New Testament
Colossians
Christ is enough — a letter against spiritual add-ons.
Letter · 4 chapters · About 15 minutes
Paul, from prison, c. AD 60–62
Overview
The Colossians were being offered supplements: visions, diets, festivals, angelic mediators. Paul's answer is not a rebuttal so much as a portrait.
Chapter one contains an early hymn about Christ holding all things together — arguably the highest Christology in the New Testament, written to a small church in a minor town.
The practical section is quietly beautiful: put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience. Clothes for a new self.
What it keeps returning to
Supremacy
'In him all things hold together.' Nothing needs to be added to that.
Hidden life
'Your life is hidden with Christ in God' — security you cannot see.
Putting on
Character is described as dressing: taking off, putting on, daily.
Start here
Colossians 1:15–20
The hymn. Read it slowly, twice.
Colossians 3:1–17
What the new wardrobe looks like.
Colossians 4:2–6
Prayer, and speech seasoned with salt.
“And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”