likewife to the whole tenor of the paffage. St. Paul expreffes his anxiety for the fafety of thole Chriftians, who had not been taught by him in perfon, and confirmed by him in faith. How then could he exprefs an anxiety for the Coloffians and Laodiceans, if he himself had actually inftructed them in Christianity?

But though St. Paul had never been at Coloffe, when he wrote this Epiftle, yet Chriftianity had long been taught, and a community of Chriftians eftablished there. Who it was, that introduced it, I cannot pretend to determine but it is not improbable that Epaphras', mentioned, ch. i. 7. iv. 12, 13. was one of the earliest teachers. Further, as it appears from Acts xix. 10. that during St. Paul's refidence at Ephefus, many, both Jews and Greeks, came from various parts of Afia to hear the Gospel, we may fuppofe that feveral Coloffians, especially Philemon, were of this number.

SECT. II.

Contents, defign, and occafion, of the Epistle to the Coloffians.

TH

HIS Epiftle is chiefly directed against false moral doctrines, which appear to be Effene, and of which I have already treated, Ch. xiv. Sect. 2, 3. The opi

nion

Epaphras must not be confounded with Epaphroditus, who was deputy from the Chriftian community at Philippi.

In the preceding editions of this Introduction, I defcribed Epaphras as the founder of the church at Coloffe; but though he was one of the earliest, and one of the principal teachers of Chriflianity in that city, it does not neceffarily follow, that he was the person who first introduced it. As St. Paul jubjoins the name of Timothy to his own, ch. i. 1. it is not improbable, that Timothy had taught Chriftianity at Coloffa. Throughout the whole of the firft chapter St. Paul fpeaks in their joint names, and ufes the plural number we,' except where the fubject relates to his own imprisonment, and where Timothy therefore could not be included. From ch. ii. 1. he proceeds in the first perfon fingular. Here again therefore he diftinguishes what concerned only himself, from that, in which Timothy was likewife concerned.

nion of other commentators, that it was written against the Gnoftics, may likewife, in fome refpects, be true. If we take the word Gnoftic' in the fenfe in which it is ufed by many of the fathers, to denote one who rejected the law of Mofes, who permitted the eating of meat offered to idols, and fornication, and taught the doctrine, that the world was created by a being of inferior order, it is certain that the perfons, whom St. Paul oppofes in his Epiftle to the Coloffians, were the very reverfe of Gnoftics. But if the word Gnoftic' be taken to denote in general terms an adherent to the Oriental philofophy, the Effenes themfelves may in this fenfe be called Gnoftics. In ch. ii. 8. St. Paul calls the doctrine of thofe, who attempted to feduce the Coloffians, by the name of phoropia. Now the doctrine, by which the Coloffians were in danger of being perverted, the neceffity of circumcifion, related to the obfervance of the fabbath, abftinence from unclean meats, and the worshipping of angels. But this was the doctrine of the Effenes and their doctrine is called by Jofephus likewife by the name of Philofophy: for in his hiftory of the Jewish war, B. II. ch. 2. § 8-13. he fays, Teia waga Izdalis

The contents of the Epifle to the Coloffians have a remarkable affinity to thofe of the Epiftle to the Ephefians; except that the errors, which St. Paul confutes in the latter, are more manifeftly Effene, than thofe, which he combats in the former. Whoever would understand thefe Epiftles must read them together; for the one is in most places a commentary on the other, the meaning of fingle paffages in one Epiftle, which alone might be varioufly interpreted, being determined by the parallel paffages in the other Epiftle. If that Epiftle, for which St. Paul commands the Coloffians, ch. iv. 16. to fend, from Laodicea, was no other than his Epiftle to the Ephefians, as I really believe, the advice which he give was obviously founded on the neceffity of the Epiftie to. the Ephefians, for the understanding of that, winch he wrote to the Coloffians,

The

The queftion here occurs: Why did St. Paul, who, confidering his very extenfive connexions, was not prodigal of his Epiftles, write to the Coloffians, not only at the fame time that he wrote to the Ephefians, but even on the fame fubject, especially if the Epiftle to the Ephefians was a circular Epiftle, intended to be sent to feveral cities, and among the reft to Laodicea, from which place the Coloffians were ordered to procure a copy of it? Or, if he thought it neceffary to write a particular Epiftle to a city of Phrygia, why did he not direct it rather to Laodicea the capital, than to Coloffæ a town of lefs note: and command the church of Laodicea to falute that at Coloffa, rather than the contrary, as he had done, Col. iv. 15.? Would not a copy of the circular Epiftle have been fufficient for the Coloffians, rather than for the Laodiceans? To this we may anfwer, that feveral circumftances concurred, which induced St. Paul to write this Epiftle.

1. Onefimus, whom St. Paul had converted to Chriftianity, and who carried the Epiftle to Coloffæ, was himself a Coloffian. Further, Epaphras, a principal teacher of the Coloffians, was likewife with St. Paul when he wrote this Epiftle, ch. i. 7, 8. iv. 12, 13.

2. By the means of thefe two perfons, especially the latter, he had probably received circumftantial accounts of the fituation of the church at Coloffe, and of the erroneous opinions which prevailed there. It is even poffible that the Epiftle was written at the particular request of Epaphras, who was greatly interefted in the welfare of the Coloffian church, as well as in that of the churches in Laodicea and Hierapolis, ch. iv. 13.

3. St. Paul himfelf was much concerned for the Coloffians, and for all the neighbouring communities, where he had not preached the Gofpel in perfon, ch. ii. 1.

4. The Apoftle appears to have had likewife in view the confirmation of that doctrine, which the Coloffians had received from Epaphras, ch. i. 7, 8.

5. Though there is a great fimilarity between the Epiftles to the Ephefians and Coloffians, yet the latter contains

4

contains many things, which are not in the former, efpecially in regard to the worship of angels, and many other fingle points, which appear to be Effene, and which perhaps prevailed at Coloffe, and in its neighbourhood, more than in other places.

On the other hand, the Epiftle to the Coloffians contains upon the whole much lefs matter than the Epiftie to the Ephefians. But if the latter was a circular Epifte, of which the Coloffians were to procure a copy from Laodicea, there was no neceffity for St. Paul to repeat, in the particular Epiftle to the Coloffians, what he had faid in the circular Epiftle, except whar especially related to the neceffities of the church of Coloffæ. A other difference between the two Epittles confifts in this, that in the Epiftle to the Ephefians St. Paul not only recommends unanimity among the members of the Chriftian community at Ephetus, whether Jews or Gentiles, but likewife diftinguithes them from each other, where he represents them as being equal in the kingdom of God, by ye? and we' This I have not obferved in the Epiftle to the Coloffians. Perhaps therefore the Coloffian community confifted wholly of Gentile converts, which is not impoffible, even though Jewith Effene doctrines had been introduced there: or, if it confifted of Jewish as well as of Gentile converts, perhaps lefs diftinction was made at Coloffæ between the two parties, than in other Cits of Afia Minor.

It is remarkable that in the two Epiftles to the Ephefians and Coloffians, and in thefe only, St. Paul warns his readers againit lying. Ephef. iv. 25. Col. iii. 9. Hence we may conclude, that this vice prevailed more at Ephefus and Coloffe, than in other places to which St. Paul fent Epiftles: and as both of these cities lay in Afia Minor, it is not improbable, that it was the vice of the country, for this vice is often national, as the love of truth is often a national virtue. Were I an Apostle, and had to fend an apoftolical Epistle to England, I fhould think it wholly unneceffary to give

any

any directions against lying, because this vice is held in great abhorrence in England': but there are countries in Europe, to which, if a pastoral Epiftle were addreffed, the mention of this vice would not be fuperfluous,

SECT. III.

Of the Epiftle, for which St. Paul defires the Colofians, Ch. iv. 16. to fend from Laodicea.

STE

T. PAUL defires the Coloffians, ch. iv. 16. to fend to Laodicea the Epiftle, which they themfelves had received, and to fend for another from Laodicea, which was to be read alfo at Coloffæ. The words of St. Paul are: Και όταν αναγνωσθη παρ' ὑμῖν ἡ επισολή, ποιήσατε ίνα και εν τη Λαοδικέων εκκλησια αναγνωσθῇ, και την εκ Λαοδικείας ἵνα και ὑμεῖς αναγνώτε. Now the former part of this verfe is clear: but it is not fo clear, what Epiftle St. Paul meant by ή επιςολη εκ Λαοδίκειας. There words have been interpreted three different ways.

1. Η επιστολη εκ Λαοδικείας has been explained, a3 denoting an Epistle, which had been written from Laodicea to St. Paul.' This Epiftle has been fuppofed to have contained feveral queftions, propofed to the Apoftle by the Laodiceans, which he anfwered in the Epiftle to the Coloffians; and hence it has been inferred that St. Paul ordered them to read the former, as being neceffary toward a right understanding of the latter. To this opinion I fubfcribed in the three first editions of this Introduction: but I am now perfuaded that it is falfe. For if St. Paul had received an Epiftle from Laodicea, the capital of Phrygia, he would have returned the anfwer to the queftions, which it contained, to Laodicea itself,

! I except however news-paper and pamphlet writers, coffee-house politicians, and stock-jobbers,