Final greetings and conclusion
Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.
16 After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.
17 Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord.”
18 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
The apostle wanted certain greetings to be forwarded by the Colossians to believing neighbors. He wanted the church at Laodicea, the neighboring congregation with which the Colossian Christians were closely associated, to be greeted. In connection with the greeting to the Laodiceans, Paul singled out a woman named Nympha and the church in her house for a special, personal greeting. Who was Nympha, and why did she and the church in her house receive special greetings? We can only speculate. Perhaps a group of Christians in Laodicea, who lived close to one another but were separated by a rather inconvenient distance from the rest of the Christians there, met at Nympha’s house, or maybe a smaller group of Christians in the third city of the Lycus Valley triangle, Hierapolis, met at the house of Nympha.
It was customary in the days of the early church for apostolic letters to be circulated among the churches. The apostle asks that this would be done with this letter. After it had been delivered to the elders of the Colossian congregation, it would, of course, be read to the assembled Colossian church. From the Colossians his letter was to be passed to the believers in Laodicea. They were facing the same problems the Colossians were, so the letter would also be beneficial for them.
Now, however, comes a difficulty. Paul says that the letter to the Laodiceans should also be read in the Colossians’ midst. There is, of course, no letter to the Laodiceans in our New Testament. To what, therefore, is the apostle referring?
Of all the explanations that have been suggested to solve this mystery of the missing letter, two seem to stand out as the most reasonable. Perhaps there was an epistle to the Laodiceans, but it has been lost. We know that at least one letter of the apostle Paul was not preserved for posterity (1 Corinthians 5:9). Perhaps there were others. We do know that severe earthquakes rocked the area around Colosse shortly after Paul’s letters were sent to the region. The destruction they caused may well have resulted in the loss of even the most carefully kept manuscript.
Another possibility is that the letter to the Laodiceans may actually have been the letter we know as Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians. Along with the epistle to the Colossians and that to Philemon, the epistle to the Ephesians also was carried by Tychicus. If the letter to the Ephesians was passed along a more or less regular circuit, it would naturally have come from Laodicea to Colosse. Both theories about the letter to the Laodiceans seem possible, although they are only speculation.
Verse 17 is crisp and abrupt. It contains instructions to Archippus, who was a member of Philemon’s family, probably his son. To this young man Paul simply says, “See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord.” Some see a rebuke in these words and conclude that Archippus may have fallen behind in some project that the apostle or the congregation had assigned to him. This is possible, but not likely. If Archippus had been lazy or disorganized, why would Paul honor him with the title “fellow soldier” in Philemon verse 2? It is more likely that Paul’s instructions to Archippus here are similar to those he gave Timothy: “Discharge all the duties of your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5).
The fact that Paul calls Archippus a “fellow soldier” seems to indicate that Archippus, like Paul, was serving as a minister of the gospel. That would mean that he was the pastor serving the Colossian congregation while Epaphras was away at Rome. Paul’s words would then be words of encouragement to that young vacancy pastor, words confirming and supporting the call and the ministry of a relatively inexperienced pastor facing a difficult task. With his encouragement to Archippus, Paul was also tactfully encouraging the congregation to support this pastor and cooperate with him.
It was customary for the apostle to close his letters by writing a few words with his own hand. He did this both to mark the letter as genuine and to discourage the forged letters that were appearing with claims of being apostolic. As he closes, Paul again refers to the fact that he is a prisoner for the sake of the gospel. This gives him a right to expect the Colossians to listen to what he has to say to them. With this reminder he also again asks for their prayers, and he challenges them also to be willing to suffer for the gospel.
With a short benediction, “Grace be with you,” Paul brings his epistle to a close. Those four little words, especially in view of all Paul has previously written in this epistle, say much to the Colossians and to us. Grace, God’s undeserved love in Christ, is the basic blessing that Christians possess and cherish. It transforms human hearts and lives and leads believers onward to glory. Grace is the basis for faith and the power for Christian lives. The word ought to always remind Christians that they are saved not by their own wisdom, efforts, or strength but only as a result of God’s undeserved love in Christ. Wisdom, discernment, strength, victory over temptation, and all Christian virtues are the products of grace.
Paul pronounces that marvelous grace of God in Christ upon the believers in Colosse as he brings his epistle to a close, once more holding before them the wondrous blessings that are theirs in the all-sufficient Christ.