just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf
Here he proceeds to the body of the epistle, and begins with thanksgiving to God for what he had heard concerning them, though he had no personal acquaintance with them, and knew their state and character only by the reports of others. I. He gave thanks to God for them, that they had embraced the gospel of Christ, and given proofs of their fidelity to him.
Commenting on Colossians 1:3-8
As ye also learned of Epaphras,.... To know the grace of God, believe the truth of the Gospel, and to own and profess it sincerely, Our dear fellow servant; a "servant" of Christ he was, and a "fellow" servant of the apostles, jointly engaged with them in preaching the Gospel; which character, as it greatly commends Epaphras, and shows him to be a very considerable...
Verse 7. As ye also learned of Epaphras. Epaphras was then with Paul, . He had probably been sent to him by the church at Colosse to consult him in reference to some matters pertaining to the church there. It is evident from this, that Epaphras was a minister of the church at Colosse, though there is no evidence, as has been often supposed, that...