The Prison Epistles of St. Paul

The Pauline Prison Epistles of St. Paul

When examining the New Testament, it is evident that much of the epistles were written by the Apostle St. Paul. St. Paul's life is a very clear example of how God can change someone's life completely through the work of the Holy Spirit. Once named Saul, St. Paul used to torture and persecute Christians, but God opened his eyes and changed his heart. He became a strong Christian and God used him to spread the Gospel to various places across the world. Many people were accepting of the Good News, but others were not so inviting. Paul was thrown into prison several times, in which St. Paul wrote letters to some of the churches within the cities he had introduced the Gospel to. These include the letters to the Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, Philemon, and 2 Timothy. Each letter focuses on something different, a theme throughout that we can learn from and apply to our daily lives. Not only can we learn lessons from these words, but we can learn lessons from how St. Paul chose to live his life.

The Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians was written to the church of Ephesus during his imprisonment (Acts 28:16-31). Paul specifically focused on the Church and the different aspects of the church. It is important to understand the importance of the church in our lives, Christ is the head of the church and the Christians are the body, and we cannot live without the other members of the church. "...but [so that we] speaking the Truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head- Christ- from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love(Eph. 4:15-16)." God gave every member within the body of the church a specific gift to glorify Him, so that we help each other to attain the goal of deepening our relationship with Christ. Other denominations may argue that the church is not important to our personal salvation since all we need to do is believe in Christ. However, this is not the case as mentioned in Ephesians. "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all (Eph. 4:4-6)."To say we love Christ, who is Head of the Church, and at the same time reject His body is to deny New Testament teaching(Orthodox Study Bible p. 1604)."

Furthermore, the epistle of Ephesians talks about marriage and mentions the church as the bride of Christ. Wives should submit to their husbands just as the church submits to Christ, and the Husband is to love his wife so much that he would give himself up for her just as Christ died for the Church. "For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and He is the savior of the body"(Ephesians 4:22).

The next epistle that St. Paul wrote was to the Colossians, addressing a heresy that was trying to undermine Christ's authority. This epistle was also written during his time in prison, and addressed the heresy by focusing on the fullness of Christ. Christ is the supreme head of the church and in him we have everything we need. " All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence"(Colossians 1:16-18).

The Colossian heresy also dealt with worship of angels and viewed angels as higher than Christ. However St. Paul addresses this by saying, "Let no one cheat you out of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from which all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God" (Col 2:18-19). It reinforces what was said about the body of Church in the letter to the Ephesians and shows the importance of the body holding fast to the head of the Church- Christ.

Next is the epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians. The epistle to the Philippians is relatively short and focuses mainly on joy in the Christian life. The Christian life