Reflection
Reflection
A majority of the contents of the two epistles are the same, such as the the greetings at beginning, the thankful prayers, the role of Christ in transforming our spiritual status, His relationship with the church, Paul’s ministry (to reveal the mystery of the gospel, E 6:19) and his exhortation for the readers. In spite of this, Colossians emphasizes the godly nature of Christ and warn the believers against the various kinds of human wisdom and false religions. In C 2:8-23, Paul elaborates on the kinds of false doctrines that may be affecting the Colossians. By contrast, Ephesians only says the believers should not be like spiritual children easily deceived by “every wind of doctrine”. (E 4:14) Perhaps Paul was told by Epaphras about the dangerous situation that the Colossians were encountering with those false doctrines. That’s why he had to pinpoint the deity of the Son of God to overthrow all the deceptive doctrines and philosophies.
As for Ephesians, besides offering the thankful prayer to the Father for the church at the beginning (E 1:3-14), Paul makes extra prayers for the believers (E1:15-19, 3:14-21). He also spends a great deal talking about the mystery of the gospel. Ephesians also stresses the oneness and unity of faith. (E 2:14,16; 4:3,13) Paul also spends a lot on exhortation. (E 4:25-6:9) Toward the end of Ephesians, Paul closes his exhortation with the unique message of putting on “the whole armour of God”. (E 6:10-17)
Against the outside world filled with all kinds of false doctrines and evil practices, the believers have to be well founded in the faith and knowledge of Christ (C 2:7, “rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith”). Inside the church, the body of Christ, the believers have to maintain an intimate relationship with Christ and learn to practice the truth among each other so that we can keep on growing into the maturity of Christ. (C 2:19, “all the body…increaseth with the increase of God (「就因神大得長進」)”; E 4:13-16, “unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (「滿有基督長成的身量」)…grow up into him…maketh increase of the body (「叫身體漸漸增長」).”)
Thus, the two epistles, putting together, speak a lot more and supplement each other in enlightening our spiritual eyes on Paul’s message for us (E 1:18).