Written to Christians at Colossae, the letter addresses issues brought up by Epaphras to Paul. Scholarship is divided if this is an authentic letter from Paul or perhaps represents a Pauline school from a region such as Ephesus. Early in the first Chapter, the author draws on a Christological hymn which becomes the means of addressing false teachers, of which may have been an early form of Gnosticism. The ultimate aim of the letter is how these believers should live - vices to avoid and virtues to pursue.