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| Author climbing the tell of Colossae |
" Paul, an
apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the saints and faithful brothers
in Christ at Colossae:Grace to you and peace from God our Father." –Col. 1:1-2
Collossae is a city known to us today primarily because St.
Paul wrote a letter to the church there in the first century. We know from the text that Onesimus, the recipient
of the letter in the New Testament known as Philemon, was a prominent citizen
there and also that a key person if not the founder of this church was named
Ephaphras. From the text of Colossians
there is the indication that there was some doctrinal confusion concerning the
person of Jesus Christ as well as the mixture of folk religion that was the
subject of Paul’s encouraging words to them.
The wonderful news to the Colossian church is that if you are connected
to Jesus Christ, you are totally connected to God. But also that our worship of Him should be
reflected by a mental and moral renovation directed by the Holy Spirit, not by
keeping certain religious rituals.
Colossae was once an important city but by New Testament
times it was in decline. No concrete
explanation is known, but it has been surmised that a more improved road
bypassed Colossae and it simply wasn’t on the way to anywhere. This is a common occurrence in the western
United States where towns have simply disappeared because highways or railroads
changed travel patterns and they were no longer convenient destinations. Whatever the reason, Colossae’s nearby
neighbors of Laodicea and Hierapolis remained on the map much longer.
Colossae today is nothing but an unexcavated tell which is a
hill that conceals the remains of an ancient city. The value of seeing it is just to get an idea
of what an archaeological site looks like before it is opened up. Money is the root of all sorts of evil but it
is also the root of all archaeology.
Perhaps someday soon this town of Bible significance will be the subject
of a future dig.
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