The Churches of Philippi and Colossae

Read Philippians 1:1–3 and Colossians 1:1, 2. How are the churches in Philippi and Colossae described, and what significance does the depiction have?

Paul’s typical greeting in his epistles calls Christians in those places “saints”; that is, through baptism they have been set apart as God’s special people, just as the people of Israel, through the practice of circumcision (Exod. 19:5, 6; compare 1 Pet. 2:9, 10), had been set apart as a “holy nation.” (This has utterly nothing to do with the Roman church’s practice of canonizing people as “saints.”)

Also interesting is the parallel between the greetings of these two epistles. Paul refers to “overseers and deacons” (Phil. 1:1, ESV) in Philippi and “faithful brothers in Christ” (Col. 1:2, ESV) in Colossae. When the New Testament speaks of “faithful brothers,” they have a specific ministry in the church (see Eph. 6:21, Col. 4:7, 1 Pet. 5:12). So, it appears Paul is addressing not only the church members but also the church leaders in these cities. The reference to offices that are more specifically described in other places (for example, in 1 Tim. 3:1–12, Titus 1:5–9) witnesses to the existence and importance of organization from the earliest period of the church.

Training coworkers such as Timothy and Epaphras and providing for the leadership of local churches was a priority for Paul and augmented his evangelistic efforts. In other words, there was a strategic approach to both outreach and retention. Our Adventist pioneers followed the New Testament model of church organization, as many Advent Review and Sabbath Herald articles from the 1850s show. In fact, James White said, “The divine order of the New Testament is sufficient to organize the church of Christ. If more were needed, it would have been given by inspiration.”—“Gospel Order,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Dec. 6, 1853, p. 173. Long before Paul wrote to these churches, the apostles had already begun installing officers for the church in Jerusalem (see Acts 6:1–6, Acts 11:30), which “was to serve as a model for the organization of churches in every other place where messengers of truth should win converts to the gospel.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 91.

It is well known that Paul used literary assistants at times in the composition of his epistles. Timothy is also named as a co-sender elsewhere (see, for example, 2 Cor. 1:1, Philemon 1). The fact that Paul goes on to use “I” rather than “we” shows that his authority stands behind these epistles also.