Colossae

Colossae was a once-important town in the Lycus valley, near Laodicea and Hierapolis. Though Paul had not founded its church, he wrote it one of his richest letters.

The church Paul addressed

He wrote "to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse" (Colossians 1:2). The church had likely been planted by Epaphras, a Colossian, during Paul's long Ephesian ministry (Colossians 1:7; 4:12).

The supremacy of Christ

Against a creeping "philosophy and vain deceit" that mixed Jewish legalism, mysticism, and angel-worship, Paul exalted Christ as supreme: "by him were all things created... and he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (Colossians 1:16–17), "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3).

A letter to be shared

Paul asked that the letter be read also in Laodicea, and the Laodicean letter in Colossae (Colossians 4:16) — the churches of the valley sharing his teaching.

Colossae, near modern Honaz, sat on the trade road through the Lycus valley but was already declining in Paul's day, overshadowed by its neighbours Laodicea and Hierapolis. Its mound remains largely unexcavated — yet it gave its name to one of the most Christ-centred letters in the New Testament.