7
THINGS THAT ARE MORE EXCELLENT
What the apostle anticipated in Acts 20 he declares as an established fact in Acts 26, so we will turn to his
statement before king Agrippa for further light upon his prison ministry. Standing before king Agrippa the apostle
gives a rapid summary of his early life, his antipathy to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and to his persecution of
believers even to strange cities. This brings him to the Damascus road and the revelation of the ascended Christ. He
hears from heaven that he is persecuting the Lord Jesus, and the Lord says to him :
`But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a
witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee. To open their eyes, and to
turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me' (Acts 26:16-18).
Here is a twofold witness and commission revealed by the employment of the word `both' - `the things which
thou hast seen' and `those things in the which I will appear unto thee'. Christ not only appeared to Paul on the road
to Damascus and commissioned him to bear His name before Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel; He
appeared, also, according to His promise at some time subsequent to Acts 9, commissioning the apostle as the
prisoner of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and entrusting to him that dispensation of the mystery whose terms are
faintly foreshadowed in Acts 26:18. A further confirmation is found in Acts 22:15, where Paul records the words of
Ananias :
`For thou shalt be His witness unto all men of what thou hast SEEN and HEARD.'
It is a matter beyond dispute that Acts 20 sees the close of one ministry, and the dawn of another. It is beyond
dispute on the evidence both of Acts 20 and 26, that the new ministry was a prison ministry, that it was the subject
of a special revelation from the Lord, and that it had the Gentiles specially in view :
`The Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee.'
From this imprisoned minister went forth the message :
`The salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles' (Acts 28:28).
To find that word of truth which includes the gospel of our salvation (Eph. 1:13), we must study those epistles
written by Paul after Acts 28 which bear the mark of prison upon them. What are these prison epistles? Can we
discover them?
There are five epistles written from prison after the setting aside of Israel, and we have but to read these epistles
to discover the fact for ourselves.
EPHESIANS IS A PRISON EPISTLE.
`For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles' (3:1).
`I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you' (4:1).
`The mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds' (6:19,20).
PHILIPPIANS IS A PRISON EPISTLE.
`Both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel' (1:7).
`My bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace' (1:13).
`Many of the brethren ... waxing confident by my bonds' (1:14).
`Supposing to add affliction to my bonds' (1:16).
`All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household' (4:22).
COLOSSIANS IS A PRISON EPISTLE.
`The mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds' (4:3).