It's quite simple: I know nothing

giggling gaggle of goslings Starting this week for the coming four Sundays our second reading is from Colossians (50-80 AD?), an interesting letter disputed as to whether Paul (d. 63-67?) wrote it: scholars say yes and scholars say no. Who say yes date it perhaps with Philemon (50-60?), who say no date it maybe with even more disputed Ephesians (80-100?). Mind, though intrigued, I don’t know these things, I know nothing, I just read and forget. At any event, Colossians is an occasional letter and the occasion doesn’t always have to be Judaizers as with some of Paul's other letters, IDK, it may be that gnosticism is developing in Colossae and Laodicea. The letter's Christology may raise questions about Paul. And does it matter in authorship and/or dating that the NRSV, DLNT, Westcott-Hort, and SBLGNT open (vs. 2) “Grace to you and peace from God our Father” while the KJV and TR open “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”? It matters to me, I just haven’t explored or thought about it enough to help myself decide what to make of it before I forget it anyway. How significant is και κυριου ιησου χριστου in contemplating authorship, date, ...? IDK but am wondering if some scribe or redactor early added και κυριου ιησου χριστου because that's what Paul would have said had Paul written it?

Joe arrives today, riding down from W-S, NC on his BMW motorcycle. God help us. Traveling mercies, Kyrie. And having had a lesson during supper after church last night I’m working on improving my pano skills (sunset last evening). And the bunch of l.c. “g’s” above, I’m trying to remember the font I used with the “g” that recalls the California quail we used to see in Scottsdale, Arizona (1966 - 1971). I think it was Wunderlich. This, if it transfers to my blog, is Palatino. WTH, it’s Thursday, give it up, Granddaddy.   

Colossians 1:1-14 (NRSV)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.