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DISPENSATIONAL DISCERNMENT: WHAT IS A TRIBULATION EPISTLE? The General Epistles are the seven books that immediately follow the book of Hebrews. They are James, I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, III John, and Jude. Some teachers like to label the General Epistles and the book of Hebrews “Tribulation Epistles,” suggesting that these books are written to Jews in the coming Tribulation Period and are not for the church. This is a mistake. The word “tribulation” is not found in any of these books, yet the word “church” occurs seven times, so claiming that these books are not for the church is just too much. Sound church doctrine is emphasized throughout Hebrews and the General Epistles, as the following sampling shows: Deity of Christ, Hebrews 1:1-3Virgin Birth, Hebrews 1:5-6Salvation preached, Hebrews 2:3Singing in church, Hebrews 2:12Priesthood of Christ, Hebrews 3:1Word of God alive, powerful, Hebrews 4:12Access to throne of grace, Hebrews 4:16Spiritual growth through the word, Hebrews 5:12-14Baptism, Hebrews 6:2Righteousness and Peace through Christ, Hebrews 7:2Sins forgotten, Hebrews 8:12Blood atonement, Hebrews 9:14Second Coming of Christ, Hebrews 9:28Perfect standing in Christ, Hebrews 10:14Church assembly, Hebrews 10:25Living by faith, Hebrews 11:6Chastening of wayward sons, Hebrews 12:4-12Heirs of eternal kingdom, Hebrews 12:28Brotherly love, Hebrews 13:1Eternal security, Hebrews 13:5Pastoral authority, Hebrews 13:7, 17Cross bearing, Hebrews 13:13-14Faith tried, James 1:3Heavenly wisdom offered, James 1:5Enduring temptation, James 1:12Word of God applied, James 1:22-24Religious hypocrisy exposed, James 1:26-27Righteous judgment encouraged, James 2:1-4Works as evidence of faith, James 2:14-26Warnings regarding sins of the tongue, James 3Worldliness discouraged, James 4:4Power of humility, James 4:10Brevity of life, James 4:14Sins of omission, James 4:17Vanity in trusting riches, James 5:3Praying in faith and fervency, James 5:16-17Conversion of sinners, James 5:20Eternal security, I Peter 1:5Faith tried, I Peter 1:7Holy living, I Peter 1:16Blood atonement, I Peter 1:19New birth, I Peter 1:23Spiritual priesthood, I Peter 2:5Civil submission, I Peter 2:13Female submission and modesty, I Peter 3:1-5Armed with truth, I Peter 3:15Patient and joyful in suffering, I Peter 4:12-16Pastoral leadership, I Peter 5:1-4Christian humility, I Peter 5:6Vigilant walk, I Peter 5:8Elements of divine nature, II Peter 1:4-8Beware of false teachers, II Peter 2:1-22Beware of last day skeptics, II Peter 3:3-4Blood atonement, I John 1:7Confession of sins, I John 1:9Brotherly love, I John 2:7-11Warning against worldliness, I John 2:15-17Indwelling Holy Spirit, I John 2:27Sonship of believers, I John 3:2Resurrection body, I John 3:2Deity and Incarnation of Christ, I John 4:2-3New birth, I John 4:7Holy Trinity, I John 5:7Assurance of salvation, I John 5:13Christian rewards, II John 8Walking in truth, III John 4Warnings against false teachers, Jude 4-19Praying in the Holy Ghost, Jude 20Eternal security, Jude 24 That’s a lot of church doctrine there, yet, by contrast, in those eight books, not one time do we read anything about the mark of the beast, the abomination of desolation, the great tribulation, the tribulation vials, seals or plagues, the destruction of Babylon, Armageddon, the false prophet, or any details about the forty-two month reign of the antichrist. So, the notion that these are “tribulation epistles” is false and harmful. It’s harmful because it often encourages believers to make light of the words found in these writings, and some believers disregard them altogether. While it’s true that some of the content of these books can have application to the tribulation (“the end” of Hebews 3:6 and 3:14, the “three years and six months” of James 5:17, or the “last days” of James 5:3, for instance), that does not necessarily classify the books as “tribulation epistles.” In fact, the warning of the COMING antichrist in I John 2:18 is a clear indication that the book is a church age epistle that PRECEDES the tribulation. It is not uncommon to hear brethren say, "You can find church doctrine in the general epistles." That's an incredible understatement, much like saying, "You can find pizza at Pizza Hut." The truth is that most of the general epistles and Hebrews ARE church doctrine! What you can "find" is SOME tribulation content in these church age epistles. To dismiss books like James and Hebrews just because they are addressed to Jews is very foolish, since the content of these books clearly deals with church age truth and the need for Jews to embrace it. Understanding how a book’s content can have multiple applications is always good, but it’s not good to over-emphasize that which God hardly emphasizes at all. Rightly dividing requires a right balance, else it becomes WRONGLY dividing and a FALSE balance (Prov. 11:1). Much of the Bible contains tribulation content, but there are no “tribulation epistles,” except maybe the book of Revelation itself.