Smoodock's Blog

Paul begins his letter to the Colossian brethren, as he usually does in all his epistles,[1] by introducing himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. This is important, because being an apostle of Jesus, by the will of God, not of man, expresses authority in the Christian faith. Epaphras, who seems to have brought the message of the Gospel to Colossae (Colossians 1:7), did not have such authority in the Gospel. He was simply a servant of Jesus, behaving as one of his followers should. Paul, on the other hand, was called by Christ to bring the Gospel to the gentiles (Acts 9:1-6, 10-18).

Moreover, Paul also took the opportunity to immediately introduce Timothy, his companion, perhaps as a co-author of the epistle or its scribe (Colossians 1:1). Interestingly, although his letter was sent out to the Colossians at least partially as a corrective letter, Paul describes the brethren there as faithful brethren in Christ, and saints (G40), vis-à-vis folks who are pure and morally blameless (Colossians 1:2). This, however, is not the understanding most scholars have about the believers there, because they interpret the problems Paul addresses in Colossae, as though they came from false teachers, probably Jewish, who have crept in unawares. Nevertheless, Paul makes no mention of the Colossian brethren having fallen from a better understanding of the truth. Nor, does Paul ever claim in his epistle that the church in Colossae was troubled by false brethren from the outside. Although Paul does warn the brethren of allowing themselves to become prey of men, who would teach them to submit to things that are not about Christ (Colossians 2:8, 18), he never claims such people were presently troubling the brethren at Colossae (cp. 1Corinthians 15:15; 2Corinthians 11:25; Galatians 1:7; 2:4; 5:12; 2Thessalonians 1:6). On the contrary, Paul claims the Colossian brethren were faithful and blameless (Colossians 1:2)!

As I mentioned above, Paul refers the Colossians to Timothy, who was his companion (Colossians 1:1). Timothy seems to have been a resident, originally, of Lystra (Acts 16:1), and also seems to have had a wide and good reputation of the brethren (Acts 16:2). We don’t know when or from what community Epaphras came to the faith. However, it is possible that he was discipled by Timothy, instead of Paul, because Paul never claims that he was responsible for bringing Epaphras to the faith.[2] If this is true, then Epaphras had come to know Christ much earlier than is believed, or just about the time Paul’s second missionary journey began (cir. AD 50). If such a circumstance is close to the truth, the Colossian brethren may have known about Timothy, because of his influence in Epaphras coming to faith in Christ. So, Paul, no doubt, would mention Timothy at the very beginning of his epistle, if such were the case.[3]

On the other hand, Timothy may, simply, have been Paul’s scribe, whom he employed to write to the Colossians (cp. Romans 16:22; 1Corinthians 16:21; Colossians 4:18; 2Thessalonians 3:17). If this is true, Timothy’s mention expresses his concurrence to what Paul was about to tell the Colossian brethren in the epistle dictated to him (cp. 2Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:1-2; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 1Thessalonians 1:1). In other words, Paul and Timothy are two witnesses to the truth of what the epistle contains, and, of course, nothing in the epistle prevents Timothy from being both a scribe for Paul, and the one who brought Epaphras to faith in Christ.

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[1] The only real exception is his letter to the Philippians. Some may add his letters to the Thessalonians, but he makes a reference to his being an apostle in 2Thessalonians 2:6, but he doesn’t do this in his greeting of either epistle.

[2] Paul seems to claim to have brought Philemon to the faith (Philemon 1:19), who also seems to be a citizen of Colossae. If, indeed, Philemon is a citizen, and he was converted by Paul, it would seem that Epaphras’ conversion preceded that of Philemon, due to the fact that it was Epaphras who brought the Gospel to Colossae.

[3] This is still a guess. Not naming Paul as the one who brought Epaphras to the faith isn’t evidence that Timothy did. It simply makes the idea possible.