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It is quite a title and it is a very rewarding activity. Give it a try while you keep reading.
In our tour of the Bible, so that we have an overview of the Scriptures, we come to the Letters, or the Epistles. Someone once thought that the epistles were the wives of the apostles.
The letters are basically the preaching notes of the apostles – they deal with issues that arose in the early church – problems – and questions – and divisions.
They tell us about God, and about Jesus, but also about the Church, and about what is important, and they also tell us a lot about the writers.
We need to mention Paul right away: About a third of the New Testament is about or by him. This man has had such an influence on the Church of Jesus Christ, and Jesus allowed it, and we can even say that he wanted it.
To begin with, Paul was a fanatical Pharisee, named Saul after Israel’s first king. So he was so kindly willing to be called Paul, a Gentile name.
Paul was born in Tarsus, a university town, after Athens and Alexandria. His parents were Jewish, so he was educated in the Scriptures and taught about GOD. He came from the tribe of Benjamin and was a student of Professor Gamaliel.
He persecuted the Church of Jesus Christ before becoming an apostle, preacher, and writer.
Although he was a Hebrew, he spoke Greek, so he could preach, teach, and write to everyone in the Greek world. He was a Roman citizen and he knew Roman law and used it when necessary, but that did not give him a life free of suffering.
Here is a disciple of Jesus Christ whose origin is Jewish, Greek and Roman. He could go anywhere-and was prepared by God for service in the Kingdom of God, before he came to faith in Jesus Christ.
Now then, it was not easy to write letters at this time. The Roman letter might be the longest letter we have from this period!
The format is the same on all of their cards, and all of the cards begin with grace and peace. The first time I saw this was on New Year’s Day in 1993.
Paul would have an amanuensis – a secretary – to whom he would dictate his letter – Romans 16 verse 22 – and the secretary inserts a personal greeting – it would be like a lawyer writing a legal document when you are buying a house and inserting – “I hope you get the house “! But God didn’t care. This is the human side of the Word of God.
The other human side is that Paul was probably dictating some of these letters while chained to a Roman soldier.
There are letters to churches and letters to individuals. The tone also changes – I Thessalonians is very warm – and II Thessalonians reads quite differently – it is much cooler.
But we learn this from the letters: the New Testament churches were NOT perfect. They had problems and if it wasn’t for the problems, we wouldn’t have had the teachings in these letters.
No other faith has letters in their Scriptures! God speaks through the letters.
I remember looking for a cartoon in 1980 in ‘Christianity Today’ where there was a demonstration against Paul’s preaching in Corinth – with ‘Macho Chauvinist Pig’ on the signs – and underneath it was written: “I see my letter has arrived” !
In II Thessalonians there has been a wave of persecution – and Paul talks about what will happen to those who persecute believers or give them a hard time – eternal destruction – Chapter 1 verse 9 and 2 verse 8 – judgment – 1 verse 5 – being shut out or excluded 1 verse 9 – tribulation 1 verse 4 – vengeance 1 verse 6 – and eternal destruction 1 verse 9.
On a day when persecution is on the rise, this card is very relevant, personal and practical, as well as encouraging and comforting.
HEBREWS – we don’t know who wrote it – but it refers quite a lot to Leviticus – and it was written by a Jew, and it was written to the Hebrew disciples of Jesus Christ.
JAMES – written by the half brother of Jesus. His name is really Jacob.
PETER – a fisherman writing the Scriptures – surely not? Peter lived in a time of tremendous persecution – and he writes about it – and how to cope with it.
The more we read God’s Word, the more we come to learn that there has never been a time when it has been easy to serve God. That is a lesson we must accept, soon and quickly.
Peter is writing to those who have had to flee for their faith in Jesus Christ, those who have been scattered, and who are considered misfits or outsiders.
JUDAS and JOHN – they wrote letters – then we come to the seven letters of JESUS in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3.
We know more about Paul than about any other apostle: a third of the New Testament is about him or by him. He wrote 13 letters.
To begin with, he was an anti-Christian missionary.
He spoke Greek in addition to Hebrew and Latin.
He met Jesus just outside of Damascus at Kuneitra in Syria, just a few miles from where Jesus was transfigured, on Mount Hermon.
He went to Arabia, for about three years, to find out what had happened to him in light of the Old Testament.
His birth process took three days, with the help of Ananias. Chapter 9 of Acts.
He always insisted on what happened to him, happened to others.
He later became a leader in the church at Antioch in Syria. Acts 13.
Paul undertook three long missionary journeys – from 45 to 60 AD. C.-and experienced imprisonment-ending up in Rome-but writing, to continue his ministry, when he was unable to visit him again.
He appointed leaders, and then he left, Timothy and Titus.
He emphasized – the Gospel – the good news of God through Jesus Christ – being ‘in Christ’ – he was a slave of Christ – Jesus bought me – he emphasized the grace of God – and the kingdom of God, where Jesus is king.
He is perhaps the most famous letter writer in history. If you like to read other people’s letters, the New Testament will excite you.
The format of these letters is quite similar: beginning with the name and address, a greeting, a prayer, spoken rather than written, conversational style rather than literary style, Jesus followed the same pattern.
The letters are personal, to individuals, or something that happened in a Church and the subject is dealt with, or a general or circular letter, for example, Ephesians. They are personal and practical.
As we read the letters, we learn how we have imperfect churches – and – Divine Revelation!
“Dear God, we thank you for the great variety of literature you have given us in the Scriptures, and we thank you for these letters, written in a day when it was not easy to write letters and send and deliver them. Encourage us as we read these letters to understand the difficulties that the Church of Jesus Christ faced from the beginning. Thank you for including these letters in the Bible and for the authority and authenticity of each one – in Jesus Name. Amen.”