… ¹¹ and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me. ¹² Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

The list goes on, as Paul mentions other traveling/ministry companions. He is quite fond of calling them “fellow workers” or “bondslaves” like himself (e.g. Rom 1:1). The Greek word doulos is translated variously as servant, slave, bondslave or bondservant. At the heart of ministry is service to God and others.

The name Jesus, as can be seen here, was not isolated to our Lord Jesus Christ, but was common in that day (so also in some Latin cultures today). The name itself means “savior” (Matt 1:21) and corresponds to the name “Joshua” in the OT of the same meaning. However, the Jesus mentioned here also went by the name Justus and he is one of the Jewish co-workers of Paul (he is probably not the same Justus also called Barsabbas in Acts 1:21). The noteworthy point here is that most of Paul’s disciples were Gentiles. This makes sense in light of his mission being primarily to the Gentiles rather than the Jews. The few Jewish co-workers provided encouragement to Paul, probably because of their shared background and understanding of the Old Testament. It might also be inferred that the scant number of Jewish co-workers in Paul’s ministry may indicate either the indifference of many Jewish believers toward reaching Gentiles, or possibly the difficulty in overcoming Jewish prejudice for many—at least, Paul found it important to point out there were only a few.

Epaphras was a fellow prisoner of Paul’s, to whom he refers also in Philemon 23. Both letters (Colossians and Philemon) were probably written from prison and at the same time, so Epaphras was with Paul in both cases at the time of writing. He sends his greetings, being unable to go to them like some others that Paul sends. Epaphras was apparently a native Colossian and had a keen sense of serving on behalf of them. He may have been “commended” from them to missionary work as their representative. At any rate, Paul had a keen sense that Epaphras’ work was credited to them as their ambassador to the ministry for which God had called him. And he was a hard worker!

Paul’s ministry was always personal. Ministry was about people. It was not just a career path for him or his partners. And so his letters reflect that heart for people, even in the concluding remarks.