Several hundred years before Paul’s day, Colossae had been a leading city in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). It was located on the Lycus River and on the great east-west trade route leading from Ephesus on the Aegean Sea to the Euphrates River. By the first century A.D. Colossae was diminished to a second-rate market town, which had been surpassed long before in power and importance by the neighboring towns of Laodicea and Hierapolis (see 4:13).

What gave Colossae NT importance, however, was the fact that, during Paul’s three-year ministry in Ephesus, Epaphras had been converted and had carried the gospel to Colossae (cf. 1:7-8; Ac 19:10). The young church that resulted then became the target of heretical attack, which led to Epaphras’s visit to Paul in Rome and ultimately to the penning of the Colossian letter.

Perhaps as a result of the efforts of Epaphras or other converts of Paul, Christian churches had also been established in Laodicea and Hierapolis. Some of them were house churches (see 4:15; Phm 2). Most likely all of them were primarily Gentile.

Paul never explicitly describes the false teaching he opposes in the Colossian letter. The nature of the heresy must be inferred from statements he made in opposition to the false teachers. An analysis of his refutation suggests that the heresy was diverse in nature.

Colossus was not visited by Paul on his missionary journeys but was an outgrowth of

the three years Paul spent in Ephesus (Acts 19; 20:17-38). So effective was the witness of the church at Ephesus that “all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus…” (Acts 19:10).

Specifically, two men, Epaphras and Philemon (Phile 19), who were in Ephesus, seem to have been primarily responsible as founders (Col 1:7). Epaphras apparently carried the thrilling news of the Gospel to his family back home in Colossae (Cf. Mark 5:19). Philemon had a church meeting in his home (Phile 2). It is likely that Apphia and Archippus were respectively the wife and son of Philemon, and Archippus was the pastor of the church (Col 4:17).

At the time of the writing, heavy persecution of the believers of “the way” (now known as Christianity) had begun.  He was arrested in Jerusalem and appealed to Caesar in the late 50’s A.D.  His appeal was granted and he was taken to Rome to plead his case before Emperor Nero.  He was held in house arrest until his appeal was heard, which is when this letter was written.  It was probably written shortly after the letter to the Ephesians and about the same time as the letter to the Philippians.