Final Salutations (Colossians 4:7-18).
‘All my affairs will Tychicus make known to you, the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord, whom I have sent to you for this very purpose that you may know our state and that he may comfort your hearts, together with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother who is one of you. They will make known to you all that is done here.'
Paul demonstrates his concern and interest in the church at Colossae by sending Tychicus to them. Tychicus also carries the letter to the Ephesians (Ephesians 6:21-22), and probably the one to Laodicea (Ephesians 6:16) which may well have been a duplicate of Ephesians. He was presumably the Tychicus ‘of Asia (Minor)' who accompanied Paul and others at a crucial time (Acts 20:4) and may well have gone with him to Jerusalem as a delegate of his own church with gifts for the poor in Jerusalem. He was a trusted messenger of Paul (2 Timothy 4:12; Titus 3:12).
‘The beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord.' He had three qualifications, beloved by Paul as a ‘brother', faithful in ministry, and united with Paul and his associates as a true servant of the Lord. ‘In the Lord' probably covers all three qualifications. To Paul all true Christian relationships were ‘in the Lord'. The title ‘fellow-servant' (slave) was later applied strictly to deacons as against bishops (so the letters of Ignatius in the early second century AD), but that may be a development of the term resulting from interpretation of this epistle. Paul congratulated himself on being God's servant (slave).
The purpose of his sending is to update them on what is happening to Paul and to give them spiritual strength, to ‘comfort' them. He is one ‘called alongside to help'.
‘Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother who is one of you.' We know more about Onesimus from Paul's letter to Philemon. He was an escaped slave who had made his way to Rome and there been converted by the preaching of Paul, and had become a faithful and beloved brother. But Paul had learned from him his history, and knew that he belonged to a fellow Christian and brother, Philemon. Thus he was determined to return him to his master to right the wrong that had been done. He would return home with Tychicus and the letter to Philemon hoping to be forgiven and accepted there as Paul requests. ‘One of you' suggests that he was a Colossian. He and Tychicus could have an important impact on the Colossian church as having been companions of Paul and fully aware of his teachings.
‘They shall make known to you all things that are done here.' They would update the church in Colossae with all that was happening in Rome.