“To understand the letter to the Colossians, we need to know that the church was facing pressure from a heresy that promised deeper spiritual life through secret knowledge (an early form of Gnosticism). The false teachers were destroying faith in Christ by undermining Christ’s humanity and divinity. Paul makes it clear in Colossians that Christ alone is the source of our spiritual life, the head of the body of believers. Christ is Lord of both the physical and spiritual worlds. The path to deeper spiritual life is not through religious duties, special knowledge, or secrets; it is only through a clear connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. We must never let anything come between us and our Savior.” (1)
“The Gnostics, whose influence was shaking the Colossian believers, had a notion of spirituality that drastically distorted the Christian way. It was rooted in a doctrine that robbed Jesus of His central place. Rather than seeing Jesus as the focus of all God’s acts, the Gnostic pushed Him aside as one of a series of intermediaries. Thus Jesus would no longer be the touchstone by which the believer measured his life, or the source of power and daily guidance we all so desperately need. Jesus would also no longer be the pattern for the truly spiritual life.
The ‘compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience’ (Col_3:12) that marked Jesus’ days on earth were far too ordinary to be viewed by the Gnostics as “spirituality”! Though Jesus lived the truly spiritual life, His incarnation was not seen as the model of the Christian’s calling. Instead, an individual under the Gnostic influence wandered off in a futile search for some experience or hidden knowledge that would transform the mundane.” (2)
“The Holy Spirit gives Christians great power to live for God. Some Christians want more than this. They want to live in a state of perpetual excitement. The tedium of everyday living leads them to conclude that something is wrong spiritually. Often the Holy Spirit’s greatest work is teaching us to persist, to keep on doing what is right even when it no longer seems interesting or exciting.” (3)
“Colossians is just as relevant today as it was in the day when Paul wrote the epistle. The names of the heresies have changed along with many of the religious and philosophical ideas, but certain elements are always there in the vain imaginations of man, and to these, no matter what the religious or humanistic idea being promoted in society, Colossians speaks loud and clear.” (4)
“Paul finishes his epistle. The letter is dried, folded, tied shut, perhaps sealed, and given to Tychicus. Thence it went to Colossae. And now to us.” (5)
(1) Life Application Study Bible NKJV [Colossians 4:18] Copyright © 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2004 by Tyndale House Publishers
(2) Lawrence O. Richards, Bible Teacher’s Commentary Copyright 2005 Cook Communications Ministries
(3) Life Application Study Bible NKJV [Galatians 3:5] Copyright © 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2004 by Tyndale House Publishers
(4) J. Hampton Keathley, III, Heretical Problems in the Light of Union With Christ Part I, Exhortation Against False Teachers (Col. 2:4-8) https://bible.org/seriespage/11-heretical-problems-light-union-christ-part-i-exhortation-against-false-teachers-col-24
(5) Wilbur Fields, Philippians – Colossians, Philemon, College Press Bible Study Textbook Series pg. 248. College Press, Joplin, Missouri Copyright © College Press 1976 https://archive.org/stream/BibleStudyTextbookSeriesPhilippiansColossiansPhilemon/16PhilippiansColossiansPhilemon_djvu.txt