[PHIL] “Welcome to the Good Word – I’m Phil Muthersbaugh, your host for today’s Bible discussion.

“Today, we begin a new 13-week study series of two letters written by the apostle Paul to the first century followers of Jesus living in Philippi and Colossae which we find in the Bible’s New Testament.

“My conversation partners for this study series are: Albert Handal, Administrative and Teaching Pastor at Walla Walla University Church, and Brant Berglin, Assistant Professor of New Testament studies. Both Albert and Brant are teaching faculty in the School of Theology at Walla Walla University. Welcome to the program, gentlemen. We’re especially glad you’re joining us for this series since you both are New Testament specialists and will no doubt bring many helpful insights into Paul’s writings to two young churches during our series.

Let’s get started…”

Our Bible lesson study this quarter is entitled, “Uniting Heaven and Earth: Christ in Philippians and Colossians.” It might be helpful by beginning our discussion with several intriguing questions: Think of the hardest job you’ve ever done. What made it hard? Was it the expectations, or the time allotted for the work, or both? Was it your attitude toward the task or perhaps the people you worked with? Maybe the task just seemed like an impossibility to ever succeed? Let’s begin our study by looking at a brief overview of the cultural environment of 1st century towns of Philippi and Colossae and the people who lived there….

[Setting] First of all, Philippi was a renowned Roman “colony” in the northern Mediterranean region of Macedonia. Under Rome’s control it was also considered a privileged colony and thus given special elite benefits. It was there that Paul organized the city’s first Christ-followers into a growing “house church” of believers. Colossae was another Roman colony located several hundred miles away in the south-central region of Asia. It did not have the elite status as did Philippi, nor had Paul ever personally visited Colossae. Furthermore, the Colossian house church was likely organized by Epaphras, who probably heard Paul preach in nearby Ephesus about Jesus and became a believer. After being baptized, Epaphras was then commissioned by Paul to go and share the “good news” about Jesus and His mission to the people in Colossae.

[Dilemma] The message about Jesus created a real dilemma for citizens in Roman-controlled towns. Every empire had its own historic and revered belief that there were of many “gods.” Suddenly, the news of a messianic “God-King,” Jesus of Nazareth began making inroads into the strong and proud Roman culture. But with the news, people also learned that Jesus had been brutally put to death around 33 A.D., crucified at Jerusalem by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor there, by colluding with leading religious Jews in Jerusalem to execute him. As people listened to this story they asked, how could this be? How could there now be this living King who had also claimed to be Israel’s rightful King and God himself? Roman religious culture held that emperor Julius Caesar, while an earthly king, was also considered a god among all the pagan gods of Rome. Was this some political plot by Israel to rebel against Rome’s iron rule?

As interest in this startling news about Jesus continued spreading, even more confusion and conflict arose when certain unnamed individuals, posing as religious “teachers,” began meeting with these small Christian church groups, introducing a variety of speculative and “legalistic” religious theories and teachings. These contradictory “ideas” now directly challenged Paul’s message of “salvation by faith” in Jesus Christ which believers had previously accepted with great joy and enthusiasm in both Philippi and Colossae. All of this turmoil was becoming a real threat to the good news about Jesus which Paul had taught them now that he was under house arrest in Rome. Paul had been accused of troubling the empire with this proclamation of Jesus Christ as the King of the universe and supreme Lord and Savior of humanity.