Colossians 4:16 - Exposition

And when this letter has been read among you, see to it (literally, cause ) that it be read also in the Church of (the) Laodiceans ( 1 Thessalonians 5:27 ). For these two Churches were closely allied in origin and condition, as well as by situation and acquaintanceship ( Colossians 2:1-5 ; Colossians 4:13 ). The leaven of the Colossian error was doubtless beginning to work in Laodicea also. The words addressed to Laodicea in the Apocalypse ( Revelation 3:14-22 ) bear reference apparently to the language of this Epistle ( Colossians 1:15-18 ); see Lightfoot, pp. 41, etc. The phrase, "Church of Laodiceans," corresponds to that used in the salutation of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, but is not found elsewhere in St. Paul. And that ye also read the letter from Laodicea. What was this letter? Clearly a letter from St. Paul which would be received at Laodicea, and which the Colossians were to obtain from there. The connection of this sentence with the foregoing, and the absence of any other definition of the words, "the letter (from Laodicea)," make this evident. Nothing further can be affirmed with certainty. But several considerations point to the probability that this missing Epistle is none other than our (so-called) Epistle to the Ephesians. For: