Edward Donnelly



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Edward Donnelly

This is a subject that I have been treating at this conference for some years, working through the Epistles of Paul. The only ones left, after today, are Philippians and 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. So, if we’re spared, you’ve got an idea of what we’ll be looking at, God-willing, this time next year. For the benefit of those of you who are new to the conference, these are not expositions of the Epistles, nor are they overviews or surveys of the Epistles. We are treating them as pastoral documents. Paul is a pastor, these are his flock. How does he shepherd them? How does he advise them in their different situations? What can we learn about pastoring people from the example of the Apostle?

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Edward Donnelly

We come to Ephesians. Our series is entitled, “Case Studies from Paul,” and we’ve been considering how Paul applies truth to particular churches and to particular situations. In other words, we’ve been opening up Paul’s medicine box and looking at specific medicines for particular abnormalities, when he uses them, and what ways he uses them. So that we, as pastors, can learn to do the same. So, how would you deal with legalists? Galatians would be a very, very useful book in helping us as pastors. Supposing you’re subject to personal attacks, 2 Corinthians would be a good book to absorb and study in helping us to deal with personal attacks. That has been our general method.

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Edward Donnelly

Our subject today is the epistle to the Philippians, which I’ve called Worthy of the Gospel. To recap for those who are new to the conference, this series of addresses—and we’re finishing this morning the Pauline letters—is the fifth year in which we’ve been looking at them together. I’m not trying to give an introduction to the letters, and certainly not an exposition. We’ve been treating them as pastoral documents written by a pastor, addressed to real-life situations in the churches. We’ve been looking at them as providing us with help for shepherding the people of God.

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Edward Donnelly

We come to what are called the Pastoral Epistles. They’ve only been called the Pastoral Epistles for about 300 years. Thomas Aquinas, 450 years earlier, did describe them as Pastoral Letters. They are of particular interest, because they’re Paul’s last extant writings and they’re the only letters of his sent to individuals, rather than to a church. You remember that Philemon was sent to the church as well as to Philemon. Although even then we need to qualify that. In a sense, to contradict myself, it’s by no means certain that they were intent just for individuals. John Calvin says of 1 Timothy, “In my view, this epistle was written more for the sake of others than for Timothy himself.”

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Edward Donnelly

Let us come to Philemon. Our subject this morning: reconciling believers. This is of course the shortest of all Paul’s letters, 335 words in Greek. I find it intensely depressing that a new commentary on Philemon has just been published which is apparently over 560 pages. This is evangelical scholarship gone mad. I mean that brethren. That strikes me as quite absurd. Paul was satisfied with 335 words.

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Edward Donnelly



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Edward Donnelly



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Edward Donnelly



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