We can learn a lot about an epistle just by looking at its imperatives. An imperative is a command. Paul’s letters become especially clear when listing out the commands in them! There’s more to understanding a letter than this, but it’s a great place to start. For example, here are the imperatives in Colossians:
- Follow Christ Only (2.6)
- Do not Follow Man’s Traditions (2.8)
- Don’t Let Anyone Force You into Traditions (2.16)
- Live for What is Above (3.1)
- Think Only about What is Above (3.2)
- Kill Every Immoral Behavior You Have (3.5)
- Throw Away Bad Behaviors (3.8)
- Do not Lie to Each Other (3.9)
- Adopt Godly Traits (3.12)
- Always be Grateful (3.15)
- Let Jesus’s Teachings Live in You (3.16)
- Wives, Submit to Your Husbands (3.18)
- Husbands, Love Your Wives (3.19)
- Husbands, do not do Things that Make Your Wife Bitter (3.19)
- Children, Submit to Your Parents (3.20)
- Fathers, do not Harass Your Children to the Point of Exasperation (21)
- Servants, Submit to Your Masters in Everything (22)
- Servants, Act as Though You Work for God, not a Human Master (3.23)
- Servants, Remember that You are a Slave for Christ First (3.24)
- Masters, Remember that You Have a Master in the Sky (4.1)
- Never Stop Praying (4.2)
- Make Sure You Behave around People Who don’t Believe (4.5)
- Say Hi to Everyone in Laodicea for Us (4.15)
- Read This Letter to the Church in Laodicea (4.16)
- Tell Archippus, “Do the Work God Gave You” (4.17)
- Remember Me in Prison (4.18)
See? You can use the commands to make a simple outline of the letter and get a good idea of what’s going on! There’s a good chance I’ve missed a couple, so if y’all find an imperative that isn’t on this list, shoot it my way.
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