The Lost City of Colossae by Chris White

 

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.

The Seven Churches of Revelation Pt. 2 by Chris White

The Book of Life has its basis in Roman Civic Culture

Jesus’ letters to the Seven Churches are found in the book of Revelation chapters 1-3.  They begin with a blessing (1:3) that is not included in any other book of the Bible: if you read this book aloud and heed the warnings you hear, you will be blessed by the Lord.  The original recipients of these letters were pastors of local congregations and therefore the Lord Jesus was expressing his desire that these be read and pondered by the congregations as they gathered together.  Today’s Christian tends to struggle with regularly attending church meetings or to even see any special purpose for the assembly of the saints.  But the Lord wants all of us gathered because there are things he wants to say to us exclusively as a congregation not just as individuals.  If we absent ourselves from church gatherings, we miss a real blessing.  One of the repeated phrases in the letters is “I know your works”.  The Lord is keenly aware of the health of all of his churches.  He knows our contributions and our compromises even better than we do.  There are many people within and without the church who make all sorts of assessments about the state of the church in America today.  But quite frankly, the only voice of commendation or criticism that really matters is that of the Lord Jesus Himself.  He is the head and we as believers are his body.  As we go through these letters, let’s attune our minds to what the Lord of the church is telling us and move in that direction that we might receive the blessing he has promised.

Your fellow traveler in the Journey,

 Chris