The New Testament · The Letters of St. Paul · Book 58 of 73
Prophecy in Colossians
Colossians sets Christ above every power in heaven and on earth: the image of the invisible God, the firstborn from the dead. What came before him was a shadow; what is still to come is his appearing, when the life now hidden with him is revealed in glory.
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The book at a glance
The letter comes in the name of Paul and Timothy (1:1) to a church Paul had not founded himself; it was planted by his co-worker Epaphras (1:7). Tradition holds it was written from prison, like Ephesians and Philemon, with which it shares names and themes. Some modern scholars think a disciple wrote it in Paul's name; the Church receives it as inspired Scripture either way.
Colossians answers teachers who urged special observances and the worship of angels (2:16–18). Its reply is Christ: all fullness dwells in him, and every principality is subject to him. It looks forward through a great hymn (1:15–20), through a type, the Law's feasts and sabbaths as “shadows of things to come,” and through the promise of Christ's appearing.
Key to the labels
How a passage stands
Fulfilled Accomplished in history, above all in Christ.
Unfolding Being worked out now in the life of the Church.
Future Clearly still to come at Christ's return.
Mystery Its meaning or moment is not yet settled.
What kind of passage it is
Prophecy God's word through a prophet, or Christ, about what will come.
Promise A pledge God makes, kept over generations.
Type A person or event that foreshadows Christ or the Church.
Image A picture Scripture returns to and completes at the end.
Apocalypse A vision unveiling history from heaven's side, in symbols.
More on the labels
| Passage | Subject | Standing |
|---|
| 1:15–20 | Firstborn from the dead; all things reconciled | Fulfilled Future |
| 1:24 | Filling up what is lacking, for his body the Church | Unfolding |
| 2:16–17 | Shadows of things to come | Fulfilled |
| 3:1–4 | When Christ your life appears | Future |
The passages
“He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent.”
- Reading
- The hymn sings of Christ twice over: first of creation, “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (1:15), then of new creation, “the firstborn from the dead” (1:18). Through him God was pleased “to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross” (1:20). The Catechism teaches that Christ rose in his own body and that we will rise in ours, transformed (CCC 999).
- Why two labels
- The cross and resurrection are accomplished: Christ is already the firstborn from the dead. “Firstborn” promises brothers and sisters to follow, and the reconciliation of “all things” is completed only in the new heavens and new earth (CCC 1043).
- See also
- Ephesians 1:10; 1 Corinthians 15:20–23; Revelation 1:5.
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church…”
- Reading
- Nothing is lacking in Christ's sacrifice; the cross is “the unique sacrifice of Christ” (CCC 618). What remains is the share of his Body. Christ wills to associate his disciples with his redeeming sacrifice (CCC 618), and the Catechism applies this verse to the sick: suffering joined to Christ can share in the afflictions still being filled up for his Body, the Church (CCC 1508).
- Why unfolding
- The Body is still being built, and its members still suffer. Each suffering offered in love belongs to that building until the Body is complete.
- See also
- 2 Corinthians 4:10; Ephesians 4:12–13. Fr. John's own reflection on the building of the Body, offered as a reflection and not as Church teaching: The Temple of His Body.
“These are shadows of things to come; the reality belongs to Christ.”
- Reading
- The food laws, festivals, new moons and sabbaths of the Law were real, given by God, and they pointed beyond themselves. A shadow is cast by a body; the body is Christ. Hebrews says the same: “the law has only a shadow of the good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1). The Catechism teaches that the worship of the Law prepared for Christ and prefigured aspects of him, and that Sunday, the day of the Resurrection, fulfills the spiritual truth of the sabbath (CCC 2175).
- Note
- “Shadow” does not mean worthless. The Church reads the Old Testament as true preparation, keeping its value while seeing it fulfilled in Christ.
“When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.”
- Reading
- Baptized into Christ, believers already share his risen life, but it is “hidden with Christ in God” (3:3). At his appearing it will be revealed. The Catechism teaches exactly this order: in Baptism we already participate in the heavenly life of the risen Christ, but this life remains hidden, and on the last day we will appear with him in glory (CCC 1003).
- For now
- “seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God” (3:1). The future appearing shapes how the hidden life is lived today.
Still to come on this pageFurther passages to add: the mystery hidden from the ages, Christ in you, the hope of glory (1:26–27), the fullness of deity dwelling bodily (2:9–10), Christ despoiling the principalities and the powers on the cross (2:15), and the coming wrath of God (3:6).
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