Les Feldick Bible Study

Do the prison epistles mention the Old Testament?

The prison epistles—Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon—contain no single mention of the Old Testament, no reference back to it, and no reference to the Jew. Everything has flowed into the teaching of the Body of Christ, where there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile.

Les explains that Paul's letters are called church epistles, but Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon are normally called the prison epistles because they were written while Paul was in prison in Rome shortly before he was martyred. In these prison epistles, Les points out, there is no single mention of the Old Testament, no reference back to it, and not one single reference to the Jew. This is because everything has now flowed into the teaching of the Body of Christ, in which there is no distinction—no Jew and no Gentile so far as a division of their background. All have become one as members of the Body of Christ. Therefore, as these prison epistles are studied, this is strictly church ground, and no other portion of Scripture is so profoundly directed to the position of the church age believer. Les notes these things are not found in the Old Testament, the four Gospels, Acts, or even in Paul's letters of Romans and Corinthians, where there is not this emphasis on our position in Christ. He adds that ninety-some times in just six chapters the prepositional phrase "in Him," "in Christ," or "in Whom" appears, depicting our position.