Colossians 4:7-18
I have long known about the church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) and God’s warning to them not to be lukewarm in their faith. But it had slipped from my mind that they are mentioned four times in today’s reading (vv. 13, 15, 16). The interesting item here has to do with Paul’s telling the Colossians to …see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. (v. 16) My first thought on reading this verse was that we have another missing letter from Paul. But my Study Bible suggested that Paul may be referring to his letter to the Ephesians – with a suggestion that the letter to the Ephesians was to be read first in Ephesus, then in Laodicea, then in Colossae. Presumably the reverse route could follow for Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Strong evidence of this circular routing of the letters comes from Ephesians 6:21, wherein Paul notes that Tychicus is the bearer of the Ephesians letter. He and Onesimus are also the bearers of the letters to the Colossians and Philemon. And because there is a fair amount of common material in Colossians and Ephesians, it is very likely that Paul wrote both letters (and Philemon) at the same time from the same location. It is unlikely that Paul would have written a letter to the Ephesians from Ephesus and I had already ruled out his imprisonment in Caesarea, so my earlier conclusion of Rome to be the location for these prison letters is strengthened. Now, on to Ephesians!
Slava Bohu!
Good points. My study notes say that Laodicea was located a few miles north of Colossae (v. 13), and that the letter to read from the Laodiceans (v. 17) was possibly Ephesians.