dusting off a pseudo-historical letter 299
eschatological or soteriological quality authenticates this work (salutis
vitae aeternae; v. 5c), a quality that likely evokes the eschatological finale
of the thanksgiving period (promissum expectantes in diem judicii; v. 3).
discursively, Ps.-Paul aligns himself, his co-workers, and the recipients in
opposition to those who offer an alternative gospel teaching, which the
author (and thus the recipients) views as vain talk (v. 4). this discursive
alignment, furthermore, is reinforced by direct divine activity among both
the co-workers and the recipients in vv. 5a and 9a (Et nunc faciet Deus, ut
qui sunt ex me; v. 5a// Et id ipsum in vobis faciet misericordiam suam; v. 9a).
thus, the community situation is described as one of an external threat
of false Christian teaching to the true gospel, a true gospel that is adhered
to by the recipients.24
at v. 6, Ps.-Paul shifts the focus from the community situation to his
own suffering in Christ. several scholars have read vv. 6 to 8 as a general
allusion to Paul’s imprisonment, rendering laodiceans simply a clumsy
attempt at producing another prison epistle.25 While imprisonment is not
an uncommon motif among Pauline pseudepigraphic letters, something
more can be said when we consider the occasion (or rhetorical situation)
of the text. specifically, Ps-Paul’s suffering serves as a moral exemplar for
the recipients to follow.
Ps.-Paul draws upon his own suffering in order to both reinforce the
mutual identification between writer, recipients, and co-workers (specifi-
cally with a divine connection that evokes the triadic relationship of the
thanksgiving) and to encourage the recipients by setting himself forth as
an apostolic figure, who identifies with their suffering, that thus should be
tinuing in the work of co-workers “sent from me.” furthermore, as I’ve articulated above,
Ps.-Paul’s “true gospel” is antithetically set in opposition to the “vain talk” of other teachers.
thus, the focus in these opening verses is to stress not the actual message received by the
laodicean Christians at some period in the church’s past, but rather on those who claim
the authority to be teachers for the laodiceans. By stressing the “me” (me praedicatur and
ut qui sunt ex me) (i.e., Ps.-Paul) in vv. 4 and 5, this letter opening establishes Ps.-Paul as
the focal point for correct teaching; thus, establishing a demarcation of those who are
aligned with the apostle (co-workers and the laodiceans/recipients) and those who are
not aligned with him (false teachers).
24 My reading takes v. 5 as referring to those “sent from” Ps.-Paul as those who are his
co-workers. this verse (ut qui sunt ex me), however, can also be read as referring to those
who have been converted by Paul (i.e., those “coming from” him). the former reading is
fairly standard in scholarship, and is what I follow, but the latter reading is viable. even
if we were to follow the latter reading, the focus remains on the community situation. Cf.
Meeks and fitzgerald, Writings of St. Paul, 148, who suggest that laod 5 redacts Phil 1:12
(“what has happened to me”) in light of gal 2:12 (“people who ‘come from James’ ”). If laod 5
is playing on gal 2:12, then the “co-workers” reading of ut qui sunt ex me is reinforced.
25 see, for example, Magee, “exalted apostle,” 127–28.