I first started studying the letter to the church in Colossae about ten years before this attempt at getting through its content.
I had a great deal of trouble with that first attempt. The more I got into the letter, the more the output of what was there seemed to know no bounds whatesoever and, at the end of Col 2:8, I got so frustrated with the slow progress that I was making that I decided to throw it in and give up. Don't forget, in those days everything was done with a pencil and paper!
Naturally, I was reluctant to begin an attempt to restudy the letter once more and, initially, I did a few studies on the opening verses to see whether it might be the right time to return.
Having written over 90K on the first two verses alone, I was inclined to forget all about it, knowing that there was much more in the verses which followed later in the letter - but I was compelled by the scarcity of any expansive commentary on the letter on the Internet - and in bookshops - that was easily accessible by the average believer not well versed in Greek and which tried to bring the verses into a relevant context for the present day.
Therefore, in June 2001, I decided to continue my studies as and when time was available to me and finally completed it late on in October.
1:1-2 (91K) Salutation
1:3-5a (42K) Faith, Love, Hope
1:5b-6,10 (40K) The Gospel
1:7-8 (17K) Apostolic Ministry Teams
1:9-12a (77K) Prayer
1:12b-14 (56K) The Exodus
1:15-20 (112K) Christology
1:21-23 (94K) Reconciliation
1:24 (55K) Suffering
1:25 (23K) Stewardship
1:26-27 (43K) The Mystery
1:28 (33K) The Apostolic Process
1:29 (10K) Balance
2:1-3 (40K) The Struggle
2:4-5 (33K) Paul's Presence
2:6-7 (46K) The New Tradition
2:8-10 (36K) Orthodoxy and Bondage
2:11-15 (84K) The Greatest Hits
2:16-17 (45K) Shadows and Realities
2:18-19 (42K) False Judgments and True Growth
2:20-23 (37K) Gimme that Old Time Religion
3:1-4 (39K) Seek Heavenly Matters
3:5-11 (134K) Put off the Old
3:12-14 (79K) Put on the New
3:15-17 (42K) More on lifestyle
3:18-19 (105K) Wives and Husbands
3:20-21 (31K) Children and Fathers
3:22-4:1 (50K) Slaves and Masters
4:2-6 (28K) Prayer and Witness
4:7-9 (17K) Tychicus and Onesimus
4:10-11 (19K) Aristarchus, Mark and Justus
4:12-14 (22K) Epaphras, Luke and Demas
4:15-17 (22K) Greetings
4:18 (15K) Paul's Handwritten Farewell
