Epistle to the Laodiceans
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An Epistle to the Laodiceans, consisting of 20 short lines, is found in some editions of the Vulgate, known only in Latin, purporting to be the epistle of Paul to the Laodicean Church mentioned in the Epistle to the Colossians. It is almost unanimously believed to be pseudepigraphical, being a pastiche of phrases taken from the genuine Pauline epistles. Adolf von Harnack suggested that it was written by either Marcion or one of his followers, also claimed by the Muratorian fragment and named as part of Marcion's Bible canon, but despite scholarly examination his suggestion cannot be substantiated or denied. In any case, this little work contains almost no doctrine, teachings or narrative not found elsewhere, and its exclusion from the Biblical canon has little effect.
The text was almost unanimously considered pseudepigraphal when Biblical canon was decided upon, and does not appear in any Greek copies of the Bible at all, nor is it known in Syriac or other versions. Jerome wrote in the 4th century, "it is rejected by everyone" (Lives of Illustrious Men, Chapter 5). However, it evidently gained a certain degree of respect. It appeared in over 100 surviving early Latin copies of the Bible. According to Biblia Sacra iuxta vulgatum versionem, there are Latin Vulgate manuscripts containing this epistle dating between the 6th and 12th century, including Latin manuscripts F (Codex Fuldensis), M, Q, B, D (Ardmachanus), C, and Lambda. The epistle also appeared in all the early German translations before Martin Luther's, and was thus evidently considered scriptural by much of the western church for quite some time.
In the Epistle to the Colossians, Paul, after instructing them to send an Epistle to Laodicea, adds: "read that which is from the Laodiceans". This might refer to a circular letter, the canonical "Ephesians" (but this theory is weakened by the fact that the Pauline authorship of Ephesians is questionable); but it has been held to be a lost letter to the Laodicean Christians. The apocryphal epistle is generally considered a transparent attempt to supply this supposed lost sacred document.
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
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For a thorough defense of the Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the Ephesians, See Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary by Harold W. Hoehner, pp 2-61, from Baker Academic Press.
