QUESTION AT ISSUE

+The Supremacy of Christ.+--These Epistles mark a
new stage in the writings of Paul. The great question
discussed in the second group of Epistles was in regard
to the terms of salvation. The question now at issue
(in Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians) is: What is the
nature, the rank, the dignity of the Mediator of salvation?
Is He one of a series of Saviors? Does He belong to
some angelic order (Col. 2:18), or, does He stand supreme
(Col. 2:8, 9, 19) and solitary? Is He the Head and Chief
of all creation (Col. 2:19; 1:16). Other matters are
discussed in these Epistles, but this is the great doctrinal
question and burden of the Apostle's thought.

+The Reason for the Raising of this Question+ was the
development of certain false religious beliefs among which
were, "asceticism, the worship of angels, revelings in
supposed visions and belief in emanations." These "degraded
the object of faith and so destroyed its meaning and
power."

+The Answer to the Question.+--Paul is in no doubt as
to the supremacy of Christ. All his argument is to show
the Deity of Christ. He holds "aloft the true object of
faith namely, the supreme Divine Savior Himself, in
opposition to speculation which would degrade and deny
to Him the eminence which belongs to Him" (Col. 1:15-20;
Eph. 1:10, 20-23; 3-9; Philippians 2:5-11).

+Present Day Attention+ has been focused upon this
matter of the supremacy of Christ. Was he human or
divine? The arguments of Paul still hold good for a stout
belief in the Divine Christ. The writings of the Great
Apostle are all characterized by his grasp of fundamental
things; they serve their purpose for the modern church
in bringing it back to Jesus Christ as the only Savior, as
they also in times past corrected the errors of the early
church.

THE WRITING OF THE EPISTLES

+The Interest+ in these Epistles is heightened by the
fact that they were written during Paul's first Roman
imprisonment of which Luke gives all too brief an account
(Acts 28:30,31). They have been called from this fact,
"The Epistles of the First Imprisonment." It is a
marvel that Paul with his surroundings could have written in
such a masterly way and handled such lofty themes in a
manner which has commanded the attention of the
thinking world ever since his day and age.

+The Sending of the Epistles+--Colossians, Philemon,
and Ephesians were evidently dispatched from Rome by
the same messenger, T