“Abundant Christian Living”

TOPIC:‌“When an Apostle Dispatches a Letter”

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

TEXT:‌Colossians 1:1, 2

‌‌“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother,

‌‌To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace be unto

‌‌you, and peace, from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

‌As we begin our journey through the Epistle of Colossians it will be my goal to make the Bible more desirable and lovable to each one of you. Not only to understand what is written upon its pages, but to undertake what Paul desires of each one of us, that of getting the Word of God into our hearts so that we may live according to the principles contained upon its pages.

‌So let the journey begin. It will be a long one. Sometime around A.D. 60 or 61, the Apostle Paul dispatched a letter from Rome to some Christian friends at Colossae that he had never met, but whom he loved dearly and admired affectionately. Let us now examine in-depth this marvelous of all of his Epistles - this letter to the Colossians which clearly sets forth the secret to living the abundant Christian life.

I.

‌Consider, to begin with, some BASIC INFORMATION about the book of Colossians. Again in verses 1 and 2 we read these words: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother in Christ, who are at Colossae.” From these words four things emerge. Let me mention each one of them.

‌Think of the PERSON who wrote the Epistle. Though there is no evidence that Paul ever visited Colossae, since he states that they had “not seen my face in the flesh” (2:1), there is no doubt as to the authorship of this book. The Apostle Paul wrote the book of Colossians and three times within the book itself the author calls himself Paul. As one Bible scholar has written: “Colossians is Pauline to the core.”

‌In spite of what others have written about the authorship of the Epistle, as for myself, after much study I believe none but Paul could have written Colossians as his style and touch may be seen on every page of this book. One of the very strong arguments for the Pauline authorship is that much of the details . . .