s with a prayer for their fuller knowledge
of the divine will, for a more perfect Christian life, and for a spirit
of thanksgiving, seeing that it is God who guarantees their salvation in
Christ (i. 1-14). It is Christ who is supreme, not angels, for He is the
agent in creation; and it is solely on the basis of faith in Him, a
faith expressing itself in love, that redemption is appropriated, and
not on the basis of any further requirements such as ascetic practices
and the worship of angels (i. 15-23). It is with a full message that
Paul has been entrusted, the message of Christ, who alone can lead to
all the riches of fulness of knowledge. And for this adequate knowledge
the readers should be thankful (i. 23--ii. 7). Again he urges, that
since redemption is in Christ alone, and that, too, full redemption and
on the basis of faith alone, the demand for asceticism and meaningless
ceremonies is folly, and moreover robs Christ, in whom dwells the divine
fulness, of His rightful supremacy (ii. 8-23). And he exhorts them as
members of the Body of Christ to manifest their faith in Christian love,
particularly in their domestic relations and in their contact with
non-Christians (iii. i-iv. 6). He closes by saying that Tychichus will
give them the news. Greetings from all to all (iv. 7-18).

A letter like this, clear cut in its thought, teeming with ideas
emanating from an unique religious experience, and admirably adjusted to
known situations, bears on the face of it the marks of genuineness even
without recourse to the unusually excellent external attestation. It is
not strange that there is a growing consensus of opinion that Paul is
the author. With the critical renaissance of the early part of the 19th
century, doubts were raised as to the genuineness of the letter (e.g. by
E. T. Mayerhoff, 1838). Quite apart from the difficulties created by the
Tubingen theory, legitimate difficulties were found in the style of the
letter, in the speculation of the errorists, and in the theology of the
author. (1) As to style, it is replied that if there are peculiarities
in _Colossians_, so also in the admittedly genuine letters, _Romans_,
_Corinthians_, _Galatians_. Moreover, if _Philippians_ is Pauline, so
also the stylistically similar _Colossians_ (cf. von Soden). (2) As to
the speculation of the errorists, it is replied that it is explicable in
the lifetime of Paul, that some of the elements of it may have their
source in pre-Christi