Challenging the Empire

Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians 1, 6-7:: The gospel that has come to you…it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God.

During the Roman Empire, Rome wanted fruitfulness, abundance and peace to be absolutely connected with the existence of the Roman rule. Rome wanted not only to rule externally, but also internally like in any totalitarian state, the empire wanted everyone to confess that the only way of life that was acceptable was the one declared by the Roman rule.

You can clearly find out that concepts of happiness, liberty, peace, fruitful life and love independent of the Rome power were something completely unacceptable for the Roman rulers. For a totalitarian empire, the idea that someone can be happy independent of state rule is always unacceptable. 

But Paul challenges that concept declaring that in Christ we can have a fruitful life that is not the result of the Roman state. Listen again what Paul is saying to the church: We have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 
 
Definitely, these words were not something that emperor Nero and Roman authorities wanted to hear. Paul states that for a happy and fruitful he is praying without ceasing to a God that is not the emperor or the goddess Rome. This only action converts him in an outlaw.
 
Secondly, Paul says that the disciples should aspire to be filled with the knowledge of God´s will. Again, this was completely countercultural, Rome wanted that people only know what the state wanted to allow them to know. In modern terms, Rome wanted to control information, communication and knowledge because according to Rome, independent thinking and independent prayer could only lead, to challenge the presence of the totalitarian Roman empire. 
 
Thirdly, Paul says that his dream and aspirations for the community are clear, he wants that they may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him. Again, another challenge to the status quo of the empire. Paul´s desire is that the Christian community live a life that looks for Christ only, a life consecrated to Christ, a life that worships the real God revealed in Jesus Christ.

​If Christians live this kind of life, their lifestyle will be in complete opposition to the dominant culture, in those days represented by the culture of the Roman empire that expected people to live, worship and serve the Roman state and the emperor that personified the empire.

In the Roman Empire era, the official teaching was that the emperor embodied the glory of the gods, for this reason images of the emperor dominated public space. In that context, Paul called the Christians to worship God and Jesus only, because Jesus is the real sovereign and the real manifestation of the eternal God.
 
Paul writes in Colossians 1,15-16 [Christ Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;16for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 
 
Paul´s language concerning the powers is rooted in Israel´s Scriptures, where the terms thrones (gr. thronoi), dominions (gr. kyriotetai) and powers (gr. exousiai) commonly refer to kings and their dynasties, their realms and the power that they exercised. While rulers (gr. archai) could be used to refer to spiritual entities, it also referred to earthly rulers.[1]
 
Think how disruptive the letter to the church in Colossae was, because in a world where the emperor was the head of the body politic, the Roman empire, Paul described Jesus as the head of a new body politic, the church. Paul brings these verses to a climax with the claim that in Jesus all things in heaven and on earth are reconciled, for he has made peace through the blood of the cross. Making peace was nothing new in the empire. In fact, making peace was the language used by the empire to justify its existence.[2]
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But Paul changes the meaning of peace. In Roman political discourse to celebrate universal peace (pax) was a result of the victory of Rome military pacification. In striking contrast to this idea of Pax Romanaor Roman Peace, where peace was brought through violent military might, economic oppression, and cultural domination, Paul proclaims in his letter to the Colossians that peace and reconciliation are the result of the self-sacrificial love of God revealed on the cross of Christ. He proclaims a victory that was not the result of a military campaign, the conquest of new territory, or the imposition of the Roman rule. Paul proclaims the victory of Jesus the same way as Jesus was crucified by a Roman governor. Jesus was raised by God in a demonstration that it was God and not the empire who had the last word.
 
Paul´s description of the reconciliation of all things, whether on earth or in heaven, and the proclamation of the gospel to all creatures provided a basis for a message of good news and redemption for all of creation.[3]
 
The victory of Christ, and the rule of the kingdom of God, according to Paul have consequences that affect not only people but also the whole creation. The whole planet is now under the blessing and protection of the living Christ; it is not the emperor the owner of the world but Christ who has the right to rule over everything and everybody.


[1] The New Testament. Fortress Commentary on the Bible. Pages 560-561

[2] Idem page 561

[3] Op. Cit. Page 562

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