Colossians

This carefully composed letter centers on the theme of Christ’s sovereignty over all rulers and powers in the universe. The letter is structured in a way that draws its hearers or readers into its center point through a literary pattern resembling a set of concentric circles. It begins and ends with opening and closing greetings. Prayers of thanksgiving and intercession come after the opening greetings and again before the closing greetings. At the structural and thematic center, the letter proclaims Christ’s sovereignty over rulers and powers and promises its audience that God “made you alive together with him,” that is, with Christ himself.