DISTINCTIVE REVELATION
PRISON EPISTLES 73
OF
pair that deals with the building; the first revealing our standing and acceptance, and the second our state and our
acceptableness. They will be found to be related as follows:
A EPHESIANS.- Standing.
Accepted in the Beloved.
B PHILIPPIANS.- State.
Work out your own salvation.
A prize in view.
A COLOSSIANS.- Standing. Complete in Him.
B 2 TIMOTHY.- State.
Not crowned except he
strive lawfully.
We will now show the scriptural grounds contained in these epistles for this alleged correspondence.
We can scarcely imagine anyone to have been sufficiently interested to have read thus far to be without a fair
acquaintance with the content of these four epistles. No one will need a lengthy array of texts to prove
that Ephesians and Colossians form a pair. The correspondence between Philippians and 2 Timothy may not be so
obvious, but an examination of the parallels, and particularly the last two given, should be enough for the most
exacting.
THE PRISON EPISTLES
Structure showing their Distinctive Doctrines and their Interrelation
-
KEY WORDS.
A EPHESIANS.
The dispensation (3:2,9 R. V.). Mystery (3:3).
SEATED
The church which is His body (1:22,23).
TOGETHER.
The fulness (1:23; 4:10). Christ the Head (1:22).
Principalities and powers (1:21).
KEY WORDS.
B PHILIPPIANS.
Try the things that differ (1:10 margin).
THE PRIZE.
Strive (1:27). Press toward the mark (3:14).
*
Prize (3:14). Depart (1:23.). Offered* 2:17).
KEY WORDS. -
A COLOSSIANS.
Dispensation (1:25). Mystery (1:26).
COMPLETE
The church which is His body (1:24).
IN HIM.
Fulness (1:19). Christ the Head (2:19).
Principalities and powers (1:16; 2:10).
KEY WORDS
B 2 TIMOTHY.
Rightly dividing the Word (2:15).
THE CROWN.
Strive (2:5). Course finished (4:7).
Crown (4:8). Depart* (4:6). Offered* (4:6).
The limits which have been set in the writing of this book preclude any attempt to deal with the Mystery itself, or
to analyze the contents of these prison epistles. Should the reader desire further help thereon his attention is directed
to the booklets entitled `Far above all' and `That blessed hope', and to the larger Volume entitled: `The Testimony
of the Lord's Prisoner', in which the epistles Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and 2 Timothy are considered both
in structure and in detail.
Volumes 31 and 32 of The Berean Expositor contain a useful series of articles entitled, `The Mystery
manifested', while current issues of this magazine contain articles that bear upon all aspects of doctrinal and
dispensational truth. These volumes, covering a period of study and witness of over thirty-five years, still leave
*
Only occurrences in Paul's epistles.