To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
An apostle is Christ's prime minister, immediately called and extraordinarily qualified to plant the church; I owe this not to my merit but to God's free grace alone. Joining Timothy as my brother, though I call him my son elsewhere, shows the elder must treat the younger with kindness and respect, for faithfulness crowns every relation in Christian life.
AI summary
Commenting on Colossians 1:1-2
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ,.... This is the inscription of the epistle, in which the persons wrote unto are described as "saints", or holy men; not by birth, for all are unholy and unclean by nature; nor by baptism, for that neither takes away sin, nor gives grace; nor merely externally, by an outward reformation; but by separation, being by an act...
Continuation of Introductory Notes to Colossians THE EPISTLE FROM LAODICEA. IN , of this epistle, the apostle gives this direction: "And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea." The former part of this verse is clear; and the direction was given, doubtless, because the...