I'm Gonna sit right down and Write a Letter

 

      Before telephones, email and text, our ancestors communicated by written letter. As a child I had “pen-pals’ with whom I wrote letter after letter communicating our daily activities, likes and dreams. I still enjoy the handwritten note or letter.

    After Jesus’ resurrection, as the apostles evangelized the world, written communication to the churches became a primary mode of instruction. Paul was the chief letter writer of our New Testament, but other apostles communicated by letter also. Literarily speaking,  the New Testament letters are divided into two categories:  those written by Paul and those written by ‘others.’   Once again,  these were written as complete letters; verse and chapter divisions were added by translators. Once again, they were written to be read aloud to the congregation and then passed on from church to church.

   These letters  were written exactly the way we learned in elementary school about letter writing.  There is a greeting,  a body, a closing, and a signature. The body contains elements of news, questions for the reader,  complements or criticisms and helpful notes. The closing is a personal note. Paul and the other writers wrote like we would write a friendly letter.

   Paul’s writing doesn’t always seem ‘friendly; so it will help our understanding to look at the church or individuals the letter is addressed to. If Old Testament scriptures are referred too,   we need to stop and look them up to understand why the writer added these old writings.

   Inside Story readers are reading Paul’s letters to his individual friends this week.  Timothy, James and Jude.   He calls these friends,  “my true child in the faith”,  “ a servant of God and Jesus Christ”.  These greetings aid our understanding of the message of the letter.

DIVE DEEP

·       Read the letter to Jude three times in three different translations.

·       Dissect the structure of the letter by identifying the greeting, body, closing and signature.

·       What is the theme of this letter?

·       What outcome was Paul hoping for?

  I hope you are increasing in your love and excitement for the Word of God through these studies!   Leave a comment below!