Verse 16
And when this epistle hath been read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye also read the epistle from Laodicea.
One of the important revelations from this is that Paul's letters, and presumably those of other sacred writers, were widely circulated and passed among the churches; nor can there be any confidence that any more than a fraction of Paul's letters were preserved. It was God's providence alone that preserved for us the writings which make up the sacred canon of the New Testament; and we should believe that the overruling of an all-wise providence entered into which letters were lost and which were preserved.
Dummelow and others believe that the epistle to the Laodiceans mentioned here might be our canonical epistle to the Ephesians. It is impossible to settle the question, but these two comments are added because they represent learned and consecrated opinion on it.
Wiess argues that (the epistle to the Laodiceans) cannot be the epistle to the Ephesians, for that was sent at the same time as this, and therefore Paul could not have sent salutations to Laodicea in this epistle. But this is natural if Ephesians was a circular letter (and the absence of salutations is difficult to explain otherwise), and if this letter was to be passed on to Laodicea[25]
The epistle to the Laodiceans is perhaps our Epistle to the Ephesians[26]
[25] Ibid., p. 547.
[26] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 984.
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