Consequently, were there no definite statement concerning Salvation or Redemption or the Gospel in these four

epistles, it would be no more true that those who hold to them and study them were negligent of these basic truths,

than it would be true to charge a teacher of a class of believers with the same neglect because he did not preach the

gospel to the unsaved when teaching the saved some further truth concerning their calling or walk. In spite of this

very real possibility, we have no need to fear that any one can sustain the charge that we do not know and do not

teach in the plainest terms Salvation by grace.

If 2 Timothy 3:16 contains the plainest statement to be found concerning the Verbal Inspiration of Scripture,

Ephesians 2:8-10 must take front rank with any revelation given of the gracious nature of salvation.

`For by grace are ye saved

Through faith;

And that not of yourselves:

It is the gift of God:

Not of works,

Lest any man should boast.

For we are His workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus unto good

works, which God hath before

ordained that we should walk in them'.

Here are ten items, which, if taken separately give seven positive statements that emphasize the freeness of the

grace, and the creative power of God in the gospel, and three negative statements that entirely rule out human merit,

and if taken together present as complete a doctrine of salvation as can be found anywhere in the same compass.

Added to this is the balance instituted that reveals that, while works of any kind have no place as a procuring cause

of salvation, good works do most definitely come in as fruit. Here then that great fundamental, Salvation by Grace

through Faith, finds a very full expression in the prison epistles.

The epistle to the Romans is the epistle of Righteousness. A righteousness of God by faith is declared to be the

very power of the gospel of Christ (1:16,17); this righteousness is said to be not of works, and not by the law

(3:20,21), but is a righteousness of God (3:22), a righteousness by faith of Jesus Christ (3:22) unto all and upon all

them that believe (3:22), while Romans 8:1 reveals that this state of freedom from condemnation is `in Christ Jesus'.

In the exposition and proof of these statements, eight most weighty chapters of doctrine are occupied (Rom. 1 to

8), together with the three dispensational chapters (9 to 11). The reader who is familiar with these basic chapters is

invited to attempt the reduction of this doctrine of righteousness within the shortest space commensurable with

lucidity and completeness. If this attempt be honestly made before reading further, we are sure that a comparison of

one's own effort with one single verse in Philippians 3 will cause the reader to recognise how fully and simply the

apostle has summed up his doctrine in that `Prison Epistle'.

`And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the

faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by Faith' (Phil. 3:9).

Here in this brief statement we learn that righteousness is found `in Him'; it is not `my own', it is not `of the law'

but that it is through the `faith of Christ' and `by faith' in Him, and that it is a righteousness `of God'.

No one who draws from the prison epistles either his doctrine or his practice, will teach or do anything that is not

in full accord with the great fundamental `Justification by Faith'. This is the third fundamental that is fully

recognised by the epistles of the Mystery, the two considered previously being:

The Inspiration of Scripture.

Salvation by Grace through Faith.