Our daughter, Kristin, has asked me to teach a monthly series on the various churches that Paul was involved with. This is in anticipation of a church led pilgrimage next May that will include stops in Greece and parts of Turkey – to visit the sites of churches that Paul started.
The first class will be this coming Sunday at the church where Kristin is on staff. And the first church to be discussed is the church at Galatia. As I have been preparing for this course, I keep thinking of things that I would like to share with the audience. To be sure, I’m not your average Bible teacher. Through many years of seminary, I learned that the “nuggets” didn’t happen in the prepared curriculum. They happened in what I call the “cracks.” By that I mean that every once in a while, we found ourselves going down some rabbit hole and that is where the unusual learning took place. And that is where I learned so much that really doesn’t appear in any textbook.
Most of Paul’s writings were considered letters – in the theological world they are known as epistles. There are a total of three pastoral epistles – two written to his young pastor friend, Timothy – and another letter to Titus. Both of these young men were people who Paul poured his life into. His mentoring of these close friends included personal guidance on leadership, church administration and sound doctrine. These two young coworkers were important to Paul and he raised them to be pastors in their respective churches. Hence the name, pastoral epistles.
Other general letters are referred to as regular epistles. Some of these letters were written to a specific church that read the letter and then forwarded it on to other churches in the region. Sometimes, these letters were written to specific churches to correct wrong doctrine or to lead people back to the correct path. Certainly, the pastoral epistles were written for an audience of one!
Most people read the Pauline epistles or any other epistles for that matter (there are considered to be 21 letters in the New Testament) the same way that they would read a historical book, a Gospel, poetry or even apocalyptic literature such as the book of Revelation. But epistles are different. They have their own form and it has been my experience that to get the most out of these letters, primarily written by Paul, one needs to approach the study in an entirely different way.
That having been said, I learned in seminary that the best way to read the letters of the Bible is to pick a side! By that I mean that you should either imagine yourself leaning over the writer’s shoulder as they are composing the letters – or imagine yourself leaning over the shoulder of the recipient as they open the letter and read it. When you focus on one side – either the sender or the receiver, you have the opportunity to really have a better understanding of the intent of the writer or to be surprised as the receiver opens the letter.
One time when I was filling in at a church in Tipton, IN I was preparing a sermon on the book of Philemon. This is one of Paul’s most passionate letters written to his friend about a slave, Onesimus, who had come to Christ while Paul was in prison and was now returning to Philemon as a brother in Christ. It’s the only time in the entire Bible that Paul refers to himself as an old man! It’s also the shortest letter that Paul wrote. The nuggets that we can uncover when we let these letters wash over us. As people entered the sanctuary for the service, each one was handed a letter to open and read. That is how I started Paul’s letter to Philemon. It ended up being a very popular message!
The letters of Paul also have a set pattern most of the time. Paul tends to open his letters with a salutation and then goes on to mention prayer and his hope for the recipient, whether it be to an individual or to a church. The body of the letter deals with the subject(s) that Paul thought it necessary to address and, finally, the closing. Paul has become known for his phrase “grace and peace”. He believed that before you have divine peace, you had to receive God’s grace. This was a common thread in many of his writings. The apostle John, on the other hand, stressed “truth” in his epistles, primarily dealing with false teachers and false prophets.
Much can be learned from the letters we find in the New Testament. You may even notice that for many years now, I have adopted Paul’s “grace and peace” for my own closing of these posts. I even use it in some of my personal emails as well.
The verse for tonight is the closing in the epistle of 2 Thessalonians. This probably is the most famous example affirming that Paul had written in his own hand as opposed to dictating it to a scribe as was common in the day. Paul tells the church at Thessaloniki, in 2 Thessalonians 3:16-18, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.’
My encouragement this evening is that there is much to be learned from reading, and re-reading, the letters of the Bible. And it is perfectly fine to read them multiple times – changing the way you read them from time to time – from the writer’s perspective, or the recipient’s perspective. My prayer is that we will pay attention to this most important aspect of the Scripture and that through our reading, the Holy Spirit will sharpen our understanding of the depth of the faith of these New Testament authors. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…