Section 28
64It has sometimes been inferred from Polycarp’s letter to the Philippian church (11:3) that the gospel first came to Smyrna after Paul had written Phil. 4:15; but more probably when Polycarp says, “we [the Smyrnaeans] had not yet known God,” he refers not to the time when Paul’s letter to the Philippians was written but to the time when the gospel first came to Philippi. “We need have no hesitation in dating the origin of the Christian church in Smyrna at some point within the period 53-56” (C. J. Cadoux, Ancient Smyrna [Oxford, 1938], p. 310).
65Cf. G. Weber, “Die Hochdruck-Wasserleitung von Laodicea ad Lycum,” Jahrbuch des kaiserlich-deutschen archäologischen Instituts 13 (1898), 1-13; 19 (1904), 95-96; M. J. S. Rudwick and E. M. B. Green, “The Laodicean Lukewarmness,” ExT 69 (1957-58), 176-78.
66Cf. J. des Gagniers, etc., Laodicée du Lycos, Le nymphée, Campagnes 1961-1963, Université Laval Recherches Archéologiques, Série I (Québec, 1969).