Colossians 4:11 Commentary and Bible Study

‘Jesus [or Joshua as the name also means], which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision’ – that is to say, he and Mark and probably also Aristarchus are Jews. ‘These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.’ That most probably should read something like this: these are the only Jews who are my fellow workers unto the kingdom of God. Paul seems to draw attention to that. The church at Rome was a Gentile church, but there are Jewish people who had been converted and who were in the ministry even there and no doubt reaching out also to the Jewish community in Rome. Justus here is not the Justus named in Acts 18, who was not a Jew but a Proselyte. This man was an evangelist like the others. He was a preacher of the gospel, a fellow labourer unto or for the kingdom of God, the implication being its increase, its enlargement. He is an evangelist. These Jewish men have encouraged me enormously, says Paul. He is not speaking of comfort to him personally, so much as encouragement that the gospel is going forward. ‘Here in this prison, it has really lifted me up to know the way these people witness and preach the gospel among Jews and among Gentiles.’ So we will call Justus an evangelist, a soul winner.Paul arrived in Rome as a prisoner and almost at once he is sending for the Jews, witnessing to them about Christ, preaching to them and some of them believe. Perhaps Joshua, Justus, was one of them who was there and who believed even at that time. Well, he became in his turn a tremendous evangelist, preaching and witnessing the gospel.