Paul’S Letters (And New Testament Letters Generally)
PAUL’S LETTERS (AND NEW TESTAMENT LETTERS GENERALLY)
Twenty-one of the twenty-six New Testament books are letters, composing 35 percent of the New Testament text. Paul is the most famous letter writer, with thirteen authentic epistles. Why have Paul, James, Peter, John, Jude, and the unknown author of Hebrews chosen to communicate in this form? The question is particularly apropos when we recognize that the letter was not a typical method of religious instruction among Jews.
The answer is probably twofold. First, the early Christian movement, with its fast growth and peripatetic missionaries, demanded a means of communication at a distance. The letter was the obvious solution. The abiding religious significance of the letters, in the sense of canonical, authoritative documents, was the product of later decision rather than intention at the time of writing. The early apostles, then, communicated their teaching in letters because it was convenient and necessary; they were not deliberately creating a new means of religious instruction. A second reason the letter may have been chosen by the apostles is its sense of personal immediacy.
People in Paul’s day saw the letter as a means of establishing personal presence from a distance, 59 and this perfectly served the needs of the apostles in pastoring their flocks from a distance.