Colossians Introduction

Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, by R.A. Torrey, [ca. 1880], at sacred-texts.com

Colossians Introduction

Colossians

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Colosse was a large and populous city of Phrygia Pacatiana, in Asia Minor, seated on an eminence to the south of the river Meander. It is supposed to have occupied a site now covered with ruins, near the village of Konous or Khonas, and about twenty miles nw of Degnizlu. By whom, or at what time, the church at Colosse was founded is wholly uncertain; but it would appear from the apostle's declaration, Col 2:1, that he was not the honoured instrument. It appears from the tenor of this epistle to have been, upon the whole, in a very flourishing state; but some difficulties having arisen among them, they sent Epaphras to Rome, where the apostle was now imprisoned (Col 4:3) to acquaint him with the state of their affairs. It is remarkable for a peculiar pathos and ardour, which is generally ascribed to the extraordinary divine consolations enjoyed by the apostle during his sufferings for the sake of Christ. Whoever, says Michaelis, would understand the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, must read them together. The one is in most places a commentary on the other; the meaning of single passages in one epistle, which, if considered alone, might be variously interpreted, being determined by the parallel passages in the other epistle.