. Finally the references to circumcision,
_paradosis_ (ii. 8) and _dogmata_ (ii. 20), directly suggest a Jewish
origin. If we resort solely to Judaism for explanation, it must be a
Judaism of the Diaspora type. (4) The difficulty with the last-mentioned
position is that it under-estimates the speculative tendencies of the
errorists and ignores the direct influence of oriental theosophy. It is
quite true that Paul does not directly attack the speculative position,
but rather indicates the practical dangers inherent therein (the denial
of the supremacy of Christ and of full salvation through Him); he does
not say that the errorists hold Christ to be a mere angel or an aeon, or
that words like _pleroma_ (borrowed perhaps from their own vocabulary)
involve a rigorous dualism. Yet his characterization of the movement as
an arbitrary religion (ii. 23), a philosophy which is empty deceit (ii.
8), according to elemental spirits and not according to Christ, and a
higher knowledge due to a mind controlled by the flesh (ii. 18); his
repeated emphasis on Christ, as supreme over all things, over men and
angels, agent in creation as well as in redemption, in whom dwelt bodily
the fulness of the Godhead; and his constant stress upon knowledge,--all
these combine to reveal a speculation real and dangerous, even if naive
and regardless of consequences, and to suggest (with Julicher and
McGiffert) that in addition to Jewish influence there is also the direct
influence of Oriental mysticism.

To meet the pressing need in Colossae, Paul writes a letter and entrusts
it to Tychichus, who is on his way to Colossae with Onesimus, Philemon's
slave (iv. 7, 9). (On the relation of this letter to Ephesians and to
the letter to be sent from Laodicea to Colossae, see EPHESIANS, EPISTLE
TO THE.) His attitude is prophylactic, rather than polemic, for the
"philosophy" has not as yet taken deep root. His purpose is to restore
in the hearts of the readers the joy of the Spirit, by making them see
that Christ fulfils every need, and that through faith in Him and love
from faith, the advance is made unimpeded unto the perfect man. He will
eliminate foreign accretions, that the gospel of Christ may stand forth
in its native purity, and that Christ Himself may in all things have the
pre-eminence.

The letter begins with a thanksgiving to God for the spiritual growth of
the Colossians, and continue