 |  |
II TIMOTHY IS A PRISON EPISTLE.
"Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner" (1: 8).
"Wherein I suffer trouble . . . . . even unto bonds" (2: 9).
"At my first answer no man stood with me" (4: 16).
PHILEMON IS A PRISON EPISTLE.
"Paul . . . . . a prisoner of Jesus Christ" (1).
"Now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ" (9).
"Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds" (10).
"He might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel" (13).
"There saluteth thee Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus" (23).
The epistle of Philemon is of a somewhat private nature. Philemon was host to the
church at Colosse, and the epistle throws some light on the character of home life at that
period. It is a lovely letter, full of christian grace, but for the purpose of this series, which
is the seeking out of the special truth committed to Paul the Lord's prisoner, it will not be
included in the present exposition. We shall find all that we require in the four remaining
epistles, and indeed far more than we can cover in the space at our disposal.
These four epistles have been placed by different editors in every possible order. For
ourselves we feel that there is insufficient evidence upon which to decide the sequence,
but--and this is far more important to us--they have a most definite interrelation that it is
of the utmost importance to observe; for a true realization of the scope of each epistle as
a whole is essential to correct interpretation of the passages that make up its parts.
These four prison epistles present the truth for the present dispensation in its twofold
form:--
(1) STANDING.--Accepted in the Beloved. Complete in Him. Ephesians and Colossians.
(2) STATE.--A prize and a crown in view. Philippians and II Timothy.
They are therefore not all devoted to doctrine and privilege, but, equally, to practice
and walk. The correspondence observable between the two groups is of such importance
that we included a summary of the parallels in structure form on page 92 of the June
number, in order to make the survey as complete as possible.
Here, then, in these four epistles, is the medium used by God for the manifestation of
the mystery. Their testimony is unique in that it is found nowhere else in Scripture. As
the foregoing presentation shows, their testimony is complete. That testimony is
inspired, for it was given by revelation, and contains truth that, apart from enlightenment,
was inaccessible to the mind even of the most pious. In these epistles we shall find ten
references to the word "mystery", six being found in Ephesians and four in Colossians.
When Paul was released from prison at Rome, and before he wrote II Timothy, he used
his freedom, not so much for further teaching, but in preparing those who should succeed
him in the work of the ministry, and in endeavouring to bring about some order in the
churches already established. The outcome of this ministry was the writing of the first
epistle to Timothy and the epistle to Titus. There are some who believe that these
epistles were written during the Acts period. The interested reader is referred to
Volume XIV, page 79, and Volume XV, pages 14, 30 and 59, for notes on the point.