Clearly it is that of keeping Onesimus at his own side instead of sending him back to
Colossae (see verse 13).
Epaphras: Paul's Educator at
Colossae. Paul's Social Network.
Because the memorial of Christ's supper could not take place in the temple or the synagogue, it had to be celebrated in private houses and we know the names of women who were heads of those "house churches": Appiah in
Colossae was one, Nympha in Laodicea, Lydia in Thyatira and Phoebe in Cenchraea were others.
I picked up Xenophon's route where he landed at Ephesus, and followed Xenophon to Sart (ancient Sardis), Denizli (
Colossae), Dinar (Celaenae), Usak (Ceramon Agora), Cay (Cayster Field), Aksehir (Thymbrium), Ilgyn (Tyriaeum), and Konya (Iconium).
Scholars from several countries discuss such topics as the Jewish intra-group politics of Paul's Jerusalem meeting, apostolic identity and the conflicts in Corinth and Galatia, Paul's opponents in Galatia, whether Paul had opponents in Rome and what they were opposing, the opponents at
Colossae, and Paul and the imperial cult.
PAUL'S advice to the people at
Colossae is relevant to today's society.
Sites include Philippi, Thessaloniki, Alexander's Pella, Athens with Acropolis and Areopagus, Corinth, Cenchreae, Patmos, Samos, Ephesus, Izmir (Smyrna), Pergamon, Akhisar (Thyatira), Sardis, Alasehir (Philadelphia) Laodicea,
Colossae, Yalvac, (Antioch in Pisidia), Konya (Iconium), Galatia, Ankara, Istanbul.
To the small city called
Colossae in what is now Turkey, Paul wrote at a time when there appears to have been something of the same mix of religious "opportunities" as I have described (see Chapter 2).
Together with one or two other recent studies, Dr Pilhofer's work has helped to advance our knowledge of first-century Philippi to a point which in the case of several other 'New Testament cities' (notably
Colossae) we can only dream of.
