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Acts 28:30-31 NKJV – Paul is in a Roman Prison for Two Years & Writes Colossians and Philemon:

Colossians and Philemon Come Alive after Studying the Book of Acts – "Get in the Game!”

The last two verses in the book of Acts (Acts 28:30-31) tell us that Paul was detained for two years in Rome, but he was able to continue teaching and meeting with people in the secure quarters where he was held. During this time, Paul wrote the Letter to the Colossians and a letter to a man named Philemon, who owned the house in which the church of Colossae met. Within the letter to the Colossians, Paul provided many powerful teachings about the person and work of Jesus Christ, a topic that Paul himself taught many times, as illustrated in the book of Acts. Paul then wrote to Philemon, which encouraged him to forgive a person who had once personally hurt him. Philemon was asked to receive him as a fellow believer because the man got saved. In writing this letter to Philemon, Paul encouraged him to settle whatever spiritual issues he needed to resolve and get in the game of clearly proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ to the world. This devotional ends by encouraging all believers to deal with challenges that trip them up spiritually, confess their sins, and then join the many believers who are focusing on what is most important for believers – proclaiming the Person and work of Jesus Christ to all who will listen in a hostile world!

During his imprisonment in Rome, Paul received a visitor from the church of Colossae named Epaphras. He probably wanted to encourage Paul while he was detained in Rome and to request that Paul help them deal with a serious situation that had significant repercussions on the church of Colossae and Christianity as a whole. Heretical teachers were attacking the church of Colossae and using very philosophical arguments, attempting to teach against the deity and supremacy of Jesus Christ. And the believers in Colossae needed thorough instructions on how to combat this philosophy as they encountered terms that were unfamiliar to them and terms that were presented with partial truths that needed to be accurately parsed. In response, Paul wrote the Letter to the Colossians without delay and sent it to them via a man named Tychicus (Greek: “too-kick-COSS,” English: “TICK-keh-kiss”). He also made Tychicus available to stay with them and help them understand these complex discussions and to reinforce the truth about Jesus Christ (Colossians 4:7).

But why did Paul devote so much time and attention to this fairly unknown church in the little town of Colossae? The answer is probably not found in the fact that Paul had a considerable amount of time on his hands to do so. It was the subject matter that compelled Paul to write to them. Interestingly, when Paul wrote the Letter to the Colossians, it marked the second time we saw Paul writing a church he had never personally visited. The first letter was the Letter to the Romans. He had not established the church in Rome either (even though he always wanted to go there and obviously did). Likewise, Paul had never visited the Church at Colossae (which was a small, far less significant place than Rome) (Colossians 2:1). So, why did Paul take the time to write to both churches? The answer is found in the subject matter of the letters. The subject matter was so profoundly important to the maturity of the church and Christianity as a whole, he felt compelled to address it. The Letter to the Romans spelled out what Salvation is and what it is not. The Letter to the Colossians explained how Jesus Christ is fully God and supreme over all things (Colossians 2:2). Paul had dealt with debates about Jesus over more than 20 years since his conversion (Acts 2:33-36; 5:31; 7:59-60; 9:14, 21; 13:13-38; 14:14-15; 22:16). So, he was postured and ready to assist this little church in defending the supremacy and deity of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote this church because these doctrines are essential to the Christian faith. They are non-negotiable.

In this little city, there was a prominent cult that promoted angel worship. This cult was a bit odd because it had a somewhat undefinable mixture of Jewish beliefs and Greek philosophy, along with the beginnings of what soon became Gnosticism in the second century. The cult held very complex, philosophical concepts of the angelic world and how humans were to interact with the divine realm. In essence, they believed (and prepare yourself to get very confused because it is a theological mess) that there was a being who was full deity and perfect in all ways (i.e., fully God) but that God did not create the physical world because physical matter is evil, and a perfect, totally spiritual being like God cannot touch physical matter. So, the world was created by one of the many angels who came from this God, who had enough deity power to create the world but was less perfect and spiritual than God to actually create and touch evil, physical matter. Thus, they believed the creator of the world was partially divine and partially physical, but less perfect than God, so that it was able to touch the world. So, when people of this false philosophy heard Christians talk about Jesus being God Himself and the Creator of the world who dwelt among His creation, they had a problem with it. They attempted to correct the believers in Colossae, saying if Jesus did indeed create the world as they said, then Jesus must have only been part-deity and not completely perfect. In summary, to them, Jesus was just one of many angelic beings who had enough imperfection within Him to be able to walk on the physical earth, but He is not fully God, and He was not perfect. To them, Jesus must have been just one angelic being amid the ranks of many other angels.

Paul wrote to the believers in Colossae to teach them that not only was Jesus fully-God, perfect and holy in every way, but that this holy God was able to both create the world and dwell among His own creation. Read Colossians 1:15-20, 2:9, and see how Paul parsed his words well to demonstrate that Jesus was not only fully-God but fully perfect as a sinless human and that such a combination is possible. Therefore, Colossians is a masterful explanation of how Jesus is fully God but also fully human, who is free from sin.

But while all this was happening, there was an extremely practical situation that one of the members of the church in Colossae was grappling with. Philemon, who owned the house within which the church of Colossae met, was dealing with anger and bitterness over one of his slaves, Onesimus (Greek: “aw-NAY-sim-moss,” English: “oh-NESS-ah-miss”), who wronged him, stole from him, and ran off. Philemon was still struggling for months over his emotions about how someone had hurt him deeply. So, when Paul wrote to the church in Colossae, he also wrote a very short, personal letter to Philemon, encouraging him to forgive Onesimus.

Philemon was probably thinking, “Why should I forgive a man that, as far as I know, is not even repentant over his sin?!” But as Philemon read the letter, he learned something that changed everything. Onesimus had run away to Rome and somehow connected with Paul while in Rome. Paul spoke God’s truth to Onesimus, and he put his faith in Jesus Christ (Philemon v. 10 NKJV)! And now Paul asked Philemon to receive him the same way he would receive the other believers whom he met in his own house every week (Philemon v. 16)! Paul explained that sometimes people needed to wander to realize their need for Jesus (Philemon v. 15).

Therefore, Paul wrote that Philemon should forgive him, close the chapter on this hurtful season of his life, and focus on more important priorities in his church—like the deity and supremacy of Jesus Christ!

Philemon had an immediate opportunity to demonstrate whether he was going to obey God and forgive his brother or remain bitter towards Onesimus. Because not only did Tychicus deliver these two letters (Colossians and Philemon), but he was accompanied by Onesimus himself (Colossians 4:7-9)! But Paul knew Philemon would forgive him, probably knowing Philemon’s proven character from the past (Philemon verses 20-21). That sad reality is that for months, Philemon was held back from fully engaging and supporting his local church in combatting an extremely serious attack on the foundational truth of Christianity – that Jesus is fully-God, fully-man, and Creator of the world who came to earth, lived a sinless life, took upon Himself all of the sin of mankind, died to pay the penalty for everyone’s sin, and rose again proving He could conquer the consequences of sin – all because Philemon could not get past the bitter feeling of how someone wronged him, hurt him, and got away with it. Think of it this way, Philemon is in his bedroom sulking about how somebody wronged him and having his own pity-party while the church leadership and all the membership are in his living room working feverishly to repel the onslaught of heretical attacks against them and against one of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, the deity and supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Paul emphasized that it was time for Philemon to get his spiritual priorities in order, quickly resolve any spiritual issues, get over any petty feelings of “woe-is-me”, forgive whom he needed to forgive, and get in that living room and get in the game! Paul had labored too hard over the past 20-plus years in ministry to get to that point and hear that not all of the believers were spiritually prepared to fully engage in the work of the Gospel ministry! The believers who sacrificed their lives to proclaim the Gospel, who had to run for their lives because of the cause of Christ, who preached as they were fleeing from persecution, and gave of themselves and their resources to make sure the Gospel continued to spread, had to compel all believers to join them with equal fervor and passion in the work of the ministry. Paul was not about to excuse any believer who showed a lack of total commitment and engagement in sharing the Gospel and making disciples. Paul felt that believers harmed the cause of Christ when they selfishly wallowed in their own personal world and consumed their thinking with things that only affected them, while the Gospel of Jesus Christ was under relentless attack every day. Paul sat imprisoned for two years because he put the cause of Christ and His Mission to preach the Gospel “to the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8b) first and foremost in his life. Paul set aside his needs, wants, and desires to serve God and devoted his time to make an eternal impact. And he rightly believed that every believer should be equally committed.

Thus, Paul was telling Philemon to quickly settle what he needed to settle and get in the game because the world is dark, souls are dying without Christ, the attack against Christianity is real, and the Lord is calling for all believers, regardless of age, gender, personality, knowledge-level, nationality, or past spiritual journey to rise up and join the community of believers to devote their entire being to what matters: Share the Gospel (Acts 1:8) and to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20)! And Paul’s words to Philemon are his words of encouragement to us today. Now that we have experienced what God has done through Paul and so many other believers to build His Church in the book of Acts, it is now OUR turn! It’s our turn to get in the game, focus on His priorities, remove all distractions, make an eternal impact, and devote ourselves to what really matters to the Lord: “To change our world by developing Christ-followers who love God and love people.”

Ponder & Pray Today…

Reflect upon all that we learned through Acts 13-28. Compare all the challenges that Paul and the other believers faced to your commitment level to share the Gospel, support other believers, and do what you can to strengthen fellow believers and pray for them. Ponder the level of commitment and personal conviction these first-century believers had when they needed to put their self-interests aside and to make God’s priorities their priorities. Look back on how the believers actively participated in, supported, and maintained a daily connection with the believers in their local community. How they lived together and how the believing community was their primary source of fellowship brought them joy.

Pray and ask God to have this level of love for the believing community with which you fellowship. Take time to thank God for your local church. Tell God that you will pray for your leaders regularly, support fellow believers intentionally, and serve your local church by using your skills and giftedness to help the church expand in its ministry outreach. Tell Him you will “get in the game” and do your part to continue what the first-century believers started, “To change our world by developing Christ-followers who love God and love people.”