Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture | ACCS)

While patristic commentary on St. Paul’s shorter letters—Colossians, 1–2 Thessalonians, the Pastorals, and Philemon—was not so extensive as that on his longer letters, certain passages in these letters proved particularly important in doctrinal disputes and practical church matters. Pivotal in controversies with the Arians and the Gnostics, the most commented-upon Christological text amid these letters was Colossians 1:15–20, where Jesus is declared “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

In other texts scattered throughout the Pastorals, the fathers found ample support for the divinity of the Son and the Spirit and for the full union of humanity and divinity in the one redeemer, the “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). These early Christian commentators also looked to the Pastorals, where Pauline authorship was assumed, for important ethical and moral teaching, as well as explicit qualifications for choosing church leaders and guidelines for overseeing the work and behavior of widows.

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