Colossians

Colossians answers a specific problem: a teaching that mixed philosophy, asceticism and the worship of spiritual beings, presenting itself as a higher level of spirituality. Paul's answer is christological: chapter 1 contains a hymn presenting Christ as the image of the invisible God, the one in whom all things hold together. If he is that, nothing needs to be added. From there the letter dismantles the extra rules — "don't handle, don't taste" — and returns to the concrete: putting on compassion, kindness, humility, patience and forgiveness. Here is the much-used verse about work: "whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord". It is a short letter of four chapters.