THE EPISTLES: Letters to the Early Church

CORINTHIANS: New Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Testament Volume

The authenticity of this epistle is attested by Clement of Rome (Epistle to the Corinthians, 47), Polycarp (Epistle to the Philippians, 11), Irenaeus (Against Heresies, 4.27.45), Clement of Alexandria (Paidagogos, 1.6.33), and Tertullian (Prescription of Heretics, 33). The city to which it was sent was famed for its wealth and commerce, which were chiefly due to its situation between the Ionian and Aegean Seas on the isthmus connecting the Peloponnese with Greece. In Paul’s time it was the capital of the province Achaia and the seat of the Roman proconsul (Acts 18:12). The state of morals in it was notorious for debauchery, even in the profligate heathen world; so much so that “to Corinthianize” was a proverbial phrase for “to live like a Corinthian in the practice of sexual immorality” (Mare); hence, arose dangers to the purity of the church at Corinth, which was founded by Paul on his first visit (Acts 18:1-17).

Paul had been the instrument of converting many Gentiles (12:2) and some Jews (Acts 18:8), notwithstanding the vehement opposition of the countrymen of the latter (Acts 18:5), during the year and a half in which he lived in Corinth. The converts were chiefly of the humbler classes (1:26). Crispus.

According to Greek legend, Sisyphus was a king of Corinth. For defying the gods with his insolent wit he was sentenced to the eternal drudgery of pushing a huge stone up a hill. When he would reach the summit, the stone would roll back to the bottom and force resumption of the task. Camus, a 20th-century philosopher, found in this legend of the Corinthian king a picture of modern man’s condition, the purposeless absurdity of life.

If Camus had read the two biblical letters sent to the Corinthians, he would have gotten a different picture, one with a message of purpose and hope for misdirected people. The attitude of these Corinthians, like their legendary king, smacked of proud self-centeredness. But instead of dealing with a capricious Zeus, these first-century Corinthians interacted with the gracious and loving God and His messenger, the Apostle Paul.

Read 1 Cor 12, 1 Cor 13, 1 Cor 15, and 2 Cor 3, 2 Cor 12:6-10

PHILLIPPIANS: The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament

On his second missionary journey Paul visited Philippi. Through his ministry there several people trusted Christ as their Savior. Some of these were Lydia and her family and the Philippian jailer and his family (Acts 16:14-34).

Soon after Paul’s visit a local church was established in Philippi. The church helped the apostle in different ways so this epistle was written to acknowledge their help, as well as to help them.

Philippians is personal and practical in its tone and teaching. Paul emphasized the need for believers to rejoice in Christ. “Joy” (chara) is used four times (Phil 1:4, 25; 2:2; 4:1); “rejoice” (chairō) occurs eight times (1:18 [twice]; 2:17-18; 3:1, 4:4 [twice], 10); and “glad” occurs thrice (2:17-18, 28). (In 1:26 the word “joy” is a different Gr. word; there it is the word “glad,” “boast,” or “glory,” [kauchēma], which also occurs in 2:16 and 3:3.) Paul wrote frequently in this epistle about the mind of a child of God. One’s manner of life is truly a reflection of what occupies his mind.

Read Phil 2:1-11, Phil 4:4-9

GALATIANS: The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament

Galatians, though one of Paul’s shorter epistles, is highly esteemed as one of his greatest and most influential. Since both Romans and Galatians teach the doctrine of justification by faith, the former has been considered by some to be an expansion of Galatians and the latter has been called “a short Romans.”

Like 2 Corinthians the Epistle of Galatians eloquently defends Paul’s apostolic authority and contains in summary form what the apostle taught. In particular it contains a clear statement of justification by faith and builds on that foundation a defense of Christian liberty against any form of legalism.

In the early church, as the separation between Judaism and Christianity was taking place, the letter to the Galatians no doubt helped clarify that cleavage. Centuries later it played such a key role in the Reformation that it was called “the cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation.” This was because its emphasis on salvation by grace through faith alone was the major theme of the preaching of the Reformers.

Read Gal 2:15-21, Gal 3:34-39, Gal 5:16-26

ROMANS: The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament

This letter is the premier example of the epistolary form of writing, not only in the Pauline body of material and in the New Testament but also in all of ancient literature. It stands first in every list of the Apostle Paul’s writings though it was not first in time of composition. This bears witness to the importance of the work both in its theme and in its content. It may also reflect the significance of the location of the letter’s first readers, the imperial capital of Rome. In addition a possible tie grows out of the fact that the Book of Acts ends with Paul in Rome so that his letter to the Romans follows naturally in the order of Bible books.

That Paul is the author of this letter is denied by almost no one. Even the ancient heretics admitted Romans was written by Paul. So do the modern (19th century and later) radical German critics, who deny many other facts in the Scriptures. Paul identified himself as the author by name, of course; but that is no guarantee of the acceptance of his authorship, since he did that in all his letters, including those for which his authorship is questioned or denied. In Romans Paul referred to himself by name only once, in contrast with several of his other letters; but a number of other internal details support Paul’s authorship.

Read Rom 2: 1-4, Rom 7:14-25, Rom 8:26-30, 36-39, Rom 12,

EPHESIANS: New Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Testament Volume

The headings (1:1 and 3:1) show that this epistle claims to be that of Paul. This claim is confirmed by the testimonies of Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5.2.3 and 1.8.5; Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 4.65, and Paidagogos, 1.8; Origen, Against Celsus, 4, 211. It is quoted (3:14-18) by Valentinus (a.d. 120), as we know from Hippolytus’s Refutation of Heresies. Polycarp, in his Epistle to the Philippians, chapter 12, testifies to its canonicity. So does Tertullian, Against Marcion, 5.17. Ignatius, in Ephesians, 12, alludes to the frequent and affectionate mention made by Paul of the Christian state, privileges, and persons of the Ephesians in his epistle.

This epistle was addressed, most probably, to several churches in the district around Ephesus—namely, Asia. The Epistle to the Ephesians, so-called, was not really intended to be only for the church at Ephesus. Most modern scholars are convinced that it was an encyclical that went to several churches in Asia, including Ephesus. There are several reasons to affirm this. First, the earliest manuscripts (the Chester Beatty Papyrus—P46, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus) do not contain the words “in Ephesus” in Ephesians 1:1. It appears that Paul purposely left the name of the locality out, so as to be filled in later as the letter circulated to each locality. Since Ephesus was the leading city of Asia, it was quite natural for scribes to assign this epistle to the church at Ephesus. Second, the Epistle to the Ephesians has all the marks of being a general treatise rather than an epistle to a specific local church. Paul had lived with the saints at Ephesus for three years (Acts 20:31). He knew them intimately. And yet in this epistle there are no personal greetings or specific exhortations. When we consider Paul’s manner in many of his other epistles, it would be quite unlike him to have excluded these personal expressions. Quite the contrary, Paul speaks to the saints whom he has only heard about and who have only heard about him. It is possible that this epistle was the one sent to Laodicea, and several scholars since have affirmed the same.

Twice in this epistle Paul referred to himself by name as the author of the book Yet the Pauline authorship of Ephesians has been greatly disputed in recent years. Some critics think that the book reflects aspects of vocabulary, style, and doctrine that differ from Paul’s writings. Though the book has a close affinity with Colossians, critics claim that Ephesians is uncharacteristic of Paul. They suggest that the book was pseudonymous, that is, it was written by someone who did not use his own name but who instead claimed to be Paul.

However, pseudonymity was not practiced by the early Christians. Also this book is regarded by many as the crown of all Paul’s writings. Thus it seems strange that a disciple of Paul would be greater than Paul in theological and spiritual perception. Furthermore, Ephesians was extensively and undisputedly accepted in the early church as Paul’s letter. There is no strong reason for rejecting the Pauline authorship of Ephesians.

Read Eph 3:14-21, Eph 4, Eph 5:21-33, Eph 6:10-20

COLLOSIANS: New Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Testament Volume

Colosse was a city of Phrygia, on the river Lycus, a branch of the Meander. The church there was mainly composed of Gentiles (cf. 2:13). Alford infers from 2:1 that Paul had not seen its members and therefore could not have been its founder. Colossians 1:7, 8 suggests the probability that Epaphras was the founder of the church there. The date of its foundation must have been subsequent to Paul’s visitation, “strengthening in order” all the churches of Galatia and Phrygia (Acts 18:23); for otherwise he must have visited the Colossians, which 2:1 implies he had not. Had Paul been their father in the faith, he would doubtless have alluded to the fact.

This epistle was written at Rome, during Paul’s first imprisonment there (Acts 28). In the Introduction to the Epistle to the Ephesians, it was shown that the three epistles, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, were sent at the same time, viz., during the freer portion of his imprisonment Colossians 4:3, 4 and Ephesians 6:19, 20 imply greater freedom than he had while writing to the Philippians,. This epistle, though carried by the same bearer, Tychicus, who bore that to the Ephesians, was written before that epistle; for many phrases similar in both appear in the more expanded form in the Epistle to the Ephesians (Eph. 6:21).

The reason Paul wrote Colossians was to counteract various theological errors that had crept into the church at Colosse. From the text of Colossians we can infer that the Colossians were infiltrated by a system that combined elements of legalistic Judaism, asceticism, and Gnosticism. The gnostic element was the most pronounced and most ardently fought against by Paul.

It is essential to understand Gnosticism if one is to comprehend what lies behind many of Paul’s statements in this epistle. Curtis Vaughn has provided an excellent summary of Gnosticism, especially as it relates to the Colossian heresy:

Gnosticism, in all its forms, was characterized by belief in the evil of matter, in mediating beings, and in salvation through knowledge. Beginning with the assumption that all matter is evil, the Gnostics argued that God didn’t create this world and that he has absolutely no contact with it. However, intellectual necessity did not permit them to break completely the bond between divinity and the material world. They therefore taught that God put forth from himself a series of “aeons” or emanations, each a little more distant from him and each having a little less of Deity. At the end of this chain of intermediate beings there is an emanation possessing enough of Deity to make a world but removed far enough from God that his creative activities could not compromise the perfect purity of God. . . . Belief in the inherent evil of matter made it impossible for the Gnostics to accept the real incarnation of God in Christ. Some of them explained it away by denying the actual humanity of Jesus, holding that he only seemed to be human. The body of Jesus, they taught, was an illusion, a phantom, only apparently real. . . . Other Gnostics explained away the incarnation by denying the real deity of Jesus.

Paul combated this denigration of Christ’s deity by presenting the preeminent, all-inclusive, and all-sufficient Christ.

Read Col 1:15-23, Col 3:1-25,

THESSALONIANS: New Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Testament Volume

At the time Paul wrote this epistle, Thessalonica was the capital of the Roman second district of Macedonia (Livy, 45. 29). It lay on the bay of Therme and has always been, and still is, under its modern name Thessaloniki, a place of considerable commerce. After his imprisonment and scourging at Philippi, Paul went to Thessalonica; and in company with Silas (Acts 17:1-9) and Timothy founded the church there. The Jews, as a whole, rejected the gospel when Paul preached it for three successive Sabbaths; but a few “believed and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout [i.e., proselytes to Judaism] Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.” The believers received the word joyfully, notwithstanding trials and persecutions from their own countrymen and from the Jews. Paul’s stay at Thessalonica was probably not limited to the three weeks specified in —for his laboring there “with his hands” for his living, his receiving supplies there more than once from Philippi, his making many converts from the Gentiles, and his appointing ministers all imply a longer residence. As at Pisidian Antioch, at Corinth, and at Ephesus, after having preached the gospel to the Jews who rejected it, Paul then turned to the Gentiles. He most likely held Christian meetings in the house of Jason, perhaps “the kinsman” of Paul mentioned in His great subject of teaching seems to have been the coming of Christ to establish his kingdom, and that they should walk worthy of it. When Paul was in Thessalonica he must have preached about Jesus’ kingship, for the charge which the assailants of Jason’s house brought against him and the other brethren was, “These do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus”

Read 1 Thess 4:9-12, 1 Thess 5:1-11, 2 Thess 2:13-17, 2 Thess 3:1-5,