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Where was Laodicea, the lukewarm church of Revelation?

Laodicea on the Lycus lay in the valley of the Lycus in Phrygia, in south-western Asia Minor, on the edge of today's Denizli in Turkey; the map point stands on its ruins. Hierapolis, with its hot springs and white terraces at Pamukkale, was about 10 km to the north in a straight line, Colossae 14 km to the east, and Ephesus about 155 km to the west, on the main road from the coast into the interior. It is not Laodicea in Syria, today's Latakia.

Paul knew the church by letter: Epaphras laboured for “them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis”, and Paul wrote, “Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house”, asking the Colossians to read “the epistle from Laodicea”, usually thought lost, though some take it for Ephesians. Revelation, about AD 95, sends Laodicea the last of the seven letters: “thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot”, proud to say “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing”. Many read the image against the waters of the valley, hot at Hierapolis and cold at Colossae, while Laodicea drew tepid, limy water by aqueduct; others take it as a plain figure. The letter ends: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock”.

Antiochus II refounded the city in the mid-third century BC and named it after his wife Laodice; Strabo praises its wealth and the soft black wool of its sheep. After the earthquake of AD 60, Tacitus says, it rebuilt itself without help from Rome. Excavations by Pamukkale University have uncovered colonnaded streets, two theatres, a stadium, water towers whose clay pipes are choked with lime, and a large church of the fourth century.

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Scripture: Col 4:13; Col 4:15–16; Rev 1:11; Rev 3:14–22

Sources

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