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In the N.T. analuo does not refer to the coming of the Lord. The use therefore of
Phil. 1: 22-25, as an objection to the inclusion of Philippians as an epistle of the present
dispensation is groundless.
(3) The words of Phil. 2: 15 are quoted as containing a phrase that links this
epistle with the period before Acts 28:, the word "nation" being correctly
rendered "generation".
"Sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation."
Two fallacies are at the base of this objection. One is that the coming in of the
dispensation of the mystery had an effect upon the character of the outside world, and
the other, that an epistle of the mystery can make no reference to "generations". If these
are not the intentions of the objector, in what do the objections consist? The Saviour
called the generation in which He lived and witnessed both "wicked" and "perverse"
(Matt. 12: 45; 17: 17), but they were no less so during the Acts, under the ministry of
Peter, nor did they change for the better after Acts 28: That the epistles of the
mystery do make specific reference to generations, let the following testify:
"Which in other ages was not made known" (Eph. 3: 5).
"Throughout all ages, world without end" (Eph. 3: 21).
"Hid from the ages and from generations" (Col. 1: 26).
In these references the A.V. has rendered genea, "ages", twice. In Col. 1: 26, they to
whom the epistle was addressed were compelled to distinguish between ages and
generations. In Eph. 3: 21, the A.V. departs very considerably from the original,
which literally should read: "Unto all the generations of the age of the ages."
The epistles of the mystery therefore have of necessity to refer to (i) Generations
past; (ii) The generation present; and (iii) The generations to come. Under what rule
of interpretation can past and future generations be referred to without contradicting the
truth of the mystery, while a reference to the character of the present generation can do
so? If reference to the wickedness and perversity of the generations among which the
members of the One Body were obliged to live be an objection, then Eph. 2: 1-3;
4: 17-19, 25-31; 5: 3-7, 12, 14 and 16 are enough to remove the Ephesian epistle from
the present dispensation.
(4) Another objection is based upon Phil. 3: 3, where Paul said: "We are the
circumcision".
It is well to remind ourselves that any argument that proves too much defeats itself,
for by the same reasoning the epistle to the Colossians must also be rejected. There we
read: