The life and work of St. Paul

GNOSTICISM IN THE GERM. 605
No great future awaited the Philippian Church. Half a century later,
Ignatius passed through Philippi with his " ten leopards," on his way to
martyrdom ;
and Polycarp wrote to the Church a letter which, like that of St.
Paul, is full of commendations. Little more is heard of it. Its site is still
occupied by the wretched village of Filibidjek, but in spite of the fair promise
of its birth, " the Church of Philippi has," in the inscrutable counsel of God,
" lived without a history, and perished without a memorial." l
CHAPTER XLVin.
GNOSTICISM IN THE GERM.
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THE remaining three of the Epistles of the Captivity were written within a
short time of each other, and were despatched by the same messengers.
Tychicns was the bearer of those to the Ephosians and Colossians. Onesimus,
who naturally took the letter to Philemon, was sent at the same time with him,
as appears from the mention of his name in the Epistle to the Colossians. In
both of these latter Epistles there is also a message for Archippus.
There is nothing but internal evidence to decide which of these letters was
written first. The letter to Philemon was, however, a mere private appendage
to the Epistle to the Colossians, which may have been written at any time.
The letter to this Church must claim the priority over the circular Epistle
which is generally known as the Epistle to the Ephesians. The reason for this
opinion is obvious the Epistle to the Colossians was called forth by a special
need, the other Epistle was not. It is in exact psychological accordance with
the peculiarities of St. Paul's mind and style that if, after writing a letter
which was evoked by particular circumstances, and led to the development of
particular truths, he utilised the opportunity of its despatch to send another
letter, which had no such immediate object, the tones of the first letter wonld
still vibrate in the second. When he had discharged his immediate duty to
the Church of Colossse, the topics dwelt upon in writing to the neighbouring
Churches would be sure to bear a close resemblance to those which had most
recently been occupying his thoughts. Even apart from special information,
St. Paul may have seen the desirability of warning Ephesus and its dependencies
against a peril which was infusing its subtle presence within so short a
and it was then natural that his language to them should
distance from them ;
be marked by the very differences which separate the Epistle to the Colossians
from that to the Ephesians. The former is specific, concrete, and polemical ;
the latter is abstract, didactic, general. The same words and phrases predomi-
but the resemblances are far more marked and numerous in the
nate in both ;
1 Lightfoot, p. 64.