The Epistles are defined as all books
in the New Testament except the four
gospels, Acts and Revelation. These letters were written to believers and
nonbelievers, corrupt and confused cities, lost and lonely souls looking for
answers. Simply stated—they continue, in our day, to be rich in comfort and
wisdom requiring care and caution in interpretation.
As mentioned in the previous post,
Biblical interpretation isn't as difficult as it may seem, so let's dig in and break
down the parts and pieces of an Epistle—reading the recipe before baking.
Do you remember how to write a
formal letter, “formal” as in Dear Aunt Millie? That’s a great place to begin
understanding how the Epistles are formatted, which are letters as we
understand them to be.
Authors Fee & Stuart chose 1
Corinthians to interpret in chapter 3. Likewise, we’ll site examples for the
parts of the Epistle 1 Corinthians in parenthesis:
1. Name of the writer (Paul)
2. Name of the recipient (the church
of God in Corinth)
3. Greeting (Grace and peace to you
from God…)
4. Prayer wish or thanksgiving (I
always thank God for you…)
5. Body
6. Final greeting and farewell (The
grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.)
Don’t hit the “Easy Button” just
yet…the gift has yet to be unwrapped.
Historical Context
· Consult a Bible dictionary or your commentary to find out as
much as possible about Corinth and its people. Fee and Stuart describe Corinth
as “a bit of New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas”.
· Read the ENTIRE letter through in one sitting.
· Make brief notes as you go, asking questions about the
context, characters and state-of-mind of those you’re reading about.
· Create a working outline of the letter
Literary Context
· When reading through, be conscious of the breaks, paragraphs
of the author’s thoughts. Should it get repetitive, confusion, off track ask,
“What’s the point?” then try to explain why you think Paul is writing what he’s
writing.
For more information, read Chapter 3 in Reading the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart.
Thanks for writing this entry. I found it helpful! Warmly, Tasha
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