Colossians 4: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Paul closes his letter with instructions to masters about how to treat their slaves, a call to steady prayer, and advice about how to speak and act toward people outside the church. He tells the Colossians that Tychicus and Onesimus are coming to them with news about him, and he passes on greetings from Aristarchus, Mark, Jesus called Justus, Epaphras, Luke, and Demas. He asks that the letter be shared with the church in Laodicea, gives a message for Archippus, and signs off in his own handwriting, asking them to remember that he is in chains.

Claim by Claim

1. 4:1
   • Masters are to give their slaves what is just.
   • Masters are to give their slaves what is equal or fair.
   • Masters know that they themselves also have a Master in heaven.
2. 4:2
   • The readers are to continue steadfastly in prayer.
   • They are to be watchful in prayer.
   • They are to be watchful in prayer with thanksgiving.
3. 4:3
   • They are to pray at the same time also for Paul and those with him.
   • The purpose of that prayer is that God would open to them a door for the word.
   • The purpose is to speak the mystery of Christ.
   • Paul is in bonds on account of the mystery of Christ.
4. 4:4
   • Paul asks that he may make the mystery manifest.
   • Paul says he ought to speak it in a certain way.
5. 4:5
   • The readers are to walk in wisdom toward those outside.
   • They are to buy up the opportune time.
6. 4:6
   • Their speech is always to be with grace.
   • Their speech is to be seasoned with salt.
   • The purpose is that they may know how they ought to answer each person.
7. 4:7
   • Tychicus will make known to them all things concerning Paul's circumstances.
   • Tychicus is a beloved brother.
   • Tychicus is a faithful minister.
   • Tychicus is a fellow servant in the Lord.
8. 4:8
   • Paul has sent Tychicus to them for this very purpose.
   • The purpose is that they might know the circumstances of Paul and those with him.
   • The purpose is that Tychicus might comfort their hearts.
9. 4:9
   • Tychicus comes with Onesimus.
   • Onesimus is a faithful and beloved brother.
   • Onesimus is one of them.
   • Onesimus and Tychicus will make known to them all things that are done there.
10. 4:10
    • Aristarchus greets them.
    • Aristarchus is Paul's fellow prisoner.
    • Mark greets them.
    • Mark is the cousin of Barnabas.
    • The readers have received instructions concerning Mark.
    • If Mark comes to them, they are to receive him.
11. 4:11
    • Jesus, who is called Justus, greets them.
    • These men are of the circumcision.
    • These are the only fellow workers with Paul for the kingdom of God.
    • These men have been a comfort to Paul.
12. 4:12
    • Epaphras greets them.
    • Epaphras is one of them.
    • Epaphras is a servant of Christ Jesus.
    • Epaphras is always striving for them in his prayers.
    • He strives that they may stand mature.
    • He strives that they may stand fully assured in all the will of God.
13. 4:13
    • Paul testifies concerning Epaphras that he has much labor for them.
    • Epaphras has much labor for those in Laodicea.
    • Epaphras has much labor for those in Hierapolis.
14. 4:14
    • Luke greets them.
    • Luke is the beloved physician.
    • Demas greets them.
15. 4:15
    • The readers are to greet the brothers in Laodicea.
    • They are to greet Nymphas.
    • They are to greet the church that meets in Nymphas's house.
    • The gender of Nymphas is unresolved: the King James takes the person as male and the house as his, while the Greek can be read as the woman Nympha with the church in her house.
16. 4:16
    • When this letter has been read among them, they are to cause it to be read also in the church of the Laodiceans.
    • They are also to read the letter from Laodicea.
17. 4:17
    • They are to say to Archippus to take heed to the ministry he received in the Lord.
    • They are to say to Archippus that he fulfill that ministry.
18. 4:18
    • The greeting is written by Paul's own hand.
    • The readers are to remember Paul's bonds.
    • Paul wishes grace to be with them.
    • The letter closes with Amen.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

4:1

"Servants" here renders the ordinary word for household slaves, who under Roman law were property and had no legal claim against their owner. "Equal" in 1611 English meant fair or equitable, not identical. The Greek uses the same word for the human "masters" and for the "Master in heaven," so the sentence puts the owners themselves under an owner.

4:2

"Watch" in 1611 English means stay awake and keep lookout, the word used of a sentry on night duty or someone keeping a vigil. It is not the modern sense of watching something happen.

4:3

"A door of utterance" is an idiom for an opening, a chance to speak, not a physical door. "Mystery" translates a word that does not mean a riddle or something unsolvable; it means a secret that was kept and has now been disclosed. "In bonds" means in chains, under arrest.

4:5

"Them that are without" is a standard phrase for people outside the group, here those not part of the congregation. "Redeeming the time" is a commercial metaphor: buying up the time, the way a trader snaps up goods while they are on the market.

4:6

Salt in the ancient world both preserved food and kept it from tasting of nothing. Greek and Roman writers also used "salty" of talk that was witty and pointed rather than flat, so the phrase suggests speech with flavor and edge to it, not blandness.

4:7

Tychicus was a traveling companion of Paul from the province of Asia, used repeatedly as a letter carrier. "Minister" here is the plain word for a servant or attendant and carries none of the modern English sense of a clergy office.

4:8

"State" and "estate" in 1611 English both mean a person's circumstances, how someone is doing, not property or social rank. Greek copies of this verse differ: some read that he might learn how you are doing, others that you might learn how we are doing. The King James follows the first.

4:9

Onesimus was a slave belonging to Philemon, a member of this same congregation; Paul's short letter to Philemon is about sending him back. "One of you" means he came from their own city, Colossae.

4:10

"Fellowprisoner" means someone held in custody alongside Paul. "Sister's son" is a guess by the King James translators: the Greek word means cousin, without specifying which side of the family. Barnabas was Paul's partner on his earliest travels. The instructions about receiving Mark had been sent to them separately, and we do not have them.

4:11

"Of the circumcision" is a standard phrase for people who were Jewish by birth, as opposed to non-Jewish converts. "Jesus" was a common Jewish name of the period, the Greek form of Joshua; Jews living in Greek cities often carried a second, Roman-sounding name as well, here Justus.

4:12

Epaphras came from Colossae and, according to the opening of this letter, was the one who first brought the message there. "Labouring fervently" translates a word taken from athletic contests, meaning to strain or wrestle. "Perfect" in 1611 English means complete or fully grown, a matter of maturity rather than moral flawlessness.

4:13

Laodicea and Hierapolis were the two nearest cities to Colossae, all three within about ten miles of each other in the Lycus river valley. Laodicea was the wealthy administrative center of the three.

4:14

"Physician" simply means doctor. In the Roman world a physician was a trained practitioner, often a slave or a freed slave rather than a person of high rank. Christian tradition from the second century onward identifies this Luke as the author of the third Gospel and of Acts.

4:15

The name written here can be read as the masculine Nymphas or the feminine Nympha depending on an accent mark that the oldest manuscripts did not have, and the copies likewise disagree over whether the house is "his," "hers," or "theirs." The King James chose the masculine reading. There were no church buildings at this date; congregations met in private homes large enough to hold them, so "the church in his house" means the group that gathered there.

4:16

"Epistle" is just the older English word for letter. Letters were read aloud to the assembled group, since copies were costly and many members could not read. "The epistle from Laodicea" is a letter that has not survived under that name, though some have suggested it is a letter we know by another title.

4:17

Archippus is also greeted by name at the start of the letter to Philemon. "Ministry" here means an assigned task or piece of service; the letter never says what the task was, so the readers evidently knew.

4:18

Paul dictated his letters to a scribe and then added a few words in his own handwriting at the end. The change of handwriting proved the letter was genuinely his, which mattered because forged letters circulated. "Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning roughly "so be it," used to agree with what has just been said.