The Church of Laodicea: Why Both Hot and Cold Water are Okay

Since we've been talking about the Early Church in the last few posts, I wanted to return to a book I talked about last year, Misreading Scripture through Western Eyes, by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien, because in the first chapter they use an example of the church at Laodicea that gave me a deeper understanding of the context.

(y'all know I love this book!)

Laodicea, the location for the Church of Laodicea as mentioned in Colossians 4:13 is the church famously known for the verses: 

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth" Revelation 3:15-16.

Wow, that's some pretty vivid imagery.

So, when the authors opened this book with this example, I paid attention.

O'Brien describes standing in the ruins of Laodicea and looking to the northwest, seeing Hierapolis, a city with a natural hot springs all around the city. These mineral baths still exist today, and are a claim to fame for the city.

photo from modern-day Hierapolis from here

Over the centuries, these subterranean springs created calcium deposits on the springs that look like ice. The word for it is Pamukkale (page 10). They are still visible to this day from Laodicea.

the hot springs, photo from here

Then, in the other direction, about the same distance as Hierapolis, lie the ruins of Colossae. O'Brien says that while the city hadn't been excavated before his trip, it was very likely that in the time of Paul, you could have seen Colossae from Laodicea. And in Colossae, they had a cold, freshwater spring. Can you picture how refreshing that would be on a hot day?

photo of modern-day Colossae from here.

Laodicea, however, had neither of these things. You could go one direction and relax in the hot, mineral springs of Hierapolis, or go to Colossae and drink the coldest, freshwater, but they didn't have a water source. In fact, they needed to import it to their city so their citizens could drink. The problem was, that no matter the direction they brought the water, it would be lukewarm by the time it arrived. It was neither cold nor hot; it was just the temperature of the world. "The Laodiceans were left with all the lukewarm water they could drink. Surely they wish their water was one or the other—either hot or cold. There isn't much use for lukewarm water.

"I suspect that the meaning of the Lord's warning was clear to the Laodiceans. He wish his people were hot (like the salubrious water of Hierapolis) or cold (like the refreshing waters of Colossae). Instead, their discipleship was unremarkable" (pages 9-10).

photo of modern-day Laodicea by Carol E. Mage.

I always read the above verses with a perspective of: 

• cold= bad because it means you don't know Jesus
• lukewarm = bad because you're a fake, and 
• hot = good because you love Jesus with all of you... but it was better to be either cold or hot because at least you were all one way and not weren't half-faking your faith. 

But O'Brien points out that "from the streets of Laodicea, hot and cold were equally acceptable" (page 11).

It's not a huge, mind-bending thing, but knowing more about the geography and setting of this church helped give me a better understanding of possibly what the 1st century Church would have heard and understood for themselves.

What do you think? Did you know this about the settings of Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossae?