“Epistle” simply means a literary letter which
Introduction:
was intended to be published and read by the general
public. Ephesians along with Philippians, Colossians,
and Philemon are sometimes referred to as the prison
epistles because they were each written while Paul
was confined or in chains. Another title is the
Christological Epistles, since they emphasize the
person of Christ.
Some of the most joy-filled books in the New
Testament were written from a small, dark
prison cell. Although hungry, cold, and scarred,
Paul exalted his savior’s love and grace to the
Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. These
were meant to be circulated to the other
churches in the area. This each highlights
important doctrines that are important for
church life and ministry. Paul and the Prison
Epistles” will brighten your life by revealing how
God is with you in all your circumstances.
General Survey:
Paul wrote these letters during his imprisonment in
Rome. The Lord Jesus brought Paul to Rome to
complete the mission strategy that Jesus gave to his
disciples just before his ascension into heaven. Acts
1:8 states that Jesus told his disciples they were to be
his witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth. Paul was brought to
Rome to complete the mission of bringing Jesus
gospel to the ends of the earth. With the coming of
Paul to Rome the gospel was brought from the Jewish
capital of Jerusalem in the east to the Gentile capital
of the world in Rome in the west. The Lord himself
had told Paul, “Take courage! For as you have
testified things about me in Jerusalem, so you must
also testify in Rome2” (Acts 23:11).
In obedience with the Lord Jesus will to have his
gospel brought to Rome, Paul came there, not as
an apostle who was free to go about conducting
his ministry, but as an apostle in chains whose
activities were limited because he was held
under house arrest and guard. The author of
these epistles is said to be the Apostle Paul.
Generally, NT critics agree That Paul wrote
Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians. Many
critics dispute Paul’s authorship of Ephesians,
dating the book at the end of the first century.
The Internal Evidence within the Letters:
The internal evidence within the letters clearly
indicates Paul wrote them while a prisoner in
Rome. The internal evidence is as follows:
In the letter to the Ephesians:
Ephesians 3:1: For this reason I, Paul, the
prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you
Gentiles
Ephesians 4:1: I urge you, therefore, I the
prisoner in the Lord, to live in a manner worthy
of the calling with which you were called.
Ephesians 6:20: For which I am an ambassador
in chains, that I may speak it boldly as I must.
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In the letter to the Colossians:
Colossians 1:24: Now I rejoice in the things
suffered in your behalf, and I am completing in
my flesh the things lacking in the tribulations of
Christ for the sake of his body, which is the
church.
Colossians 4:10: Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner,
sends you his greetings…
Colossians 4:18: This greeting is in my own hand
writing, Paul’s. Remember my imprisonment.
Grace be with you.
In the letter to the Philippians:
Philippians 1:12-14: Now I want you to know,
brothers, that the things that happened to me
have rather furthered the advancement of the
gospel, so that my imprisonment has become
known in the whole palace guard and to
everyone else, and most of the brothers, having
put their trust in the Lord because of my
imprisonment, have even more courage to speak
the word fearlessly
In the letter to Philemon:
Philemon 1: Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and
Timothy, our brother, to Philemon our beloved
friend and fellow worker…
Philemon 9: For love’s sake I rather appeal to
you, being such a one as Paul, an old man, but
now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus
Philemon 23: Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in
Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings.
Date of Epistles (Based upon Roman
imprisonment)
No absolute chronological system can be
established for Pauline Epistles, thus no accurate
dates
1.Generally – between 61- 63 AD
2.Specifically – (based upon order chosen)
3.A. Colossians (61 AD), Philemon (61 AD),
Ephesians (61 AD), Philippians (63 AD)
(MacCorkle’s Choice)
1.
1.B. Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians,
Philemon
2.C. Philippians, Colossians, Philemon,
Ephesians
Relations of the Prison Epistles:
There are several features that bind three of
these epistles together. Philippians, while also
written from prison, stands somewhat separate
from the others4.
Ephesians—Colossians
Great overlap of material: Ephesians has 155
verses, 78 of them are nearly exactly duplicated
in Colossians
Same messenger: Tychicus (Eph 6:21; Col 4:7)
Possible reference to Ephesians in Col 4:16
Colossians—Philemon
Same messengers: Tychicus (Col 4:7) &
Onesimus (Col 4:9 & Phlm 10, 12)
Same people send greetings: Aristarchus, Mark,
Epaphras, Luke and Demas
Same people mentioned: Timothy (with Paul),
Archippus (in Colossae)
Philemon—Philippians
Expectation of release (Phlm 22)
Expectation of release soon (Phil 2:24)
Ephesians:
Author and Title: As clearly stated in the
opening verse of each of the prison epistles, Paul
is declared to be the author. Date: A.D. 60-61 the
apostle was a prisoner when he wrote this
epistle (Eph. 3:1; 4:1; 6:20).
Theme and Purpose:
No specific purpose is stated and no particular
problem or heresy is addressed. Rather, in
Ephesians, Paul sets forth the glorious mystery,
“the church which is Christ’s body,” Christ as the
head of the Church (1:22, 23), and believers as
co-members of one another and blessed with
every spiritual blessing in Christ (1:3; 2:11-22).
Clearly, Paul’s purpose is to broaden the
believer’s horizons regarding the limitless wealth
of his blessings in Christ who is the head of the
church, the body of Christ. Out of this, two great
purposes emerge in the epistle. The first is to set
forth something of the wealth of blessings that
believers have in Christ, and how, through
them, the eternal purposes of God are summed
up in the person of Christ, the things in heaven
and on earth (1:3-12). The second theme flows
out of the first, namely, the believer’s
responsibility to know, grasp, and walk in a
manner that is fitting with his heavenly position
and calling in Christ5 (1:18-23; 3:14-21; 4:1).
Key Words: In view of the theme or purpose,
the key words are “wealth,” “walk,” and
“warfare.”
Colossians:
Author and Title: Colossians 1:1 and 4:18
state that the Apostle Paul wrote this letter. The
authorship of this letter has been challenged by
some scholars but not with any degree of
convincing reasons. The uniqueness of Paul’s
language in this letter is due in part from his
borrowing phrases from his opponents to refute
them
Theme and Purpose:
The theme is the fruitful and effective power of
the gospel message which heralds the
supremacy, headship, and the utter sufficiency
of Christ to the church which is His body. In this
little epistle, we see Paul’s “full-length portrait of
Christ.”59 Colossians demonstrates that because
of all that Jesus Christ is in His person and has
accomplished in His work, He, as the object of
the believer’s faith, is all we need for in Him we
are complete (2:10). In scope, Colossians
presents the all supremacy, all sufficiency,
uniqueness, and the fullness of the person and
work of Jesus Christ as the God-man Savior, the
Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and the
total solution for man’s needs both for time and
eternity. It is a cosmic book, presenting the
cosmic Christ: the Creator/Sustainer and
Redeemer/Reconciler of man and the entire
universe5.
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Key Words: Key words in this book are
“supremacy” and “sufficiency.”
Philippians:
Author and Title:
Both the internal and external
evidence again points to Paul as
the author. “The early church
was unanimous in its testimony
that Philippians was written by
the apostle Paul (see 1:1).
Internally the letter reveals the
stamp of genuineness. The many
personal references of the author
fit what we know of Paul from
other NT books Date: A.D. 60-61
Theme and Purpose:
Whereas Ephesians sets forth the glorious
mystery, “the church which is Christ’s body,”
Christ as the head of the Church (1:22-23), and
believers as co-members of one another who are
equally blessed with every spiritual blessing in
Christ (1:3; 2:11-22), Philippians guards the
practice of Ephesians. Philippians guards against
the failure to practice Christ-provided unity and
against the failure of believers to rejoice in their
blessings and position in Christ (Phil 1:27; 2:2;
4:1). The theme of Philippians might well be
“Joy and unity in Christ5.”
Paul had several obvious purposes in writing this
letter to the Philippians:
1.He sought to express his love and gratitude for
the gift they had sent him (1:5; 4:10-19)
2.To give a report about his own circumstances
(1:12-26; 4:10-19)
3.To encourage the Philippians to stand firm in the
face of persecution and rejoice regardless of
circumstances (1:27-30; 4:4)
4.To exhort them to live in humility and unity (2:1-
11; 4:2-5)
5.To commend Timothy and Epaphroditus to the
Philippian church (2:19-30)
6.To warn the Philippians against the legalistic
Judaizers and the libertarian antinomians who
had slipped in among them (Chap 3)
Key Words: The key word,
occurring in one form or the
other some 16 times, is “joy” or
“rejoice.” “Unity” or “oneness”
is another key idea of the book.
This is expressed in a number of
ways like, “being of the same
mind, maintaining the same love,
united in spirit, intent on one
purpose” (2:2) “standing firm in
one spirit, with one mind striving
together” (1:27) and “be in
harmony” (4:2).
Philemon
Author and Title: Philemon is
another of Paul’s prison epistles.
It is unique among the letters of
Paul in that it is a personal letter.
It clearly demonstrates that Paul
cared about people and provides
a pattern to follow in
counseling. Date: A.D. 61
Theme and Purpose:
The primary purpose of this letter, the most
personal of all Paul’s letters, was to ask Philemon
to forgive Onesimus and accept him back as a
beloved brother and fellow servant in the gospel
(see vv. 10-17). In the process of this, Paul asks
Philemon to charge this to his own account. As
such, this epistle is a fitting illustration of Christ
who took our place as our substitute. A
secondary purpose is to teach the practicality of
Christian love as we seek to express the life-
changing effects of Christ’s life in ours as it
transforms our relationships with others whether
in the home or in the master/slave or
employer/employee relationships. In the other
prison epistles, Paul spoke of this new
relationship (Eph 6:5-9; Col 3:22; 4:1). In this
letter we have a wonderful example. A final
purpose was to express Paul’s thanksgiving for
Philemon and to request preparation for lodging
for him when he was released from prison.
The theme, then, is the life-changing power of
the gospel to reach into the varied social
conditions of society and change our
relationships from bondage to brotherhood.
Philemon was not the only slave holder in the
Colossian church (Col 4:1), so this letter gave
guidelines for other Christian masters in their
relationships to their slave-brothers. Paul did not
deny the rights of Philemon over his slave, but
he asked Philemon to relate the principle of
Christian brotherhood to the situation with
Onesimus. At the same time, Paul offered to pay
personally whatever Onesimus owed. This letter
is not an attack against slavery as such, but a
suggestion as to how Christian masters and
slaves could live their faith within that evil
system. It is possible that Philemon did free
Onesimus and send him back to Paul. It has also
been suggested that Onesimus became a
minister and later bishop of the church at
Ephesus5
Conclusion:
Today millions, maybe billions, of people have
been blessed by this “Prison Epistles” note from
Paul. All of this part of the New Testament was
born out of Paul’s prison experience. You’ll be
uplifted by Paul’s instructions for finding joy in
suffering, engaging in spiritual warfare, receiving
God’s love, living out your faith, and so much
more. You, too, will be able to rejoice in the Lord
always. These letters are to churches and
individuals written to handle specific problems at
a church location or with a religious leader.
