2Co 13:1  This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. 

2Co 13:2  I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:

Gal 6:11  Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. 

The Godly design, and structure of Paul’s epistles is ‘laid out’ for the saints in a ‘milk to meat’ structure, the book of Romans begins with the foundational doctrines for the son, and then we see the progressive dispensing of the knowledge and wisdom of God for the Saints, and God has Paul write unto the Saints ‘no more than they can handle.’ And the Saints who are operating upon the ‘milk doctrine,’ and are the weaker brethren concerning knowledge, and understanding, we find Paul writing more doctrine for the “babes,” and the “weaker brethren.” And this is because the Saints who have Spiritual “infirmities,” and are “weak in the faith,” need more doctrinally than the Saints who are “perfect,” and “strong in the faith.”

 1Th 4:9  But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. 

1Th 4:10  And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; 

Moreover, as we see with the Corinthians, and the Galatian Saints, Paul wrote “large” epistles unto them. And in his epistles written unto the mature Saints from the Ephesians, Thessalonian Saints, Philippian Saints, the Colossian Saints, and unto the co-laboring Brethren Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, we see Paul’s epistles get shorter, and his teaching style of reproof and correction gets shorter, it becomes godly exhortation, and glorying in their godliness. And we see Paul say things to the mature Saints like; “ye need not that I write you.” And these mature Saints could rejoice that Paul did not have to reprove them, but he could glory in them in how the Word of God was effectually working within them.

Phm 1:21  Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say. 

Furthermore, we too should desire to “BE” the Saints that if the Apostle Paul were alive today, that he would write unto us an epistle like unto Philemon containing only 25 verses. And it should be understood, that Paul’s writing unto the Saints all concerned their godly edifying, Paul only wrote concerning their inner man, and the godly thinking that they ought to possess concerning this world. And the plain fact is; we should not want to be viewed as the Corinthian, and Galatian Saints, who are forever etched in Biblical ‘history’ as “babes in Christ,” or “foolish.” We should desire that Paul would have to not “say” much unto us concerning reproof and correction concerning our walk as “sons.”

1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 

Therefore, we must ask ourselves; if Paul the Apostle wrote unto us an epistle, how long would the epistle be? Would it be only 25 verses as unto Philemon, whereas he said that he knows that Philemon would do “more than” Paul could say unto him? Or, would we be as the Corinthian Saints, where Paul would have to write two long epistles of reproof, and correction doctrine unto us? We too must “examine” ourselves, as he exhorted the Corinthian Saints to do in both epistles:

2Co 13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? 

Finally, we ourselves are viewed as a “living epistle” whereas our Father’s Word is designed to be “written on the fleshly tables of the heart.” And in Israel’s program, the word of God dwelt in the Temple of God, and today, we are the “temple of the Living God.” And this begs the question again; when the ‘heart writing’ is done within our hearts, how long of an epistle will it be? Will it be an epistle of reproof and correction, or will it be an epistle of glory, and godly commendation, and as an epistle unto the Thessalonian Saints, where Paul knew that they were an ensample to the whole world, and even unto Paul himself. We too must “examine ourselves,” and “prove” ourselves to see if we “be in the faith,” or if the Apostle Paul would write unto us two, or three epistles of reproof and correction, or would we be as Philemon, whereas Paul would know that we would do more than he would say.

2Co 3:2  Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 

2Co 3:3  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. 

2Co 3:4  And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 

Rod Jones