1. Philemon lived in Colosse.
2. Attestation and Authorship
a. Ignatius and Polycarp provided very early support
b. Gnosticism came after Paul, not before. Some would deny that Paul wrote Colossians (see page 248 in Introduction to the New Testament by Dr. H. C. Thiessen)
3. Destination - Colosse because of the forming apostasy. Some are denying the deity and physical body of Christ.
4. Written during Paul's second and third missionary journies.
5. Paul is expecting to be released and plans to see Philemon.
6. Paul starts with doctrines, then goes into practice. Good doctrine leads to good practice.
7. Onesimus means prosperous, but he has not been.
8. Ephesians 1:18-20 ("I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, . . .")
Tom of Bethany "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I John 5:12)
Index to Selected Essays And Book Reviews
Lesson 26 - Paul's Prison Epistles: I and II Timothy, and Titus
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