Aristarchus my fellow-captive salutes you, and Mark, Barnabas's cousin, concerning whom ye have received orders, (if he come to you, receive him,)
Paul ends his letter with greetings, and the first two names carry a story: a friend who shared his chains, and a worker who had once walked out on the job. The short note in brackets, asking the church to welcome Mark, opens one of the Bible's clearest pictures of a failed servant restored.
Scripture names Aristarchus only a few times. Each time he stands in a harder place than the last.
When this letter was written, Aristarchus was a fellow-prisoner with the Apostle. He had been a companion in Paul's travels (Acts 19:29). He was a fellow-sufferer in the shipwreck (Acts 27:2). He was a fellow-labourer in service (Philemon 24). And at last he is a fellow-prisoner in the Apostle's chains.
Nothing forced him into that position. Neither Luke nor Aristarchus was a prisoner when Paul sailed to Rome. They went with him anyway: "Love led these to join him in the face of shame and danger" (William Kelly).
The letter to Philemon, sent at the same time, calls Epaphras the fellow prisoner instead. One writer passes on a possible reason for the difference, but only as a suggestion.
It is not exactly "prisoner," as Paul speaks of himself in this and in other letters... Yet it is a word of force, and means a captive, or war prisoner. Meyer, following Fritzsche, suggests that some of the apostle's companions chose to share his prison by turns. It was the turn of Aristarchus when Paul wrote to the Colossians, and of Epaphras when he wrote to Philemon.
The verse names Mark as the cousin of Barnabas. That family tie once pulled the other way. Mark had turned back from the work, and Barnabas had taken his relative's side against Paul (Acts 15:37-39). Notice which of the two men Paul now counts among his fellow workers.
It is striking that he should say, "These only are my fellow-workers", and yet Barnabas is named in verse 10. It is not Barnabas to whom he is calling attention but Marcus. Barnabas had apparently ceased to be a fellow-worker with Paul... It is striking that the very man who was the cause of the difficulty now comes in as a fellow-worker.
Paul does not repeat those instructions in this letter.
They had already received instructions about Mark that did not need repeating, and were probably not suited to a public letter. Paul wanted them to know how fully Mark had regained his confidence, by specially commending him for their welcome if he came to them.
The welcome itself was no formality. Paul knew what the church's memory of Mark could cost him.
How beautiful too is the grace which clearly commanded the reception of Mark! Otherwise, remembrance of the past would have forbidden a warm welcome to him, and so must have hindered his ministry among the saints... real love is as generous as it is faithful. It acts at all cost for the Lord, and where needed, despite what it costs nature. But it is glad to praise aloud and warmly where the grace of God has stepped in to remove the obstacle.
This verse is a stage, not the finish. Paul went further than a welcome.
The apostle had already joined Mark with himself as one of the few fellow-workers for the kingdom of God who had been a comfort to him. In the same letter to the Colossians he refers to instructions they had received to welcome him if he came to them (Col. 4:10-11). But now he goes further. He restores him to close personal service with himself — the very thing in which he had failed at the start. In nature a breakdown is beyond repair; not so where grace prevails.
And the end of the story is better still. Look at the man God chose to describe the perfect Servant: "How touching it is that the unfaithful servant was chosen to portray THE faithful Servant, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark was chosen to write the Gospel that bears his name" (A J Pollock).
- Fellow. Three words run through this chapter: fellow-servant, fellow-prisoner, fellow-worker. One writer sums up the letter's teaching in them: "working together; moving together; being knit together" (George Davison).
- Cost. Aristarchus lived out those words the hard way: travel companion, shipwreck survivor, fellow worker, and at last a sharer of Paul's chains. He chose every step of it.
- Grace. Mark's name here shows the old breach is over. The man who caused the split now stands among the few who comforted Paul.
- Welcome. Paul does not just forgive Mark in private. He clears Mark's path with the whole church, so an old memory cannot block a restored servant's ministry.
- Usefulness. The line runs from "welcome him" to full restoration in close service, and on to the writing of a Gospel. In nature a breakdown is beyond repair — but not where grace prevails.
and Jesus called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These [are the] only fellow-workers for the kingdom of God who have been a consolation to me.
Paul ends his letter from prison in Rome by naming his helpers, and the list of Jewish believers is painfully short. That raises two questions: who was this Jesus called Justus, and why does Paul mark these men out as Jews at all?
One reference work sums up his whole record in a sentence:
Jesus called JUSTUS. A fellow-worker who had been a comfort to Paul while he was a prisoner in Rome. Col. 4:11.
Commentators differ over whether he is the Justus of Acts 18. One writer gives the little that can be said, and rules that link out:
Of Jesus called Justus we know no more than that. Like Mark, he was of the circumcision. And like Mark, he comforted the apostle as a fellow-servant — something rare among men used to the law and its prejudices. The Justus of Acts 18:7 was a Gentile who had adopted the Jewish faith. Barsabbas, who was put forward for a place among the apostles, was of course a Jew and had the same surname, but he was not called Jesus like the man here.
In Paul's letter to Philemon, Justus is left out and Luke comes last. One writer draws a lesson from that:
The mention in Col. 4:11 gave enough honour to the name of "Jesus that was called Justus", which is left out here. There was no need to send Philemon the greeting of someone so little known. … Luke, called "the beloved physician" in Col. 4:14, comes last here among the fellow-workers. That is clear proof that the order does not mark, as men do, the spiritual value or the honourable rank of those named.
One writer points to a tension in Paul's own words:
It is worth noting in that connection that Paul says of Justus that he was "of the circumcision". Yet in Colossians 3 he had taught that in the new man there was neither circumcision nor uncircumcision.
His answer is that two things are true at once:
We have to note a clear distinction there; it is "in Christ Jesus" that there is neither Jew nor Gentile. A Jew converted to the Christian faith would not stop being a Jew as to flesh and blood conditions. We have to distinguish between what we are as "in Christ" and what we still are in the body.
Paul's Jewish helpers were few, and the rest of his circle came from elsewhere:
It is not certain whether "Jesus who is called Justus" is the same person mentioned in Acts 18:7. But he and the others mentioned before were the only Jewish helpers with Paul in the work. They were an encouragement to the apostle in his trials. Others spoken of later seem to be Gentiles.
Set against thirty years of labour, that is a bleak accounting:
It was a very low point for them — at the centre of the civilised world, after thirty years of tireless labour and suffering to spread Christianity. But after a while even these last few fellow-workers scattered. Duty or death called some away, and others like Demas had fallen away from the truth.
One writer sets Mark's earlier failure against grace:
We know how deeply Mark's desertion in early days grieved Paul, and how it even led to a break with Barnabas. But the healing goodness of God had long since blotted this out. The apostle had already joined Mark with himself as one of the few fellow-workers for the kingdom of God who had been a comfort to him… In nature a breakdown cannot be repaired. Where grace prevails it is not so, for "we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us" (Rom. 8:37).
Paul took courage as he looked at those who stood with him. One writer makes that a habit worth copying:
It is good to note these things. At times we may have to notice and comment on the lack of interest in certain ones. That is not because we want to develop a complaining spirit. If we do have to mention that lack of interest, let us not forget the ones who are deeply devoted to the Lord's interests. If Paul needed encouragement, and took courage as he looked at them, let us look at such and take courage.
- Few. Only a handful of Jewish believers were still working with Paul in Rome. The rest of his helpers came from outside Israel.
- Unknown. Justus is named here and nowhere else. One mention was honour enough, and a place in a list never measures a servant's worth.
- Restored. Mark had once walked out on the work, yet Paul counts him among the comforters. What nature cannot repair, grace can.
- Distinguished. Being "of the circumcision" describes what a man still is in the body. In Christ that distinction is gone.
- Courage. Paul took stock of the devoted few and took heart. Do the same, instead of only counting who has drifted.
Epaphras, who is [one] of you, [the] bondman of Christ Jesus, salutes you, always combating earnestly for you in prayers, to the end that ye may stand perfect and complete in all [the] will of God.
Paul's letter closes with greetings. One of them names a man from Colossae itself, now far from home with Paul. What marks Epaphras is not preaching or travelling. It is his prayer for people he could no longer reach in person.
The greeting begins by tying Epaphras to the people he prays for. He belonged to that town, yet his care reached past it.
It would be a joy for the believers at Colossae to know this about Epaphras. He was a Colossian himself, like Onesimus. He held a high place in the Apostle's love and esteem, and just as high a place in his earnest remembrance of them in prayer, asking God to bless them... He was not so narrow that he prayed for only one gathering of believers. Yet he remembered with affection the needs he knew best, where he knew the people and their circumstances.
Knowing a place from the inside shapes what a person asks for.
Epaphras being a local brother would know what to pray for, "always labouring fervently for you in prayers".
The word behind "struggling" is not a gentle one. Paul says this was Epaphras's settled habit, not a burst of feeling. Older translations render his goal for them as "perfect and complete," where the ESV has "mature and fully assured."
Prayer, you see, is work — or at least it can be work. Epaphras took it so far that it really was work for him, and ongoing work too, since Paul testifies that it was always his practice. The word translated "struggling" means striving or fighting. Epaphras was away from his friends, yet he fought a real battle in prayer for them. His aim was that they might stand in the will of God, perfect and complete.
If prayer was a fight, there was an opponent.
It seems he realised that the enemy was making a definite attack on these gatherings of believers, to draw them away from Christ by religious devices... This is a healthy and encouraging reminder that prayer is a powerful weapon against the opposition of the enemy. And Epaphras did not only want the enemy's efforts stopped. He also wanted the believers to "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God". He saw that if they were full-grown Christians, settled in the truth according to the will of God, they would be able to stand against every attack of the enemy.
The word "complete" carries the sense of being filled full.
The word comes from the Greek pleroo, 'to fill full.' The believer is complete in Christ, or filled full. This points to all fullness dwelling in Christ: the fullness of the Godhead is in Christ, as towards the believer; and the believer, as towards God, is complete in Him. The prayer for the Colossians is that they might be 'complete in all the will of God,' or, as most editors read it, 'fully assured' in all the will of God.
Knowing God's will and standing in it are not the same thing, and Epaphras was reaching for the second.
It is a great thing to have full knowledge of the will of God... It is a greater thing to stand perfect and complete in that will. Standing in it means we are subject to it and marked by it... Clearly the desires and prayers of Epaphras for the believers at Colossae and the neighbourhood ran on exactly the same lines as Paul's prayers for them.
This work needed no platform. That puts it within everyone's reach.
The precious work of private prayer needs no special gift, no unusual talents, no outstanding mental powers. Every Christian can do it. A man may not have the ability to preach, teach, write, or travel; but every man can pray. People sometimes speak of a gift of prayer. It is not a pleasant expression... It often means no more than a smooth flow of familiar truths that the memory holds and the lips pour out. This is poor work to be at. This was not the way with Epaphras... We want a spirit that enters into the present need of the Church, and carries that need in steady, earnest, believing prayer before the throne of grace.
One more reason to pray like him is where such prayer puts a person.
Christ is at work on behalf of His people. He desires that they should "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God," and those who are drawn out in prayer for this same end have the privilege of deep fellowship with the great Intercessor. How wonderful that poor, weak creatures down here are allowed to pray about the very thing that occupies the thoughts and interests of the Lord of glory!
- Near. Epaphras was one of them. His prayers carried an insider's knowledge, yet were never shut up to his own town.
- Labour. The word means striving or fighting. This was steady work, not a passing mood.
- Combat. Prayer met a real attack that aimed to draw these believers away from Christ.
- Complete. He asked that they be filled full and settled in all God's will — knowing it is much, standing in it is more.
- Communion. Any believer can pray like this, with no gift or platform. Doing so shares the very desire of the great Intercessor.
For I bear him witness that he labours much for you, and them in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Luke, the beloved physician, salutes you, and Demas.
Paul closes the letter with a short list of names. In one line he sets two men side by side: a doctor he loved, and a man given a name and nothing more.
Commentators notice how much Paul says about Luke and how little he says about Demas.
Luke's occupation was not wiped out because he was a saint and a servant of Christ, and even an inspired writer. Demas, I gather, was already distrusted by the Apostle. Paul mentions his name with an ominous silence and no affectionate word — something unusual for him. Even in the letter to Philemon, written at about the same time, he is "my fellow-labourer." In 2 Timothy he had forsaken the Apostle, having loved the present age. The steps of decline were rapid, and no record tells of his recovery. But a wider falling away was near (2 Timothy 1:15); once the ice was broken, many were ready to slip through.
One writer hears a warning in that silence. A record with nothing good in it does not stay neutral.
Paul mentions Demas by name only. If there had been something good to say about him, it seems Paul would have said it. But later, in 2 Timothy 4:10, Paul writes, "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world." Does this not tell us that, if we have no positive testimony for Christ, our testimony will soon become negative?
Paul names Luke by his job. Luke travelled with Paul and wrote a Gospel, yet Paul still calls him a doctor.
Luke is called "the beloved physician". This proves that his everyday job as a doctor did not clash with his higher call to serve — as the companion of the Apostle on his travels, and as the inspired writer of the Gospel.
Another writer applies it to everyday life. Your job does not set your place among believers.
Here we are in different walks of life, and yet we see each other from the standpoint of the divine circle — "beloved brother", whatever job a person may hold.
The word "beloved" is not decoration. It says something about Luke's character.
Luke is called "the beloved physician" (v.14). He earned that title by a character of kind concern for the needs of others, which drew a loving response.
One writer weighs that word against the social rank of doctors at the time.
Paul wrote in the days of hard Roman rule. When he mentions that Luke was a physician — the beloved physician — scholars at once suspect that Luke may have been a freed slave. Though he belonged to an honourable profession, it was then by no means an honoured one. Here again we find the dignity of Christianity. It ignores local prejudice, narrow hatred between social ranks, and hostility between classes, and rises far above them all. Matthew is a tax collector; Zenas a lawyer; Luke a physician; Philemon a "capitalist," and Onesimus a slave.
Demas appears in three of Paul's letters. One writer reads that sequence as a decline that began long before it showed.
The final break with Paul might have been sudden, but we may be sure that his soul had been drifting long before. A gradual decline of spiritual life and energy always comes before an open failure. This is how the Lord deals with His people. If they have grown cold and have turned aside in heart from His ways, He lets them be tested sooner or later, so that their true state comes to light.
One writer stops short of calling this a loss of faith.
This may mean that Demas had not abandoned the faith, but that love of this present age had pulled him away from the path Paul followed.
Paul's warm word for Luke was not just politeness.
In these inspired letters Paul paid no false compliments. Any praise he gave to one person or another was deserved.
- Beloved. Luke earned that word by real care for people's needs, and Paul never gave praise that no one had earned.
- Beloved at work. Luke's service never cancelled his trade. An everyday job and a high spiritual calling sat together in one man.
- Beloved across ranks. Doctors held low rank in Rome, yet Paul's warmth crossed class lines. Tax collector, lawyer, doctor, wealthy man and slave stand in one circle.
- Named only. Demas gets a name and no warm word, and commentators read that silence as a symptom already visible to Paul.
- Then gone. The drift came first and the open failure came later. Not everyone calls it a loss of faith, but love of this present age pulled Demas away from Paul's path.