the Lord for the Gentiles, and when Israel failed, mystery comes into the record. So,

following Israel's rejection of their Messiah (Matt. 11: and 12:), the `mysteries' of the

kingdom of heaven follow.

Paul was conscious as he penned the words "He made known unto me the Mystery"

that he was making a tremendous claim. He claimed to be in a special manner the

prisoner of Christ Jesus for the Gentiles; he claimed that a dispensation had been

entrusted to him and that to him had been made known `the Mystery'. The history of the

Christian church provides abundant evidence both of the overweening ambition of

Christian leaders and of the gullibility of their followers. The reader can doubtless call to

mind claims that have been put forward by individuals at different times to the reception

of revelations, of prophetic gift of a special revelation of truth. Scattered about the

country are monuments such as "The Tower of Jezreel", and companies of Gentile

believers, whose great hope is to be numbered among the 144,000 regardless of the

revealed limitation `of all the tribes of the children of Israel'.

Consequently, before the Apostle is free to communicate the special terms of this

new dispensation of the Mystery, he feels under an obligation to justify his claim. The

very personal and peculiar nature of his commission made it utterly impossible for any

`letter of commendation' to be provided by any existing authority. He stood alone. He

was not one of the twelve; he would never sit on one of the twelve thrones judging the

twelve tribes of Israel. Unlike the twelve, he had been appointed by the Ascended Christ

(Eph. 4: 7-11), and was the first of his order. If, as he claimed, the Mystery had not been

a subject of revelation before his time, if it had never figured in either type, shadow or

prophecy, it was in vain to appeal to earlier revelations of truth. The Mystery had been

`hid in God' and `hidden from the ages and generations'. There was but one way open to

him. To show that where he shared with other teachers, the revelation given to him was

superior, in the hope that the reader would conclude that where he could put the matter to

the test and the Apostle's claim was justified, then it was reasonable to believe his further

and related claim was also true. Consequently, Paul turns from `The Mystery' to the

`Mystery of Christ'.

"As I wrote before." These words have sent some students off on a search for a `lost

epistle', but as this reference is so vital, we cannot believe that the Holy Spirit refers us to

a piece of evidence which in spite of its extreme importance has not survived, for next