Colossians

Introduction. COLOSSIANS - Introduction. THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE, TO THE COLOSSIANS. PREFACE. Colosse was a city of Phrygia, near Laodicea. It does not appear that St. Paul had preached there himself, (see Chap. ii. 1.) but that the Colossians were converted by Epaphras, a disciple of the apostles. However, as St. Paul was the great apostle of the Gentiles, he wrote this epistle to the Colossians when he was in prison, and about the same time that he wrote to the Ephesians and Philippians. The exhortations and doctrine it contains, are similar to those which are set forth in his epistle to the Ephesians. St. Chrysostom takes notice, that the epistles he wrote in prison seem even more spiritual than the rest: the chief design of which was to hinder them from being seduced by false teachers. (Challoner; Witham) --- The Colossians were first instructed in the faith by Epaphras, who is considered their first bishop. He was a prisoner, at Rome, with St. Paul, when this epistle was written.…

• Col 1:15 — Image of the invisible God.
• Col 2:9 — Fullness of deity.

• Scott Hahn & Curtis Mitch, Ignatius Catholic Study Bible
• Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum
• Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church (1993)
• University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible
• St. Jerome, Vulgate and biblical prefaces
• Cornelius a Lapide, The Great Commentary