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The Epistles<br />
Whilst in our culture<br />
letter writing might<br />
be dying out a little,<br />
it is a very ancient<br />
and Biblical art.<br />
Twenty-one of the 27 books of the<br />
New Testament are collectively<br />
known as the Epistles. Epistle is<br />
from the Greek word ἐπιστολή,<br />
meaning ‘letter’. These books<br />
of the Bible are the letters of the<br />
early church.<br />
The New Testament Epistles are<br />
written by a number of different<br />
people. St Paul wrote the majority<br />
(13) of them, whilst others were<br />
written by St James, St Peter, St<br />
John, and the author of one is<br />
unknown. Very often letters had<br />
more than one author. They’re<br />
written either to individuals or to<br />
churches. Whilst modern letters<br />
tend to have ‘Dear John Smith’<br />
at the beginning, and ‘Yours<br />
sincerely, Duncan Bell’ at the<br />
end, the culture back then was<br />
to have both the sender’s and<br />
the recipient’s names at the<br />
beginning. So the letters to the<br />
Thessalonians start, ‘Paul, Silas<br />
and Timothy; To the church of the<br />
Thessalonians.’ It seems to me<br />
Ephesus today<br />
PHOTO:<br />
PAWEESIT<br />
that this makes far more sense<br />
than our own style of letter writing.<br />
I don’t know about you, but when I<br />
get a letter, I look to the end of the<br />
letter to see who wrote it, before<br />
going back to the beginning to<br />
read it. It seems much more<br />
sensible to put the sender’s name<br />
at the beginning!<br />
Whilst many medieval paintings<br />
portray the Biblical authors<br />
poised with quill in hand, writing<br />
away, we know that the authors<br />
of the Epistles usually dictated<br />
to a secretary. Paul sometimes<br />
included a note in his own<br />
handwriting at the end of the<br />
letter. ‘I, Paul, write this greeting in<br />
my own hand.’ (Colossians 4:18a).<br />
In St Paul’s letter to the Romans,<br />
the secretary (or amanuensis)<br />
adds his own greeting: ‘I, Tertius,<br />
who wrote down this letter, greet<br />
you in the Lord.’ (Romans 16:22).<br />
The reasons for writing the<br />
epistles are as many as the<br />
epistles themselves. Sometimes<br />
authors write in response to<br />
questions that the church has<br />
raised. Sometimes they write<br />
because they’ve heard things are<br />
going badly and want to help folks<br />
get back on track. Sometimes<br />
they write because they’ve heard<br />
really good things and want to<br />
encourage people. Sometimes<br />
they write to individuals to help<br />
them keep going in tough<br />
situations. The letters are<br />
as varied as life itself.<br />
If you’ve never read<br />
any of the Epistles, I’d<br />
suggest starting with<br />
the book of Ephesians.<br />
It’ll only take about ten<br />
minutes to read. You<br />
can fi nd it online if you<br />
don’t have a Bible.<br />
Rev Duncan Bell<br />
St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats<br />
Church Offi ce: Linden Avenue, Sheffi eld S8 0GA<br />
Tel: (0114) 274 5086<br />
Page 18<br />
email: offi ce@stchads.org<br />
website: www.stchads.org
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