March through Colossians - whole book

Why do we take time to read the whole book of Colossians in one sitting? Well for lots of reasons, but at least so that we can take in the whole message of the letter at once so that we can rightly understand the parts in their context. Hear what Moises Silva has to say about this in his book, God, Language, and Scripture:

In our effort to interpret the Bible...we should give special attention to the way sentences are joined, how they form paragraphs, and how the paragraphs combine to constitute larger units. At the simplest level, this means that we should read the Bible the way we read other literature. When we receive a letter from a friend, do we read the middle paragraph today, the last sentence next week, the introductory section two months from now? Unfortunately, many Christians use precisely that "method" in their reading of Paul's letters. The biblical books were meant to be read as wholes and that is the way we should read them.

If you have time, read what he says right before the above paragraph:

We should note that even the smallest books of the Bible consist of whole discourses. If propositions by themselves were quite sufficient, the Scriptures might be composed of a long list of individual sayings. Instead, God has given us narratives (some quite long), hymns, letters.
And these various portions are brought together in a coherent and unified whole. The principle that the Bible is its own best interpreter is not wishful thinking. From one perspective, this principle is but a reflection of the nature of all communication: sentences must be understood in the light of their total context. Even if we are reading Plato, we cannot artificially wrench one proposition in the Republic from the philosopher's whole thought. From another perspective, however, this principle is unique to Scripture. For those who are persuaded that the Bible comes from God in a sense that is not true of other writings, its unity and coherence take on a completely new dimension. God does not fail to speak in a consistent fashion - as Plato or an uninspired Paul might - and thus individual propositions in Scripture do perfectly cohere with other propositions and shed light on each other.

2:1-5 tomorrow.