We start reading from the Epistle to the Colossians today. This has traditionally been considered a Pauline epistle but modern scholars have questioned whether the Apostle was, in fact, the author. It has themes and vocabulary not found in the undisputed Pauline letters. More recently, other scholars suggest that those differences are explainable because of the different circumstances in which the letter was written. For one thing, St. Paul had not evangelized Colossae and did not know the community. You know the grace of God in truth, as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow slave, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. The themes in this epistle might diverge from others since Paul was not dealing with situations among people he knew but, rather, presenting a more theological explanation of the Gospel. As we know from our own lives, faith grows and develops as it interacts with life. Faith is not a rock handed on from hand to hand but a living thing, like a plant that needs nuturing and pruning as it grows.
