After mentioning the Jewish converts with him and somewhat lamenting about their small number, and I can imagine his face lit up when he mentioned Epaphras.
This is a Gentile that has distinguished himself with Paul calling him the slave of Christ.
So what we know here about Epaphras is that he was a praying person. Epaphras prayed for the Colossians church to stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
It may be that an answer to the prayer of Epaphras was God orchestrating the letter that would come to Colossians from Paul.
While Paul had varied interests when it comes to praying for churches, Epaphras seems to have a prayer devotion that is laser focused the Colossian church and a few others (Colossians 4:13). That is clearly a burden that God has given to Epaphras and that is part of his being a slave of Christ.
That he labors in prayer tells us the value of prayer and worth of the time spent in prayer.
The bible highlights prayer.
For example, Samuel said he was committed to praying for the children of Israel (1 Samuel 12:23).
Paul have his prayer for different churches.
Stand mature
Maturity is the aim of christianity. But what does that even mean? It means we are supposed to grow into Christ. That is a long journey. We are supposed to embrace the truth, and Jesus is the truth; we are supposed to be on the way, and Jesus is the way; and we are supposed to live the one life, the life of Christ (John 14:6).
In a narrower sense, maturity is about spiritual understanding.
Paul said that in malice/evil, we should be children/innocent/ignorant/unlearned but in understanding/thinking be mature (1 Corinthians 14:20).
In the book of Hebrews, the writer said when the people were supposed to be mature they were still at the level of the elementary principles of Christ (Hebrews 5:12-14, 6:1-2).
In another place, Paul accused some people of ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7).
The fruit of the Holy Spirit is not the maturity (Galatians 5:19-25). Christians by default, have the fruit of the Holy Spirit, as opposed to the works of the flesh.
Galatians 5:24: Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
The crucification of the flesh is automatic for the Christians, but not necessarily spiritual understanding (1 Corinthians 8:7).
The point is that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is not optional. But there are rooms for variability in understanding. Not manifesting the works of the flesh is not optional, but understanding can be variable.
So when the bible talks about maturity, it is always in the context of the truth, and not in the context of what we call holiness.
When it comes to holiness, there is a line in the sand. Every christian is told to depart from iniquity in the bible (2 Timothy 2:19).
2 Timothy 2:19: However, God's solid foundation remains standing, bearing this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are his,' and 'Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from evil.
The point is not sinning is not maturity, rather is the default mode for Christians. Paul said all who name the name of the Lord should depart from iniquity. He tells people stop sinning.
1 Corinthians 15:34: Sober up as you should, and stop sinning! For some have no knowledge of God—I say this to your shame.
The book of Hebrews also says that we need to leave the elementary instructions about Christ, part of which is repentance from dead works. That is presented as the elementary of elementary.
Hebrews 6:1-2: Therefore we must progress beyond the elementary instructions about Christ and move on to maturity, not laying this foundation again: repentance from dead works and faith in God, instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
We need to wonder if the work of salvation is in the heart of the people if the fruit of righteousness is not seen.
For the Corinthians, Paul listed the things they used to do in the wrong and said they no longer do them.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Righteousness is the immediate fruit of salvation and not the gaining of certain knowledge. Growth is in the knowledge of Christ, which can be hard.
2 Peter 3:18: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the honor both now and on that eternal day.
Paul talked about thinking like children in the context of spiritual spirituality.
Just as spiritual gift is not indicative of maturity, as we see with the church in Corinthians (special act of God), so also is the clear statement about righteousness is not the sign of maturity, just the sign of the new birth.
Romans 6:4: Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.
Romans 6:6: We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
fully assured in all the will of God
It's not just assurance for assurance sake, or confidence in being confident. Rather the will of God is the object, and maturity is now being measured in the full assurance depth of conviction regarding the will of God.
Paul harped on the need to understand what the will of God is.
Ephesians 5:17: For this reason do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
That is the element of spiritual maturity that the letters are filled with, teaching the knowledge of Christ rather than giving you a list of dos and don't.
But the Old Testament is about dos and don’t, and Paul described the law as our guardian and we being children. Children are given instructions, not necessarily understanding.
Galatians 3:24-25: Thus the law had become our guardian until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
The Old Testament is heavy on dos and don't and light on (understanding) the will of God, until the fullness of time when God manifested His Son and everything changed. Under the New Testament, the mystery of God’s eternal plan was unveiled through apostles and prophets. Things became inverted.
The New Testament is heavy on the will of God and light on dos and don'ts. Now the call for liberty rings forth (Galatians 5:1). And the whole creation will soon be delivered from corruption to the glorious freedom of God’s children (Romans 8:21).