Sunday School

The Chronology of the New Testament, part six : Colossians, a "Faux Paul" letter

Welcome to Sunday School! Class is officially in session. This week we come to Colossians, the first of the “disputed letters,’ which were written in Paul’s name but likely not from the historical Paul. Before we dive in, a brief refresher might be helpful.

Of the thirteen letters attributed to Paul in the New Testament (NT), seven are considered by scholars to be authentically from the historical Paul. Those seven are 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Philemon, Romans, and Philippians. Of the remaining six, three are "disputed,” meaning that a majority of scholars believe these letters are not authentically Pauline. I think we should call them the “Faux Pauls.”¹ Some argue that they might (with a strong emphasis on the might) have some connection to the historical Paul—perhaps a student or follower of his wrote them. I find that an unlikely scenario, unless the student intended to break with Paul in several important ways. There are, however, other scholars (albeit a small minority) who see them as genuine. The three disputed letters are Colossians, Ephesians, and 2 Thessalonians. Finally, there are three more letters, known as the “Pastorals,” that an overwhelming majority of scholars agree could not have been written by the historical Paul. The “Pastorals” consist of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. I’ll speak to why each of these six are not authentic when I come to them in turn. ²

Today we examine the letter to the church in Colossae, usually dated to sometime in the 80s CE. This means it reflects the perspective of the second or third generation of the Jesus movement. This window of time seems probable because it is after the lifetime of the historical Paul (who probably died in the mid 60s), but before Ephesians (c.90s), whose writer seems to have been familiar with Colossians.

Colossae was a city in Phrygia, which was in Asia Minor—modern day Turkey. It would have been a mostly Gentile community. The location for the writing of the letter is unknown and impossible to discern with certainty. The writer presents Paul as writing from prison, which is why Colossians is known as one of the “Prison Letters.”³ However, since Pauline authorship is extremely unlikely that detail really doesn’t help us. The writer also intends for this letter to be passed on to the church of Laodicea, and the Colossians are told to read the letter this “Faux Paul” had written to them as well.⁴

The central issue for the author involves a possible conflict around the Colossians understanding of Jesus. In Colossians 2 the writer tells the community :

“Watch out that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”

Later he adds:

“Therefore, do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food or drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths. These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the body belongs to Christ. Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, initiatory visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with a growth that is from God.”

It seems that the issue at play here is the diversity present in the early Jesus movement. Even in the authentic Paul we find conflict between his understanding of the Jesus story and what it meant practically, with that of James, Peter, and the Jerusalem community. There was no single way of following and understanding Jesus in those early years, and even though Nicaea (and other councils) tried to homogenize the Jesus movement, the Christian tradition has always been, and still is, a diverse one.⁵

Let’s begin with how Colossians is similar to the authentic Pauline letters.

• It begins with a claim that Paul is the author: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother…” (1:1)

• It follows the classic form of Paul’s authentic letters:

  • It identifies the sender (Paul and his companions).

  • It identifies the recipients: “To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae…” (1:2)

  • There is an introductory blessing: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”

  • Finally, there is a closing benediction: “I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.”

Beyond the form, however, there are significant differences.

• Stylistically, Colossians does not reflect Paul’s work. In the Greek the sentences are longer and more complex than the authentic letters. Translations, like my own favorite the NRSVue, make this hard to see because they break the sentences up for clarity and readability.

• There are significant theological shifts. I am not assuming that we shouldn’t expect to see changes in an author’s, even Paul’s, theology over time. However, the Paul of the genuine letters is far more radical than the author of Colossians. The author of Colossians seeks to accommodate the radical agenda of the historical Paul to the broader Roman culture, which was heavily patriarchal and rife with inequality. Here are a couple examples:

  • In Galatians 3:28, one the earliest authentic letters, Paul declares that the Jesus communities are egalitarian and equal: “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” Not so for the “Faux Paul.” He introduces what are known as the “Household Codes,” which have been cited to support some awful theological conclusions since they were composed. He says in Colossians 3:18: “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.”

  • In the brief but significant genuine letter of Philemon Paul tells the recipient, for whom the letter is named, that he should receive back Onesimus, a enslaved person who had escaped. However, he was not to enslave him again, but to receive him as a brother—as an equal. That is not the position of the author of Colossians. He tells the enslaved to “obey your earthly masters in everything, not with a slavery performed merely for looks, to please people, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. Whatever task you must do, work as if your soul depends on it, as for the Lord and not for humans, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong has been done, and there is no partiality.” Do you see the stark difference? The author of Colossians not only tells the enslaved to be good and work hard, but implies that this is the will of Christ, and they will be punished if they don’t.

  • The “Household Codes” of Colossians (and Ephesians) do not reflect the radicality of the historical Paul, but introduce a “Faux Paul” that seeks to accommodate these communities to the larger Roman culture. Why? Who knows. It’s possible that these communities were beginning to feel outside pressure because of their culturally progressive practices. It’s also possible that this author was just uncomfortable with the ways the early Jesus movement organized themselves, so he’s writing in Paul’s name, to benefit from the authority that it brought, to change the way these communities functioned.

• Another marked difference is the Christology present in Colossians, which is more developed than anything in the authentic letters.⁶

  • It might help if we contrast what appear to be two hymns, one from Colossians and the other from the authentic letter of Philippians.

  • Take a moment to read Philippians 2:5-11.

  • Now, read Colossians 1:15-23.

  • Do you notice the differences? Philippians does not present Jesus as a preexistent divine being. Instead it presents Jesus as a new Adam, who does not grasp for the rights of divinity (think Genesis 3), and as a result of his faithfulness, even to death on the cross, God exalted him (raised up from death). I have a whole post about this passage here.

  • In Colossians, which has similar themes as John 1, Jesus existed before creation and was the one by whom creation itself was made. He is the “image of the invisible" God.” Interestingly, the author calls Jesus the “first born of all creation.” There is further development from Colossians, where Jesus is first born of creation, to John (written in the 90s) where Jesus is the Word who existed from the beginning.

  • The understanding of Jesus by Paul in the 50s and 60s and the ideas present in Colossians in the 80s give us insight into the real-time evolution of Christology in the third generation of the Jesus movement.

That’s all for this week. What questions do you have after this brief introduction of Colossians, the first of the Faux Paul letters? Feel free to comment or send me an email at josh@joshscott.online. Until next week, class dismissed.

1. Please laugh.

2. This is known as pseudepigrapha, meaning “falsely attributed.” i.e. Later writers wrote in Paul’s name in order to enjoy the weight and authority that his reputation carried.

3. See Colossians 4:3, 18. All scripture references are taken from the NRSVue

4. See Colossians 4:16.

5. I highly recommend After Jesus Before Christianity: A Historical Exploration of the First Two Centuries of Jesus Movements by Vearncombe, Scott, and Taussig for more on the diversity of the early Jesus movement.

6. Colossians 3:22-25