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Names of the Book

RUINS WITH THE APOSTLE PAUL PREACHING- Giovanni Paolo Pannini

English:  Colossians
Greek:  Κολοσσαίος
Transliterated:  Kolossaios
Other names:  Paul's epistle to the Colossians

 

whoWho

Wrote the book:  Paul
Are the key people:  Paul, Timothy, Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Mark, Epaphras
Is it written to:  Believers in Colossae

 

whatWhat

The work Messiah has done (Colossians 1:1-2:23)
The work believers should do (Colossians 3:1-4:18)

 

whenWhen

Was it written:  c 60 CE
Did the events occur:  c 59-60 CE
Was it canonized:  c 70-170 CE
(see the Timeline of the First Century)

 

whereWhere

Was it written:  Rome (while Paul was in prison)
Did the events occur:  Colossae, Laodicea

 

whyWhy

Colossians was written to inform us that: 
Yeshua is G-d.
Yeshua is the head of all believers.
Believers have union with Messiah.
Legalism, asceticism, and mysticism are false teachings.

 

whyIntroduction

Paul wrote his letter to the believers in Colossae to counter the teachings of ascetic Gnostics. Gnosticism teaches that a person is saved only by special knowledge [Greek gnosis], which the Gnostic masters happened to have. Their false teachings held that everything spiritual was good and everything physical was bad. As such, the Gnostics were teaching believers to abstain from sanctifying their lives physically and enjoy the good things that G-d had given to them but to engage in "self-abasement and severe treatment of the body". Paul declares Messiah's deity and encourages the believers to let no one to act as their judge in regards to their observance of the Law because their observance is a shadow of what is to come and the substance of which is Messiah Himself who is the head over all believers. Paul concludes with a series of greetings and words of encouragement to believers in Colossae and Laodicea.

 

 

Torah Portion

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Today is

Yom Sh'lishi, 9 Adar II, 5784

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

 

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