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“All who dwelt in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus…” Acts 19:10 Colosse in the Province of Asia Colossians is a prison Epistle written in Rome while Paul was in prison there. The Church at Colosse was founded at the same time as the Church in Ephesus. The Epistle to the Colossians was written at the same time as the Epistles to the Ephesians. Epaphras carried the three letters to each destination. Colosse was a cultural and religious melting pot. There were Greek, Jewish and Oriental religious ideas merging together. Colosse was once an important town, but by the time this letter was written, Colosse had been side-lined and overshadowed by nearby Laodicea, which was receiving far more traffic. Colosse became more of a market place and today is completely uninhabited and does not exist. Colossians and Ephesians Both Colossians and Ephesians contain great doctrines of the Gospel which was read aloud to the churches, but each was written for very different sets of circumstances. Ephesians is calling believers the Body of Christ. Colossians talks about the Head of the Body, Jesus Christ. In Ephesians, the Church of Christ is the important emphasis, but in Colossians, it is the Christ of the Church that is emphasised. Both are needed. You cannot have a body without a head. False Christology is at the Root of all Heresy Heresy has broken out in the church of Colosse, misleading the young believers and calling for strict observance of Jewish ceremonies and rituals. The message of Colossians was written to counter these false teachers that is leading them away from the pre-eminence of Christ. The place that Christ holds in any religion determines how true or how false it is. Every cult has a false idea of Christ. They either deny His finality, or His divinity. Misrepresenting the truth of who Christ is and what He has accomplished and His person in His work is the root of all heresy.
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