During the latter part of his imprisonment at Caesarea he knew that he was going to Rome. It would be necessary then to place the letter in the earlier part. But it does not well suit this, for Paul had for a long time been anxious to see Rome, and it is most unlikely that he should think of going to Colossz first. It would be very strange, further, if Paul wrote from Czsarea, that he should be silent about Philip, whose guest he had been shortly before, and should leave us with the impression that he was unsympathetic. The general situation presupposed in the Epistle suits Rome better than Czesarea.
This would be practically certain if these Epistles were written after Philippians, as Bleek, Lightfoot and several English scholars suppose. But the more usual view which makes Philippians the latest of the Imprisonment-Epistles seems to be preferable. The argument from theological affinities is most precarious; and Colos- sians, as well as Philippians, presents striking parallels with Romans. The theological system of Paul was formed before he wrote our earliest Epistle, yet how little Paulinism there is in Thessalonians, or even in 1 Corinthians. We have no right to expect the thoughts of Colossians to reappear in Philippians, a simple letter of thanks to a Church where the Colossian type of false doctrine had not ap- peared. Indeed, how much there is in Colossians that does not recur in Ephesians, and how much Ephesians adds to what we find in Colossians! Yet these were written practically together. Three years at least lay between Romans and the earliest time at which Philippians could have been written, and less than eighteen months between this time and the latest date that can be assigned to Colos- sians. Further, Paul seems in Philippians to express a more decided conviction as to the speedy settlement of his fate than in Philemon; and he looks forward to death as a not unlikely contingency. In Philippians Paul also speaks of sending away Timothy shortly, whereas he is with Paul in Colossians. If 2 Tim. iv. 19 dates, as some scholars think, from this imprisonment, this would agree best with the priority of Colossians, for in Philippians Paul speaks of sending him away, in 2 Timothy we find him gone. This, however, is not very cogent. It seems best to adhere to the usual view and to date the Epistle during the early part of Paul’s Roman Imprison- ment. The year to which we assign it depends on the general view we take as to the chronology of Paul’s life. We may perhaps place it in ap. 59. [The article on “ Chronology of the New Testament” by C. H. Turner in Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible may be consulted. |
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