Epistola Pauli apostoli ad Colos
Standard abbreviation: Apocr. Ep. Col.
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 991
Category: Epistles
Related literature: Epistle to the Alexandrians
Compiled by Isaac Soon, Crandall University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Soon, Isaac. “Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/apocryphal-epistle-to-the-colossians/.
Created May 2021. Current as of February 2024.
1. SUMMARY
In the nineteenth century, Theodor Zahn thought that he had found in Apocr. Ep. Col. a fragment of Paul’s alleged letter to the Alexandrians mentioned in the Muratorian Canon. Apocr. Ep. Col. exists only in a single Latin manuscript. Based on its content, M. R. James argued that it should not even be called an “apocryphon.” Meens most recently argued that, although it is a liturgical mass reading, it should be considered a sermon that draws on apocryphal and Old Testament traditions, and that the sermon has little connection to the canonical letter to the Colossians.
The text lacks any epistolary features (greeting, addressees, closing, etc.). The singular focus of the short passage is on keeping the commandments of God. Those who do not keep God’s commandments will reap God’s judgment and face the consequences of being disinherited from God’s kingdom and facing hell instead. Daily acts of sin may be remedied by faith, trust, chastity, fasting, and almsgiving.
Various literary themes appear that also occur in the Old Testament and New Testament, such as certain prohibitions from the Decalogue (swearing falsely, stealing, committing adultery, bearing false witness), “the second death” (Rev 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8), a reformulation of the “golden rule,” the reception of a “crown” in Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Cor 9:25; 1 Thess 2:19; Phil 4:12; Tim 4:8; 1 Pet 5:4; Jas 1:12; Rev 2:10), and also possibly the mention of records/memorials of evil deeds for final judgment as found in 1 Enoch (e.g. 96:4, 7; 99:3).
Named historical figures and characters: Paul (apostle) (implied in title).
Geographical locations: Colossae (implied in title).
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Latin
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 13246, fols. 212r–212v (701–725)
Lowe, E. A. The Bobbio Missal: A Gallican Mass-Book (Ms Paris Lat. 13246). Text. HBS 58. London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1920 (edition of Missale Bobiense).
Legg, J. W. The Bobbio Missal: A Gallican Mass-Book (Ms Paris Lat. 13246). Facsimile. HBS 53. London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1917.
Mabillon, Jean, and Michel Germaine. Museum italicum sev collectio veterum scriptorum ex bibliothecis italicis. Lutetiae Parisiorum: Montalant, 1724 (Latin transcription of Missale Bobiense, with Apocr. Ep. Col. in vol. 1, p. 363).
Zahn, Theodor. Geschichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanons. Zweiter Band: Urkunden und Belege zum ersten und dritten Band. Zweite Hälfte. Erlangen and Leipzig: A. Deichert’sche Verlagsbuchandlung (Georg Böhme), 1892 (transcription from Missale Bobiense, pp. 587–89).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
James, M. R., ed. The Apocryphal New Testament: Being the Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924 (pp. 479–80).
3.2.2 Italian
Moraldi, Luigi. Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 2 vols. Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1971 (p. 1739).
3.3 General Works
Hahneman, Geoffrey Mark. The Muratorian Fragment and the Development of the Canon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992 (p. 196).
Meens, Rob. “Reforming the clergy: a context for the use of the Bobbio penitential.” Pages 154–67 in The Bobbio Missal: Liturgy and Religious Culture in Merovingian Gaul. Edited by Yitzhak Hen amd Rob Meens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004 (esp. p. 156).