Colossians 4:7-18
Remember My Chains
7Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a beloved brother, a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord.
8I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about us, and that he may encourage your hearts.
9With him I am sending Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here.
10My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you greetings, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas. You have already received instructions about him: If he comes to you, welcome him.
11Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.
12Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in the full will of God.
13For I testify about him that he goes to great pains for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.
14Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas send you greetings.
15Greet the brothers in Laodicea, as well as Nympha and the church that meets at her house.
16After this letter has been read among you, make sure that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.
17Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”
18This greeting is in my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Berean Standard Bible
Letters end with names, and most readers skim them. This one repays slowing down, because the names are the evidence that everything before them happened to real people in a real town.
Tychicus is carrying the letter and will tell them the news in person, because the letter could not hold everything. Then the second name in the same sentence changes the temperature.
With him I am sending Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you.
Onesimus is one of you, which means he is from Colossae, and there is another letter, written to the same town at the same time, that is mostly about him. In Philemon, Paul writes to a man whose slave Onesimus was, sending him back and asking that he be received as a brother. Here, in the letter the whole church will hear read out, Paul calls him a faithful and beloved brother in front of everybody, before Philemon has had a chance to decide anything.
Then a list of people, and several of them are worth a moment. Aristarchus is a fellow prisoner, so Paul is not alone in custody. Mark is mentioned with an instruction to welcome him, which is a small kindness in a letter that has no room to spare. Jesus called Justus is named, and Paul says these three are the only Jews among his fellow workers, and that they have been a comfort to him. The man who wrote that Christ holds the cosmos together still needed comforting.
Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in the full will of God.
The man who first brought them the gospel is with Paul, and what he is doing is wrestling in prayer for the town he came from. Chapter 1 introduced him as the one they learned it from. Chapter 4 shows what he does when he is not there.
Luke gets two words, beloved physician. Demas gets his name and nothing else. Nympha has a whole church meeting in her house and gets one line for it. Archippus gets a message passed on through the whole congregation: see to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.
This greeting is in my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Somebody else has been writing the letter down, and at the end Paul takes the pen. Three short sentences in handwriting the Colossians may never have seen before. Remember my chains is not a complaint and it is not a request for sympathy. He has asked them to pray for a door for the word. The chains are the reason.
How We Know
The names in this closing list turn up again in the letter to Philemon, and it is the names that show the two letters went to the same place.
Colossians 4:9 sends Onesimus, "who is one of you." Philemon is a letter about Onesimus, sending him back to his owner.
Colossians 4:17 tells the church to give Archippus a message. Philemon 1:2 is addressed to "Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets at your house."
Colossians 4:12 sends greetings from Epaphras. Philemon 1:23 calls Epaphras "my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus," and Philemon 1:24 names Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, all four of whom appear in this chapter as well.
Two letters, one town, the same room of people, written by a man who ends both of them still in chains.
Questions
1 Paul calls Onesimus a faithful and beloved brother in front of the whole church. Why does that matter?
AnswerBecause the letter to Philemon, sent to the same town, is about sending Onesimus back to the man who owned him. Paul says publicly what he is about to ask privately, before anybody has decided anything.
2 Paul says three of his coworkers have been a comfort to him. What does that tell us about him?
AnswerThat he needed comforting. The man who wrote that Christ holds all things together was glad of a few people who turned up, and he said so in writing.
3 What is Epaphras doing for the town he came from?
AnswerWrestling in prayer, always, so that they would stand mature and fully assured. He is the one who brought them the gospel, and this is what he does when he cannot be there.
4 In his own handwriting, before the grace, Paul writes "Remember my chains." What is he asking for?
AnswerNot sympathy. He has just asked them to pray for a door for the word, and the chains are why the door is shut. He is asking them to keep praying.
What This Means for Us
The names are the point of this passage rather than an appendix to it. A prisoner, a doctor, a man being sent back to the household he came from, a woman with a church meeting in her house, a man who needs telling to see something through. None of them are the reason anybody remembers this letter, and all of them are in the Bible by name.
What Archippus has, he received, and verse 17 says he received it in the Lord, which is why it was never his alone to quietly put down. Paul does not send that privately either. He tells the whole church to pass the message on, and somebody in most families has something they were given and have not finished.
So ask each other tonight: what is the thing you were handed and have not finished? Nobody solves it for anybody. Just say it, and let the room know, the way Colossae was made to know about Archippus.
Prayer
Father, thank you for a letter that ends with ordinary names, including a man who needed telling to finish what he was given and a man who had been somebody's property. Thank you for the people who pray for us out of sight. Give this house the grace Paul signed off with, and help us remember the ones in chains. Amen.