“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.”

Our Good Word lesson study this quarter is entitled, “Uniting Heaven and Earth: Christ in Philippians and Colossians.” Let’s begin our conversation by looking at a brief overview of the cultural environment of 1st century towns of Philippi and Colossae and the new believers who lived there.

First of all, Philippi was a renowned Roman “colony” in the northern Mediterranean region of Macedonia and thus given special elite status and benefits. 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. Many Bible scholars believe it was Epaphras, who likely heard Paul preach in nearby Ephesus, and became not only a baptized believer, but then commissioned by Paul to go and share this “good news” about Jesus and His unique mission to humanity with a young house church in Colossae.

Every previous empire in history had its own sacred belief that there were of many “gods.” Suddenly, the news of a messianic “God-King,” Jesus of Nazareth, began making inroads into the pantheistic Roman culture. Those who listened learned that this young rabbi Jesus had been brutally put to death around 33 A.D., crucified at Jerusalem by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor there, at the insistence of influential local Jewish religious leaders. As more and more people heard this story some asked, how could this be? 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 another political plot by Israel to rebel against Rome’s iron rule?

As interest in this startling news about Jesus continued spreading, more confusion and conflict arose when certain individuals, posing as religious “teachers,” began meeting with 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 in both Philippi and Colossae had previously accepted with great joy and enthusiasm. Now that Paul was under house arrest in Rome what could he do to help these churches? Paul’s action took the form of these two encouraging letters to these two young churches.