Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-bondman in [the] Lord, will make known to you all that concerns me;
Paul has finished his teaching and his instructions for the home. Now he sends a man. Tychicus will bring the Colossians all the news of Paul himself, and Paul introduces him with three titles.
Paul does not settle for one word. He uses three, and each one goes a step beyond the plain word.
The Apostle is glad to speak of Tychicus not only as a "brother", but as "a beloved brother"; not only as a "minister", but as "a faithful minister"; not only as a "servant", but as a "fellow-servant" with the Apostle in the Lord. These Christian traits were so well balanced in this servant that his love did not hold back his faithfulness, and his faithfulness did not shut out his fellowship with others.
Warmth and faithfulness often pull against each other. In Tychicus they did not.
The third title is the one that costs. Some translations put it "fellow-bondman": a slave next to Paul, owned by the same Master. One writer notes who else stands in this closing list.
Tychicus is first on the list and Demas last, as far as Paul's companions go. One of the marks of Tychicus seems to be exactly the thing that tested Demas: the mark of the "fellow-bondman". Demas was not prepared to suffer along with the glad tidings.
That kind of partnership costs something, and not everyone will pay it.
Some readers skip the closing greetings as filler. One commentator sees care in them, and warns what is lost when such warmth is missing.
Notice the remarkable care the Apostle takes to support and commend true-hearted workers. He knew well the belittling tone that comes naturally to men who can see the failings of those whose service has left them far behind… This overflow of loving praise deserves careful weight. Where it is missing, the bonds of love among believers tend to loosen and come apart.
People are quick to spot flaws in workers who have long outrun them. Paul's open praise is the counterweight.
Tychicus was more than a courier. Paul chose a man fitted for the errand.
Paul did not simply grab hold of a man who was standing around with nothing to do. In divine things that does not happen. A person is fitted for the work he is entrusted with. It would take some measure of spiritual judgment in Tychicus to describe the state of the Colossians to Paul, and to describe Paul's feelings towards them.
Paul had never visited this church. Still, he takes for granted that they want news of him.
We see how Christian love loves to tell news and to hear it… Can anything be sweeter than this simple, genuine affection and interest in each other? In a mere man it would be vanity and idle curiosity. In a Christian it is blessed… Here the humble-minded apostle writes in full confidence. He had never seen them, and they had never seen him. Yet he was sure that hearing about one another, through the man who travelled between them, would be a real joy on both sides. What a spring of power the love of Christ is! Truly love is "the bond of perfectness."
Tychicus was carrying more than news. He was carrying letters.
Paul sent Tychicus and Onesimus — the runaway slave, now through grace "a brother beloved" (Philemon 16) — to Colossae (Col. 4:7-9). Tychicus carried the letter written to the Colossians, to correct the evils that had arisen in that church and to warn them against the wicked teachings being spread among them. Onesimus the slave carried that beautiful little letter written to his master Philemon. At the same time, as Tychicus and Onesimus left Rome, Paul handed Tychicus the letter to the Ephesians. Never before and never after were such weighty and blessed documents entrusted to human messengers.
- Character first. Beloved brother, faithful minister, fellow-servant. His love never held back his faithfulness, and his faithfulness never shut out fellowship.
- Then cost. "Fellow-bondman" is the title Demas could not hold, because he "was not prepared to suffer along with the glad tidings."
- Then commendation. Paul takes care to speak well of his workers. Where that praise is missing, the bonds of love among believers loosen and come apart.
- Then competence. Carrying news each way took spiritual judgment. A person is fitted for the work he is entrusted with.
- Then connection. Paul had never met these believers, yet he was sure they wanted news of him. In a mere man that would be vanity. In a Christian it is blessed.
whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that he might know your state, and that he might encourage your hearts
The last section of Colossians turns from teaching to people — names, errands, and greetings. Verse 8 explains why Tychicus is making the journey to Colossae: he goes to carry news, to learn how the Colossians are, and to encourage the hearts of a church that had never seen Paul.
The closing verses of Colossians are not filler. One writer finds a single name for what is happening in them.
Perhaps the best way to describe the closing section of Colossians is "heart-openings." It is in fact the free interchange of brotherly feeling among those who have recognised the place they have been given with regard to one another. So it begins with the provision for mutual knowledge of each other's state. Tychicus is a beloved and faithful brother, able to enter into such things. The apostle sends him to bring the disciples news about himself, and to bring back from them the account of their condition. He knows this is what their hearts would long for as comfort, since they are united together in the love of Christ.
The trip does two jobs at once.
To bring back a report to the Apostle, Tychicus would learn their state. At the same time he would encourage their hearts by letting them know of the Apostle's deep interest in them.
Translations split here. Some read "that he might know your state." Others, following different manuscripts, read "that you may know how we are." One commentator judged the oldest copies to be the misleading ones here:
Verse 8 is a plain instance where the influence of most of the oldest copies has misled editors and revisers. The Paris manuscript, with most other Greek copies and translations, has the right reading. The end of verse 9 and the beginning of verse 7 confirm it.
He settles it from the verses around it. On his reading, verse 8 is about Tychicus learning how the Colossians are.
Reporting on a church's condition is not a job for anyone with free time.
Paul did not just pick a man who was standing by with nothing to do. In divine things that does not happen. A person is fitted for the work entrusted to him. It would take some measure of spiritual judgment in Tychicus to outline the state of the Colossians to Paul, and also to outline Paul's feelings towards them.
Paul assumes the Colossians want to hear about him. He also praises Tychicus warmly. One writer says both are worth weighing.
This warm and generous praise deserves careful weight. Where it is missing, the bonds of love among believers loosen and come apart. Notice too that love counts on the interest of others in our affairs, just as much as it truly cares to hear about theirs. Among men this feeling is either unknown, or, where it exists, it is only vanity. But then love, divine love, is not there.
Paul and this church had never met face to face. The tie between them was still real.
Though the apostle was not known to the Colossians in person, he counts on their love for him and their interest in his welfare, so that they would want to know about it. It is sweet to trace this love in the Spirit between the apostle and those he had never yet seen, and the close affection that flows from a shared identification with the interests of Christ.
- Sent — Tychicus travels "for this very purpose." The visit is planned, and its aim is news and comfort in both directions.
- Learn — Part of the errand is to find out how the Colossians are doing, so Tychicus can carry a report back to Paul.
- Comfort — Learning how much the apostle cares about them lifts their hearts.
- Qualified — Carrying news between believers takes spiritual judgment. Paul did not hand the task to an idle man.
- Counted on — Love assumes the other side cares too. Commentators differ over what verse 8 says: some read it as Tychicus learning their state, others as the Colossians learning how Paul is. Both readings serve the same mutual affection.
with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is [one] of you. They shall make known to you everything here.
Paul closes his letter by naming the two men who will carry it. The second name would have startled Colossae: Onesimus, a slave who had run away from a household in that city, is coming back with an apostle's commendation.
Onesimus has a history. It sits behind the short letter to Philemon:
Onesimus, the main subject of the letter to Philemon, had once been a servant or bond-slave of Philemon, as verse 16 shows. He had wronged his Christian master and then had run away. In God's great mercy, however, the runaway slave met Paul at Rome during Paul's imprisonment, and through Paul he was converted. He was converted so soundly that Paul could speak of him not long after as "a faithful and beloved brother."
The distance between what Onesimus was and what Paul calls him is the whole point of the verse:
Onesimus, who is called "a faithful and beloved brother," was the runaway slave with whom the letter to Philemon is concerned. What but the grace of God can turn a slave who had wronged his master and run away into a faithful and beloved brother in Christ? So Tychicus carried the letter to the Colossians, and Onesimus the letter to Philemon, when they travelled to Colossae together.
Notice also what Paul does not call him. Pardon alone would have met our need; grace went further:
In Colossians 4:9 Onesimus is not described as a pardoned criminal but as "our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you." This is the wonder of God's grace. Pardon for crimes of the deepest kind — would that not have answered our great need? But grace does not give pardon alone; it raises us up to be brothers. He is not ashamed to call us brothers.
The phrase places Onesimus somewhere. He left Colossae as a runaway; he comes back as one of the gathering there:
The letter goes to Philemon himself, and Paul appeals to him on behalf of Onesimus. But the gathered assembly had just as much reason to care about this runaway slave. He was coming back as a beloved brother, so they were to receive him into Christian fellowship. The Lord had received Onesimus. Through grace he had become a member of the body of Christ, and he belonged to the Colossian assembly.
Social rank did not vanish, but it stopped being the deciding thing:
At Colossae the church held both Philemon and his slave Onesimus, "a faithful and beloved brother." So grace triumphs over distinctions that hold good in this world. God recognises those distinctions. But in the church of God they give way to something infinitely higher, on a different level.
One writer reads Paul's warm words as a quiet push for more than a welcome:
The apostle looked for more in the changed slave than simply a saint. So he pressed Philemon harder for a fresh triumph of grace — not only in taking the wrong-doer back to his heart, but in setting him free.
Paul names no public role for Onesimus. That silence is worth hearing:
Onesimus, one of the Colossian saints, is also commended as a faithful and beloved brother. Yet nothing suggests that he took part in public ministry. He was probably not a gifted brother. Remember that in social position he was a slave. The commendation Paul gives him would show how fully he answered to the instructions given to slaves in this letter.
The praise poured on both messengers is deliberate, and its absence has a cost:
Notice the remarkable care the apostle takes to support and commend true-hearted workers. He knew well the fault-finding tone that comes naturally to men who can see the failings of those whose service leaves them far behind… This abundance of affectionate commendation deserves great weight. The lack of it tends to loosen and dislocate the bonds of love among the saints.
The verse ends with a promise: the two men will report everything happening in Rome. Paul wants the Colossians to know his news, and he wants to know theirs:
Can anything be sweeter than this genuine, simple affection and shared interest? In a mere man it would be empty and prying; in a Christian it is blessed.
- Runaway. Onesimus had wronged his master and fled; he met Paul in prison in Rome and was converted there.
- Received. Grace gave him more than pardon — Paul names him a faithful and beloved brother, not a forgiven criminal.
- Belonging. "One of you" places him inside the Colossian assembly; the Lord had received him, so they must.
- Faithful. Paul credits him with no public ministry, yet commends how fully he lived out what this letter asks of slaves.
- Commended. Paul's habit of warm commendation guards the bonds of love among believers; its absence loosens them.
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.
Salute the brethren in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the assembly which [is] in his house.
Paul's letter is closing, and he turns from teaching to names. He greets believers in a nearby town, and one person whose home served as a meeting place. Two questions follow: how far does Christian love reach, and what is "the church in her house"?
The greetings reach past Colossae to the next town. One commentator turns that into a claim on the reader:
His love was in no way inactive or limited. There was no such idea as caring only for the saints in his own particular place. Paul narrowed himself to no local ties, and neither should we allow such a thing for an instant. All the saints belong to us, as we belong to all of them.
These closing lines are not filler. They preserve a snapshot of how believers related to each other before things fell apart:
The salutations that close the letter give a beautiful picture of Christian love. They show believers taking a real interest in one another's circumstances, and a tender regard for the spiritual welfare of the Lord's people. Such was the Christian circle in the days before the church, as a united witness for God, became ruined, and the people of God became divided and scattered.
The phrase is not describing a Christian family. It describes a meeting:
This does not mean only the Christian members of the household. It means those who were used to meeting there as gathered to the Lord's name. That appears to be the force of the phrase wherever it occurs (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:15). There were many Christian households. But the assembly in any given house meant that people met in that house.
Nymphas is one of several people in the New Testament remembered for opening a home:
Those who had suitable houses opened them for the service of the Church. Some, such as Philemon at Colossae (Philemon 2), and Nymphas at Laodicea (Colossians 4:15), threw them open for the assembly to meet in. In this work Aquila and Priscilla took part. At Corinth they had opened their house for this purpose (1 Corinthians 16:19), and when they moved to Rome, believers there found a suitable room under their roof (Romans 16:5).
Nymphas' gathering was too small to receive a letter of its own. That did not put it outside Paul's care:
It appears that Christians were not many at Laodicea. The apostle greets the believers there. Some met in the house of someone named Nymphas. They were not in a position to have a letter addressed to them in particular, yet the apostle does not forget them. What he says here is almost certain proof that he had not sent any letter to them. He would not have sent greetings to the believers in Laodicea through the Colossians if he had written them a special letter at the same time... This little assembly in Nymphas' house was not to be forgotten. It was to profit from the letters sent to other, larger assemblies whose condition called for a letter.
after-note: DELETE
Paul does not call this group "the church in Laodicea". One commentator weighs that wording:
Suppose this had been the only company gathered to the Lord's name in the city. Then it would naturally have been called the church "in Laodicea", not the one "at Nymphas' house."
That leaves room for more than one meeting in a single city:
The unity of all the saints in Laodicea in no way hinders or denies the assembly at a certain saint's house... Each meeting no doubt had its own local responsibility; but there was none the less unity for all in the city.
The host's name is uncertain in the old copies. Some read "Nymphas" and "his house". Others read "Nympha", a woman, and "her house" — the reading the ESV follows. Several editors read "the church which is in their house" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
The town greeted here is the same one the Lord addresses in Revelation:
Laodicea was in the neighbourhood... The very name has a sad sound about it in view of what the Lord has to say to this church in Revelation 3:14-22. Paul and Epaphras prayed and struggled on their behalf. The apostolic letters circulated among them. Yet it fell to the lowest depths.
- Reach. Paul's affection did not stop at Colossae; all the saints belong to us, as we belong to all of them.
- Room. "The church in her house" means a meeting, not a family — a home given for believers to gather in.
- Remembered. A company too small for its own letter was still named by the apostle and still fed by letters sent elsewhere.
- Unity. The wording sets this small meeting apart from the wider church at Laodicea: one church in a city, gathering in more than one home.
- Warning. The same Laodicea greeted here is the church the Lord rebukes in Revelation. Greetings are no guarantee of a good end.
And when the letter has been read among you, cause that it be read also in the assembly of Laodiceans, and that *ye* also read that from Laodicea.
Paul ends his letter with a simple instruction: send this letter on to the next town, and read the one that comes back. Behind that small errand lie big questions — who is Scripture for, what was "the letter from Laodicea", and does a letter we no longer have leave a hole in the Bible?
Paul's letters were not written for a few leaders. He wanted them read aloud when the whole church met.
I need not notice every letter, because each repeats the same thing: they are addressed to all the faithful. One expression in the first letter to the Thessalonians shows this clearly. Paul says at the end of it, "I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers." Colossae and Laodicea were to exchange letters, and they were to be read in the churches.
Paul asks for the letter from Laodicea, not the letter to Laodicea. Commentators have long weighed what that means.
Was this letter the one commonly known as the letter to the Ephesians, which has a circular character? Or the one to Philemon, who likely lived in or near Laodicea? Or does it refer to a letter no longer in existence? Learned men have long argued over these questions. Two remarks seem clear and certain. 1) "The letter from Laodicea" would be a very strange way of describing a letter written to the church there. It fits well if it meant a letter that was there at the time and intended for the Colossian saints too, whoever it was addressed to. 2) There is nothing to forbid the view that there were more letters than we have. God preserved only those designed for the permanent guidance of the saints.
Another writer leans towards Ephesians, while admitting the point cannot be pressed.
The one "from Laodicea" is, I have no doubt, one they were to receive from that assembly. Paul wrote it, and the saints at Colossae were to profit by it — perhaps the letter to the Ephesians, which he may have had passed on to the Laodiceans... Paul may well have written one letter, or a hundred letters, to others which God did not purpose to keep for the universal assembly. But here there is no proof that he had written a letter to the Laodiceans.
Suppose the letter is one we no longer have. That still leaves the Bible whole.
Suppose it is a letter that has not been preserved for us. Then we know it was written for that time only. The Spirit did not give it for the church in every age.
Only a few believers met at Laodicea, in a house. The letters that reached them were written to other towns.
But this little assembly in the house of Nymphas was not to be forgotten. It should profit by the letters sent to assemblies larger than itself — assemblies whose condition called for a letter, or gave occasion to write one. The apostle ordered those letters to be passed on to Laodicea.
Laodicea ended up shutting Christ out. The cure had already reached them.
If the Laodiceans had received the truth about Christ as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God, they never would have put Christ outside the door. If they had paid attention to the letter to the Colossians, which was to be read "in the church of the Laodiceans" (Col. 4:16), it would have saved them from making everything of man and nothing of Christ. It would save people who profess religion today in the same way. There they would have learned the glories of Christ in connection with all created things, and that Christ "is all, and in all."
Paul kept sending news, greetings and letters between towns. It tied believers in different places to one another.
Titus, Timothy, Apollos and other servants of the Lord travelled from one assembly to another. They brought news of joys and sorrows, and so linked the Lord's beloved people together. One letter went to all the churches in Galatia (Gal. 1:2); the one to the Corinthians took in all the saints in all places.
- Read it. Paul wanted every believer to hear the letter read aloud, not just a few. He charged the Thessalonians the same way.
- Pass it on. Colossae's letter was to travel to Laodicea, and Laodicea's letter back to Colossae. Truth given to one gathering belonged to the next.
- From, not to. "From Laodicea" says where the letter was, not who it was written to. Commentators differ on which letter it was: Ephesians, Philemon, or one not preserved.
- Nothing lost. God kept the letters meant to guide His people in every age. Anything not kept was for that moment only, so the Bible has no gap.
- Heed it. Laodicea had the cure for putting man first and Christ last. It ignored the letter, and ended with Christ outside the door.
And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in [the] Lord, to the end that thou fulfil it.
Paul ends his letter to the Colossians with a word for one man, and he sends it through the whole church, not in private. Who was Archippus, why did he need the reminder, and where does service come from?
Even in the closing greetings, Paul stops to address one believer by name.
The apostle does not forget even individuals. Archippus receives a solemn call to pay attention to the ministry the Lord had entrusted to him, and to complete his service.
The church carries the message. But the church did not hand out the work.
Believers cannot give up their responsibility and their exercise of godly discipline. But a servant receives his ministry from the Lord and in the Lord. The assembly never appoints anyone to service in the word. Christ, the Head, does that. Apostles or their delegates (never the Church) acted for Him when it came to a local charge.
Scripture tells us very little about this man, and one writer will not guess beyond what it says.
All we know about him is that he belonged to the church at Colosse, and that Paul could speak of him with honour as a fellow-soldier. (See Philemon 2.) That is all. He had received a service from the Lord, and he was a fellow-soldier of the apostle... But beyond this link, Archippus was under direct and special orders from the Lord. He had a ministry — a service — to fulfil. What this may have been we are not told.
Paul also calls him a fellow-soldier in the letter to Philemon. He chose that word with care.
We cannot escape the conviction that courage and endurance in spiritual warfare led the apostle to mark not only Epaphroditus but Archippus as "fellow-soldier." Words like this are always used with the greatest precision, as is true of every word in scripture.
The emphasis can fall on one word: your. A servant answers for the work given to him, not for someone else's.
To put the emphasis of our phrase a little differently: take heed to your ministry that you have received. When Peter was too much occupied with another servant's ministry ("Lord, what about this man?") the Lord told him: "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!" (John 21:21-22)
The charge is not just to start well or to do most of the work.
But Archippus was to fulfil the ministry. He might have been tempted to do three-quarters or nine-tenths of it, and leave the rest. No, the service must be finished. That is why the charge carries such force. The chief honour lies in the finishing touch. That tells the master hand. And for Archippus to apply that touch would be his greatest good and highest honour.
One servant never needed such a word.
But we do know of One who looked back on His service of perfect, unbroken faithfulness. He could truly say "I have accomplished the work that you gave me to do" (John 17:4)... He needed no exhortation to fulfil His blessed and gracious service.
One writer takes this word as a message for tired servants.
It seems Archippus needed a special message: pay attention to the ministry he had received in the Lord, so that he would fulfil it. How many of us need this same word! Discouragements are many and opposition is strong, and we may grow weary. Our part is to keep going in any small service the Lord may have entrusted to us, even if for now we see little result.
Leaving a given service undone is no small matter.
Has the Lord given a service to you? Then take good heed to perform it, however insignificant it may appear to be. Failing to do the service means laziness. Laziness at once opens the door to decline and spiritual disaster. Nothing can keep us but that grace, the closing word of the letter.
- Received — the ministry came to Archippus from the Lord, not from the church. The church passed on the reminder; it never handed out the service.
- Yours — watch the work the Lord gave you. Peter asked about another servant, and the Lord said, "You follow me!"
- Small — the size of the work is not the point. Take good care to do the service the Lord gave you, however small it looks.
- Finished — three-quarters done is not done. The honour lies in the finishing touch, and only One could say He had accomplished the work God gave Him.
- Grace — weariness and opposition tempt us to drift. Only the grace that closes the letter keeps a servant at his post.
The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace [be] with you.
Paul dictated most of his letters, but he wrote the last lines of this one himself, with a chain on his hand. Three short items close it: a signature, a request to remember his chains, and a blessing.
He used a secretary, then took the pen himself for the final greeting. One writer sees in that habit a sign of how seriously he took what he sent out:
He usually had others write for him. Tertius, for example, wrote the letter to the Romans. Paul dictated what he wanted to say, then added the blessing in his own handwriting, certifying that what stood in the letter was correct (1 Corinthians 16:21; 2 Thessalonians 3:17). That is a remarkable proof of the importance the apostle attached to his writings. He did not send them out as ordinary letters from one man to another, but as carrying an authority that called for such care.
The habit had a practical reason. Someone had already forged a letter in his name, so he set a mark readers could check:
Very early in the apostle's work among the Gentiles, believers at Thessalonica received a letter that seemed to come from him (2 Thessalonians 2:2). It was meant to make them believe that the day of the Lord had come. It was a forgery, and a forgery with a clear aim. So, to guard them and others from being deceived later, he told them what the mark of his letters would be. It was the greeting that closes all his letters, either in a longer form (2 Corinthians 13:14) or in a shorter one, as in Colossians and in the letters to Timothy and Titus. And no other apostle ever added that greeting to the end of his own letters while Paul was alive.
As he wrote, the chain was on his hand. (Older translations say "bonds" where the ESV says "chains," and the writers quoted here use that word.) One writer takes his words as both an excuse and a reminder:
He dictated this letter to a secretary, as he did his other letters, apart from Galatians (Galatians 6:11) and Philemon (verse 19). But he wrote this closing verse with his own hand. And when he added these words, the chain was on his hand. "Remember my chains." We may see it as a gentle excuse for not having written the whole letter to the Colossians, whom he did not know personally. At the same time, mentioning his bonds was meant to remind them that he is the prisoner of the Lord for the Gentiles (Ephesians 3:1).
The chain had a cause. He would not buy his freedom by giving up what he taught:
He reminds them of his bonds. They are the witness of his love for the Lord and for the saints, a love that led him to endure imprisonment rather than surrender the truth. Finally, he commends them to the grace of God.
Remembering a prisoner can cost you something. One writer ties this request to a command in Hebrews:
We tend to be ashamed of a friend in jail, but the believers at Philippi were not ashamed. They gloried in being his fellow-partners. Is this not just what Hebrews means, where we read, "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them"? (Hebrews 13:3)
The letter ends with a blessing, not a warning. One writer unpacks the short word "grace":
He was a prisoner, and his work had stopped, so they had much to remember him about. He ends with "Grace be with you" — grace being the favour and the free mercies of God.
One writer pauses on that closing line:
Blessed be God that His grace will always be with His people.
- Hand — He dictated the letter, then took the pen for the last lines. His letters were not private notes; they carried real authority.
- Token — That handwritten greeting was his mark of a real letter. He set it after a forgery had unsettled believers at Thessalonica.
- Chain — The chain was on his hand as he wrote. He was the Lord's prisoner, held for the sake of the Gentiles.
- Cost — He stayed in prison rather than give up the truth. The chain is the proof of his love for the Lord and for the saints.
- Grace — After the chain comes the blessing: the free favour and mercies of God, his last word to people he had never met.