Paul concluded this epistle with personal information and instructions. He did this to bond his readers more tightly to the body of Christ from which they were in danger of separating due to the influence of the false teachers.
4:7-8 Paul sent Tychicus with this letter for two primary purposes. He wanted to provide more information about himself and his present ministry than he felt led to record in this letter. He also wanted to encourage the Colossians. In relation to all other Christians Tychicus was a beloved brother. In relation to Christ he was a faithful servant. In relation to Paul he was a fellow bondslave either both as a prisoner of Rome and to the will of God, or just to the will of God. Tychicus' name occurs five times in association with Paul in the New Testament (Acts 20:4; Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7; Titus 3:12; 2 Tim. 4:12).
"Someone has said that the greatest ability in the world is dependability, and this is true."178
4:9 Onesimus had been a slave in the household of Philemon and a member of the Colossian church, had run away to Rome, and Paul had led him to Christ there. Paul sent him back to Colosse with Tychicus, not in chains but as a beloved brother in Christ who had proved himself faithful (cf. Phile.).
These men traveled from Rome to Colosse, probably by way of Ephesus and Laodicea, with the epistle to the Ephesians (Eph. 6:21-22). They probably also carried one to the Laodiceans (cf. v. 16), and the epistle to Philemon (Phile. 2:23-24), as well as this epistle.
Paul mentioned six individuals five of whom he also named in Philemon.
4:10 Aristarchus came from Thessalonica (Acts 20:4), had been with Paul in Ephesus (Acts 19:29), and accompanied him to Rome (Acts 27:2). "Prisoner"(v. 10) is the translation of an unusual Greek word (lit. prisoner of war). It probably means prisoner to the will of God rather than prisoner of Caesar (cf. Phile. 23).
John Mark (Acts 12:25) had rejoined Paul after their separation during Paul's first missionary journey (Acts 13:5, 13). The Colossians knew his cousin Barnabas better. This Mark wrote the Gospel that bears his name (cf. 2 Tim. 4:11).
"John Mark is an encouragement to everyone who has failed in his first attempts to serve God. He did not sit around and sulk. He got back into the ministry and proved himself faithful to the Lord and to the Apostle Paul."179
4:11 Jesus Justus' name occurs only here in the New Testament.
These three men were Jewish Christians as is clear from their names. Paul's mentioning them helped the Colossians realize that what he had written about Jews and Gentiles being equal in Christ was a reality in his ministry. The "kingdom of God"here probably refers to the future messianic (millennial) rule of Christ on the earth (cf. 1:13). These fellow-workers were preparing for that future kingdom by their present service.
4:12-13 The following three fellow-workers had Gentile backgrounds. Epaphras had evidently been instrumental in the founding of the church at Colosse (1:7). His concern for the Colossians is clear from his zealous prayers for their maturity and their full perception of God's complete will for them. These concerns are the burden of this epistle. Epaphras' fervent agonizing in prayer (cf. Luke 22:44) reflects his understanding that God would provide illumination and continued growth in proportion as people requested these of Him (James 4:2). This is spiritual work that only God can do. Epaphras' concern for the Christians in the other towns near Colosse suggests the possibility of his evangelizing these communities too.
"Epaphras holds the unique distinction among all the friends and co-workers of Paul of being the only one whom Paul explicitly commended for his intensive prayer ministry. The passage quoted above [4:12-13] may well be called his diploma of success in this ministry."180
"Epaphras grasped, what many of us are slow to realize, that the tactics of the Christian battle are born of the strategy of prayer."181
"There are many things outside the power of ordinary Christian people, and great position, wide influence, outstanding ability may be lacking to almost all of us, but the humblest and least significant Christian can pray, and as prayer moves the Hand that moves the world,' perhaps the greatest power we can exert is that which comes through prayer."182
"It is related of an old pastor who every Saturday afternoon could be seen leaving his study and entering the church house by the back door, and about sundown he would be seen going home. Someone's curiosity was aroused enough to follow one day and watch through a window. It was in the days when the family pew was an institution of the church. The old pastor was seen to kneel at each pew and pray for every member of the family that was to occupy it on the Lord's Day. He called each member by name as he poured out his heart to God for his flock. His was a ministry of power and his people reflected the grace of God upon them. Blessed is that church which has such a praying shepherd."183
4:14 Paul identified Luke, the writer of the third Gospel and Acts, only as a physician.
"At this time medicine was only just becoming a subject of systematic instruction."184
Luke would have been both physically and spiritually helpful to Paul.
Demas later forsook Paul (2 Tim. 4:10), but at this time he was ministering to and with the apostle.
4:15 In addition to the neighboring Laodicean Christians, Paul sent greetings to Nympha, possibly the hostess of a Laodicean house-church. There is no evidence that Christians met in church buildings until the third century.185The early Christians seem to have chosen their meeting places on the basis of convenience and expediency.
4:16 Paul's letter to the Laodiceans was probably not an inspired one and has evidently been lost (cf. 1 Cor. 5:9). This seems more likely than that Paul was referring to the Epistle to the Ephesians here.186
4:17 Archippus seems to have been Philemon's son (Phile. 2). Perhaps he was a gifted young man whom Paul wished to encourage. The idea that he was the present leader of the Colossian church is only a possibility that some commentators have suggested.
Paul normally used a secretary to write his letters and then added a personal word at the end in his own handwriting to authenticate his authorship (cf. Rom. 16:22). Here he requested his readers' prayers for him in his house arrest in Rome (cf. vv. 3-4). Finally he wished that God's continuing unmerited favor would be their portion (cf. 1:2).
Why did Paul include so many personal references to friends and acquaintances in this epistle? Perhaps he had never visited these Christians and they knew him only by reputation (cf. 2:1). Probably since he had lived and ministered in Asia Minor for three years he would have had personal contact with some of the saints in Colosse. Evidently he sent many personal greetings because he had many friends in Colosse.187
