Category: Catholicism

Colossian Questions

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As I mentioned before, I’m currently updating the New Testament questions and answers which I run through at the beginning of every Bible study. Today I’d like to cover the questions surrounding Colossians:

58. What was Paul’s situation when writing Colossians?
The evidence seems to point to the same situation as the other captivity epistles (Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon and Philippians). He is in Rome under house arrest in approximately AD 62.

59. Had Paul ever been to Colossae?
No, but he had stayed in nearby Ephesus for three years.

60. Who founded the Church at Colossae?
A Colossian native called “Epaphras” appears to have been converted through Paul’s ministry and first taken the gospel to Colossae.

61. So why did Paul write to the Colossians?
It seems Epaphras visited Paul in Rome and asked him to write to this nascent congregation to speak to the various heresies attacking the Church in Colossae.

62. What were the heresies with which the Colossians struggled?
They appear to be several, but they included issues surrounding circumcision, asceticism, the person of Christ, secret knowledge and human wisdom.

63. Who are the opponents in Colossae?
This very much depends on how one interprets the heresies described, but scholars suggest either Jews, Pagans or early Gnostics.

64. What is noticeable about the way in which Paul speaks about Jesus in this letter?
We call it “High Christology”, since Jesus is described as “the image of the invisible God”, “the firstborn of all Creation”, “in him the fullness of deity dwells bodily” etc.

65. What does Paul say about suffering in this letter?
He describes himself as “complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions”.

66. During the letter Paul speaks about a hidden “mystery”. What is it?
That Jesus came for us…all of us, both Jew and Gentile

67. What Sacrament does Paul speak about in this letter and in what terms does he describe it?
He speaks about baptism, describing it both in terms of circumcision and death.

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Hey Jude!

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A while ago, I listed the questions and answers which I run through at the beginning of every Bible study, all of which relate to the New Testament. Since writing that series of posts, we have read through more books of the Bible: Jude, Colossians and Ephesians. It is therefore time to supplement the list of questions. Today I’d like to cover the questions surrounding Jude:

53. Who wrote Jude?
Jude, the brother of James (probably the bishop of Jerusalem) and kinsmen of Jesus.

54. When was Jude written?
Probably sometime in the 50s or 60s

55. With what other New Testament book is does Jude have a literary relationship?
Second Peter

56. What are themes of Jude?
There are two main themes:

1. Warning against false teachers
2. Exhortations to hold fast to the faith.

57. Jude gives lots of examples to drive home his points. From where does Jude draw these examples?
They come from three sources:

1. Old Testament stories
2. Stories found in non-canonicals works:

(a) The Assumption of Moses
(b) 1 Enoch and Jubilees

3. Apostolic Teaching

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be adding questions for Ephesians and Colossians too. When those are done I’ll produce a vlog entry going through all of them 🙂

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The Epistle of Joy – Episode #12 (Video)

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In the previous episode we read all of Paul’s accolades and achievements. In today’s text he speaks about how he now views them since coming to Christ…

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. – Philippians 3:7-11

Here’s my reflection…

For an audio-only version of this video, please click here.

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