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Paul’s Places – Part 7: Ephesians and Colossians
Episode 166 – Paul’s Places – Part 7: Ephesians and Colossians
Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.
Script:
I want you to know how I am getting along and what I am doing. This is why I am sending Tychicus to you. He is a dear friend, as well as a faithful servant of the Lord. He will tell you how I am doing, and he will cheer you up.
Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 21 and 22, Contemporary English Version
Tychicus is the dear friend, who faithfully works and serves the Lord with us, and he will give you the news about me. I am sending him to cheer you up by telling you how we are getting along.
Colossians, chapter 4, verses 7 and 8, Contemporary English Version
********
VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. We’re grateful to be with you today. We are in the midst of a series on Anchored by Truth that we are calling “Paul’s Places.” By “Paul,” of course, we’re referring to the Apostle Paul who wrote at least 13 of the books out of the 27 books that comprise the New Testament. Some Bible commentators believe Paul also wrote the book of Hebrews but we cannot be certain about that because the author of the letter to the Hebrews did not name himself. In this “Paul’s Places” series we are taking a look at Paul’s letters to the churches that are identified in our Bibles by the names of the cities, or the region, to which they were sent. So far we have looked at the letters to the churches in Rome and Corinth, which are cities, and Galatia which was a Roman Province in what would be modern day Turkey. Today we’re going to look at Paul’s letters to two other churches that were located in modern-day Turkey – Ephesus and Colossae. In the studio today we have RD Fierro, an author and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. RD, why don’t you remind us of the reason we wanted to do this Paul’s Places series?
RD: Well, I’d like to start by thanking our listeners for joining us here today. We launched this “Paul’s Places” series because in our day and age many people have lost sight of the fact that the New Testament documents are extraordinarily reliable as historical records. And one of the ways we can be sure about that is by looking at the geography, history, and cultural information contained within those records. When we do that we see that this information, which is almost incidental to the main purpose of the book or letter, corresponds perfectly with what we know about the geography and history from many other extra-Biblical sources. This amplifies the confidence that we may place in those records – and, of course, it is from those records that we get the most information about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
VK: In other words if we are confident about the geographic and historical information contained in Paul’s records we may be confident about the validity of the reports Paul makes. And in every report Paul made he affirmed the central element of the Christian faith – that Jesus rose from the dead. Christianity is distinguished from all other religions because Christianity affirms that our founder and central figure is still alive. Jesus died but he did not remain dead. Jesus rose and now sits at the right hand of God. That is why we may justifiably worship Him. Only God has power over life and death. Jesus demonstrated that He had that power when He rose out of the tomb on Easter and appeared to hundreds of His followers over the next 40 days.
RD: Amen. It would be impossible for anyone today to personally testify that they were a witness to the resurrection of Jesus. We base our trust in the historicity of the resurrection in the records given to us by the Apostles and their representatives like Luke. So, it is helpful for our own faith to take a little time and see how we can confidently establish the historical reliability of the records that teach us about Jesus. That’s what this “Paul’s Places” series is, hopefully, doing.
VK: Now you said that today you want to actually begin a study of two of Paul’s epistles: Ephesians and Colossians. Why are we tackling these two books together?
RD: Well, you might call this portion of “Paul’s Places” a tale of two cities. But it is actually a tale of 3 cities. The New Testament contains, as the books of Ephesians and Colossians, the letters that Paul sent to the churches in Ephesus and Colossae. But in the epistle to the Colossians Paul mentions a sister city of Colossae called Laodicea. So, during the next couple of episodes I want to look at all three of these cities and see the role they play in the New Testament. To do that properly we are going to have to not only look at the books of Ephesians and Colossians but we are also going to have to look at the very last book of the Bible which is Revelation. So, let’s take a quick look at the first portion of Revelation, chapter 1, verse 4.
VK: The first part of that verse says, “This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia…” You know I don’t think most people realize that when John wrote the book of Revelation he actually had a specific group of churches in mind. Revelation is the subject of so much sensationalism that I think people often miss that the opening part of the book has very specific messages for very specific churches.
RD: I agree with that observation. The seven churches that John addressed his communication to were churches in these 7 cities: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. So, one fact leaps out right away. The city of Ephesus was the only city that received an individual letter from Paul that is mentioned in the list of the 7 churches mentioned in Revelation. And a second fact that also leaps out is that Laodicea, which again is mentioned several times in the epistle to the Colossians, also is part of the group of seven. None of the other cities to which Paul addressed an epistle are mentioned in Revelation. And while the city of Colossae is not mentioned by name in Revelation, I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that Colossae and Laodicea were both located in a region of Asia called the Lycus Valley. It was called the Lycus Valley because in ancient times the Lycus River ran through the valley.
VK: So, how far away was Laodicea from Colossae?
RD: Colossae was about 10 miles east of Laodicea.
VK: And how far away was Ephesus from Colossae?
RD: Colossae was about 100 miles east of Ephesus.
VK: So, let’s make sure the dots are connecting as we move along. We’re studying the books of Ephesians and Colossians together because they share a number of connections in the Bible. Both Ephesus and Colossae are located in modern-day Turkey as is Colossae’s sister city, Laodicea. But Colossae and Laodicea are a lot closer together than Colossae and Ephesus. So, one fact leaps out right away that confirms the accuracy of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. In Colossians, chapter 4, verse 16 Paul said, “After this letter has been read to your people, be sure to have it read in the church at Laodicea. And you should read the letter that I have sent to them.” That’s from the Contemporary English Version. But Paul did not include a similar admonition in his letter to the Ephesians even though all of these cities were located within the Roman province of Phrygia. It made sense for Paul to tell the Colossians and the Laodiceans to share letters with each other because they were only 10 miles apart – but Ephesus was 100 miles away from them. 100 miles was a long distance to travel in those times.
RD: Yes. And as long as we’re on the subject of how the geographic references within Colossians make sense let’s take a look at one more. Colossians, chapter 4, verses 12 and 13 say, “Your own Epaphras, who serves Christ Jesus, sends his greetings. He always prays hard that you may fully know what the Lord wants you to do and that you may do it completely. I have seen how much trouble he has gone through for you and for the followers in Laodicea and Hierapolis.” So, in Colossians besides mentioning Laodicea Paul also mentions another city from the Lycus Valley: Hierapolis. That also makes sense geographically. Colossae was about 10 miles east of Laodicea. Hierapolis was about 6 miles north of Colossae.
VK: So, it makes sense that this believer named Epaphras would have had concerns for the churches in all three of those cities – Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis. All three of them were located in the Lycus Valley fairly close together.
RD: Right. And even though Epaphras was with Paul at the time Paul wrote the epistle to the Colossians most scholars believe that Epaphras probably founded the church in Colossae and possibly also in Laodicea and Hierapolis. In Colossians Paul seems to indicate that he had never personally visited Colossae or Laodicea.
VK: You are thinking of Colossians, chapter 2, verse 1 which says, “I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally.” That’s from the New Living Translation.
RD: Right. But we do know that Paul had spent a considerable amount of time in Ephesus. From the book of Acts, chapter 19, verses 1 through 10 we know that Paul spent over two years and possibly close to 3 years in Ephesus.
VK: Verse 10 says, “This [teaching] went on for two years, so that all the people who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Gentiles, heard the word of the Lord.”
RD: Yes. So, it is quite likely that sometime during this two to three year period Epaphras came into contact with Paul while Paul was in Ephesus. Before Paul’s time Colossae had been a thriving and prosperous town. It was the center of an important wool industry and it was located on a very important overland trade route. It had declined somewhat and in Paul’s day it was a fairly modest market center. Laodicea, by contrast, was a wealthy and important center for banking and textiles and it had a bit of a medical industry. It had a medical school that had developed an ointment that was used to treat eye problems. It is entirely reasonable that Epaphras may have been connected to one of the businesses that thrived in and around the Lycus Valley and had occasions to travel to Ephesus.
VK: Ephesus was an important trade center in Paul’s day. It was on the west coast of Asia and was an important gateway that linked the Mediterranean world and the inland part of Asia. In Paul’s time Ephesus was one of the 5 most important cities in the entire Roman Empire. Rome was, of course, the most important city but Ephesus was ranked in the same category as cities such as Corinth, Antioch of Syria, and Alexandria of Egypt. I guess we might liken Ephesus to Miami which is the connecting city between North and South America.
RD: That’s a good analogy. Ephesus was an important place to do business. So, even though it would have been a several day journey from Laodicea and Colossae a merchant, trader, or banker might have had occasion to go there regularly. Scripture does not tell us what trade or occupation Epaphras practiced but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to believe he was financially successful. He was prosperous enough to later leave Asia and travel to Rome to be with Paul while Paul was imprisoned there from around 60 AD to 62 AD.
VK: Ephesians and Colossians are two of the four epistles that are sometimes referred to as the “prison epistles.” Again, epistle is just another word for letter. These epistles are called the “prison epistles” because scholars think wrote them during that period of imprisonment that is described in Acts, chapter 28, verses 16 through 30. The four prison epistles are Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon. Philemon was a believer who lived in or around Colossae.
RD: Yes. Paul wrote to Philemon to request that Philemon be kind to a believer named Onesimus. At one time Onesimus was either a slave or a servant of Philemon but Onesimus had run away from Colossae to Rome. In Rome Onesimus came into contact with Paul and became a Christian. Paul convinced Onesimus he needed to do the right thing and return to Philemon and reconcile with him. But Paul did not send Onesimus back empty handed. He wrote one of the most compelling appeals you will ever read for why Philemon should be gracious to Onesimus and it is quite likely that one of Paul’s closest associates, Tychicus, also accompanied Onesimus.
VK: We heard about Tychicus in our opening scriptures. Tychicus is mentioned in both Ephesians and Colossians as the person who is bringing Paul’s messages to those churches. For instance, in Ephesians Paul wrote, “This is why I am sending Tychicus to you. He is a dear friend, as well as a faithful servant of the Lord. He will tell you how I am doing, and he will cheer you up.”
RD: And in Colossians Paul wrote, “Tychicus is the dear friend, who faithfully works and serves the Lord with us, and he will give you the news about me. I am sending him to cheer you up by telling you how we are getting along.”
VK: The language Paul used in both of those greetings is very similar. In both Paul says that Tychicus is a faithful servant of the Lord, that he will give the churches updates about Paul, and that he will “cheer you up.” Apparently, Paul had a lot of confidence in Tychicus. But the similarity in this language does give you the strong impression that Paul wrote both of the letters at or near the same time.
RD: And that’s one of the reasons we wanted to tackle these two epistles together. Obviously, if these two letters were written at the same time one question is which letter did Paul write first?
VK: Why is that relevant?
RD: Because when people write multiple similar documents it’s sometimes possible to see the progression of their thoughts as they go along. And we get to see the writer imparting nuances that are important to understanding the content. School teachers used to tell us to “compare and contrast” things to better understand similarities and differences. That same thought process can be helpful as we come to Paul’s epistles. In other words, we can learn more by looking at all of the documents than if we just look at each document in isolation.
VK: I see what you’re saying. If we look at one document by a writer – assuming it’s a competent writer - we can certainly see what the writer wanted to communicate. But we can’t necessarily pick up patterns or progressions in thought from a single document as well as we can if we have multiple documents from the same hand. And that is especially true if we can look at several documents that were prepared around the same time.
RD: Exactly. Paul, of course, varied the content of his letters based on many different considerations. Each of the churches he wrote to had individual concerns and issues and often Paul needed to address those local situations.
VK: We saw that in the first letter to the Corinthians. If Ephesus was the Miami of its time, Corinth was the Las Vegas. Sexual temptation abounded in Corinth. So, Paul spent more time addressing sexual temptation in 1 Corinthians than in any of his other epistles.
RD: Exactly. Another consideration that affected the content of Paul’s various epistles was the state of development of the church. As we saw in Galatians Paul had to address the issue of certain agitators who were trying to tell the church members in Galatia they had to accept Jewish customs and laws before they could become Christians. This assertion struck at the heart of the gospel which clearly says that salvation comes by faith alone in Christ alone. Paul forcefully rebutted this contention in his epistle to the Galatians. Well, in Colossians Paul apparently had to deal with a peculiar form of angelic worship. Colossae was located in a region in which a particular form of pagan worship had developed. This religion was the worship of the goddess Cybele. [sib-ah-lee]
VK: The New Geneva Study Bible has this to say about Phrygia, the region in which Colossae was located, and the worship of the goddess Cybele. [sib-ah-lee]. “In ancient times, the region had given birth to the worship of the goddess Cybele, whose cult … was characterized by ritual cleansing in the blood of a bull, ecstatic states, prophetic rapture, and inspired dancing. … Within a few years of the inception of Christianity among these Phrygians , Epaphras and Paul found that an appetite had emerged for something more than the crucified and risen Christ. … Cybele and her lover Attis were transformed at some time by popular pagan piety into astral and cosmic powers.”
RD: Right. And I would add that at this point in history it was often thought in the pagan religions present in the Roman Empire that stars and planets, and even physical elements (earth, wind, water, fire) were thought to control the destinies of people. Remember that at the time Paul wrote Colossians Epaphras is with him. So, Epaphras has reported to Paul that a form of syncretism – combining the elements of two different religions – was starting to take place in Colossae. This, again, is not surprising given the religious history of the region in which Colossae is located. So Paul had to address this local issue in the letter to the Colossians.
VK: In Colossians you see phrases such as “See to it, then, that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of human wisdom, which comes from the teachings handed down by human beings and from the ruling spirits of the universe, and not from Christ. For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity, and you have been given full life in union with him. He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority.” That’s Colossians, chapter 2, verses 8 through 10 of the Good News Translation.
RD: And while you do see Paul addressing the supremacy and necessity for Christ in Ephesians you don’t see him addressing the specific concern of pagan angelic worship. Now, I want to add here that the Colossians do not seem to have been worshipping the angels themselves but it is more as if they were trying to worship alongside the angels who in ancient times were often associated with astral or celestial powers. But that issue was apparently not present in the Ephesian church.
VK: Possibly because Paul had spent close to 3 years in Ephesus ministering directly. It may be that the Ephesian believers’ extensive contact with Paul himself meant that they were far better grounded doctrinally.
RD: Quite possibly. What you do see in Ephesians is more of a spirit of awe, prayer, and praise along with the very famous discussion of spiritual armor present in chapter 6 of Ephesians. We’re going to talk more about that in our next episode of Anchored by Truth. In Ephesians you actually don’t see Paul addressing any particular local issue with respect to the content of the Christian faith the way he did in Galatians and Colossians. That freed him up to spend more time expounding on subjects of general interest such as the unity of Christ with His church and the relationship between our lives before Christ with our life after we are saved.
VK: Ephesus was obviously a very special place to Paul so it is natural that he would want to provide some last bit of encouragement to the believers who were there. In Acts, chapter 20, verses 17 through 35 we have a record of Paul’s last meeting with the Ephesian elders. At that time he said, “I have gone from place to place, preaching to you about God's kingdom, but now I know that none of you will ever see me again. … Look after yourselves and everyone the Holy Spirit has placed in your care. Be like shepherds to God's church. It is the flock he bought with the blood of his own Son. I know that after I am gone, others will come like fierce wolves to attack you. Some of your own people will tell lies to win over the Lord's followers. Be on your guard! Remember how day and night for three years I kept warning you with tears in my eyes.” That’s from the Contemporary English Version.
RD: That meeting between Paul and the elders was about 3 or 4 years before Paul wrote his epistle to the church. But his warning to the elders helps us see the genuine warmth Paul was expressing when he wrote at the beginning of his letter, “I have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people. So I never stop being grateful for you, as I mention you in my prayers.” That’s chapter 1, verses 15 and 16 from the Contemporary English Version. Somebody told Paul that at least up to that point that the Ephesians believers were remaining faithful and it genuinely pleased him. The other thing that is missing from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is any extensive defense of his own ministry of the type that is present in the letters to the Corinthians and Galatians. He didn’t have to provide a defense because the Ephesians knew him so well.
VK: All of this goes to reinforce the major point that we are making in this “Paul’s Places” series. The epistles, the letters, Paul sent to the various churches we know in our Bibles by geographic labels are consistent not only with geography and culture but also with the history of the early church. Paul had apparently never been to Colossae or at least there were a lot of people there who had never seen him. But Paul had spent 3 years ministering personally in Ephesus. So, the tenor of the two letters is different even though they were obviously written about the same time. The religious traditions present in Colossae meant Paul put a special emphasis on the supremacy of Christ to any and all perceived celestial powers in Colossians. But Paul didn’t have to do that in Ephesians. But in Ephesians we do see a spirit of gratitude that probably resulted from the fact that - even though Paul hadn’t seen any of them for a while – someone had told him they were still remaining faithful. This sounds like a great time to go to prayer. Since we are so close to anniversary of the day that America declared her independence, today let’s listen to a prayer for God’s blessings to remain with this nation.
---- PRAYER FOR FOURTH OF JULY
VK: Before we close we’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes in this series or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”
If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!” (Opening Bible Quotes from the Contemporary English Version)
Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 21 and 22, Contemporary English Version
Colossians, chapter 4, verses 7 and 8, Contemporary English Version
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By R.D.Fierro
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Episode 166 – Paul’s Places – Part 7: Ephesians and Colossians
Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.
Script:
I want you to know how I am getting along and what I am doing. This is why I am sending Tychicus to you. He is a dear friend, as well as a faithful servant of the Lord. He will tell you how I am doing, and he will cheer you up.
Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 21 and 22, Contemporary English Version
Tychicus is the dear friend, who faithfully works and serves the Lord with us, and he will give you the news about me. I am sending him to cheer you up by telling you how we are getting along.
Colossians, chapter 4, verses 7 and 8, Contemporary English Version
********
VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. We’re grateful to be with you today. We are in the midst of a series on Anchored by Truth that we are calling “Paul’s Places.” By “Paul,” of course, we’re referring to the Apostle Paul who wrote at least 13 of the books out of the 27 books that comprise the New Testament. Some Bible commentators believe Paul also wrote the book of Hebrews but we cannot be certain about that because the author of the letter to the Hebrews did not name himself. In this “Paul’s Places” series we are taking a look at Paul’s letters to the churches that are identified in our Bibles by the names of the cities, or the region, to which they were sent. So far we have looked at the letters to the churches in Rome and Corinth, which are cities, and Galatia which was a Roman Province in what would be modern day Turkey. Today we’re going to look at Paul’s letters to two other churches that were located in modern-day Turkey – Ephesus and Colossae. In the studio today we have RD Fierro, an author and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. RD, why don’t you remind us of the reason we wanted to do this Paul’s Places series?
RD: Well, I’d like to start by thanking our listeners for joining us here today. We launched this “Paul’s Places” series because in our day and age many people have lost sight of the fact that the New Testament documents are extraordinarily reliable as historical records. And one of the ways we can be sure about that is by looking at the geography, history, and cultural information contained within those records. When we do that we see that this information, which is almost incidental to the main purpose of the book or letter, corresponds perfectly with what we know about the geography and history from many other extra-Biblical sources. This amplifies the confidence that we may place in those records – and, of course, it is from those records that we get the most information about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
VK: In other words if we are confident about the geographic and historical information contained in Paul’s records we may be confident about the validity of the reports Paul makes. And in every report Paul made he affirmed the central element of the Christian faith – that Jesus rose from the dead. Christianity is distinguished from all other religions because Christianity affirms that our founder and central figure is still alive. Jesus died but he did not remain dead. Jesus rose and now sits at the right hand of God. That is why we may justifiably worship Him. Only God has power over life and death. Jesus demonstrated that He had that power when He rose out of the tomb on Easter and appeared to hundreds of His followers over the next 40 days.
RD: Amen. It would be impossible for anyone today to personally testify that they were a witness to the resurrection of Jesus. We base our trust in the historicity of the resurrection in the records given to us by the Apostles and their representatives like Luke. So, it is helpful for our own faith to take a little time and see how we can confidently establish the historical reliability of the records that teach us about Jesus. That’s what this “Paul’s Places” series is, hopefully, doing.
VK: Now you said that today you want to actually begin a study of two of Paul’s epistles: Ephesians and Colossians. Why are we tackling these two books together?
RD: Well, you might call this portion of “Paul’s Places” a tale of two cities. But it is actually a tale of 3 cities. The New Testament contains, as the books of Ephesians and Colossians, the letters that Paul sent to the churches in Ephesus and Colossae. But in the epistle to the Colossians Paul mentions a sister city of Colossae called Laodicea. So, during the next couple of episodes I want to look at all three of these cities and see the role they play in the New Testament. To do that properly we are going to have to not only look at the books of Ephesians and Colossians but we are also going to have to look at the very last book of the Bible which is Revelation. So, let’s take a quick look at the first portion of Revelation, chapter 1, verse 4.
VK: The first part of that verse says, “This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia…” You know I don’t think most people realize that when John wrote the book of Revelation he actually had a specific group of churches in mind. Revelation is the subject of so much sensationalism that I think people often miss that the opening part of the book has very specific messages for very specific churches.
RD: I agree with that observation. The seven churches that John addressed his communication to were churches in these 7 cities: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. So, one fact leaps out right away. The city of Ephesus was the only city that received an individual letter from Paul that is mentioned in the list of the 7 churches mentioned in Revelation. And a second fact that also leaps out is that Laodicea, which again is mentioned several times in the epistle to the Colossians, also is part of the group of seven. None of the other cities to which Paul addressed an epistle are mentioned in Revelation. And while the city of Colossae is not mentioned by name in Revelation, I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that Colossae and Laodicea were both located in a region of Asia called the Lycus Valley. It was called the Lycus Valley because in ancient times the Lycus River ran through the valley.
VK: So, how far away was Laodicea from Colossae?
RD: Colossae was about 10 miles east of Laodicea.
VK: And how far away was Ephesus from Colossae?
RD: Colossae was about 100 miles east of Ephesus.
VK: So, let’s make sure the dots are connecting as we move along. We’re studying the books of Ephesians and Colossians together because they share a number of connections in the Bible. Both Ephesus and Colossae are located in modern-day Turkey as is Colossae’s sister city, Laodicea. But Colossae and Laodicea are a lot closer together than Colossae and Ephesus. So, one fact leaps out right away that confirms the accuracy of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. In Colossians, chapter 4, verse 16 Paul said, “After this letter has been read to your people, be sure to have it read in the church at Laodicea. And you should read the letter that I have sent to them.” That’s from the Contemporary English Version. But Paul did not include a similar admonition in his letter to the Ephesians even though all of these cities were located within the Roman province of Phrygia. It made sense for Paul to tell the Colossians and the Laodiceans to share letters with each other because they were only 10 miles apart – but Ephesus was 100 miles away from them. 100 miles was a long distance to travel in those times.
RD: Yes. And as long as we’re on the subject of how the geographic references within Colossians make sense let’s take a look at one more. Colossians, chapter 4, verses 12 and 13 say, “Your own Epaphras, who serves Christ Jesus, sends his greetings. He always prays hard that you may fully know what the Lord wants you to do and that you may do it completely. I have seen how much trouble he has gone through for you and for the followers in Laodicea and Hierapolis.” So, in Colossians besides mentioning Laodicea Paul also mentions another city from the Lycus Valley: Hierapolis. That also makes sense geographically. Colossae was about 10 miles east of Laodicea. Hierapolis was about 6 miles north of Colossae.
VK: So, it makes sense that this believer named Epaphras would have had concerns for the churches in all three of those cities – Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis. All three of them were located in the Lycus Valley fairly close together.
RD: Right. And even though Epaphras was with Paul at the time Paul wrote the epistle to the Colossians most scholars believe that Epaphras probably founded the church in Colossae and possibly also in Laodicea and Hierapolis. In Colossians Paul seems to indicate that he had never personally visited Colossae or Laodicea.
VK: You are thinking of Colossians, chapter 2, verse 1 which says, “I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally.” That’s from the New Living Translation.
RD: Right. But we do know that Paul had spent a considerable amount of time in Ephesus. From the book of Acts, chapter 19, verses 1 through 10 we know that Paul spent over two years and possibly close to 3 years in Ephesus.
VK: Verse 10 says, “This [teaching] went on for two years, so that all the people who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Gentiles, heard the word of the Lord.”
RD: Yes. So, it is quite likely that sometime during this two to three year period Epaphras came into contact with Paul while Paul was in Ephesus. Before Paul’s time Colossae had been a thriving and prosperous town. It was the center of an important wool industry and it was located on a very important overland trade route. It had declined somewhat and in Paul’s day it was a fairly modest market center. Laodicea, by contrast, was a wealthy and important center for banking and textiles and it had a bit of a medical industry. It had a medical school that had developed an ointment that was used to treat eye problems. It is entirely reasonable that Epaphras may have been connected to one of the businesses that thrived in and around the Lycus Valley and had occasions to travel to Ephesus.
VK: Ephesus was an important trade center in Paul’s day. It was on the west coast of Asia and was an important gateway that linked the Mediterranean world and the inland part of Asia. In Paul’s time Ephesus was one of the 5 most important cities in the entire Roman Empire. Rome was, of course, the most important city but Ephesus was ranked in the same category as cities such as Corinth, Antioch of Syria, and Alexandria of Egypt. I guess we might liken Ephesus to Miami which is the connecting city between North and South America.
RD: That’s a good analogy. Ephesus was an important place to do business. So, even though it would have been a several day journey from Laodicea and Colossae a merchant, trader, or banker might have had occasion to go there regularly. Scripture does not tell us what trade or occupation Epaphras practiced but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to believe he was financially successful. He was prosperous enough to later leave Asia and travel to Rome to be with Paul while Paul was imprisoned there from around 60 AD to 62 AD.
VK: Ephesians and Colossians are two of the four epistles that are sometimes referred to as the “prison epistles.” Again, epistle is just another word for letter. These epistles are called the “prison epistles” because scholars think wrote them during that period of imprisonment that is described in Acts, chapter 28, verses 16 through 30. The four prison epistles are Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon. Philemon was a believer who lived in or around Colossae.
RD: Yes. Paul wrote to Philemon to request that Philemon be kind to a believer named Onesimus. At one time Onesimus was either a slave or a servant of Philemon but Onesimus had run away from Colossae to Rome. In Rome Onesimus came into contact with Paul and became a Christian. Paul convinced Onesimus he needed to do the right thing and return to Philemon and reconcile with him. But Paul did not send Onesimus back empty handed. He wrote one of the most compelling appeals you will ever read for why Philemon should be gracious to Onesimus and it is quite likely that one of Paul’s closest associates, Tychicus, also accompanied Onesimus.
VK: We heard about Tychicus in our opening scriptures. Tychicus is mentioned in both Ephesians and Colossians as the person who is bringing Paul’s messages to those churches. For instance, in Ephesians Paul wrote, “This is why I am sending Tychicus to you. He is a dear friend, as well as a faithful servant of the Lord. He will tell you how I am doing, and he will cheer you up.”
RD: And in Colossians Paul wrote, “Tychicus is the dear friend, who faithfully works and serves the Lord with us, and he will give you the news about me. I am sending him to cheer you up by telling you how we are getting along.”
VK: The language Paul used in both of those greetings is very similar. In both Paul says that Tychicus is a faithful servant of the Lord, that he will give the churches updates about Paul, and that he will “cheer you up.” Apparently, Paul had a lot of confidence in Tychicus. But the similarity in this language does give you the strong impression that Paul wrote both of the letters at or near the same time.
RD: And that’s one of the reasons we wanted to tackle these two epistles together. Obviously, if these two letters were written at the same time one question is which letter did Paul write first?
VK: Why is that relevant?
RD: Because when people write multiple similar documents it’s sometimes possible to see the progression of their thoughts as they go along. And we get to see the writer imparting nuances that are important to understanding the content. School teachers used to tell us to “compare and contrast” things to better understand similarities and differences. That same thought process can be helpful as we come to Paul’s epistles. In other words, we can learn more by looking at all of the documents than if we just look at each document in isolation.
VK: I see what you’re saying. If we look at one document by a writer – assuming it’s a competent writer - we can certainly see what the writer wanted to communicate. But we can’t necessarily pick up patterns or progressions in thought from a single document as well as we can if we have multiple documents from the same hand. And that is especially true if we can look at several documents that were prepared around the same time.
RD: Exactly. Paul, of course, varied the content of his letters based on many different considerations. Each of the churches he wrote to had individual concerns and issues and often Paul needed to address those local situations.
VK: We saw that in the first letter to the Corinthians. If Ephesus was the Miami of its time, Corinth was the Las Vegas. Sexual temptation abounded in Corinth. So, Paul spent more time addressing sexual temptation in 1 Corinthians than in any of his other epistles.
RD: Exactly. Another consideration that affected the content of Paul’s various epistles was the state of development of the church. As we saw in Galatians Paul had to address the issue of certain agitators who were trying to tell the church members in Galatia they had to accept Jewish customs and laws before they could become Christians. This assertion struck at the heart of the gospel which clearly says that salvation comes by faith alone in Christ alone. Paul forcefully rebutted this contention in his epistle to the Galatians. Well, in Colossians Paul apparently had to deal with a peculiar form of angelic worship. Colossae was located in a region in which a particular form of pagan worship had developed. This religion was the worship of the goddess Cybele. [sib-ah-lee]
VK: The New Geneva Study Bible has this to say about Phrygia, the region in which Colossae was located, and the worship of the goddess Cybele. [sib-ah-lee]. “In ancient times, the region had given birth to the worship of the goddess Cybele, whose cult … was characterized by ritual cleansing in the blood of a bull, ecstatic states, prophetic rapture, and inspired dancing. … Within a few years of the inception of Christianity among these Phrygians , Epaphras and Paul found that an appetite had emerged for something more than the crucified and risen Christ. … Cybele and her lover Attis were transformed at some time by popular pagan piety into astral and cosmic powers.”
RD: Right. And I would add that at this point in history it was often thought in the pagan religions present in the Roman Empire that stars and planets, and even physical elements (earth, wind, water, fire) were thought to control the destinies of people. Remember that at the time Paul wrote Colossians Epaphras is with him. So, Epaphras has reported to Paul that a form of syncretism – combining the elements of two different religions – was starting to take place in Colossae. This, again, is not surprising given the religious history of the region in which Colossae is located. So Paul had to address this local issue in the letter to the Colossians.
VK: In Colossians you see phrases such as “See to it, then, that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of human wisdom, which comes from the teachings handed down by human beings and from the ruling spirits of the universe, and not from Christ. For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity, and you have been given full life in union with him. He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority.” That’s Colossians, chapter 2, verses 8 through 10 of the Good News Translation.
RD: And while you do see Paul addressing the supremacy and necessity for Christ in Ephesians you don’t see him addressing the specific concern of pagan angelic worship. Now, I want to add here that the Colossians do not seem to have been worshipping the angels themselves but it is more as if they were trying to worship alongside the angels who in ancient times were often associated with astral or celestial powers. But that issue was apparently not present in the Ephesian church.
VK: Possibly because Paul had spent close to 3 years in Ephesus ministering directly. It may be that the Ephesian believers’ extensive contact with Paul himself meant that they were far better grounded doctrinally.
RD: Quite possibly. What you do see in Ephesians is more of a spirit of awe, prayer, and praise along with the very famous discussion of spiritual armor present in chapter 6 of Ephesians. We’re going to talk more about that in our next episode of Anchored by Truth. In Ephesians you actually don’t see Paul addressing any particular local issue with respect to the content of the Christian faith the way he did in Galatians and Colossians. That freed him up to spend more time expounding on subjects of general interest such as the unity of Christ with His church and the relationship between our lives before Christ with our life after we are saved.
VK: Ephesus was obviously a very special place to Paul so it is natural that he would want to provide some last bit of encouragement to the believers who were there. In Acts, chapter 20, verses 17 through 35 we have a record of Paul’s last meeting with the Ephesian elders. At that time he said, “I have gone from place to place, preaching to you about God's kingdom, but now I know that none of you will ever see me again. … Look after yourselves and everyone the Holy Spirit has placed in your care. Be like shepherds to God's church. It is the flock he bought with the blood of his own Son. I know that after I am gone, others will come like fierce wolves to attack you. Some of your own people will tell lies to win over the Lord's followers. Be on your guard! Remember how day and night for three years I kept warning you with tears in my eyes.” That’s from the Contemporary English Version.
RD: That meeting between Paul and the elders was about 3 or 4 years before Paul wrote his epistle to the church. But his warning to the elders helps us see the genuine warmth Paul was expressing when he wrote at the beginning of his letter, “I have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people. So I never stop being grateful for you, as I mention you in my prayers.” That’s chapter 1, verses 15 and 16 from the Contemporary English Version. Somebody told Paul that at least up to that point that the Ephesians believers were remaining faithful and it genuinely pleased him. The other thing that is missing from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is any extensive defense of his own ministry of the type that is present in the letters to the Corinthians and Galatians. He didn’t have to provide a defense because the Ephesians knew him so well.
VK: All of this goes to reinforce the major point that we are making in this “Paul’s Places” series. The epistles, the letters, Paul sent to the various churches we know in our Bibles by geographic labels are consistent not only with geography and culture but also with the history of the early church. Paul had apparently never been to Colossae or at least there were a lot of people there who had never seen him. But Paul had spent 3 years ministering personally in Ephesus. So, the tenor of the two letters is different even though they were obviously written about the same time. The religious traditions present in Colossae meant Paul put a special emphasis on the supremacy of Christ to any and all perceived celestial powers in Colossians. But Paul didn’t have to do that in Ephesians. But in Ephesians we do see a spirit of gratitude that probably resulted from the fact that - even though Paul hadn’t seen any of them for a while – someone had told him they were still remaining faithful. This sounds like a great time to go to prayer. Since we are so close to anniversary of the day that America declared her independence, today let’s listen to a prayer for God’s blessings to remain with this nation.
---- PRAYER FOR FOURTH OF JULY
VK: Before we close we’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes in this series or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”
If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!” (Opening Bible Quotes from the Contemporary English Version)
Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 21 and 22, Contemporary English Version
Colossians, chapter 4, verses 7 and 8, Contemporary English Version