[topcat54]

Seems Paul did not have anything negative to say about the church.

Argument from silence. In fact, Paul had very little to say about the church in that city at all. We do know he wrote them a letter. We don't know what it said.

As long as we are speculating, assuming Paul is projecting the rosy condition at Laodicea, and since the letter to the Colossians was probably written about AD60, before the earthquake of 61, it may be possible that the earthquake precipitated some sort of spiritual decline within the church there. A separation of the wheat and chaff so to speak. Remember, Revelation 3 says that Laodicea was "neither hot not cold." Not outright apostasy, just a loss of zeal for the Lord. Certainly we've all seen churches go from being on fire for the Lord to blandness is 5-6 years or less.

[xzins]

Argument from silence. In fact, Paul had very little to say about the church in that city at all. We do know he wrote them a letter. We don't know what it said.

It seems like all of us like arguments from silence sometimes and sometimes we don't.

[blue-duncan]

"Argument from silence."

Speaking of arguments from silence, Gentry doesn't even mention the Colossians passage when writing about Laodicea. He ignores the fact that Paul never mentions someone as important as John in any of his letters to the churches and Timothy and yet by a cursory reading of John's letters to the churches you know he had not only an intimate knowledge of the spiritual condition of the churches but that the churches were intimately familiar with and respected John.