Colossians
Finding enough in Christ
The Apostle Paul wrote this letter from prison around 60-62 CE to a church he had never visited. The Christian community in the ancient city of Colossae was planted by his coworker Epaphras, who brought Paul troubling news: the young church was being swayed by a mix of local folk religion, strict rule-keeping, and spiritual mysticism.
Paul's response is a soaring defense of Jesus' absolute supremacy. He argues that if Jesus is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, believers don't need secret knowledge, intense diets, or angel worship to reach God—they already have everything they need in him.
For modern readers, Colossians is a deeply grounding text. It asks us where we look for spiritual fullness and challenges the exhausting human impulse to constantly add new rules, lifehacks, and philosophies to our lives in order to feel acceptable.