Paul’s letter to the Church in Colossae is far more than a brief letter reminding them to behave. From a Roman prison, Paul summarizes some of his greatest theological frameworks and stitches them together under the theme of the inner experience and authority of Christ living in and as our own lives.
Paul’s densely packed paragraphs are stepping stones to his experiential Christo-cosmology which has been lost in religion. While the modern era continues to claim that this letter is a rebuke against Gnosticism, such claims are diversions from Paul’s direct language against institutional religion. Not only did Gnosticism not exist for another 100 years, but Paul explicitly prays that the church would receive what he calls “super-knowledge” (epignosis) about the mystery that is hidden in Christ, which is pretty much the very definition of Gnosticism.
However, I agree that this isn’t against Gnosticism so much as it is rejection of Platonic dualism and as such it is a current rebuke against modern ministry and the business of church. The Colossian letter is Paul’s highlight reel toward an inner freedom, authority, and experience with Christ…as Christ. The comparisons that I make between the Colossian church and the modern Christian religion should give every believer pause, and invite us to truly contemplate the degree to which we truly understand Paul’s gospel.
I invite you to dive into this amazing letter, which will begin opening up your own soul to discover what has been hiding in plain sight for two-thousand years. Paul agonizes for this community as he would do today, that we live free from religion, and remain experiencing and perpetuating the return of Christ, in and as our lives. Exactly as Jesus promised.