REL 1310 - Christian Scriptures - Unit 4

Required Books: 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1st Corinthians (no passage ID), Romans, James, Hebrews, 1st Timothy, Revelation

Introduction to Epistolary Scripture 

Timeline

  • 1 & 2 Thessalonians

  • Galatians

  • 1 Corinthians

  • Philippians

  • 2 Corinthians

  • Romans

  • Philemon

  • Colossians

Ancient Epistles (Letter structure)

  1. Greeting

  2. Prayer

    • Sets the tone

  3. Body

  4. Closing

    • Often includes personal information (“hows your wife?” “Im traveling to Jerusalem”)

  5. Benediction

Characteristics of Pauls Letters

  • Occasional

    • Situation-based

  • Dialogic

    • We don’t have the full story, we only have one side of the conversation

Thessalonians

  • Contain all 5 parts of Ancient Epistles

  • Concerns about the Parousia (Second Coming)

The Letter To The Galatians

Jewish Christian “agitators” had visited the Galatian church(es), claiming that converted Gentile Christians had to obey the Mosaic Law, including circumcision. This happens after the Council of Jerusalem where it was decided there was no need to determine the Mosaic Law.

Structure of The Letter

  • Greeting

  • No Prayer of Thanksgiving (abnormal)

  • Body

  • No Conclusion (abnormal)

  • Benediction

            → This indicates Paul is angry 

Paul’s Defense of His Authority

  • Apostle - Someone who knew Jesus personally

  • Agitators said Paul wasn’t an apostle

  • Arguments In The Letter

    • Paul met Jesus through a special revelation

    • Paul is well educated in Jewish Law

    • …"on par with Peter"

      • Peter was put in charge of the Jewish Christians during Council of Jerusalem

      • Paul was put in charge on Gentile Christians during Council of Jerusalem

    • Summary of his teachings

      • We are justified (put in right relationship) through faith in/of Christ 

Paul’s Teaching To The Galatians

  • History of Abraham, not Moses

    • Abraham was right with God, but he never had the law

    • Before the law, God gave Abraham a mission to bless all families through his dependents

    • The lost mission of Israel - The Jews lost the original mission, the purpose for the laws, and instead focused on the laws themselves

    • The law were guidelines to help fulfill the original mission 

    • The law was a temporary measure

  • Freedom from the law ≠ an excuse for immorality

    • The law is like how parents have rules for babies who don’t understand how certain actions are bad

      • Ex: “Don’t call your brother a poopy head”

    • As an adult, there’s no one binding you to these rules (except like murder and stuff) but you are bound by your own moral understanding to not hurt others

      • You know it is wrong to insult others, but no ones stopping you. That doesn’t mean its okay

2 Corinthians 

Letter Structure

  • Chapters 1-7 - Largely conciliary in tone, encouraging

  • Chapter 8 - Concerning the collection for the Jerusalem church

  • Chapters 10-14 - a scathing, and even sarcastic reproach for following the Jewish-Christian “super-apostles”

  • These likely represent a collection of ongoing correspondences with the same church or group of church.

  • It contains all 5 parts

    • Greeting

    • Thanksgiving

    • Body

    • Conclusion

    • Benediction

  • Paul uses Diatribe - the (greek) literary strategy of guessing the counterargument of your opponents and addressing it

    • Uses Roman rhetoric for the Roman/Greek Gentile Christians

  • Paul also uses Midrash

    • Uses Jewish rhetoric for the Jewish-Christians

Issues with the Corinthian Church

  • Classism

  • Sexual Immorality

  • Lack of leadership

  • In-fighting

Context of the Letters

  • Apparently some time after 1 Corinthians was written, Paul makes a “painful visit” to Corinth

  • He then writes a “tearful” letter to the corinthians, instead of visiting them a second time

  • At some point, a group of Jewish-Christian “super-apostles” arrives, challenges Pauls authority.

  • Paul was kinda ugly and he uses that to say that God is clearly working through him, because they’re clearly not being “won over” by his physical appearance

Romans

  • Paul has not yet visited Rome, but hopes to make it his base of operations for a trip further West

  • In 49 CE the Roman Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome

  • They can return after 5 years

  • This 5-year absence exacerbates the ethnic tensions between Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome

Women in Paul’s Letters

  • Phoebe - A deacon and the carrier (and likely reader) of the letter to Corinthians (described in Romans)

  • Priscilla - Pauls coworker

  • Junia - an apostle (huge deal!)

The Epistle of James

The General Epistles

  • The Catholic Epistles (“universal”)

    • James, 1-2 Peters, 1-3 John, Jude, Hebrews

    • They are addressed to churches at large

The Epistle of James

  • This book was not very popular, and canonized very late

  • Not in the Muratorian Fragment (one of the earliest canonical lists)

  • No Prayer

  • No Conclusion

  • No Benediction

Paul vs James

  • Martin Luther famously disliked the Epistle of James, calling it an “epistle of straw”

  • It lacked many Christian terms and themes

    • Jesus is only mentioned once

    • The Holy Spirit and the crucification are not mentioned

  • In many ways, it seems thoroughly Jewish

  • The central conflict has to do with salvation by works and salvation by faith

The Letter to The Hebrews

  • Contains no greeting or prayer

  • Closest in form to a homily, aka sermon

  • Authorship

    • The text doesn’t mentions of an author

    • Papyrus 46 names Paul as author

    • Likely not Pauline (written by Paul) as the writing style is very different

  • Its canonicity was often in question

  • Structure

    • Exposition and Exhortation (Macrostructure)

      • Aka context and call to action

    • Exposition and Exhortation (Microstructure)

First Timothy

Context

  • I & II Timothy and Titus were known as Pastoral Epistles from the 18th Century onwards

    • This is due to the fact that they uniquely only had one addressee

  • They share a similar language, theology, and historical context

Authorship

  • It claims to be written by Paul, but this is contested

    • While they contain some typical pauline phrases, but often they are extended or changed in non-Pauline ways

    • Less of a theological emphasis on Grace

    • Assumes a system of ecclesial organization that is much more common in the late 1st/early 2nd century, after Paul’s death

Revelation

Audience: The seven churches of Asia Minor

Features of Apocalyptic Literature

  • Told from the perspective of a visitor, usually through the aid of an interpretive figure

  • Progression through history of through the levels of heaven

Characteristics of Apocalyptic Literature

  • Dualistic Framework (Heaven and Earth impact each other)

  • Cyclical view of time (end and beginning are similar)

  • Densely symbolic language and imagery

Themes of Apocalyptic Literature

  • God is sovereign and the ultimate vindication of the believer

  • Enduring optimism as a basis for exhortation

Context of Revelation

  • Not universal persecution

  • The issue of the churches is compromise (being too earthly/roman)

  • It has a non-linear timeline

  • Likely, the cycles of 7 trumpets are meant to refer to the same timeline from 3 different perspective