And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.
The letter from Laodicea - my letter to the Laodiceans, which you will get from them on applying to them. Not that to the Ephesians; for it is very unlikely Paul should know that his letter to the Ephesians would have reached Laodicea at or near the time of the arrival of his letter to the Colossians. Compare 1 Corinthians 5:9, another letter not preserved, as not designed by the Holy Spirit for further use than the local and temporary wants of a particular church. See 'Introductions' to the letters to Ephesians and Colossians. The letters from the apostles were publicly read in the church assemblies (Ignatius, 'ad Ephesum,' 12:; Polycarp 'ad Philippenses,' 3: 11, 12; Clement, 'ad Corinthios,' 1: 47; 1 Thessalonians 5:27; Revelation 1:3). Thus, they and the gospels were put on a level with the Old Testament, which were similarly read (Deuteronomy 31:11). It is possible that as the letter to the Colossians was read to other churches besides Colosse, so the letter to the Ephesians was read in various churches besides Ephesus; and that Laodicea, being the last of such churches before Colosse, he might designate the letter to the Ephesians here as "the letter from Laodicea." But then the letter to the Ephesians would precede that to the Colossians; whereas the expansion in the former of the precepts in the latter favour the priority of the latter.