[Hemidakota]

If you ever read any of Richard Lloyd Anderson material, he does an excellent work in providing a case for each of Paul's letters. Here is a classic example of such:

Profile: Sent from: Paul, probably at Rome, joined by Timothy.

Sent to: Members at Colossae, in west central Asia Minor.

Date: About A.D. 61.

Purpose: To strengthen the branch on the return of Onesimus and to correct the false doctrine of "worshipping of angels."

Main themes: The Godhead; errors about Christ, days, and diet; developing celestial qualities.

Background

The City
Colossae lay in a high valley with mountain scenery resembling the arid west of the United States. A hundred miles east of Ephesus, it was mentioned on Xenophon's famous march from the coast and up the Meander River to the tributary basin of the Lycus River. Colossae was "prosperous and large," partly because it was on the east-west trade route. Christianity later marched the hundred miles from the coast to Colossae, for Paul was at Ephesus and reached "all Asia" with the gospel message (Acts 19:26). The regional economy depended not only on trade but also on grazing lands that supported the wool industry in Colossae and in nearby Laodicea. The geographer Strabo reported of Paul's time, "The country around Laodicea produces sheep that are excellent, not only for the softness of their wool . . . but also for its raven-black color, so that the Laodiceans derive splendid revenue from it, as do the neighboring Colossians from the color [of wool] which bears the same name."

Hierapolis and these two cities formed a triangle with sides about ten miles long. In writing to Colossae, Paul also named "them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis" (Col. 4:13). Substantial ruins of the latter city are spread out around its well-preserved stone theater. It was built adjacent to massive hot springs that attracted religious and recreational pilgrims. But Laodicea was the major city of the area in Paul's day. Just before Paul, Strabo wrote that Laodicea "grew large in our time and in that of our fathers." That geographer paid tribute to its "fertile territory" and the private wealth of some of its citizens.
Its ruins, including its theater, are badly deteriorated, but Laodicea's stone-strewn area is massive. Although Hierapolis is merely mentioned in Paul's Colossian letter, Laodicea is prominent, probably reflecting the size of the Church in that large city. Laodicea was possibly the regional center of Church administration. Three decades later John sent his letter to Laodicea as the most important branch of the Church in that area.

Reason for Writing
A letter to Colossae was certainly part of sending Onesimus back there, but another problem was serious enough to demand a separate letter of correction. How did Paul learn of this situation? Philemon's letter closes with a greeting from "Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus" (Philem. 1:23). This is probably a way of honoring this man who was well known at Colossae; he was assisting Paul in prison, just as the returning Onesimus had done. Colossians also names Epaphras, "who is one of you, a servant of Christ" (Col. 4:12). The Colossians had "learned" the gospel from "Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ" (Col. 1:7). Since he had "declared unto us your love in the Spirit" (Col. 1:8), Paul's knowledge of the current problems of that area came through this missionary with their interest at heart. And Paul apparently wanted them to know that negative information was relayed for their benefit, since Epaphras has a "great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis" (Col. 4:13). Only the letter to Colossians survives, but the lost Laodicean letter must have also included correction. That nearby branch probably had as many members as that at Colossae and was likely affected by the same false teaching.

What was the "Colossian heresy"? Biographies and commentaries discuss it but add little more than Colossians itself discloses. Some were debasing Christ's divinity and role in the Godhead, for chapter 2 refutes those who fail to hold Christ as "the Head" (Col. 2:19), whereas chapter 1 has Paul's most sustained testimony of the divinity and power of the Son. There is little contemporary religious information, but the writings of John went to the same locality some forty years later. They definitely show deviations from the gospel like those Paul criticized in his Colossian letter. The parallel with 1 Corinthians is striking, for Paul's inspired resurrection chapter answered their doubts on the Resurrection, just as Paul's powerful survey of Christ's mission corrected Colossian confusion. And Paul may have known more firsthand than is apparent. Some seven years earlier he had started his third mission by taking the land route from Antioch to Ephesus, visiting central Asia Minor (Acts 18:23) and going west from there through "the upper regions" (Acts 19:1, NKJ. This is clearly the east-west route through the Lycus River valley and the three cities under discussion. Paul expresses his intense concern for the Colossians "and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh" (Col. 2:1). To some people that means that he had never seen the Colossians and Laodiceans, but his earlier journey through their area suggests the opposite—that he was worried about those from each city that he had met and also about those later coverted who had never seen him. Since Colossians 2:1 introduces Paul's refutation of the false teachings on Christ, it virtually identifies the heresy at both Colossae and Laodicea.

This last point is one strong reason for rejecting the insipid twenty apocryphal verses that pose as Paul's letter to the Laodiceans. The real one existed once, for Paul obviously sent it with the messengers delivering letters to Philemon and Colossae: "When this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea" (Col. 4:16). What truth is lost in this lost letter? The "Colossian heresy" was no doubt an area heresy, so both letters must have combined to correct it. Colossians stresses the bodily reality of Christ. Was Laodiceans suppressed because it bluntly spoke of the physicalness of the Godhead? This doctrine of the Early Church soon disappeared in the verbiage of Christian councils that legislated God's nature. But the imitation letter of the Laodiceans corrects nothing and has no distinct message. Scholars consistently reject it because it is a "worthless patching together of Pauline passages and phrases, mainly from the Epistle to the Philippians." But what if the real Laodiceans or the real 1 Corinthians someday came to light? Then creeds and Christians would be wrong in seeing the Bible as the whole revelation of God. And if the historical collection of apostles' letters is not complete, are there new revelations that God wishes to give today? Modern revelation testifies both to the truth of past revelation and also to its unfinished nature.