19
(1) THE PRESENCE AND PRE-EMINENCE OF ISRAEL, `THE JEW FIRST'.
(2) THE PRESENCE AND ABUNDANCE OF MIRACULOUS GIFTS.
(3) THE LIBERTY AND MISSIONARY ACTIVITY OF THE APOSTLE PAUL.
These
three
facts
are
characteristic
of
the
Acts
of
the
Apostles,
and
of
the
seven
epistles
written
during that period, namely, Romans, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians and Hebrews. At the end of
the Acts, Israel and its hope are set aside, miracles cease to be the normal experience of the church, and Paul's
liberty comes to an end by his imprisonment.
We gather from the later epistles that Paul was set at liberty after two years of imprisonment at Rome, and, after
spending a short while visiting the churches, he was again apprehended and imprisoned as an `evil doer', for such
the Christian had become since the outbreak of Neronian persecution. During the brief interval of freedom he wrote
the two epistles of this series that make no reference to his imprisonment, namely, 1 Timothy and Titus.
It may be as well to explain further that we are in the habit of speaking of the `Four Prison Epistles', not because
we ignore or deny the epistle to Philemon, but because we see in these four the basic truths of the present
dispensation. We also, for the sake of brevity, use the expression, `Acts 28', which has been criticised by those who
have only a superficial knowledge of our teaching, but any one who has followed our presentation of dispensational
truth knows that by `Acts 28', we intend the full term `Acts 28:23-28' as the dispensational boundary.
A.- I quite understand, and you need have no fear of such a misunderstanding on my part. You have not,
however, enumerated the second set of seven epistles.
B.- Yes. I wandered from my theme for a moment. The second set of seven epistles is as follows: Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, 1 Timothy, Titus, and 2 Timothy.
We must now return to the first set of epistles and see how they are related to one another. First you will observe
that there are three single epistles, Romans, Hebrews and Galatians, and that there are two sets of double epistles,
1&2 Thessalonians, and 1&2 Corinthians. Upon further study you will discover that the three single epistles are
united by the fact that, in the development of their teaching, they each give prominence to an obscure text from one
of the minor prophets: `The just shall live by his faith' (Hab. 2:4). Each epistle lays stress on a different part of the
quotation. Thus in Romans it is `the just' which is emphasised; in Galatians it is `by faith'; while in Hebrews `shall
live' is stressed.
A.- That is a splendid example of the preacher's custom of dividing his text into `firstly, secondly and thirdly'.
B.- We have the two pairs of epistles left which we would expect to correspond. Let us examine them.
A.- I can see at least one point of similarity, if I may be permitted to anticipate.
B.- By all means, that is the real idea behind this conversation - to stimulate the Berean spirit.
A.- I already know that 1 Thessalonians is written around the words `faith, hope and love', and it has just
occurred to me that at the very heart of 1 Corinthians we have `these three' (1 Cor. 13:13), but I am at a loss to see
what 2 Thessalonians and 2 Corinthians have in common.
B.- You are right in what you say regarding the first epistles; now let us look at the second a little more closely.
In the first place they are both `second' epistles and were both written to correct some misunderstanding that had
arisen over the first epistles. That is one point of resemblance. The second is that both epistles give prominence to
Satanic travesty (2 Thess. 2, and 2 Cor. 4:4; 11:3,4,13,15).
For our present purpose it is not of great importance which of his epistles the Apostle wrote first, although I
personally am persuaded that it was Galatians, but, if we waive that point for the moment, the following diagram
may be helpful in visualizing what I have already indicated, but only partly proved, namely, that the hope of Israel,
in view at the beginning and end of Acts, is also the hope of these epistles, binding them one to another and placing
them in the Acts period.