Biblical Oddities: Paul’s Letter to Laodicea

This is something I’ve written about before (in fact, I have written an entire paper on it, which you can find here), but it is so odd that I think it’s worth mentioning in this column.

At the end of Paul’s letter to the Colossian church, the apostle tells them that after they’ve finished reading his letter they should forward it to the church at Laodicea. They should also get a copy of the epistle that was at the Laodicean church:

Colossians 4:16: “And 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.”

That in itself makes sense. Paul wasn’t just writing his letters to the individual churches; he intended for them to be passed around (which is exactly what we do with them today). He wanted the Laodiceans to read the letter the Colossians had, and he wanted the Colossians to read the letter the Laodiceans had.

The problem is that as far as we know, Paul never wrote a letter to the Laodiceans. The only letter to the Laodicean church is found in the book of Revelation, and it was written long after Paul was martyred. So what on earth was Paul talking about?

There are a couple different possibilities. First of all, it is entirely possible that the letter the Laodiceans currently had in their possession was not written to them at all. They might have had a copy of the book of Ephesians, and it may be that that’s what Paul wanted the Colossians to read.

Another possibility is that Paul really did write the Laodiceans a letter, but it was just not included in the canon of the Bible. This may seem disturbing, but it wouldn’t be the first time that the Bible referred to a book that was not included in its text. The Old Testament referred to a number of books (such as the book of Jasher) that have been lost.

Keep in mind that just because a letter was inspired does not mean that it could not have been lost. Everything that Jesus Christ has ever said was inspired, but I’m positive that He said many things that are not included in the gospels. The Bible is not a complete collection of everything that has ever been inspired; instead it is a collection of inspirited writings that God has decided to give to us and preserve through time.

If there really was a letter to Laodicea then we obviously didn’t need it; if we had needed it then God would have made sure that it did not get lost. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that the Scriptures that we have been given are enough to equip us to do all good works. God did not leave out anything that we needed; He gave us a complete set of instructions.

This is one of those mysteries that we will never be able to clear up. Since this letter is only mentioned one time, there is no way to know what Paul was talking about. But we can know this: the Bible really does contain everything that we need.