165. The Prayer Of St. Paul For The Church At Colosse.

The Prayer Of St. Paul For The Church At Colosse. The Prayer as recorded.—Colossians 1:2-16. The letter in which mention is made of Paul’s earnest prayer for the Church at Colosse, is somewhat similar to that sent by him to the Ephesians, and exhibits his love and zeal for the success of God’s cause. This branch of the Church is supposed to have been founded by Epaphras, who was sent there by Paul, and it is not recorded that the apostle had ever visited it. This church, at this time, seems to have been in a flourishing condition, for “his dear fellow servant,” as Epaphras is called by St. Paul, had assured him of their love to Christ, and to him for Christ’s sake. Heretical sects had sprung up at this time, and philosophy, under different names.

Aristotelian, or Platonic, prevailed to a great extent in that age; and mixed up, as it was, with Judaism, and Jewish tradition, it had assumed rather a religious form, and had crept into Colosse. St. Paul feared its effects on the Church; he warns Christians against its wily doctrines, a warning as necessary in every age of the Christian Church as then; a warning needed as long as men, in things of religion, take philosophy rather than God’s holy written word, as their guide.