grapevine15

The Grapevine
August 20, 2002

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. IITimothy 2:15

The Seven Church Epistles
by Jack Northart

When it comes to understanding the simple principle of reading God's Word in light of "TO WHOM" it is addressed, we must now read those sections of scripture that are addressed to us as the Church of God. The seven Church Epistles of Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians are specifically addressed to the believers. There are many times when these church epistles are grouped together with sections of the Bible which are simply written for our learning.

Romans 15:4
For whatsoever things were written afortime [before the day of Pentecost] were
written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope.

The four gospels, and especially the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments are frequently accepted as being the basic doctrines of Christianity instead of the knowledge revealed in those epistles specifically and directly addressed to the Church.

Thus, today there is much ignorance among most Christians concerning what Christ accomplished for us. The believers, not knowing their standing in Christ, their completeness or their perfection in him, are blown about with every wind of doctrine. Only the understanding and acceptance of the great revelation given in the seven Church Epistles will ever deliver a believer from all the new sects, doctrines, theories, and schools of thought which have led us away from the inspired doctrine of God's Word.

The seven Church Epistles are set in the Bible in the perfection of their spiritual truth. In none of the manuscripts of the New Testament does the order of these seven Church Epistles vary, although the order of other books in the New Testament do. This phenomenon alone should speak loudly to our spiritual ears.

Three of the Church Epistles - Romans, Ephesians and Thessalonians - are doctrinal in content. These three contain the basic doctrinal teaching to the Church as compared with the other four epistles - Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians and Colossians.

The seven Church Epistles are set in the following order in the Word of God: Romans sets forth the great doctrine and teaching to the Church on how to believe rightly; Corinthians gives the reproof to the Church because of its not following the truth of Romans; and then Galatians establishes the correction as to how to return to the right believing of the doctrinal truths of Romans. This pattern of these first three books to the Church giving doctrine, reproof, and correction is exactly the same for Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.

The first step of degradation, when the Word of God is wrongly divided, is to practice error. After practicing error for a period of time, people make a doctrine out of it; finally doctrinal errors manifest themselves in creeds, rules and commandments of men.

Thessalonians stands alone in its teaching of doctrine, without reproof and correctional epistles following because it deals primarily with the return of Christ to gather together the Church. The return of Christ is the consummation of our lives here on earth. There is no possibility of wrong practice here because Jesus Christ himself will execute this event. The revelation in Thessalonians stands last because there is nothing else available to the Church after the believer's are gathered together with Christ Jesus. The pinnacle of a believer's existence is reached in Thessalonians, for this epistle gives the revelation that the believer shall be caught up to be with the Lord and so shall they ever be with the Lord. This is the final revelation of the "all truth" which Christ promised would be sent.

Before the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, he made the solemn declaration given in the gospel of John.

John 16: 12-15
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he [it]
the Spirit of truth, is come, he [it] will guide you
into all truth: for he [it] shall not speak of
himself; [itself] but whatsoever he [it] shall hear,
that shall he [it] speak; and he [it] will show you
things to come. He [It] shall glorify me; for he
[it] shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto
you. All things that the Father hath are mine:
therefore said I, that he [it] shall take of mine,
and shall shew it unto you.

Every sincere believer must ask himself the question as to when, where, and how this promise of Jesus Christ was fulfilled. What is meant by "all truth" or, as the Revised Version has it, "all the truth," which the Holy Spirit was to guide? It certainly could not mean that the Holy Spirit would show one truth to one person and another truth to another person, and that these would contradict each other.

Putting these seven Church Epistles together, we not only have the "all truth" Jesus Christ said would be given, but we also have the all truth concerning the mystery of God and of Christ.

The Word of God declares in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine [right believing: Romans, Ephesians, Thessalonians], for reproof [where we are not believing rightly: Corinthians, Philippians], for correction [to bring us back to right believing: Galatians, Colossians]…." These all constitute "instruction in righteousness."

Furthermore, the revealed order of these epistles in the Bible is enlightening. Romans builds toward the knowledge of Ephesians, and Ephesians prepares the believer for the culmination of the Christian's hope, the return of Christ which is stated in Thessalonians.

Remember from a previous edition of the Grapevine, that verses, verse numbers, chapter divisions, punctuation, marginal notes and commentaries, were all added by the translators and were not part of the Holy Scriptures when they were first given. So the dividing between the Old Testament and the New Testament in most Bibles was decided upon by man and was not part of the Holy Scriptures. The New Testament actually begins with the book of Romans. The book of Acts is the transition book between the Old Covenant and the New. The book of Acts records the rise and expansion of the first century Christian Church, explaining that on the day of Pentecost men were first born again of God's Spirit and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

The seven Church Epistles are written to the Church of God. We must be extremely aware of the sections of the Word of God that are written for our learning, and that which is written specifically to us. Because it makes all the difference between truth and error when it comes to rightly dividing the Word of God.

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