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What you get:
- Tips for teaching Colossians in a Bible Study
- 33 Discussion Questions for Colossians
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High-definition maps of Paul’s ministry to the Colossians
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2 Versions: high-resolution; optimized for mobile devices
Sample map from Colossians Leaders Guide & Atlas
The church Paul always seemed to bypass
Here’s the big question: Why would Paul write to a group of Christians in the town he had never come within 100 miles (160 km) of visiting?
The most common guess—and it is just a guess—is that a man who seems to have been the founding pastor, Epaphras, somehow got word to Paul that the church was having trouble. Scholars have to guess what the trouble was.
A popular guess is that Jews in the town were trying to convince Christians they had to be law-abiding Jews if they wanted to follow the Messiah.
Paul tells the Christians that all they need is faith in Jesus. He tells them to skip the religion rules. “You know what rules I’m talking about. ‘Stay away from this! Don’t eat that! Don’t even touch this!’” (Colossians 2:21).
After dealing with that problem, Paul moves on to give this church the same kind of warm pastoral counseling he offered to churches he helped start in Ephesus and Philippi. He may have written all of these letters the same time; they are that much alike.
Paul has a lot of great one-liners in the short letter.
One of the most popular and most practical is this: “Whatever you say when you open your mouth and whatever you do wherever you go, do it all as a representative of the Lord Jesus” (3:17).
In addition to the Colossians Leaders Guide & Atlas
Leaders Guide & Atlas
You might consider the Ephesians Leaders Guide & Atlas
Best resource for comparing other Bible translations: Bible Gateway. This isn’t an ad. It’s a recommendation from the Casual English Bible.
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