The Letter from Laodicea
15 Greet the brothers who are in Laodicea, with Nymphas and the assembly that is in his house. 16 When this letter has been read among you, cause it to be read also in the assembly of the Laodiceans, and that you also read the letter from Laodicea. 17 Tell Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.” 18 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen.
The letter ends with an exchange, a charge to one man, and three words in Paul's own handwriting.
Greet the brothers who are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the assembly that is in his house. Churches met in houses, and the greeting names the household that hosted one.
Verse 16 arranges a swap: when this letter has been read among you, cause it to be read also in Laodicea, and that you also read the letter from Laodicea. So Paul expected his letters to circulate beyond their address from the beginning, and one he wrote to Laodicea has not survived — Scripture does not preserve everything an apostle wrote, and says so in passing.
Verse 17 carries a charge for one man. Say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry you received in the Lord, that you fulfill it. He is greeted in the letter Onesimus is carrying Philemon 1:2 as a fellow soldier. Here the whole congregation is made the messenger of a private word — accountability rather than rebuke.
Then the pen changes hands: the salutation of me, Paul, with my own hand.
And three words end the letter that has spent four chapters on the fullness of Deity: remember my chains.
settled What this mark means