p. 19 | The Bible Year

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 26, 1916

The Bible Year

Assignment for October 29 to November 4

October 29: Ephesians 1, 2. October 30: Ephesians 3, 4. October 31: Ephesians 5, 6. November 1: Colossians 1. November 2: Philemon; Philippians 1. November 3: Philippians 2 to 4. November 4: Hebrews 1 to 4.

Ephesians

The city of Ephesus, situated about forty miles from Smyrna, was chiefly celebrated for its splendid temple to the goddess Diana, regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world, and its immense theater, said to be the largest ever built by the Greeks. A thriving business in the manufacture of small, portable shrines to the goddess had been built up, as well as the preparation and sale of books of magic. During Paul’s labors in Ephesus at one time, the believers brought to him their supply of these books, and burned them in a public place. “And they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver,” or thirty thousand dollars.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was written during the time of his first imprisonment at Rome, about A. D. 63. “There are no personal greetings in the letter, and so it is believed to have been a circular one, intended to be passed around among several churches. It is an epistle of general exhortation and counsel, especially fitted to those that had lately come from heathenism, and were still exposed to its temptations.”

Colossians

“This epistle was written by Paul, A. D. 62, while a prisoner at Rome, to the church at Colosse, one of the chief cities of Phrygia, in Asia Minor. It is not certain that Paul was ever himself at Colosse, but that being visited by Epaphras, the faithful minister and probable founder of the church there, and consulted by him on some important matters of doctrine, as well as receiving comfort from him, he wrote this letter, and sent it by the hands of Tychicus and Onesimus. The church at Colosse consisted of Jews and Gentiles, among whom some heretics and false teachers had found their way, and the special object of this epistle was to counteract their errors, as well as to establish the believers in faith and practice.

“After the usual salutation and an earnest prayer, the apostle enlarges in glowing language on the divine and mediatorial glories of Christ, and the believer’s completeness in him. He then gives a solemn caution against the philosophical speculations and carnal ordinances set forth by the false teachers, who appear to have been speculators, mere professors of Christianity, advocating angel worship, occult science, and keeping of feasts and fasts, and a false worldly humility and wisdom, thus endeavoring to combine the doctrines of Oriental theosophy and carnal asceticism with those of pure Christianity. He then points out the true source of spiritual life, even Christ, who is the church’s living head; and after exhorting them to purity of walk, self-denial, constancy in prayer, the cultivation of peace and love among themselves, and giving sundry important practical directions in matters pertaining to domestic and social life, he concludes with affectionate commendations, salutations, and the usual benediction. Note especially the testimony of the apostle concerning the divinity of Christ.”—Selected.

Philemon

This brief epistle, “the only one of Paul’s letters which is of a strictly personal and private nature,” was written near the close of the apostle’s first imprisonment at Rome, to Philemon, a Christian of Colosse. This believer appears to have been “a man of means and influence, and of marked Christian character, warm sympathy, and large hospitality and beneficence.” His slave, Onesimus, had run away to Rome, perhaps with some of his master’s goods. Here he met Paul, and was genuinely converted. The apostle persuaded Onesimus to return to Philemon, and receive whatever punishment might be meted out to him. By his hand Paul sent the epistle to the Colossian believers, and this short letter to Philemon, in which he beseeches grace in behalf of “my son Onesimus.”

The letter is “remarkable for its delicacy, generosity, and justice.” In this letter Paul had peculiar difficulties to overcome; but in it he manifested “a degree of self-denial and tact in dealing with them which, in being equal to the occasion, could hardly be greater.”

Philippians

Philippi, the chief city of eastern Macedonia, was named for Philip II, of Macedon, who wrested it from Thrace about 358 B. C., and made of it a fortified garrison. In 42 B. C. it came under the control of Rome. The emperor Augustus “transported Roman citizens to Philippi, and made it a ‘colony,’—a miniature Rome, where Roman laws, customs, and language prevailed.”

In answer to a divine call, Paul, in company with Silas, visited Philippi about A. D. 51 or 52, and through their ministry the first church in Europe was established there. In later years Paul twice visited this church. It is thought the second letter to the believers at Corinth was written at Philippi.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians, like that to the Ephesians and the Colossians, was written at Rome during his first imprisonment A. D. 62 or 63. It was especially called forth by the thoughtful love of the Philippian brethren, who had sent Epaphroditus to Rome with gifts for the apostle’s support. The epistle is “remarkable for its Christian joy and for the warm affection shown by Paul for the Philippian converts. The Philippian Christians are reminded that as believers in Christ they partake of a dignity and of privileges far more exalted than those belonging to them as Roman citizens, and are exhorted to live worthy of their heavenly citizenship.”