Colossians
The Epistle to the Colossians is addressed to a church that Paul did not visit. Epaphras, a visitor from Colossae, came to see Paul and brought news and greetings from the Christians in that city. Following a series of conversations with this visitor, Paul wrote his letter to the Colossian church. One of the main purposes of the letter is to warn the church members about a certain dangerous philosophy that was making inroads in that community. The particular doctrine that Paul apparently had in mind was a form of Gnosticism, a mixture of both philosophical and religious ideas. Believing that matter is evil and only spirit is good, the Gnostics held that the physical world was not created by a supreme being because a perfect deity would not have direct contact with an evil world. The world came into existence through the action of a series of intermediary beings whose worship was a necessary means toward human salvation. Paul writes that in Jesus there dwells all the fullness of the Godhead; there is no need for the worship of these intermediary powers. Furthermore, he rejects the asceticism and the sensual indulgence associated with the Gnostic conceptions of salvation.
