Category: Epistles – Is his letter to our church?

Epistles ἐπιστολή or Letters

I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.

Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians

FEATURED SERIES

JUNE 2024 – 2025 —

1 CORINTHIANS

First letter after ACTS of the Apostles:

Epistle of Paul to the Romans Church

Letters – Is he writing to me?
The short answer: YES.

In their epistles or 1st century church letters the Apostles and other men sent out by Jesus build up the saints [small – ‘s’] or members of local first century churches.

A Disciple or other witness of JESUS would write it. Messengers then delivered these church letters to many isolated worshipers.

Followers of Jesus Christ receive these letters as a major encouragement to their personal faith. Then leaders read them to worshipers of their church.

Although the Epistles 0r Letters to the Church were originally written to churches of the first century,

Romans through Jude will seem like letters to your 21st century church.

What do Peter, Paul, John and others tell us we must do?
Is he talking about an issue in your 21st c. church as well?
How does the writer’s advice, warning, or encouragement to the 1st c. believers apply to you as well
Is the writer of this letter talking about something you need to address in your 21st century ‘christian’ life?

Contemporary Application of the Letters (Epistles)

Most New Testament writers take on specific issues confronting faithful followers of Jesus Christ. These same issues continue to confront believers until the Lord’s coming again in these last days.

Certainly Christ our Lord will come again to those God has chosen for eternal life.

Believers currently suffer more than most of you who know Christ in your local church can imagine.

In other lands Christians continue to suffer by the hand of the ungodly.
Go into all the world

A 21st century Common Era church can see and hear nearly any atrocity of man or artificial imagination of sinful man’s mind, yet ‘christians‘ dare not speak of any absolute truth of the Lord God or talk of JESUS CHRIST.

Will YOU comment on Scripture and share the Gospel?

I invite you to read the inspired word of Scripture written in these LETTTERS TO THE CHURCH.

YES, He IS writing to YOU.

Beloved brother or sister in Christ Jesus,

Will you read this ‘CHURCH LETTER’ and talk of JSUS through your comment, sharing and email to me about this ‘Letter to you?”

Roger@talkofJesus.com

Paul’s unfinished business with the Thessalonians – 1
Apostles sent out – Leading through Letters

Paul’s THREE missions over ELEVEN years from ~ A.D. 49 to ~ A.D. 57 would have included 10 winters. All of the apostles would have had time to write while onboard ships traveling from one Roman port to another.

Furthermore all would have had time to write during inclement weather and send messages back and forth by messengers of their mission – many who we have met in various places in Acts of the Apostles.

During Paul’s FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY we read of several stops in CYPRESS including Paphos, as well as several towns in the general Roman region of GALATIA between Perga Pamphylia, Antioch Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe (all in the inland mountains of GALATIA.)

Paul and Barnabas sent from Antioch Syria to the gentiles

Letters from other apostles?

We have just glanced at a letter during this time written by Paul to these Galatian churches. ALSO, during this time we know that JOHN MARK departed from this First Missionary Journey and recorded the first of four GOSPELS.

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

Bar-nabas (Son of encouragement), the Levite Joseph of Cypress, may ALSO have sent letters and messages back and forth to his hometown and familiar towns where the apostles had build budding churches (although we have no record of it).

Through Many Afflictions Saul and Joseph return to Antioch

Luke records the names of several leading disciples of Christ from Paul’s second missionary journey in Acts of the Apostles.

a Who’s Who of Paul’s Three Missionary Journeys

Silas [or Silvanus], Timothy, Aquila & Priscilla, Luke

Even though the New Testament doesn’t include letters from any of these church leaders, we should be able to safely surmise that many wrote to leading churches where these disciples of The Way had worshiped before.

Apollos, perhaps Lydia and even Luke may have communicated with one or more churches to which they had proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And we know from Luke’s Second Account to Theophilus that James, one biological half-brother of the risen JESUS wrote a letter to the church in ~ A.D. 49 in addition to a later Epistles from him and his brother Jude.

Epistle from the Council of Jerusalem – Acts 15:20

Cities and Towns of Paul’s Second Mission

Start New Second Missionary Journey

“The apostles and the brothers who are elders,

to the brothers in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles,

greetings.
Acts of the Apostles 15:23b – Legacy Standard Bible – Letter from James and the Jerusalem Council

The A. D. 49 Letter from JERUSALEM sends out brothers and elders in ALL directions to many geographically nearby cities and provinces of Rome.

As a leading apostle from Antioch, Paul sets out to cities of Syria first (this time with Silas). Cilicia, of course, includes Paul’s familial city of Tarsus which the Apostle bypasses on his return to Derbe.

LUKE, as the Apostle’s physician, witnesses a major part of Paul’s second missionary journey of about 2800 miles first hand in ACTS 15:36-18:22.

And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
Acts 15:41 – Paul ministering to the churches nearest to Jerusalem
- 16 Now Paul also arrived at Derbe
- and at Lystra. And behold, a disciple was there, named Timothy..
- .. he was well spoken of by the brothers who were in Lystra and Iconium.
So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were abounding in number daily.
Acts of the Apostles 16:5 LSB

6 And they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region.. (which includes Antioch Pisidia of Paul’s first missionary journey)..

Through these cities and towns PAUL sojourns purposefully with the Gospel and ENCOURAGEMENT of the churches, some (in GALATIA) to whom the Apostle has written first.

SAILING toward Macedonia, Greece and Achaia

Paul arrives in Europe

First stop

–The leading ROMAN city of Macedonia, PHILIPPI, is by no means Jewish.

(It doesn’t even have a synagogue.)

The Gospel wins some to Christ and opposition from others.

Paul will encourage the Philippians in an epistle a few years later.

Second major stop

Thessalonica

Then Paul and apostles sent with him travel through Amphipolis and Apollonia to THESSILONICA AND proclaim the Gospel to the Jews in their synagogue for THREE WEEKS.

Paul had preached:

“This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is that Christ.”
And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas,
along with a great multitude of the God-fearing Greeks and not a few of the leading women.
Acts of the Apostles 17:3b-4 LSB

They are forced to slip out of town quickly, but this letter will be penned by Paul to encourage the church in his absence.

10 And the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
Read full chapter ACTS 17

Later Luke records:

¹³But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, shaking up and disturbing the crowds.

Other NEWS ~ A.D. 50

Why write to the Thessalonians?

All of these challenges to Christ occur in times and places when the Jews are not the only opponents of the Church. And recall how easily the pagans are lured into bad behavior in behalf of their own sinful practices.
- ~ 5 years ago the Romans changed to a 365 day calendar with a ‘leap year’ and ignored an unnamed year from an inaccurate calendar of the past.
- A.D. 49 the Caesar Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome
I was so glad to hear about you

When we are away from those we love we lose touch until we return or when someone sends a message about them to us.

Out of necessity Paul had to leave the Thessalonians after just three weeks. Of course these apostles had much more to say, hear and teach.

Paul writes:

.. and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith..

.. But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always remember us kindly, longing to see us just as we also long to see you..
Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians 3:2,6 LSB

The Apostle does NOT write these Epistles to the Galatians, Thessalonians and other churches they have established on a whim.

NEXT

We will take a closer look at Paul’s purpose in writing a letter to their dear brothers back in Thessalonica.

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
February 3, 2024
Letters from Proselytes of Galatia to Paul
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Premise: The Apostle Paul likely received one or several letters to which the Apostle responds with Epistles to several churches and certain important persons.
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Who wrote to the Apostle Paul?

Think about this —

Paul and other Apostles come into your town or city, proclaim some Good News, build a church of Christ followers, establish some local leaders. AND then after some time these missionaries leave to go somewhere else into all the world.

ACTS of the Apostles details some of these encounters which occur after numerous encouraging visits of various apostles sent out to them.

Apostles Sent to the Gentiles with a Letter of the Council

Many apostles and letters communicate Good News of one faith in Christ for all the world.

Although we have no preserved documentation of any messages or letters delivered to the Apostle from the Gentiles, I suspect that Paul perceives a crisis of faith in the churches of Galatia — a crisis conveyed to him by faithful disciples of the risen Christ and perhaps even believers considering IF they should abandon The Way of the Lord for a more prevalent cultural Judaism.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

The Apostles, including the Twelve and Paul, James and other church leaders communicate in person and by messenger by the Spirit who has sent them out into each mission.

Who are the Galatians?

In Paul’s day, the word Galatia had two distinct meanings. In a strict ethnic sense, Galatia was the region of central Asia Minor (modern Turkiye) .. a Celtic people who had migrated to that region from Gaul (modern France) .. (in) 25 B.C. when Galatia became a Roman province, incorporating some regions not inhabited by ethnic Galatians (e.g., parts of Lycaonia, Phrygia, and Pisidia). In a political sense, Galatia came to describe the entire Roman province, not merely the region inhabited by the ethnic Galatians.

Paul founded churches in the southern Galatian cities of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe (Acts 13:14–14:23).
Commentary of John MacArthur – BlueLetterBible.org
You will recognize these Galatian cities from Paul's early missions into all the world.
WHY did Paul write to the Galatians?

Regardless of who founded any of the Galatian cities in the A.D. first century Roman Empire, every town had an ethnic challenge common to all churches established by the apostles in every Roman province.

Proselytes – Judaizers fleeing Persecution for the Cross of Christ

The covenantal culture of the Jews opposed the pagan practices of peoples of other cultures. SO the Jews insisted on certain traditional identifications of Jewish men such as circumcision.
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Who are these proselytes?
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Even as Paul, Barnabas, Silas and other apostles had encountered opposition from Jews seeking their own disciples, so had the Lord Jesus.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Gospel of Matthew 23: 15 LSB
The Lord Jesus Christ describes the culture of Judaizers rejecting their own Messiah

An Apostolic Urgency to Write to the Galatians

PAUL must urgently address the concerns of those men in Galatia struggling in the faith

AND like all Christians, pursued by the Jews.

TWO QUESTIONS HERE:
- WHO represents the earthly authority of GOD?
- IF it is CHRIST, what is PAUL’s authority over the JEW and non-Jew?
```
Later, I will get to a Twenty-first century C.E. challenge
of this AUTHORITY in Christ which has now challenged the Church for some 500 years.
```
How will the Apostle answer?

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”
Galatians 5:1 KJV

Galatians 1 – Paul’s Authority
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The Apostle begins his Epistle to the Galatians by firmly establishing his authority and leadership of the churches.
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Paul, an apostle—not sent from men
- nor through man,
- but through Jesus Christ
- and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead—
- and all the brothers who are with me,
```
Pretty convincing.

Paul opens fire against familiar enemies of Christ (Judaizers).
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6 I marvel that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
- Paul clearly states that the Galatians must choose:
  - – between him as a representative of God the Father and Christ Jesus OR
  - – teachers of a false and distorted gospel
    
    (which is not good news but a Jewish tradition chained to the Law and regulations of the flesh).
Paul defends not only his credentials and calling by Christ, but once more presents his case of Christ’s freedom to these gentile believers caught between the Gospel and the yoke of the Judaizers.

2:17 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.
Galatians 2:21 LSB
```
PAUL goes straight to the QUESTION of deceitful men claiming a GOSPEL other than Christ crucified and risen -- Judaizers seeking to lure these Galatian Christ-followers back to a Law of social Judaism. 
```
3 O foolish Galatians, who bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

THEN the Apostle clearly asks these men of the church a key QUESTION of their calling.

2 This is the only thing I want to learn from you:

Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law,

or by hearing with faith?

“The righteous shall live by faith.”

What does Paul seek to prove here refuting Judaizers requiring circumcision of gentile proselytes?

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying,

“All the nations will be blessed in you.”
Galatians 3:8 LSB

The Apostle QUOTES Hebrew SCRIPTURE from BEFORE the LAW.

From Genesis 22:

22:18 וְהִתְבָּרֲכוּ בְזַרְעֲךָ כֹּל גּוֹיֵי הָאָרֶץ עֵקֶב אֲשֶׁר שָׁמַעְתָּ בְּקֹלִי׃
```
 “By Myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this thing and have not spared your son, your only one, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.

“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have listened to My voice.”
```
LATER comes THE LAW of Moses by which the Christ was crucified on a Cross as a redemptive Sacrifice for our sins. (It was NOT ONLY for the Jews, but for ALL the seed of Abraham — every sinner.

The Apostle makes further legal arguments and adds an allegory comparing:
- Ishmael & Isaac
- flesh & promise
- Hagar & Sarah,
- Jerusalem and Mount Sanai and slavery,
- Moses & Christ
- the Jerusalem above and freedom. (Study its juxtaposition if you like.)
The Apostle’s closing argument
1. 5:4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are being justified by law; you have fallen from grace!
2. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are eagerly waiting for the hope of righteousness.
3. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
Faith Reformed in Fact

Jewish faith — to Christian faith — to Scriptural faith informed in the Good News of the Word of God…

Who has believed our message?

The Galatians and every other culture encountered by the Apostles —

~ ano Domini 49 – 50

~ A.D. 49 Paul has just written to the Galatians out of the Apostle’s concern for their failing faith being replaced by a false gospel.
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NEXT: Paul will also write to the THESSALONIANS out of his same love for the children of Christ Jesus the Apostles have led so far.
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WHERE could other gospels lead these Christian flocks of the Empires?

A fall of Rome, a division with an Orthodox New Rome (Constantinople) and Western father of Bishops and Princes competing for pawns of populace.

New temples built as CATHEDRALS for poor pilgrims to look up to God and well-mannered robed men who could actually READ the Holy Bible of God…

And then printing presses and challenges by Reformers pointing to Scripture in place of the yoke of Law and even Church law.

In my heart reigns this one article, faith in my dear Lord Christ, the beginning, middle and end of whatever spiritual and divine thoughts I may have, whether by day or by night.
From Luther’s Introduction, ano domini 1538

THEN what should happen in yet another 500 years once common men and women of the Common Era COULD (yet did not) actually READ the BIBLE?

a brief application …

My HOT reaction to a 1st. c. Hot Topic

Talk of JESUS .com

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
January 26, 2024
Personal Letters from Nicopolis – Intro
Personal Instructions and Greetings

When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.
Letter of the Apostle Paul to Titus 3:12 Legacy Standard Bible

We have been following the missions of Paul and others in Acts of the Apostles for some time now and might easily miss a small personal instruction such as this found at the end of one of the Apostle’s many letters.

Just a brief record of one winter:
- Paul will stay in Nicopolis for one winter.
- He instructs Titus that he will send one of two others to him, either Artemas or Tychicus.
I emphasize in my pause in ACTS by this introduction to Paul’s letters in context that during these historical missional journeys all of the apostles nurtured both personal and community relationships with those won to the Lord Jesus Christ.

A.D. 52-57
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Paul's THREE missions over ELEVEN years from ~ A.D. 49 to ~ A.D. 57 would have included 10 winters. 

Please COMMENT if YOU can pinpoint the actual YEAR or place in ACTS when this occurred. 
```
Further Personal Greetings, Blessings, Thanks & Instructions

Diligently help send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them.

And our people [that is, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ] must also learn to lead in good [occupations] works to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.

All who are with me greet you.

[Paul does not say who these disciples of The Way traveling to Nicopolis for their winter stay might be, but through the Holy Spirit they remain connected to the church and those who receive his letter through Titus. The Apostle then asks them to extend their love to others in the faith.

Greet those who love us in the faith.

Grace be with you all.

Titus 3:13-15 – closing of Paul’s letter

Greetings and Grace
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Note Paul's humility in Christ and tenderness toward those to whom the Apostle writes:
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Paul, a slave of God

and an apostle of Jesus Christ,

according to [for] the faith of God’s elect and the full knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which the God who cannot lie promised before times eternal [from all eternity]..
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And in Paul's 'sent out' purpose as Christ's apostle to the Gentiles here he connects his servitude to the risen Jesus as they must receive his gospel from God, even referring to Christ as God.
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.. but at the proper time manifested [made known] His word in preaching,

with which I was entrusted

according to the commandment

of God our Savior,
Titus 1:1-3 LSB
```
All this deep connection and theology in just a brief introduction and closing of a short letter written to a fellow beloved leader of the church.
```
To Titus, my genuine child according to our common faith:

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Νικόπολις

Nicopolis

Nicopolis meaning “city of victory”

There were many cities by this name, — in Armenia, Pontus, Cilicia, Epirus, Thrace —

The one in Titus 3:12 seems to refer to the city was built by * Augustus in memory of the battle of Actium on a promontory of Epirius.
- Before Augustus Caesar seized power he was known as Octavian. His victory on 2 September 31 B.C. at Actium (pictured above on map near Nicopolis) secured Rome’s strategic position as rulers of the Mediterranean.
- Paul, as a Roman citizen, would have felt at home in such Roman cities.
The one in the subscription of Titus seems to refer to Thracian Nicopolis, founded by Trojan on the river Nestus, since he calls it the city of Macedonia.

When did Paul write?

Our focus in this overview of Paul’s letters is more toward the relationships the Apostle and disciples of The Way create with each other than the how, where and when he wrote.

Paul may have been in Thrace or Macedonia. Perhaps some of these letters were written in part on his journeys abord ships between destinations. And in these ten years having spent extended time in so many towns and cities Paul’s letters may well have been composed from his guest quarters in some of the homes of recipients (perhaps even Titus) to whom the Apostle wrote on a later occasion and circumstance.

What we do know is the approximate times and chronology of most of Paul’s letters.

This chronology and connection to events Luke records in ACTS of the APOSTLES will be the focus of our series looking at Paul’s letters.

Time to Write to Loved Ones
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ALL dates approximate.
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- A.D. 30
  - Resurrection & Ascension of JESUS CHRIST
- A.D. 37
  - JESUS appears to Saul (Paul)
    
    ACTS 9
- A.D. 47
  - Paul and Barnabas depart on their first missionary journey
    
    ACTS 13
- A.D. 49
  - ACTS 15
THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM

Epistle from the Council of Jerusalem – Acts 15:20

& Letters to the CHURCH sent out into all the world

THESE INCLUDE LETTERS (or Epistles)

from: James the brother of Jesus & leader (in A.D. 49) of the Jerusalem church

from: Paul to the Galatians

Letters of the A.D. 50’s
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a generation (~20-30 years) after the Lord's resurrection

All dates approximate:
```
- A.D. 50 – John Mark, who had accompanied Barnabas and Paul on Cypress writes his GOSPEL.
- Paul writes two letters to the Thessalonians
Three Weeks in Thessalonica- Acts 17

During Paul’s SECOND missionary journey

And during Paul’s THIRD missionary journey (where we have once again paused briefly) THESE LETTERS:
- Paul writes TWO letters to the Corinthians living in the Achaian city larger and more important that Athens.
- The Apostle Paul, a Roman citizen, also writes to the Romans around the end of his third missionary journey (A.D. 57) and two years prior to his own journey to Rome.
Later Letters of the A.D. 60’s – 80’s

Our introduction to these Church Letters is NOT expositional but topical. And these are personally relational to those Christians to whom the Apostles wrote.

I will also point to Scripture from other Epistles yet to be written (as of this pause in ACTS of the APOSTLES ) when later events will connect the Church in many more ways to our struggles of a 21st century C.E. faith.

These include Titus written around A.D. 64-66 on which I have focused today

AND other important ‘personal letters’ instructing leaders and others of the church including:

an Epistle to Philemon and TWO letters to Timothy.

Several letters written in the early A.D. 60’s to churches Paul has already visited on his current and previous missions.

Ephesians

Philippians

Colossians

Luke will also complete his Gospel in the early A.D. 60’s as does the Apostle Matthew.

Nero has been Emperor of Rome during most of these times (A.D. 54-68) and things are about to get much worse for all of the Empire including Jerusalem, which revolts against ROME beginning in A.D. 66 and will eventually be destroyed in A.D. 70 as the Jewish Wars continue on into A.D. 73.

As the world of ROME begins to disintegrate while Paul and Peter and every other Apostle except John are executed, the Gospel and Letters of a New Testament go into all the world — a world to which the Lord Jesus Christ came and died for sinners like you and like me — that we might have eternal life in Him.

MORE Letters arriving SOON… God-willing…
January 13, 2024