Introduction to Colossians

Who wrote this Book?
-God, of course but He used the Apostle Paul, with his unique giftedness and situation.
-In about A.D. 60, the Apostle Paul wrote the letters to the belivers of Colossae from prison.
- After Epaphras became a believer under Pual's ministry In Ephesus, the Colossian church was probably started by him.

Why did Paul write the letters?
Paul wrote the letter because Epaphras sent news that false teachers were telling the church in Colossae that their beliefs were incomplete. These false teachers had mixed together parts of Judaism, Christianity and Greek philosophy to form a new religion.
-Some of the futures in their teachings included forms of ascetic practices, angel worship and pride in superior wisdom and knowledge.

Colossians Paul seeked to address this hersey by using the ideas and language of the false teachers and showing that Christ is the fulfillment they are seeking. There is no other mediator between God and man other than Christ, and the way these false teachers propose is wrong and ineffectibe.