If I had my druthers, I’d have started with poetry or prophecy because I think they are the most impactful (and interesting!) with regard to Bible study and interpretation. However, we are currently studying an epistle together, so it makes more sense to start there. There I go being sensible.
My two main sources are Roy B. Zuck and his Basic Bible Interpretation and Robert Stein’s A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible. I’m not a source like those cool guys, but I’ve also shared a little of my own observations and remembrances of other teachers over the years. A compilation, if you will.
Distinguishing an Epistle and Letter
For this genre of literature, it’s obvious when we look at a piece of correspondence. Even a note jotted has some elements that distinguish it.
Remembering from our days in primary school, we learned that modern letters of all kinds have three main components. A greeting, body, and a closing. Ancient letters aren’t that different except for the order.
In ancient biblical letters, the main features of form are
- Salutation
- Thanksgiving/Prayer
- Body
- Exhortation/Instruction
- Conclusion
Salutation
Within the salutation, the sender is identified, the recipient is identified, and the greeting is given.
For greetings, there are a few varieties.
- The traditional greeting of NT times was just that. “Greetings!”
- The traditional Jewish greeting was of course “shalom” meaning peace.
- Paul has developed a distinctly Christian greeting that consisted of a combination of the words “grace” and “peace” which I’ve heard my pastor up in Washington describe as a melding of both the Greek and Hebrew cultures. I don’t see printed material supporting that, but it seems possible that Paul would want to greet both groups in greetings they would be familiar with. Don’t create doctrine on that, it’s just a possibility.
While the writer was greeting in his salutation, he might also have been broaching his reason for writing. Using the opening as a time to prepare his readers for what was coming, he occasionally would mention his purpose or his arguments. While I was studying and determining what was going to be our passage, I found that there was an expansion of a topic in chapter 3 which Paul had touched on in chapter 1.
Knowing a detail about ancient letters helped me identify not only Paul’s possible purpose for writing but that there was a topic. Often thinking that Paul goes on rabbit trails, information about the genre helps me recognize that Paul has a method which will lead me on the path to understanding.
Thanksgiving/Prayer
In every correspondence in the NT except Galatians, Paul speaks a prayer and/or thanksgiving over the recipients. Since there is a pattern to a letter that is utilized, when there is a deviation, that is a tool we can learn to use to understand a little behind the heart of our author.
Paul didn’t pray over the Galatians and he had no thanksgiving for them. If all the other letters your church had ever read from your itinerant preacher had prayers and thanksgiving but this one to your church didn’t…would that potentially speak a volume by itself?
Genre of literature can help us as we interpret.
Body of the Letter
As Dr. Stein shares, this is often the largest section in Pauline letters. In my own observations, the authors of the NT usually spend some time here speaking of theology. Always theology proper is discussed, the gospel is proclaimed, as well as theology of man.
Exhortation and Instruction
This is where Paul usually has the transition type of “for this reason” or some facsimile. Very often foremost in Paul’s proclaiming heart is the formula of explanation of what God has done and what the audience’s response should be in light of all he’s done.
The behavior in biblical author’s teachings is first recognition of whether or not you’ve met Jesus. Only subsequent to that is information about how such a meeting impacts the outflow of that person’s life. No carts before horses.
Conclusion of the Letter
The variety of methods used to conclude letters is wide. Included are often greetings, travel plans, missionary updates as well as benedictions, doxologies, prayer requests, and hopes for grace or peace or both.
Within the conclusion is also often a revisiting of the author’s main point. Another detail that can help the student of the Word to interpret the text using the genre of literature as a tool.
Wrap Up
For our Bible Study Bite today, we are eating up the idea that letters and epistles as a genre of literature can help us to identify the author’s points and purposes. The authors were typically following a formula of a sort to write their letters, not simply flitting like a butterfly. Paul’s thoughts were organized and systematic. Therefore, knowledge of that will guide us down the more direct path to understanding the meaning of the author.
