this change is that Paul, as the prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles, received the Mystery `by revelation'

(Eph. 3:1-3). This Mystery had been hidden from ages and generations, until the time came for Paul to be made its

minister (Col. 1:24-27). It could not, therefore, be found in the Old Testament Scriptures.

(6) Some special features of this new calling.

(a) This church was chosen `before the foundation of the world' (Eph. 1:4) and `before the world began' (before

age-times) (2 Tim. 1:9).

(b) This church finds its sphere of blessing `in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power ... sit

(seated) together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus' (Eph. 1:3,20,21; 2:6).

(c) This church is not an `evolution', but a new `creation', the peculiar advantage of being a Jew, even though a

member of the Church, having disappeared with the middle wall of partition (Eph. 2:14-19).

(d) This church is the Joint-Body of which Christ is the Head, and in which all members are equal (Eph. 1:22,23;

3:6), a relationship never before known.

(7) The Prison Epistles.

While the very nature of things demands a new dispensation consequent upon Israel's removal, we are not left to

mere inference. There is a definite section of the New Testament with special teaching relating to the church of the

present dispensation. This is found in the epistles written by Paul as the `prisoner of the Lord for us Gentiles'.

These epistles are five in number, but we generally refer to the `four Prison Epistles', as that to Philemon is practical

and personal and makes no contribution to the new teaching.

The four Prison Epistles are :

EPHESIANS. -- The Dispensation of the Mystery.

Basic Truth.

A

B  PHILIPPIANS. -- The Prize.

Outworking.

A COLOSSIANS. -- The Dispensation of the Mystery.

Basic Truth.

B 2 TIMOTHY. -- The Crown.

Outworking.

The reader will find in each of these epistles evidence that they were written from prison and that they form part

of the ministry referred to in Acts 28:31.

The above notes on features (1) to (7) are necessarily brief and are not intended to do anything more than

provide the merest outline of the subject. Any reader who is not convinced as to the peculiar and unique character

of these prison epistles and the dispensation they reveal, should give them a personal study, noting all their claims

and their distinctive features. This booklet has not been written to prove to the satisfaction of all that a new

dispensation commenced at Acts 28, but has been prepared rather as a help to those who, having realized that a

change most certainly did take place in the dispensational dealings of God with men at that time, desire to

understand what effect this change had upon the hope of the church.

While prayer should accompany the Word at all times, there is no need to pray for `revelation' concerning one's

hope if it be already revealed. Words can scarcely be clearer than those employed in 1 Thessalonians 4, and if this

chapter still represented the hope of the Church of the One Body, there would be no need for the Apostle to speak as

he does in Ephesians 1. In verse 17 he prays that the saints might receive `the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the

knowledge of Him ... that ye may know what is the hope of His calling' (Eph. 1:17,18).

It might be well if the reader pondered the marginal reading of Ephesians 1:17 where, instead of `in the

knowledge of Him', we read, `for the acknowledging of Him'. This raises a most important point. Many fail to go

forward with the truth, not because of inability to understand the meaning of plain terms, but because of failure to

`acknowledge Him'. The Apostle pauses in his teaching to tell his hearers that before another step can be taken,

acknowledgment of what has already been revealed must be made. To acknowledge the truth of the Mystery is to