The apostle Paul urgently wrote a letter to the Christians in the city of Colossae in Asia Minor (what is now Turkiye). What was it that Paul wanted to convey to the Colossians? The gospel, the good news that Jesus has brought Christians “forgiveness of sins” and “reconciled” them to God (Colossians 1:14,22, 2:13-14 NIV)? Well, yes, but more than that. There is a cosmic vision here. Paul said that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created” (1:15-16). That is, Jesus is the Creator of the universe and therefore Lord of the universe. To the Colossians, this meant that He was superior to all of the Greek and Roman gods and also the Roman emperor and all of his officials. The Colossians Christians were not just saved from their sins. They had changed sides in the great cosmic struggle. They had been transferred from “the dominion of darkness” to the kingdom of light ruled by the Son of the only real God (1:13). They had been raised from death to life (2:12). And it wasn’t just the Colossian Christians who had changed sides. It was a global phenomenon. Paul said that “The gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world” (1:6). Further, Paul said, Jesus’ kingdom of light had defeated the powers and authorities of the kingdom of darkness and led them in triumph (2:15). The image comes from Rome, where Paul was in prison as he wrote this letter. When Roman generals defeated another nation, they would have a big parade in Rome, the conquering general and his army in front, followed by the defeated kings, officials, generals, and soldiers of the other nation, who were now prisoners. Paul was saying that Jesus had publicly defeated the Roman Empire and all other religions. How? By dying on the cross and then rising from the dead. This demonstrated that Jesus was more powerful than the Roman Empire that had tried to kill Him. And Jesus had defeated even more powerful enemies, death itself and sin.

Given all of this, it is remarkable that some of the Colossian Christians were thinking about switching back to serve the defeated kingdom of darkness. They were in danger of being taken “captive” (2:8) by those who had been defeated and led in triumph by God. They were being tempted to follow a “hollow and deceptive philosophy” based on “human tradition” and “the elemental spiritual forces of this world” (2:8, that is, the defeated and discredited Greek and Roman religions). Paul was asking why they would choose to go back and follow these lesser powers rather than the cosmic Jesus Christ, the Creator and Lord of the universe.