He again alludes to his native place, de Isaac. ii. 2, pp. 52, 3 τοὺς Λαοδικεῖς δὲ Φρύγας μυριαχῶς ἐκάκωσεν, ὥσπερ καὶ τοὺς τῶν Χωνῶν τῶν ἐμῶν οἰκήτορας, and Urbs Capta 16, p. 842, τὸ δὲ ἤν ἐμοῦ τοῦ συγγραφέως Νικήτα πατρὶς αἱ Χῶναι καὶ ἡ ἀγχιτέρμων ταύτῃ Φρυγικὴ Λαοδίκεια.
[219]. Thus Hamilton (I. p. 514) reports that an earthquake which occurred at Denizli about a hundred years ago caused the inhabitants to remove their residences to a different locality, where they have remained ever since. Earthquakes have been largely instrumental in changing the sites of cities situated within the range of their influence.
[220]. At the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) Nunechius of Laodicea subscribes ‘for the absent bishops under him,’ among whom is mentioned Ἐπιφανίου πόλεως Κολασσῶν (Labb. Conc. IV. 1501, ed. Coleti; comp. ib. 1745). At the Quinisextine Council (A.D. 692) occurs the signature of Κοσμᾶς ἐπίσκοπος πόλεως Κολασσαῆς (sic) Πακατιανῆς (Conc. VII. 1408). At the 2nd Council of Nicæa (A.D. 787) the name of the see is in a transition state; the bishop Theodosius (or Dositheus) signs himself sometimes Χωνῶν ἤτοι Κολασσῶν, sometimes Χωνῶν simply (Conc. VIII. 689, 796, 988, 1200, 1222, 1357, 1378, 1432, 1523, 1533, in many of which passages the word Χωνῶν is grossly corrupted). At later Councils the see is called Χῶναι; and this is the name which it bears in the Notitiæ (pp. 97, 127, 199, 222, 303, ed. Parthey).
[221]. For the remains of Christian churches at Laodicea see Fellows Asia Minor p. 282, Pococke p. 74. A description of the three fine churches at Hierapolis is given in Fergusson’s Illustrated Handbook of Architecture II. p. 967 sq.; comp. Texier Asie Mineure I. p. 143.
[222]. Col. ii. 16, 17, 21 sq.
[223]. ii. 11.
[224]. ii. 4, 8, 18, 23.
[225]. The Colossian heresy has been made the subject of special dissertations by Schneckenburger Beiträge zur Einleitung ins N. T. (Stuttgart 1832), and Ueber das Alter der jüdischen Proselyten-Taufe, nebst einer Beilage über die Irrlehrer zu Colossä (Berlin 1828); by Osiander Ueber die Colossischen Irrlehrer (Tübinger Zeitschrift for 1834, III. p. 96 sq.); and by Rheinwald De Pseudodoctoribus Colossensibus (Bonn 1834). But more valuable contributions to the subject will often be found in introductions to the commentaries on the epistle. Those of Bleek, Davies, Meyer, Olshausen, Steiger, and De Wette may be mentioned. Among other works which may be consulted are Baur Der Apostel Paulus p. 417 sq.; Boehmer Isagoge in Epistolam ad Colossenses, Berlin 1829, p. 56 sq., p. 277 sq.; Burton Inquiry into the Heresies of the Apostolic Age, Lectures IV, V; Ewald Die Sendschreiben des Apostels Paulus p. 462 sq.; Hilgenfeld Der Gnosticismus u. das Neue Testament in the Zeitschr. f. Wissensch. Theol. XIII. p. 233 sq.; R. A. Lipsius in Schenkels Bibel-Lexikon, s.v. Gnosis; Mayerhoff Der Brief an die Colosser p. 107 sq.; Neander Planting of the Christian Church I. p. 319 sq. (Eng. Trans.); De Pressensé Trois Premiers Siècles II. p. 194 sq.; Storr Opuscula II. p. 149 sq.; Thiersch Die Kirche im Apostolischen Zeitalter p. 146 sq. Of all the accounts of these Colossian false teachers, I have found none more satisfactory than that of Neander, whose opinions are followed in the main by the most sober of later writers.
In the investigation which follows I have assumed that the Colossian false teachers were Christians in some sense. The views maintained by some earlier critics, who regarded them as (1) Jews, or (2) Greek philosophers, or (3) Chaldean magi, have found no favour and do not need serious consideration. See Meyer’s introduction for an enumeration of such views. A refutation of them will be found in Bleek’s Vorlesungen p. 12 sq.