All The Personal Names

Colossians 4: 7-18

Now Paul writes of his personal affairs, and mentions all the people involved by name. 

(7) As to all my affairs, Tychicus, our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord, will bring you information. 
(8) For I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts; 
(9) and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of your number. They will inform you about the whole situation here. 

Tychicus was delivering this letter to the Colossians, and he is the one who also brought the Ephesians their epistle. And with sending Onesimus with him, he may have delivered the personal letter to Philemon, too. 

He trusts these two men to tell the people in Colosse everything that is going on with him in Rome.

(10) Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; 

Aristarchus was a resident of Thessalonica who had been arrested at the time of the riot in Ephesus (Acts 19: 29). He accompanied Paul to Jerusalem (Acts 20: 4), and was still with him in Rome. 

and also Barnabas's cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him); 

This Mark is the writer of the gospel that bears his name, and we know more about him than about anyone else in this passage (see Acts 12:12, 25; 13: 13; 15: 37-39; I Peter 5: 13).

(11) and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the Kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me. 

We know nothing about this Jesus Justus; this is the only mention we find of him. But Paul mentions that these three are the only Jewish believers he has with him there in Rome. 

Interesting that he would make this distinction when he is the one to reveal that there is no more difference spiritually between Jew or Gentile (3:11; also Galatians 3: 28). 

But he may be keenly aware of his alienation from his countrymen, and so appreciating these brothers who may have helped him through some particular crisis, as his use of the aorist tense of the verb egenethesan (proved), and the word paregoria, (encouragement) referring to a relief of pain, would indicate.

(12) Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. 

Epaphras is the founder of the church in Collosse, so he is keenly aware of their situation; Paul says that he labors in prayer to the point of pain for them, that they would grow up to maturity in Christ. 

(13) For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Heirapolis. 

He, like Paul, wants all their beloved brothers and sisters to remain true to the gospel, and not fall for the deceptions of the heretical teachings that were spreading in in that whole area.

(14) Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas. 

Here is where we learn that Luke is a physician, and also a Gentile. He was with Paul ever since he had been traveling through that area and reached Troas, where he had the Macedonian vision (Acts 16: 8-10). 

Demas is only mentioned in two other places, in Paul's letters to Philemon and Timothy.

(15) Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house. 

Many of the churches were still meeting in personal residences, only later were separate church buildings erected.

(16) When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. 

He intended this to be a circular letter, passed along to the other churches, for all the Christians in the area to be warned and learn to resist the heresy spreading already. 

The Lord's message to Laodicea in Revelation 3: 14-22 is the harshest denunciation of all seven churches in Asia.

(17) Say to Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it," 

Archippus was apparently of the household of Philemon (Philemon 2), and may have been his son; and he may also have been serving as pastor in the Colossian church in the absence of Epaphras. Paul gives no definite information about this ministry he was encouraging him to fulfil.

(18) I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my imprisonment. Grace be with you. 

It was customary for Paul to use a stenographer in his writings, but he here signs the letter in his own hand. 

And he ends with the same simple prayer he began it with: Grace be with you. 

O my Father, You are deeply concerned for Your children. You knew that these false teachers would come in as ravenous wolves, and destroy the pure Truth of the Gospel. There are so many today, that have never even yet heard the simple truth of Your Word, yet they think they are Christians. 

Father, I pray that all of Your lost sheep would be found, that all of Your embryonic children would be brought to the birth, and that all of Your believers, as the body, would come to the maturity of the full stature of Your Son. 

O Father, send out Your children as messengers throughout the whole world, to saturate every nation with the message of Your love. May every living person hear and understand to make a thoughtful and informed decision whether to follow You. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!