Colossians, Rightly Divided, verse-by-verse
Session 12| Colossians 4:7-11
Colossians 4:7-18 | Reports, Greetings, and Conclusion
Verse 7 | Black
“messenger" for Paul, delivering his letters. He is described as a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord. These are characteristics of Christian service toward which we should all strive.
Verse 8 | Black
Not only would Tychicus update the Colossians concerning Paul, but also come to know the estate of the Colossians and to comfort them. The word estate, as with state in verse 7 is simply the things concerning you and“property" sense in which we sometimes use the word estate.
Note that the modern versions change your estate“our circumstances" (NASB). While there is no doctrinal issue at hand, such opposite texts demand one to determine which one is the Word of God.“our circumstances" being made known to the Colossians, and a change from your to our would thus make verse 9 repetitive.
Verse 9 | Black
Tychicus will be sent with Onesimus who is also a faithful and beloved brother, and also one of you (apparently from Colossae). Onesimus is the subject of the letter to Philemon.
The two will make known unto you all the things which are done here. I would love to know what they know! But God did not preserve that information for us, and Paul did not seem to think it needed proclaimed in writing.
Verse 10 | Black
Aristarchus is a Macedonian of Thessalonica (Acts 27:2). Here he is called my fellowprisoner and is almost certainly a Jew even from these words alone (confirmed in verse 11). His Jewishness is important, as will be seen in verse 11. As far as we know, only Jewish believers were imprisoned for their faith at this time. The Gentile world was, for the most part, unconcerned with a person's faith practices, and the Roman Empire tolerated most religions. Exceptions came later, under Nero after the fire or Rome (A.D. 64, with Colossians written about A.D. 62). Aristarchus' Jewishness could be presumed by putting this passage together with Romans 16:7 if you assume my fellowprisoners are the same in Romans as in Colossians.
Paul also mentions Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas. We know him better as John Mark (see Acts 12:12). John Mark is most definitely Jewish, a fact that becomes important in the next verse.
Modern translations refer to him as Barnabas' cousin. The Greek is ἀνεψιός [anephios] from which we get the word nephew. One may look and see that the word sister is not in the text. How then do we know that he is the sister's son rather than the *brother's* or even a cousin in the modern sense?Modern Bible teachers often mention that "sister" is not in the text, and they are correct, in a sense. They anephios means "cousin," which is also correct, but only when fully understood. In mentioning these two points, they fail to mention two points:
anephios nephew. A sister's son would be just that.
The English word cousin cousin comes to us from Latin consobrinus, which literally means "pertaining to the sister." In early English, a cousin was ONLY the "sister's son."
I think there is more support for sister's son than there is for "cousin." Further, the use of "cousin" presumes the modern understanding upon the original understanding.
“sisters sonne“cousin german," which came into English when the phrase cousin was changing its meaning, and“sister's son."
Concerning Marcus, the Colossian assembly was instructed to receive him if he were to come that way. Remember, of course, that Paul and John Mark once split ways over differences in work ethic (Acts 15:37-39, especially v. 38). Now Paul wants the church to know that these differences have been mended.
Verse 11 — Black
We are unfamiliar with Jesus, which is called Justus. The name Jesus is Hebrew. There are two men named Justus in the New Testament, first in Acts 1:23, where Barnabas is surnamed Justus, and is unlikely in reference here since he was mentioned in the previous verse. Second, in Acts 18:7 a Jew named Justus lives next to the synagogue and Paul uses his home as a meeting place.
Paul says that these three (vv. 10-11) are of the circumcision. That is, they are Jews. This is extremely important for the next sentence, which is extremely insightful.
“all things Christian." If this is true, then Paul must be losing his mind. He has mentioned Tychicus (v. 7) and Onesimus (v. 9), both who are called faithful (v. 7, 9), brother (v. 7, 9), and one even called fellowservant (v. 7). If the common teaching is correct, how can it be said of Aristarchus, Marcus, and Justus that, these only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God.If one tries to argue that these only includes Aristarchus and Marcus, then Paul is claiming only five workers unto the kingdom of God. But then he goes on in the rest of the chapter to refer to Epaphras, Luke, Demas, Nymphas, and Archippus.
The only literal understanding is that Paul literally says that he has only three fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God. The other laborers, then, must be unto something else. This view is rejected by the mass of Christianity because they have the wrong definition of the kingdom. What if they understood the kingdom as theocratic and Davidic? That is, the future earthly reign of the Savior on the throne of David? If the future, physical, fraternal understanding of the Kingdom is presumed when reading this passage, then it simply tells us that Paul is still doing some Kingdom work, though he only has three helpers in this area. The majority of his ministry is to the body of Christher manifestation gifts.
A few summary points to ponder:This verse makes most sense when the standard church-based definition of the kingdom is rejected.
“overlap" of the kingdom ministry and the mystery ministry is assumed.
This verse makes most sense when one assumes that the kingdom ministry is separate from the mystery ministry and Paul was involved in both.
If the above assumptions are correct, then one must understand the two ministries to be different in content and not just different in congregation.
