Page:A Brief Bible History (Boyd and Machen, 1922).djvu/134

128 upon the Son of God who had come in the flesh, and begun by the new birth which makes a man a child of God.

The Second Epistle of John is a very brief letter written to warn an individual church of the same kind of error as is combated in I John.

The Third Epistle is addressed to an individual Christian named Gaius, who is praised for his hospitality to visiting missionaries, which was the more praiseworthy because it was in contrast to the inhospitality of a certain Diotrephes. The little letter sheds a flood of light upon the details of congregational life in the last period of the Apostolic Age.

The book of Revelation is based upon a revelation which the apostle John had received during a banishment to the island of Patmos, off the coast of Asia Minor, not far from Ephesus. Probably the book itself was written on the same island. The book contains letters to seven churches of western Asia Minor which are intended to encourage or warn them in accordance with the needs of every individual congregation. The whole book is a tremendous prophecy, which strengthens the faith of the Church in the midst of persecutions and trials by revealing the plan of God, especially as it concerns the second coming of our Lord and the end of the world. Details of future events, especially times and seasons, are not intended to be revealed, but rather great principles both of good and of evil, which manifest themselves in various ways in the subsequent history of the Church. The prophecies however, will receive its highest and final fulfillment only when our Lord shall come again, and bring in the final reign of righteousness and the blessedness of those whom he has redeemed.


 * 1) When, where, and why were the three Pastoral Epistles written?
 * 2) Outline the life of Paul after his release from the first Roman imprisonment.
 * 3) What is known about the latter part of the life of Peter?
 * 4) What was the occasion for the writing of I Peter? of II Peter? of Jude? What are the characteristics of these letters?
 * 5) What is known about the latter part of the life of John?
 * 6) What were the date and the purpose of the Gospel According to John; of the Epistles of John; of the book of Revelation.