You pick up your Bible and wonder, is there more here than meets the eye?
Is there anything here for me? I mean, it's just words printed on paper, right? Well, it may look like just print on a page, but it's more than ink. Join us for the next half hour as we explore God's Word together, as we learn how to explore it on our own, as we ask God to meet us there in its pages.
Welcome to More Than Ink. Hey, you know, in the Bible there's lots of lists of names, names, names, names, names, and sometimes they just seem boring. Just boring. Genealogies and pointless lists of names. But today, Paul's going to give us a list of names as he closes out Colossians. And if we do a little detective work, we find out this is not boring at all.
No, not at all. So join us as we look at that today on More Than Ink. Hey, I know you were looking for us.
This is More Than Ink. I'm Jim. And I'm Dorothy. And we are glad you're here again. You know what we're going to do today?
We are going to close out the Book of Colossians. And we're going to name names. And we're going to name names. And we're going to name, I was going to call it a rogues gallery, but that's not the right... They're not rogues. And no one knows...
These guys are heroes. No one knows what that phrase means anyway. So I'm just showing my age. Yeah, what we're going to do is as Paul closes out this little Book of Colossians, which we both greatly love. I mean, every time I come to the end of reading it, I get kind of teary-eyed. Well, I love this section of it because of what Paul says about these people who mean names.
Yeah. Well, we told you last time that as he closes this out, he's going to get personal. He's going to name names. You know, so-and-so says hi, all that kind of stuff. But these names are not totally random or strange to us.
You can do a really fun thing in Bible study by taking these names and using a concordance or a computer program and finding where else they show up in his letters or in Acts or different places. Yeah, you know what? They all show up elsewhere except for NIMFA. Exactly, exactly. That's really interesting.
Right. So today we have nine or ten names, depending on how you count them. And we're going to see who these people are in a second as we read our way through it.
I've got to get my right notes in front of me. Well, that would help because you don't want to be reading these names from some other scripture. So we're in chapter four of Colossians and we're starting into verse seven and we're taking it all the way to the end of the book. And this is final greetings and he names names and it's just really a fun thing to do. And from this we know who was with Paul, who he sent to Colossae, who's already in Colossae that he knows. So it pieces a lot of the story together.
Yeah, in fact, in this list are a couple of mentions in here that we find out character backgrounds on some people that are not, these backgrounds are not mentioned anywhere else. This is the key to understanding some of these people. So doggone it, let's just look at these people. What do you say? Here we go. Verse seven of chapter four. Shall we take them one at a time?
Sure, sure. Okay, starting verse seven, Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I've sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts. And with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who's one of you. They will tell you everything that has taken place here.
Let's stop there. So he's saying these first two guys are going to fill you all in in Colossae about what's going on here. They're going together. Paul's sending them together. So, you know, Tychicus and Onesimus both show up in other places.
They do. Tychicus was with Paul a lot. He was with him when he wrote Ephesians. He was with him when he wrote 2 Timothy. He was with him when he wrote Titus. And he shows up at Acts. So he was a common companion for Paul. So when Paul was doing his missionary journeys, he wasn't alone. Most of you know that. But we seldom remember who was on the trail with him.
And take a guess, it was one of these guys. And the way he introduces him here, he gives this little, you know, he's a beloved brother, faithful minister. It's as though they don't know who he is. So he might be a stranger to the people.
It's possible. Because he's introducing him right here. He doesn't say, and Tychicus says, he's one of you. You know him well.
No? So Tychicus is one of these guys that Paul's introducing. And likely could be the guy who's carrying this letter back to Colossae.
Could be. Well, he says he's a beloved brother and a faithful servant or minister and a fellow slave. Slave. Fellow bond slave. He serves the same master I do.
So, you know, this is a very humble introduction by Paul. I'm saying, this guy, I love him. He's faithful. He's serving right alongside with me. And I'm entrusting this to him. Yep, yep. And I'm entrusting to him the news about how we're doing here. Yeah.
How we are. In jail. Which actually is important because, you know, in Paul's letters, a lot of them he wrote from prison. Right.
And it's important for the people he's writing to, to know where he is and how things are going with him. Yeah, yeah. Even though he's in jail, he's saying, he's going to tell you how we're doing so that it will encourage your heart. Isn't that interesting?
Yeah. He's not coming saying, well, Paul's pretty bummed out because he's been chained in jail for a long time. He's saying, no, he's going to bring you news and it's going to encourage you.
And so I'm sure Paul could tell tales about even when he's in chains, how the gospel's continuing to move forward. So that's what Tychicus is going to tell. And I'm sending with him Onesimus. Ah, important name.
That's really interesting. Our beloved and faithful brother, who's one of you. So they knew Onesimus. So you want to tell us about Onesimus. Well, Onesimus was a slave. He was a runaway slave. He was a runaway slave.
Yeah. And how do we know that? The tiny book of Philemon. What was Onesimus' master's name? Philemon. And we don't know if that's how you pronounce it. Yeah.
Well, you know, Philamon is what I usually thought and I wasn't right. But anyway, so this guy's a slave. So when Paul introduces him, notice he doesn't introduce him as a repentant runaway slave.
He uses very ennobling terms, equalizing terms. He's faithful and now a beloved brother. He's one of you. He's one of you.
He's one of you. But if you read Philemon, just, it's like 25 verses, I mean, it's very, very short. You read Paul's affection and his pleading on behalf of Onesimus to his master, Philemon. He says, you know, perhaps this is why he was lost to you so that he could come back to you as a brother forever, right?
It's just so affectionate and so supportive of Onesimus. He is not secondary in value. Yeah, exactly.
Not a second class citizen at all. So you know, you can stop right here and go and read Philemon in about 30 seconds because it's just a really great follow up. Here's Onesimus, a real live slave, a real live slave who ran away from his master, somehow ended up where Paul is in jail and comes to the Lord. And as he returns back to his master, he comes back as a beloved brother, not just a repentant slave.
It's just a great story. We wish we knew more, but everything we know about him is in Philemon. Well, Paul does say he's been such a help to me.
So you know, he's been with Paul for quite some time. So he has grown in the faith and he is mature as a believer now. So Tychicus and Onesimus are going to bring back news to the Colossian church about how things are going in jail and by the way, it's encouraging, not discouraging. Right. Yeah, even in the midst of that persecution, the gospel goes forward. And despite all those roadblocks, God succeeds in moving forward the gospel and that's encouraging.
That's really encouraging. So this next batch of names are people who are with him in jail. Yes, yes.
Right? Not the guys coming back to Colossi, but guys probably staying behind in jail with him. The guys who are with Paul and the first one, verse 10 is Aristarchus, who again, shows up in a number of places. But if you remember the account of Paul and the shipwreck in Acts 27, Aristarchus was with him when he boarded the ship and there's no more mention of him by name in that account. But Luke was there also because part of that account is told in the first person. And so we did this and we went here and this happened to us. And so we can deduce from that that Aristarchus and Luke were with Paul during the shipwreck. During the shipwreck.
Pretty intense stuff. Yeah. So here he says, Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner greets you.
So he's locked up alongside Paul. Yeah. Right.
Yeah. And Aristarchus has a wonderful Greek name. I mean, just in general, the arkis means arkos, it means ruler and the front part is various interpretations, but it really means great ruler, nice ruler, best ruler. It means a guy who was given a position of power and authority. And now his name is the guy who rules quite well. He's a good guy.
But he's not ruling now. He's a prisoner. He's a prisoner and he shows up so often in jail with Paul. It's almost as though he dedicated his life in serving the gospel to go wherever Paul was going to get locked up because there he is.
So I would encourage you, we said this before, take your concordance and look up Aristarchus and see you'll find passages in Acts, passages in, he was with Paul in Ephesus. So he turns up in a lot of places. Yeah. Yeah.
So here he is in prison with Paul and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. Another interesting story, a very interesting story. Yeah. And a long story.
Yeah. Because Mark initially was taken as a young man to go along when Paul was ministering with Barnabas and he got homesick or sick and deserted just when things got hard. He went home. And for that reason, Paul refused to take him. Mark was at the center of the controversy that's described in Acts when Paul partnered company with Barnabas.
Yeah. And if you want to look at that, I mean, you'll see Mark in that first missionary journey with Paul in chapter 13 of Acts. And then you'll also see him leave and he goes back to Jerusalem. And then two chapters later in Acts 15, then when the name of John Mark, he was known as John Mark, when his name comes up as a potential person to come with him on tour, Paul says, nope, don't think so. Don't think so.
Not taking him. Nope. Right. So there's a sharp disagreement between Barnabas and Paul over this guy. And yet.
And yet. If you look in your concordance and trace Mark, you'll find that later in Paul's life, he was indispensable. That's right. So, you know, we don't know how many years that was, but this young man, John Mark, grew into a very important coworker with Paul. Yeah. Yeah. And don't you wonder, it's in parentheses in our English translation, concerning whom you have received instructions if he comes to you, welcome him.
What do you think those instructions are? Because all we can do is guess. Well, you wonder if his reputation of his having bagged it earlier preceded him. And so at some point, Paul sent instructions around to the churches and said, hey, if John Mark comes to you, welcome him. Be nice to him. Receive him. Yeah, exactly. Well, not just be nice to him. Receive him. He's one of you. Yeah.
Yeah. So if he comes to you, do that. So although he's not doing that now, he's still behind in jail with Paul. But that's a good thing for Mark. Mark originally kind of abandoned him on the trail and now here he is in jail with Paul. And so Mark is waving his hand from a distance saying, hi, I'm over here. And Paul says, you know, if he ever makes it back to Colossi, you know what I told you, be kind to him. Welcome him amongst you. Mark's a fascinating guy. Fascinating.
Okay. And the last guy on this list is called, verse 11, and Jesus who is called Justice. So it's a little hard to track down who he is. It's possible that he's the guy called Justice in Acts 18. Maybe. In Corinth. That's a possibility.
We don't know for certain. But this is one of the very few places he shows up. But here's what Paul says about these men. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God and they've been a comfort to me. So these guys that we've just named were all Jews. These three, Aristarchus, Mark and Justice. And Justice. They're Jews.
Yeah. And so they've been a great comfort to Paul. I always wondered in the sense that they were Jews, why would they be a greater comfort to Paul? But in a sense, they're not foreigners either. I mean, they share a lot of culture. So there's a lot of hometown comfort with just having these guys here because they share the same Jewish culture. So that's one really great thing.
Because they were on the road in Gentile cultures. Yeah. Yeah. So they were just a great comfort to him. I like the fact that he includes Mark as someone who's a great comfort when he was originally a great irritation to him.
Well, and at the end when he says, you know, I'd send Mark to me, I need him and have him bring these things. That's right. Yeah. He's a good help. Because he's a huge help to me. Yeah.
Yeah. So Mark is just a wonderful tale. And you pick this up by just taking his name and going through a concordance or a Bible study program and say, show me everywhere Mark or John Mark. He goes by John some too. John was a very common name. So John Mark distinguishes him.
And find out where he shows up and read the sections around it in context and say, wow, this is the same Mark over all these years? Yeah, it is. It is. Well, should we push on?
I guess we should. Yeah. Because after the comforting presence of Jews in Jesus, he goes on in verse 12, Epaphras, who is clearly a Greek, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus greets you. So Epaphras is with him.
Yes. We don't know if Epaphras was also in jail, but he's where Paul is. But he's where Paul is. Right. Epaphras, who is one of you, so he's known to them, a servant of Christ Jesus greets you. And here's the interesting thing about Epaphras, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in the will of God.
For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. Yep. Okay. Yeah. We talked last week about being steadfast and continuing in prayer.
Devoted. This might be what Paul is talking about. He might be the poster child.
Devoted himself to prayer for you, that you would stand mature and fully assured in the will of God. Wow. Yeah. No, I'm just being joking when I'm saying Epaphras is a poster child. I think he really is. I think Paul sees Epaphras' dedication and love for the people back in the Tri-Cities, I call them, back in Colossae and Hierapolis.
Well, because he's struggling on your behalf in his prayers. Yeah. So he wasn't just, God bless him today.
No, no, no. And he had a great love for them. And when we opened the book, his name shows up, and very clearly it tends to suggest the fact that when Paul was in Ephesus for an extended time, that Epaphras walked all the way from Colossae down to the ocean where Ephesus is, and joined in with the long stay that Paul had there, maybe became a believer during that, but definitely became a follower of Jesus and a disciple of Paul and all of that. And so in a real sense, we think that Epaphras found the gospel while he was visiting Ephesus, turned around and went back and brought the gospel back to Colossae.
So his heart for them is just very deep. Because he says in chapter one, since the day you heard of it from Epaphras. From Epaphras. This is the guy. This is the guy. Epaphras, who is one of you.
So theoretically from Colossae. Yeah. Well, and you know, in Philemon, Paul calls him a fellow prisoner.
He does. So maybe he was one of the men in prison here. Could be. He certainly was when Paul wrote Philemon. Yeah. But what distinguishes Epaphras is his hard work, not only in prayer, but in almost anything.
And not for himself or to serve Paul, but basically to serve those who are in Colossae for the sake of the gospel. Yeah. For those growing churches. Great heart for them.
I'm glad to see you out here, Apollos. Yeah. Yeah. So that's what really distinguishes Epaphras. The one who has a heart for you, who's put in the elbow grease for you, who struggles on your behalf in his prayers. All these things.
This guy says hi. So suddenly we get a more rounded picture of the people who were with Paul, had been with him, had struggled with him, had suffered with him, were locked up with him, traveled, tough nights on the road, a couple of them in the shipwreck, as we said before. So these guys lived intensely with Paul. And so I think sometimes we think of Paul as a solo act, but that was not the case at all.
No. And when he mentions Luke here, it's very interesting in verse 14, he says, and Luke, the beloved physician greets you as does Demas. Well, I want to camp on Luke for just a minute because Luke no doubt was a beloved physician. He traveled with Paul and Paul needed a personal physician given how often he was beaten, left for dead, stoned, his list of sufferings in second Corinthians is just jaw dropping. He needed a physician on his team.
Is there a doctor in the house? Yeah, I'm traveling with him right here. And this is the same Luke that wrote the gospel and the book of Acts.
Right. And this is the same Luke who we know as a physician only because of this comment right here. That's how we know he's a physician.
It's only here. And it's interesting if you read the gospel of Luke, he's the one that gives us all the physical medical details and the miracles. So it's evident in his physician skills.
His physician and analytical and his observation powers. I mean, this is the guy and he wrote the gospel of Luke and then probably together the book of Acts and the book of Acts from the first person as he toured with Paul on several occasions like you mentioned before. So Luke, the beloved physician greets you. So we don't know if he's in jail, but at least he's nearby Paul.
So that's kind of a good deal. But yeah, if the name Luke sounds familiar, it's because yeah, the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts written by Dr. Luke. Well, and the next guy in this verse is Demas. So one of the other places Demas has mentioned is in second Timothy four verse nine and 10.
And actually I'll read 11 also because this refers to these people. Paul says in second Timothy four, nine through 11, make every effort to come to me soon for Demas having loved this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescions has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me.
Here it comes. Pick up Mark and bring him with you for he's useful to me for service. But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.
So he's naming all these same guys. But it's so sweet, pick up Mark and bring him, but Demas, what does it say about him? He loved this present world.
He loved with this present world so he deserted me. Meaning he didn't want to be killed with Paul and go on to the next world. It was too dangerous or too uncomfortable or he just didn't want to go to prison.
He just begs it. And you know, I think it's noteworthy to say that Paul finds it important to mention the negative parts of the people who are with him like this guy. Well, he's in one breath before Mark because there was a point in Mark's life when he also deserted. He also deserted. But he turned, came back and grew up to be of great service to Paul. So I mean if Paul was fabricating these narratives he wouldn't include negative things like this. But he does. This is a real narrative, a real guy.
And isn't it interesting in this passage here in Colossians in verse 14 that almost everybody that he mentions in this list of nine and ten people have some kind of comment he makes about them. But this guy? Zip.
Nothing. As does Demas. And Demas says hi.
Right? Yeah. He doesn't even say that. Luke greets you as does Demas.
As does Demas. The end. Yeah. So he has no comment on him. So maybe that's an indicator that he was kind of on his way out of the mainstream.
Things were already getting rocky. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. But he's a famous guy.
Put that in your computer software in your Bible you'll find him. But in Philemon he calls him a fellow worker. He does. So there was a period of time when he was regarded as a critical member of the team.
A contributor. Yeah. But somewhere along the line he decided the world was more important to him. And I'm glad that Paul in 2 Timothy just spells it out. He's in love with this present world. And there's hints about the fact about not wanting to die then. Because our hope is in Christ in the next age in that sense. And so he's saying, no this guy would rather stay in this present age.
That's where his heart's at. Yeah. I want to be comfortable. I want to be well fed. I want to stay put.
I don't want to encounter constant opposition. Right. Right. Well the next person's interesting.
Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nymphah and the church in her house. Right. Right. Right. So you know it's interesting that that name, Nymphah, there's some little controversy out there that it really isn't a woman's name. It's a man's name. Right.
It couldn't possibly be a church in a woman's house. That's gone on for so long. Yeah. But it seems pretty clear.
Paul would not have called her out that way. She's not the only woman who had a church in her house. Yes. Yes. Right. Lydia in Philippi did the same thing.
Lydia did too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So it wouldn't be unusual. To be fair some of the oldest manuscripts, some used the masculine, some used the feminine. Yes. It's a fair debate.
It's a fair debate. But I like what these guys have done, this English translation, and they prefer to be a woman. I think it makes sense.
I think it makes sense. Well, Paul names women in other letters. Yeah.
Lots of them in the end of Romans. Yeah. Yeah. So this is not out of character for Paul. Yeah.
Yeah. So there was a church that was meeting in her house. Why weren't they meeting in the church building? Well, there was no church building.
There was no church building. But the house was hers. Yes. Which would indicate that she was probably a widow. Yes.
Yep. And forget about the fact that during this early first century of the church that there was no public buildings to meet, and everyone met in small houses. And then you know what? Their living rooms were smaller than ours, so the young church grew in these little tiny fellowships inside the churches. And there was always someone- Inside the houses. Inside the house.
I'm sorry. And inside that house would be someone who could lead a little bit of worship, someone who could bring the word to bear, someone who could pray. I mean, it was just a really touching thing. Well, indeed, they were all doing that, actually. If you read Paul's other letters, especially to Corinth where the church was in a state of chaos and he gives them very specific instructions, but men and women alike were praying and prophesying. And that was revolutionary, that women were actually part of the fellowship, the gathered fellowship and allowed to participate.
Yeah. And what I wonder about NIMFA too is the fact that here, Paul's a sort of important guy. He's in jail somewhere. We're getting letters from him. We just eat up what he writes to us. Maybe NIMFA never met him. Maybe word about her had gotten to him. Can you think what a thrill it would be for NIMFA as this letter is being read aloud in the village in Colossae and he's saying, greetings to everyone there in Laodicea and hey, NIMFA, hello. It's like he's waving from 1,000 miles away. Well, he says- What a great encouragement.
And when this letter's been read among you, have it also read in the church of Laodiceans and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. Yeah. Great. That is going to be known. Yeah. It's just a great encouragement to her. We underestimate that. I think she was just really jazzed when she heard this. Good for you for the church in your house.
Good for you. That's the way it should go. So yeah, these letters were always meant to be read aloud in these villages and Heropolis, Laodicea, Colossae, they're very close together. That's why I call them tri-cities.
They're tri-cities in the center of Turkey. And so Paul says, if you get a letter, pass it to them. If they get a letter, pass it to you and you need to read these letters to each other. Unfortunately we do not have the letter to Laodicea unless you believe that the book of Ephesians is the Laodicea. And there's interesting, I'm not going to die on that hill, but I mean there's interesting evidence to say that that might actually be the case because the Ephesian letter looks like it was written as a circulation letter, not as a city letter.
But it doesn't matter. It's just fascinating that Paul writes these letters and they're meant to be read in public for people to hear and be encouraged. So that's why we say we can understand these letters.
If they can read them aloud and understand them, so can we. So speaking of encouragement, the last guy he calls out, and say to Archippus, see that you fulfill the ministry that you've received in the Lord. Now that is probably an encouragement, not a bawling out because Archippus shows up again in Philemon and Paul calls him a fellow soldier.
He does. Yeah. So this is an encouragement.
This is not a tongue lashing. It's just stay in there, man. Stay in there.
Keep at it. It's a great encouragement as he ends to Archippus. And then in characteristic style, Paul closes the letter by picking up the pen himself because he usually dictates this to a scribe who pens it. He says, give me that. And he takes the pen and he writes on it and in verse 18, he says, I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains.
Grace be with you. Yeah. That's the way to end it. I always visualize when he says, remember my chains.
As he's writing with the pen, his chains are clanking. And what does that mean? Remember that I am imprisoned for the truth of the gospel and you're out and about. Yeah. Yeah. And implicitly, this is worth it. Right. This is worth it.
Right. And you'll be encouraged by the news. You get back from some of these guys about how the gospel is moving, even in the impossible situation of being in prison.
It still goes forward. This is not an accident or a setback for the gospel. God's bigger than my chains.
Remember my chains. Pray for me to have opportunity for the gospel. The doors will be open. And when that door opens, pray that I have clarity in how I describe the gospel and who Jesus is.
So we close out this wonderful little book of Colossians. You can go back to the beginning and read it all over again. Read the whole thing.
You can read it in about 20 minutes. Yeah. So we're going to move on somewhere else next time you hear from us. It's a secret right now because I don't think we're sure.
We don't know yet. Yeah. Okay. But we'd like you to come back and join us here on More Than Ink. I'm Jim.
And I'm Dorothy. And we're glad you're with us. We'll see you next time. Bye. There are many more episodes of this broadcast to be found at our website, morethanink.org. And while you're there, take a moment to drop us a note. Remember the Bible is God's love letter to you. Pick it up and read it for yourself and you will discover that the words printed there are indeed more than ink. But today, Paul. Was that my line? This has been a production of Main Street Church of Brigham City.
