The Apostle Paul, while under arrest in Rome, wrote letters to the church at Colossae and a man who worshiped there, Philemon. Colossae was a relatively minor city centre in its day, but the Gospel had spread there due to Paul’s mentoring of disciples in Ephesus. He had never met these Colossians, just as he has not met us. Yet he saw himself as a spiritual father to them, wanting to guide them away from heretical teaching, and toward Christ-like living.