Juvenal
Sat. Satirae (Satires)
Livy
Hist. History of Rome
1–4 Macc 1–4 Maccabees
Mishnah (m.)
Abod. Zar. Abodah Zarah
Ber. Berakhot
Odes Sol. Odes of Solomon
Origen
Cels. Contra Celsum (Against Celsus)
Philo
Conf. De confusione linguarum (On the Confusion of Tongues)
Decal. De decalogo (On the Decalogue)
Det. Quod deterius potiori insidiari soleat (That the Worse Attacks the Better)
Flacc. In Flaccum (Against Flaccum)
Fug. De fuga et inventione (On Flight and Finding)
Gig. De gigantibus (On Giants)
Hypoth. Hypothetica
Leg. Legum allegoriae (Allegorical Interpretation)
Legat. Legatio ad Gaium (On the Embassy to Gaius)
Migr. De migratione Abrahami (On the Migration of Abraham)
Mos. De vita Mosis (On the Life of Moses)
Opif. De opifico mundi (On the Creation of the World)
Plant. De plantatione (On Planting)
Prob. Quod omnis probus liber sit (That Every Good Person Is Free)
QE Quaestiones et solutions in Exodum (Questions and Answers on Exodus)
Sacr. De sacrificiis Abelis et Caini (On the Sacrifices of Cain and Abel)
Somn. De somnis (On Dreams)
Spec. De specialibus legibus (On the Special Laws)
Philostratus
Vit. Apoll. Vita Apollonii
Plato
Tim. Timaeus
Pliny the Younger
Ep. Epistolae
Pss. Sol. Psalms of Solomon
Sir Sirach
Seneca
Ep. Epistulae morales
Strabo
Geogr. Geographica (Geography)
T. Ab. Testament of Abraham
T. Isaac Testament of Isaac
T. Job Testament of Job
T. Levi Testament of Levi
Tacitus
Agr. Agricola
Hist. Historiae
Tertullian
Jejun. De jujunio adversus psychicos (On Fasting, against the Psychics)
Tob Tobit
Wis Wisdom
Xenophon
Anab. Anabasis
Series Editors:
Michael F. Bird (Highland Theological College, Dingwall, Scotland)
Craig Keener (Palmer Seminary, Philadelphia, USA)
Revelation Gordon Fee
Ephesians Lynn Cohick
James Pablo Jimenez
1–3 John Sam Ngewa
John Jey Kanagaraj
Pastoral Epistles Aída Besançon-Spencer
Mark Kim Huat Tan
Acts Youngmo Cho
Forthcoming titles (in order of projected publication):
Titles in this series:
Romans Craig Keener
Luke Jeannine Brown
2 Peter and Jude Andrew Mbuvi
Matthew Joel Willits
1 Peter Eric Greaux
Philippians Linda Belleville
Hebrews Tom Thatcher
Galatians Brian Vickers
2 Corinthians David deSilva
Introduction to Colossians and Philemon
When I open the chapel doors of the Epistle to the Colossians it is as if Johann Sebastian himself sat at the organ.1
The singular loftiness of the mind of Paul, though it may be seen to greater advantage in his other writings which treat of weightier matters, is also attested by this Epistle [to Philemon], in which, while he handles a subject otherwise low and mean, he rises to God with his wonted elevation. Sending back a runaway slave and thief, he supplicates pardon for him. But in pleading this cause, he discourses about Christian forbearance with such ability, that he appears to speak about the interests of the whole Church rather than the private affairs of a single individual. On behalf of a man of the lowest condition, he demeans himself so modestly and humbly, that nowhere else is the meekness of his temper painted in a more lively manner.2
City of Colossae
Colossae was a city in the Lycus Valley located within southwestern Phrygia in the interior of Asia Minor. Colossae was once a densely populated and wealthy city according to Xenophon, a city through which Xerxes and his army passed in 480 BCE.3 The Greek geographer Strabo described Colossae in his time as a polisma, or small city.4 In 133 BCE the last king of Pergamum bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans who later reorganized it as the province of Asia. The Lycus Valley was eventually incorporated into the Roman Empire and remained so for many centuries. By Paul’s time Colossae was dwarfed by the larger cities of Hierapolis and Laodicea also in the Lycus Valley.
There was a sizable Jewish population in the Lycus Valley. Seleucus Nicator (ca. 358–281 BCE), the founder of the Seleucid kingdom encompassing Asia Minor, granted civic rights to the Jews in all the cities that he founded and Antiochus II (ca. 286–46 BCE) planted Jewish colonists in the cities of Ionia.5 Antiochus III (ca. 241–187 BCE) settled some two thousand Jewish families from Babylon and Mesopotamia in the regions of Lydia and Phrygia, and Philo refers to the large population of Jews in every city of Asia Minor.6 Laodicea in particular was a collection point for payment of the temple tax by Jews living in the region, and in 62 BCE the proconsul of Asia Lucius Valerius Flaccus attempted to seize the collection, which, according to Cicero, consisted of twenty pounds of gold.7 If the temple tax was a half shekel or two drachmae, that could represent a collection from Jewish males numbering as many as ten thousand, though a slightly lower figure might be more cautious.8 Like other Anatolian cities, Colossae probably had a substantial Jewish population (possibly between one and two thousand persons) and at least one synagogue or prayer house. A number of Jewish sarcophagi in Hierapolis have been collected together by Walter Ameling, indicating a sizable Jewish presence in the Lycus Valley.9 Hierapolis and Laodicea suffered extensive