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Literary Siblings: Relationship of Ephesians to Colossians

Ephesians is remarkably similar to the letter of Paul to the Colossians:

Most scholars believe that Colossians was written first and that whoever wrote Ephesians was familiar with the contents of that letter. This seems to make sense, because Ephesians has the more generic tone, presenting general reflection on points that, in Colossians, are made with reference to a specific situation.

This allows for a number of possibilities: