All in all, in their content, these books are pastoral in nature and give directions for the care, conduct, order, ministry, and administration of churches or assemblies of believers. In the process of this, Paul asks Philemon to charge this to his own account. A key word in concept is correction as Paul sought to correct the problems in Corinth, but wisdom, contrasting Gods wisdom with mans, is also a key word of the book. [28] Murphy-OConnor, Paul the Letter-Writer, 11013; Brown, Introduction to the New Testament, 419; Richards, Paul and First-Century Letter Writing, 17175. So the apostle wrote to deal with the condition of idleness or disorderliness which had increased (3:5-15). Thus the approximate dates for 1 Timothy and Titus are perhaps 63-66. Fortunately for us, considerable information along these lines is available within the letters themselves and can be supplemented by biographical accounts written by Luke, who was a companion of Paul, and included in the Book of Acts. As a Roman citizen, he died by the sword (beheaded) rather than by crucifixion as did Peter. As declared in 1:1 and 2:18, all evidence (external and internal) supports the claim of the book that Paul is the author of 1 Thessalonians. 15:19). Moreover, the books declare Paul as the author (1 Tim. If the coherence of Pauls gospel is forgotten, the letters become iso- But the authorship of this epistle has been doubted by some on the grounds of the vocabulary and the nature of the heresy refuted in this epistle. No specific purpose is stated and no particular problem or heresy is addressed. Of all Pauls letters, 2 Corinthians is the most personal and intimate. Thus, in the synagogues of Damascus, he proclaimed Christ as Savior. It has been argued that the vocabulary and style are different from other Pauline Epistles, but this overlooks Pauls flexibility under different circumstances (cf. The Believers Position in Christ (2:9-10), C. The Obligations of the True Teaching (2:16-3:4), 1. Are they themselves properly to be described as Jewish? These are common Pauline expressions, but they appear in this epistle more than in any other. Guthrie, The Pastoral Epistles, Tyndale Press, London, 1969, pp. It was likely sent first to Ephesus by Tychicus (Eph. . Vocabulary used to describe church organization, for instance, would be expected to be different from that used to teach the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. . In the New Testament there are 13 books written by the Apostle Paul. WebWhen interpreting the Pauline letters, we must grasp both the contingency and the coherence of the Pauline gospel. Tradition has it that Titus later returned to Crete and there served out the rest of his life. Here Christ Jesus is emphatically described as our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds (2:13-14). Because these letters are older than any of the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus, they constitute the most reliable source that we have today for information concerning the early history of the Christian movement. In reaction to the false teaching of these libertines, a second emphasis is found in a strong ethical section of the letter, where Paul enjoins the Galatians to reject the works of the flesh in favor of the fruits of the Spirit (see 5:1626). The nature of their participation in the formulation of the material used in the letter is best described by Richards, who notes that Paul worked as leader of a missionary team, the members of which would have discussed and prayed with him about problems facing the congregations to which they were writing. No doubt this conviction was growing upon him for some time, but the climactic turning point in his career came while he was journeying to Damascus. 38 This material is taken from J. Sidlow Baxter's Explore the Book, pp. WebThe occasional nature of the Pauline letters b. Paul's dominance in the canon c. The Pauline traditions in Acts d. The Pauline pseudepigrapha. Paul, as is his custom, uses his Greek name Paulos rather than his Hebrew name Shaul. School attendance is a major issue. The Present Walk of the New Life (4:20-32), 4. Dear Abby: Brother should be like me, visit our mom often In this letter Paul had two major purposes in mind. WebThe canon of the books of the New Testament includes, along with the Pauline corpus (the thirteen letters of St. Paul and the letter of Hebrews), a group of seven others which Tradition usually calls the "Catholic Letters" - that written by St. James, two by St. Peter, three by St. John and one by St. Jude. Instructions Concerning Worship (2:1-2:15), A. He Corrects and Challenges Regarding the Day of the Lord (2:1-17), C. In Relation to the Man of Lawlessness (2:3b-4), IV. These books, then, deal with matters of church order or ecclesiology not hitherto addressed, but before God gave the church directions for church organization (or order as specific as those we find in the pastorals) He gave us Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. One must try to understand the circumstances in which these individuals and groups found themselves in order to understand what and how Paul was trying to teach them. Greeting, Prayer, Body, Closing Describe the general greeting in each of Paul's letters. [1] See the representative excerpts of Augustines AD 427 treatise On Grace and Free Will, and Martin Luthers 1531 Lectures on Galatians, in The Writings of St. Paul, ed.Wayne A. Meeks (New York: Norton, 1972), 22050. The Call to Remember Timothys Responsibilities (1:8-18), IV. The problems included divisions in the church (1:11), trust in mans wisdom or that of the world rather than Gods (1:21-30), immorality (chap. He was a descendant of the Hebrew tribe of Benjamin and originally was named Saul, after Israel's first king. Nevertheless, their involvement in the composition process may, in fact, help to explain the differences of style and diction between the different letters of Paul.
