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Bible chapter guide
Colossians 4
Masters are to treat servants justly; continue in prayer and let speech be gracious, seasoned with salt. Tychicus and Onesimus bring the letter; greetings come from Aristarchus, Mark, Luke 'the beloved physician' and Demas, and the letter is to be read also at Laodicea.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
See it in the Labs
- Paul's RoadsColossians · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsTychicus · Paul's RoadsOpen
- The Seven ChurchesLaodicea: neither cold nor hot · The Seven ChurchesOpen
- Paul's RoadsOnesimus · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsEpaphras · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsDemas · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsLuke · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsAristarchus · Paul's RoadsOpen
People in this chapter
Places
Also in this chapter
The letter: who wrote it, where and when
These questions are debated; the views are shown side by side with how sure each is, as in Paul's Roads.
- Plausible
Colossians written from Rome
The traditional view: Acts 28:30–31 has Paul two years under guard in Rome, free to receive visitors, and the letters mention Caesar's household and the praetorian guard (Philippians 1:13; 4:22).
- Plausible
Colossians written from Ephesus
Paul speaks of many imprisonments and of deadly peril in Asia (2 Corinthians 1:8; 11:23), and Ephesus lies close to Colossae and Philippi for the many journeys the letters assume; but Acts records no imprisonment at Ephesus.
- Plausible
Paul's authorship of Colossians is debated.
Many scholars think this letter was written after Paul's death in his name; others hold that Paul wrote it. The lab shows the setting the letter itself gives and takes no side.
- Speculative
Colossians written from Caesarea
Paul was held two years at Caesarea (Acts 24:27) with friends allowed to visit him (24:23); a minority reading places some prison letters there.
How sure can we be?
- Strongly supported
Laodicea is located with confidence.
The site is identified by ancient sources and remains on the ground (excavated); Pleiades 638955.
- Strongly supported
John Mark left the first journey at Perga and was later reconciled with Paul.
Acts 13:13 says he left them at Perga and went back to Jerusalem. Colossians 4:10, Philemon 24 and 2 Timothy 4:11 place him again among Paul's co-workers; 2 Timothy calls him useful for service.
- Strongly supported
Aristarchus shared the voyage to Rome and, by Colossians, Paul's imprisonment.
Acts 27:2 has him aboard from Caesarea; Colossians 4:10 calls him 'my fellow prisoner'. Whether he stayed with Paul all the way to Rome, Acts does not say.
- Strongly supported
Tychicus carried Colossians and Ephesians, and probably Philemon too.
Colossians 4:7–9 and Ephesians 6:21–22 say almost word for word that Tychicus will tell them all of Paul's news; Onesimus travels with him to Colossae, where Philemon lived.
- Strongly supported
Philemon and Colossians were sent together.
They share senders and greeters (Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke) and the same messengers, Tychicus and Onesimus (Colossians 4:7–9).
- Strongly supported
Hierapolis is the excavated city above Pamukkale.
Excavated by Italian teams since 1957; Pleiades 638860.