I don't know why anyone would argue against thousands upon thousands of agreeing ancient manuscripts that have been validated by our early church fathers like Polycarp, who actually knew John. Why would anyone argue "so they took out the the word Jesus and Father, and Holy Spirit sometimes. So what? not all the time."
The thousands of byzantine texts were found all over where John was actually ministering at the time's he was writing and in the locations of the churches he was writing too, thats why they had to make copies in the first place, to share the information. Why ON EARTH would we trade ALL OF THAT for a couple of texts that are in a gnostic area, that distort the thousands-during a time WE KNOW the gnostics were there? What is wrong with this picture?
Paul had never visited Colosse, but he had spent a considerable amount of time in Ephesus, located about one hundred miles to the east—so it was very likely that Paul and Epaphras (founder of the Colossian church) had been in contact with one another.
Why was it written? When Epaphras arrived in Rome, he brought with him disturbing news from the Christian community in Colosse: non-Christian teachings were circulating within the Colossian church. The problem was syncretism: Jewish and Gentile beliefs and practices were being combined, creating a sort of hybrid religion that no longer resembled true Christianity.
More specifically, the heresy taking root in Colosse was a form of gnosticism, which taught (among other things) that humans could transcend evil and the corruptions of the world through asceticism and their own strength of will. Gnostics believed that they could essentially ignore the world and follow their own desires and impulses. Paul wrote to the Colossian church to warn them away from error and reiterate the importance of the Christian ethic.
http://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2012/08/letters-to-the-church-colossians/
It was even a problem way back then...
The thousands of byzantine texts were found all over where John was actually ministering at the time's he was writing and in the locations of the churches he was writing too, thats why they had to make copies in the first place, to share the information. Why ON EARTH would we trade ALL OF THAT for a couple of texts that are in a gnostic area, that distort the thousands-during a time WE KNOW the gnostics were there? What is wrong with this picture?
Paul had never visited Colosse, but he had spent a considerable amount of time in Ephesus, located about one hundred miles to the east—so it was very likely that Paul and Epaphras (founder of the Colossian church) had been in contact with one another.
Why was it written? When Epaphras arrived in Rome, he brought with him disturbing news from the Christian community in Colosse: non-Christian teachings were circulating within the Colossian church. The problem was syncretism: Jewish and Gentile beliefs and practices were being combined, creating a sort of hybrid religion that no longer resembled true Christianity.
More specifically, the heresy taking root in Colosse was a form of gnosticism, which taught (among other things) that humans could transcend evil and the corruptions of the world through asceticism and their own strength of will. Gnostics believed that they could essentially ignore the world and follow their own desires and impulses. Paul wrote to the Colossian church to warn them away from error and reiterate the importance of the Christian ethic.
http://www.biblegateway.com/blog/2012/08/letters-to-the-church-colossians/
It was even a problem way back then...
