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New Testament — Topic 19

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New Testament — Topic 19

Arrangement of the Letters in the New Testament

The twenty-one letters are organized as follows:

(1) letters by Paul to churches;

(2) letters by Paul to individuals;

(3) the anonymous letter to the Hebrews;

(4) letters by James, Peter, John, and Jude.

The letters in each of the first two categories (from Paul) are presented in order of length (longest to shortest), which may strike modern readers as somewhat arbitrary. Scholars would prefer to study these letters in chronological order (first to last), but since the letters are not dated, their chronological order is difficult to determine (see box 11.5 on p. 247). Some scholars (who might have too much time on their hands) have determined that Ephesians is actually a few words longer than Galatians, such that the order of those two letters should properly be reversed (as it is in at least one ancient list of New Testament writings that we have found).

The letters in the final category are arranged in the order that the authors’ names are listed in Galatians 2:9 (James, Peter, John), with the short letter from Jude (who is not mentioned in Gal. 2:9) bringing up the rear. Curiously, most Greek manuscripts of the New Testament present the letters of James, Peter, John, and Jude immediately after the book of Acts and before the letters of Paul. The order of the letters in our current Bibles follows that of later Latin manuscripts, though no one knows exactly when the change was made, or why.

Churches sometimes employ other labels to refer to particular groups of writings:

The Pastoral Epistles or Pastoral Letters are the three letters addressed to colleagues of Paul entrusted with pastoral leadership of churches: 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus.

The Captivity Epistles or Prison Letters are the five letters that appear to have been written by Paul from prison: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 2 Timothy, and Philemon.

The Catholic Epistles or General Letters are seven writings thought to be addressed to the church at large: James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude.

The accuracy of these designations is questioned, but the labels are traditional and continue to be used.

Closing

The two most common conventions in the closing of Greco-Roman letters were a wish for good health (cf. 3 John 2) and an expression of “Farewell” (cf. Acts 15:29). Curiously, our New Testament letters do not adhere to these conventions with any sort of regularity. Paul’s letters tend to close somewhat haphazardly with mention of travel plans (e.g., 1 Cor. 16:5-9), greetings to specific individuals (e.g., Rom. 16:3-16), miscellaneous exhortations (1 Thess. 5:12-28), a recap of some significant point (e.g., Rom. 16:17-20; Gal. 6:15-16), a personal signature (e.g., Gal. 6:11), and finally a doxology (Rom. 16:25-27), benediction (Philem. 25), or closing prayer (2 Cor. 13:13). The non-Pauline letters tend to close more quickly, sometimes with brief greetings (Heb. 13:24; 1 Pet. 5:14; 2 John 13; 3 John 13) and a benediction or doxology (Heb. 13:20-21, 25; 1 Pet. 5:14; 2 Pet. 3:18; Jude 24–25).

Finally, we may note one overall feature that is quite distinctive about our New Testament letters: their length. The typical length of personal letters from this period is around 90 words, but the shortest of our New Testament letters, 2 John and 3 John, contain 245 words and 219 words, respectively. The letters attributed to Paul average about 1,300 words in length, an incredible figure given that the learned letters of the Roman orator Cicero average no more than 295 words. Paul’s letter to the Romans is 7,101 words long, quite a production given the time and trouble involved in producing such written correspondences in the ancient world.

Conclusion

Letters were written for many purposes in the ancient world. One function, however, seems to have transcended all the rest: whatever else a letter did, it conveyed the personal presence of the one who sent it. Paul makes clear that his first choice was always to communicate with people in person (Rom. 1:9-15); letters were necessary because he could not always be where he wanted to be.

Letters were considered an effective substitute for the actual presence of the apostles or church leaders whose name they bore. A letter could convey the affection of Paul for his readers; it could also convey his authority over them, expressed sometimes in words of judgment or condemnation. Letters bridged the gap of physical space and brought the greetings, prayers, teaching, and benediction of prominent Christian leaders to those who hungered for the word of truth and hope of the gospel.

It is not so different for us, as readers of these letters today; the only essential difference is that the gap has grown larger: it is now temporal and cultural as well as physical. Nevertheless, the New Testament letters can convey the power and the presence of ancient authors to modern readers. Those authors did not know about us. They never imagined that we would be reading their letters. Still, the letters themselves were designed to close gaps and make the authors present. And that still happens: when people read the New Testament today and hear Paul, James, Peter, or Jude speaking directly to them, the letters are working according to plan.

How Letters Were Written

People would write on almost anything. We have found copies of letters written on clay tablets (called cuneiform) and on shards of pottery (called ostraca) and on pieces of wood or animal skin. The most common writing material, however, was papyrus, a reedy plant that grew abundantly in the delta of the Nile River. The core or pith of this plant could be cut into very thin strips; a horizontal row of strips was laid on top of a vertical row and the two layers pressed together to form a sheet that was laid in the sun to dry. A typical sheet of papyrus measured about 9½ by 11½ inches (close to the size of a modern sheet of paper) and would hold approximately two hundred words. Pens for writing typically were made from sharpened reeds or sticks (pens from feather quills appear to have come along later). Ink was made from a combination of chimney soot and tree gum. It was kept in a dried cake but would liquefy slightly when touched with the moistened tip of the reed pen. Erasure was difficult—the ink had to be washed away—and so mistakes usually were blotched out in a rather unattractive manner. If the document was an important one, a mistake meant starting over.

Many people in the Roman Empire were illiterate. Those who could read could probably also write, but the task of composing a letter was sufficiently cumbersome that it was often delegated to persons trained in the craft—a secretary or scribe known as an amanuensis. Thus, Paul’s letter to the Romans identifies Tertius as the one who is actually putting the words on paper (Rom. 16:22). At other places, Paul specifies that he is writing concluding words in his own hand (1 Cor. 16:21; Gal. 6:11; Col. 4:18; 2 Thess. 3:17; cf. Philem. 19). This suggests that the rest of the letter had been written by someone else.

What, exactly, did an amanuensis do? Sometimes, the amanuensis took dictation, recording what the sender wanted to say by writing the words quickly with a stylus on a wax tablet (a form of shorthand was even in use for this purpose) and later copying the words more painstakingly in ink on papyrus. At other times, however, the amanuensis may have been given more freedom with regard to composition: the author of the letter explained in broad terms what was to be conveyed and allowed the amanuensis to devise the actual wording. We have no way of knowing how much latitude the New Testament authors granted to the persons responsible for putting their words (or thoughts) into writing, but scholars note that Paul tends to use words carefully, and so they usually assume that he would not have signed his name to anything that did not say what he wanted to say.

Many of Paul’s letters also list co-authors (or co-senders). For example, 1 Corinthians is from Paul and Sosthenes (1 Cor. 1:1), and 2 Corinthians is from Paul and Timothy (2 Cor. 1:1). We don’t know what these people contributed to the actual content of the letters. Again, scholars usually assume that Paul bore the dominant responsibility, especially since he frequently claims that what he writes carries the weight of apostolic authority. A few scholars, however, have suggested that certain letters may come from “a Pauline school” that allowed co-authors to play a prominent role in crafting the letters. After all, Paul does trust other people to represent him in person when he sends them as his emissaries to deal with problems in various churches (see, e.g., 1 Cor. 4:17). Is it possible that he allowed them some leeway in shaping the content of his letters as well?

In any case, once a letter was written, it had to be conveyed to the appropriate destination, and the Roman Empire had no postal service for individual citizens. Delivery of the letter was entrusted to someone who took responsibility not only for transporting it but also for seeing that it was read as intended (e.g., aloud to the entire congregation [see 1 Thess. 5:27]). In addition, the bearer of the letter may have been expected to explain various points in the letter that were unclear, respond to objections raised, and return to the sender with a report of how the letter was received. Paul seems to have entrusted Phoebe (a deacon in the church at Corinth) with the important job of delivering his letter to the Romans (Rom. 16:1-2). Titus (2 Cor. 8:16-18), Tychicus (Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7-8), and Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25-28) are similarly identified as bearers of other letters.

Introduction

Sending a letter has become a remarkably simple process. Many people today send and receive several e-mail messages a day, and that’s not counting the text messages that they might transmit through their cell phones or other portable electronic wonders. It takes special time and attention to correspond the old-fashioned way, writing or typing a letter by hand, placing it in an envelope, addressing it, affixing postage, and then waiting several days for it to reach its destination.

Imagine what life was like in the Roman world. Not only were there no computers or Internet; there weren’t even any typewriters, or ballpoint pens, or paper, or mailboxes. It was a much more cumbersome process to produce a letter and see that it reached its intended recipients. Nevertheless, twenty- one of the twenty-seven books that make up our New Testament appear to be letters (in one sense or another), and we find at least nine other letters embedded in two of the other books (see Acts 15:23-29; 23:26-30; Rev. 2-3).

  • Introduction
    • Arrangement of the Letters in the New Testament
    • How Letters Were Written
    • Typical Structure or Format for a Letter
    • Salutation
    • Thanksgiving
    • Main Body
    • Closing
    • Conclusion

Main Body

creed: a confessional statement summarizing key articles of faith.

The main body of a letter had few fixed features, its structure being determined by what was appropriate for the particular content. Letters served a variety of purposes in the ancient world, and a considerable variety is evident among letters found in the New Testament as well. Galatians is a defensive letter written to rebuke its recipients, whereas Philippians is a letter of friendship written to thank a community for its faithfulness and support. The New Testament letters also employ a variety of rhetorical styles, and many of them incorporate various subgenres of literature into their contents:

hymns (Phil. 2:6-11; Col. 1:15-20) liturgical formulas (1 Cor. 6:11; Gal. 3:28; 4:6; Eph. 5:14) church traditions (1 Cor. 11:23-25; 15:1-7) creeds (1 Tim. 3:16; 2 Tim. 2:11-13) virtue/vice lists (Gal. 5:19-23; Eph. 4:31-32; Titus 1:7-10) household codes (Eph. 5:21-6:9; Col. 3:18-4:1; 1 Pet. 3:1-7) autobiography (Gal. 1:10-2:21; 1 Thess. 2:1-3:13) travelogues (Rom. 15:14-33) topical discussions (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Cor. 7:1-40) chiasms (Rom. 5:12-21; Gal. 5:13-6:2) prayers (Phil. 1:9-11; 1 Thess. 3:11-13)

chiasm: an organizing device for speaking or writing that arranges items in an “a, b, b, a” pattern, for example, “light and darkness, darkness and light.”

Salutation

A letter typically opened with a salutation identifying the author and the recipient, followed by “Greetings” (cf. Acts 15:23; James 1:1). The New Testament letters exhibit a strong tendency to substitute “Grace” for “Greetings.” This may have been a bit of a pun, since the words look and sound similar in Greek (“greetings,” chaire; “grace,” charis). In any case, this use of “Grace” instead of “Greetings” seems to have been a peculiarity of Christian writing, and it may have served as an indicator to those in the know that what followed was written by a Christian. It is often thought that Paul originated the practice, since his letters are the earliest ones that we have exhibiting this feature. In a sense, the Christians were copying Jews in developing a distinctive salutation, for most Jewish letters from this period substitute “Peace” (Hebrew shalom, or the Greek equivalent, eirēnē) for “Greetings.” Indeed, the most common pattern for Christian writers seems to have been to use both grace and peace, combining the traditional Jewish greeting with a transformed version of the Roman greeting. All of the New Testament letters attributed to Paul open with some form of this “Grace and peace” greeting, as do 1 Peter, 2 Peter, and 2 John.

The New Testament letters also display a tendency for authors to expand the salutation with phrases that describe the sender and/or recipient in particular ways. Paul does not usually identify himself simply as “Paul” (1 Thess. 1:1); more often he is “Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God” (2 Cor. 1:1) or something even more elaborate than that (see Gal. 1:1). Likewise, he writes not just to “the church of God in Corinth” but more precisely to “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1 Cor. 1:2). Paul and other writers in the New Testament seem so eager to preach the gospel that they jump the gate and work their preaching and theology into the very salutation of the letter itself.

Hebrews and 1 John do not have opening salutations, which suggests to some that they are more like sermons or homilies than actual letters.

Thanksgiving

Letters in the Greco-Roman world often included a brief word of thanksgiving to the gods for good health, deliverance from calamity, or some other beneficence. Paul retains this feature in his letters, though it undergoes considerable development. The thanksgiving is offered to God in specifically Christian terms (e.g., “through Jesus Christ” [Rom. 1:8]), and the reason for the thanksgiving is also distinctive: Paul typically gives thanks for the faithfulness of the congregation to which he is writing and for the things God has done, is doing, and will continue to do for that congregation. There are instances in which some of the matters mentioned in the thanksgiving hint at topics that will be taken up in more detail later (e.g., 1 Cor. 1:4-7 is expanded upon in 12:1-30). Thus, as with the salutations, Paul’s prayers of thanksgiving tend to segue into preaching, and it is not always easy to tell when Paul is addressing God or the congregation on God’s behalf. Some scholars think that the “thanksgiving” portion of 1 Thessalonians extends all the way to 3:13, taking up more than half the letter. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, however, contains no thanksgiving, most likely because he was angry and disappointed with that church.

Typical Structure or Format for a Letter

In our modern world, both personal and professional letters follow typical patterns. It is common to open a letter with “Dear” followed by the name of the recipient, and to close a letter with “Sincerely” followed by the signature of the sender. Of course, there are variations in these patterns, some of which might reveal something about the character of the letter or the personality of the author.

The ancient world had stereotypical patterns for letters also. Archaeologists have unearthed thousands of letters from the New Testament period, and these can be examined to determine in what ways the New Testament letters are unique and in what ways they are typical.

New Testament Letters.

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