IV.  EPISTLES TO THE COLOSSIANS, EPHESIANS, AND PHILEMON.

19.  These three epistles are contemporaneous, in the sense that they were written on the same general occasion, and forwarded at the same time, though some days may have intervened between the composition of the first and the last of them.  They were all written when Paul was a prisoner (Eph. 3:1; 4:1; 6:20; Col. 4:10; Philemon 1, 9, 10, 23), and all sent virtually by Tychicus; for Onesimus, a servant whom Paul sent back to his master, Philemon of Colosse, with a commendatory letter, went in company with Tychicus.  Eph. 6:21, 22; Col. 4:7-9.  The epistle to the Ephesians contains no salutations; but those of the other two, are, with a single exception, sent from the same persons—­Aristarchus, Marcus, Epaphras, Luke, and Demas.  If any further argument for their contemporaneousness were needed, it could be found in the remarkable agreement between the contents of the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, extending not only to the thoughts but to the phraseology also.

20.  It is agreed that these three epistles were written during the apostle’s imprisonment in either Cesarea or Rome; but from which of these two places is a question on which biblical scholars differ, and which cannot be answered with certainty, though the common opinion has been that the apostle wrote from Rome.  It is not necessary to review the arguments advanced on the two sides.  The reader who wishes to investigate the matter will find them in commentaries and bible dictionaries.

21.  Another question is:  In what order were the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians written?  Here we have only indirect indications, and these not decisive.  It is manifest, however, from a comparison of the two epistles, that the apostle had a more specific occasion for writing to the Colossians than to the Ephesians.  It is natural, therefore, to suppose that he first penned his letter to the former church, and very soon afterwards, while his heart was yet warm with the great theme of that letter—­the personal glory and dignity of Christ, and the union through him of both Jews and Gentiles in one holy family—­he wrote to the Ephesians among whom he had so long labored, going over the same general course of thought, but with more fulness and in a less argumentative tone.  However this may be, it is certain that the most convenient order of studying these two closely related epistles is to begin with that to the Colossians and thence proceed to the other.  We propose to consider them in this order.