hich Paul warns) taught to-day
by the speculative thinker, who fills the world with forces
which leave no room for the working of a personal will.

+Central Thought+--Jesus Christ the sole Savior of
men and Mediator between God and men (1:13-14), the
Creator (1:16; 2:9) and Head of the church (1:18).
Exhortation to follow Christ (3:1-4).

+Time and Place.+--This Epistle was written at Rome
and sent by the messenger, Tychicus, (4:7, 8, 18) to the
church at Colossae about 63 A.D.

Paul also directed that it be read to the church at
Laodicea (4:16).

+Principal Divisions and Chief Points.+

1. Introduction (1:1-12) Salutation. Thanksgiving
for their faith and prayer for their increase and knowledge
of the will of God.

2. Doctrinal. "The sole Headship of Christ"
(1:13-3:4). (a) Christ the Mediator. There is redemption
for us through His blood. (b) Christ, the image of
the invisible God, Creator and Preserver of all things.
(c) He is the Head of the church, reconciliation is only
through Him. The Colossians were reconciled to God
through the mediation of Christ. It is the earnest desire
of Paul that the church at Colossae should remain rooted
in the faith which it had been taught. (d) Warning
against wrong speculation; lest any man "through
philosophy or vain deceit" obscure or cause the Colossians
to deny the true Godhead of Christ (2:8-15). (e)
Renewed warnings against errors in worship; Jewish
observances, ordinances and asceticisms, and the
adoration of angels. (f) In Christ we are dead to the
rudiments of the world and risen into communion with God
in Christ.

3. Practical (3:5-4:6). (a) Exhortations to cast
out all sins of the unregenerate nature and to put on the
new man in Christ. Then Christ will be all and in all.
(b) All family and social duties are to be performed as in
the sight of Christ. (c) Renewed exhortations to prayer
and watchfulness.

4. Conclusion (4:7-18). (a) The mission of
Tychicus and Onesimus, the greetings of the companions of
Paul and his expressed desire that the churches of Colossae
and Laodicea exchange Epistles. (b) The Salutation.

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON

+Occasion.+--This is the only purely personal letter of
Paul that we possess. It is placed in this group because
it was sent with the Epistle to the Colossians and by the
same messenger, Tychicus (Col. 4:7-9). Philemon was
a member (with his wife Apphia) of the church at
Colossae (Philemon 2).