Λαοδικίᾳ] This form has not the same overwhelming preponderance of authority in its favour here and in vv. 15, 16, as in ii. 1, but is probably correct in all these places. It is quite possible however, that the same person would write Λαοδικια and Λαοδικεια indifferently. Even the form Λαοδικηα is found in Mionnet, Suppl. VII. p. 581. Another variation is the contraction of Λαοδ- into Λαδ-; e.g. Λαδικηνός, which occurs frequently in the edict of Diocletian.
14. Λουκᾶς] St Luke had travelled with St Paul on his last journey to Jerusalem (Acts xxi. 1 sq.). He had also accompanied him two years later from Jerusalem to Rome (Acts xxvii. 2 sq.). And now again, probably after another interval of two years (see Philippians p. 31 sq.), we find him in the Apostle’s company. It is not probable that he remained with St Paul in the meanwhile (Philippians p. 35), and this will account for his name not occurring in the Epistle to the Philippians. He was at the Apostle’s side again in his second captivity (2 Tim. iv. 11).
Lucas is doubtless a contraction of Lucanus. Several Old Latin MSS write out the name Lucanus in the superscription and subscription to the Gospel, just as elsewhere Apollos is written in full Apollonius. On the frequent occurrence of this name Lucanus in inscriptions see Ephem. Epigr. II. p. 28 (1874). The shortened form Lucas however seems to be rare. He is here distinguished from οἱ ὄντες ἐκ περιτομῆς (ver. 11). This alone is fatal to his identification (mentioned as a tradition by Origen ad loc.) with the Lucius, St Paul’s ‘kinsman’ (i.e. a Jew; see Philippians pp. 17, 171, 173), who sends a salutation from Corinth to Rome (Rom. xvi. 21). It is equally fatal to the somewhat later tradition that he was one of the seventy (Dial. c. Marc. § 1 in Orig. Op. I. p. 806, ed. De la Rue; Epiphan. Hær. li. 11). The identification with Lucius of Cyrene (Acts xiii. 13) is possible but not probable. Though the example of Patrobius for Patrobas (Rom. xvi. 14) shows that such a contraction is not out of the question, yet probability and testimony alike point to Lucanus, as the longer form of the Evangelist’s name.
ὁ ἰατρὸς] Indications of medical knowledge have been traced both in the third Gospel and in the Acts; see on this point Smith’s Voyage and Shipwreck of St Paul p. 6 sq. (ed. 2). It has been observed also, that St Luke’s first appearance in company with St Paul (Acts xvi. 10) nearly synchronizes with an attack of the Apostle’s constitutional malady (Gal. iv. 13, 14); so that he may have joined him partly in a professional capacity. This conjecture is perhaps borne out by the personal feeling which breathes in the following ὁ ἀγαπητός. But whatever may be thought of these points, there is no ground for questioning the ancient belief (Iren. iii. 14. 1 sq.) that the physician is also the Evangelist. St Paul’s motive in specifying him as the physician may not have been to distinguish him from any other bearing the same name, but to emphasize his own obligations to his medical knowledge. The name in this form does not appear to have been common. The tradition that St Luke was a painter is quite late (Niceph. Call. ii. 43). It is worthy of notice that the two Evangelists are mentioned together in this context, as also in Philem. 24, 2 Tim. iv. 11.
ὁ ἀγαπητός] ‘the beloved one’, not to be closely connected with ὁ ἰατρός, for ὁ ἀγαπητός is complete in itself; comp. Philem. 1, Rom. xvi. 12 (comp. vv. 5, 8, 9), 3 Joh. 1. For the form compare the expression in the Gospels, Matt. iii. 17, etc. ὁ ὑίος μου, ὁ ἀγαπητός κ.τ.λ.; where a comparison of Is. xlii. 1, as quoted in Matt. xii. 18, seems to show that ὁ ἀγαπητός κ.τ.λ. forms a distinct clause from ὁ ὑίος μου.
Δημᾶς] On the probability that this person was a Thessalonian (2 Tim. iv. 10) and that his name was Demetrius, see the introduction to the Epistles to the Thessalonians. He appears in close connexion with St Luke in Philem. 24, as here. In 2 Tim. iv. 10 their conduct is placed in direct contrast, Δημᾶς με ἐγκατέλιπεν ... Λοῦκας ἐστὶν μόνος μετ’ ἐμοῦ. There is perhaps a foreshadowing of this contrast in the language here. While Luke is described with special tenderness as ὁ ἰατρός, ὁ ἀγαπητός, Demas alone is dismissed with a bare mention and without any epithet of commendation.
IV. 15, 16]
[← ] 15Ἀσπάσασθε τοὺς ἐν Λαοδικίᾳ ἀδελφὸυς καὶ Νυμφᾶν καὶ τὴν κατ’ οἶκον αὐτῶν ἐκκλησίαν. 16Καὶ ὅταν [ →]
15–17. ‘Greet from me the brethren who are in Laodicea, especially Nymphas, and the church which assembles in their house. And when this letter has been read among you, take care that it is read also in the Church of the Laodiceans, and be sure that ye also read the letter which I have sent to Laodicea, and which ye will get from them. Moreover give this message from me to Archippus; Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received from me in Christ, and discharge it fully and faithfully.’