In the modern era, Colossians has proved to be both historically intriguing and theologically controversial, initiating debates on questions of authorship, 'the cosmic Christ', and the 'philosophy' against which the letter is targeted. In contrast, Philemon has received little attention in the history of Christian theology, regarded as a private letter concerning a private and purely ephemeral occasion (the flight of Philemon's slave, Onesimus).

John M.G. Barclay examines these two texts largely as independent of each other, discussing their context and theology and outlining their very different significance to interpreters and scholars through the centuries.