Paul’s final words to the Colossians are “Grace be with you” (Col 4:18), echoing the words with which he greeted them at the beginning, “Grace and peace to you” (1:2). Just as we should understand his opening greeting as meaning much more than “Hi” or “Dear Colossians,” so too should we take his final words as meaning much more than “goodbye.” Paul’s prayer is that the lives of the Colossians would be saturated with God’s grace and peace, and that should be our prayer for ourselves and each other.

Paul probably used what’s called an amanuensis—essentially, a secretary who took dictation—to write to the Colossians. It may have been Timothy, but we can’t know for certain. Here at the end of Colossians and a few other letters, he takes up the pen himself to sign the letter and add a few final words. But as he does so, he becomes conscious of the shackles on his wrists, and bids the Colossians to remember his chains (Col 4:18).

Just before he ends the letter, Paul shifts his greetings: instead of sending greetings from the people around him, he sends greetings or instructions to people in and around Colossae (Col 4:15-17). These greetings reflect the nature of so-called “circular” letters, that is, letters that were meant to be circulated beyond the original recipients. His encouragement and instruction to the Colossians, apparently, was meant for the edification of others as well.

Paul wrote to the Colossians from prison; we can’t be sure where. But wherever he was, he has others with him whom he considered his partners in the work of the gospel. He brings greetings to the Colossians from these co-workers (Col 4:10-14). Some, as we’ve seen, are Jews; presumably the rest are Gentiles. Epaphras, of course, was well known to the Colossians, and this is one of the few places that Luke is mentioned by name in the New Testament. We know little of the man named Demas, but what we do know is a sobering reminder not to take faithfulness for granted.

Among the people Paul names at the end of his letter, three are Jews: Aristarchus, Mark, and Justus, whom he calls his “co-workers” (Col 4:10-11). We know nothing about Justus, but Aristarchus is mentioned five times in the New Testament, and Mark is described at the “cousin of Barnabas,” making it possible to speculate a bit about the latter two. The larger point, however, is that while ministry is often a lonely profession today, Paul didn’t do ministry alone.

As he often does in his letters, Paul ends his letter to the Colossians by passing along greetings from other people who are with him, as well as sending specific greetings to people in the church to which he writes. We have little to no information about some of the people mentioned at the end of Colossians. But we do know a few things about the first two names on the list, Tychicus and Onesimus (Col 4:7-9), and the situation for Onesimus is a delicate one.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught his followers to see themselves as the salt of the earth. Similarly, in Colossians 4:6, Paul urges the Colossians to let their conversations be “seasoned with salt.” This may be a practical extension of what he’s taught about “redeeming the time” and how the Colossians to relate to those outside the church. Do our conversations embody the character of the gospel?

Have you ever heard the idea of “redeeming the time”? By that phrase, we usually mean making good use of time that would otherwise be wasted. The phrase is a biblical one, coming from the King James translation of Paul’s words in Colossians 4:5; the New International Version translates it as “making the most of every opportunity” instead. It’s not simply a matter of trying to use every moment productively, but learning to see time itself from a heavenly perspective.