dusting off a pseudo-historical letter 313
I fully agree that laod 20 is drawn from, and points to, Col 4:16, I sug-
gest that this verse serves a more significant function within the internal
argumentation of the letter. as Weima observes, in some of Paul’s letters
“the closing commands are directly related to concerns addressed previ-
ously in the body.”50 an excellent example, offered by Weima, of such a
connection between closing commands and the body of the letter is Phi-
lemon, where the command to the recipient underscores the purpose of
the letter, i.e., Paul’s appeal to Philemon on behalf of onesimus (Phlm 20).
similarly, laodiceans is concerned with exhorting the recipients to remain
firm in their beliefs and not to be divided by false teachers. the entire let-
ter closing has been constructed to reinforce the positive relations and
mutual identity of letter writer and recipients. By closing with such a refer-
ence to the Colossian church, Ps.-Paul once again reminds the laodicean
Christians of their broader Christian community, as well as the solidarity
that Ps.-Paul shares with both them and the more universal church.51
from this brief analysis of the letter closing in laodiceans, Weima’s
conclusions regarding the Pauline letter closings are confirmed in relation
to at least one apocryphal Pauline letter. the author of laodiceans uses
standard Pauline epistolary conventions to conclude his letter, a conclu-
sion that hints at earlier themes in the letter while discursively stress-
ing the interpersonal relations that the recipients share with the letter
writer, with each other, and with the broader Christian tradition. thus,
laod 17/18–20 is an appropriate and effective closing for furthering the
rhetorical purpose of this letter.
Conclusion
In this essay I have challenged nearly two centuries of scholarship on laod-
iceans. the only other scholar demonstrating an interest in the internal
logic of the letter, and in the process coming to very similar conclusions,
has been richard Pervo in The Making of Paul. My study demonstrates
that an application of epistolary analysis to this letter reveals a carefully
constructed arrangement, with the various compositional units support-
ing a moral exhortation to remain firm to the “true gospel” (assumed
laodicensium ex Coloss. IV.16: nec non epimetris subnexis de habitus theologiae qualitate”
(Phd diss.; giessen: ex typograph. academ. ordinar. B. kargerii, 1680).
50 Weima, “sincerely, Paul,” 322.
51 Cf. Wayne a. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul
(new haven: yale university Press, 1983), 108–10.