arrival, and only on his recovery could Paul, as in this Letter,
express his appreciation of the thoughtful love of the
Philippians.

The Apostle appears to have visited the city three times.
In 52 A.D. it was the place of his first preaching in Europe (Ac
16:12); but he came again in 57 and in 58 A.D. (Ac 20:2,6), on
the last occasion spending the Passover season there.

Two special traits in the Macedonian character are
recognized by the Apostle in this Letter; the position and
influence of women, and the financial liberality of the
Philippians. It is remarkable that a Church displaying such
characteristics, and existing in a Roman "colonia," should have
lived, as this one did, "without a history, and have perished
without a memorial."

Paul's Letter to the Colossians

This Letter belongs to the same group as those to the
Ephesians and Philemon, and was probably written from Rome about
63 A. D. Colossae was a town in Phrygia (Roman Asia), on the
river Lycus, and was destroyed by an earthquake in the seventh
year of Nero's reign. The Church there was not founded by Paul
himself (Col 2:1), but by Epaphras (Col 1:7; 4:12), and this
Letter arose out of a visit which Epaphras paid to the Apostle,
for the purpose of discussing with him the development, at
Colossae, of certain strange doctrines which may possibly have
been a kind of early Gnosticism. Paul here writes to support the
authority and confirm the teaching of Epaphras.