Jewish ceremonial laws were necessary for salvation and sanctification (2:16). All these things were part and parcel of the Colossian heresy. Intellectual it may have been, but spiritual it was not. It is generally agreed that this was not a full-grown heresy, but the beginnings of second-century Gnosticism. Because of the many similarities between the epistles to the Colossians and Philemon, scholars seldom dispute Paul’s authorship. Any arguments against are not convincing.