PALM VALLEY CHURCH EQUIPPING U FALL SESSION 2011

 Narrative  Epistle  Wisdom Literature  Poetry  Prophecy

Torah EpistlesGospels Prophets The Prophets are to the Torah what the Epistles are to the Gospels.

 All the New Testament except the four Gospels, Acts, and Revelation are considered as some form of Epistle. Some take on the form of personal letters (Philemon for example) Others were intended to be read before entire congregations of Christians (the Corinthian letters)

 Typical modern letter: Greeting Body Closing salutation Name of author  In the Roman world: Author & official title Recipient Salutation Thanksgiving Body of letter Closing Greetings to various people

 Commonalities among the letters. 1. They were written for a specific occasion 2. They were penned in the first century.

 The Occasion Of The Letters. The occasion for most of the epistles is something that was happening with the reader; usually Some type of behavior that needed correcting A doctrinal error that needed to be set right A misunderstanding that needed to be clarified

 We then are privy to only one side of the dialogue and sometimes find it hard to figure out what questions elicited the responses given by the letter writer.

 We must be careful not to expect each epistle to be a complete statement of God’s will for us.  God has left them for us as a body of material for a reason; that reason being that each epistle does not necessarily stand alone theologically.  It is important to be aware of the context of the epistle.

 Using a Bible Dictionary or Commentaries  Read the letter through  Outline the letter  Read the letter through  Refine your outline

 What was going on in the church that called for a letter?  How did the writer come to learn of the situation?  What previous relationship did the writer have with the recipients  What attitudes are displayed by the writer and inferred to the readers?

 Using a Bible Dictionary and/or Commentaries Find out as much as possible about the recipients of the letter. What is known of… their environments their government their religious background?

 Reading the letter through As you read through the letter jot down some notes relating to the big picture such as:  Who were the recipients,  What were the writer’s attitudes,  Are there any specifics of the occasion that prompted the letter,  Are there natural divisions of the letter.

 Attempt to outline the letter yourself.  This can be refined as you study the letter further, perhaps taking some hints from the commentators as you go.  However, you must agree to the divisions and not just take a scholar’s word for it.  Look for repeated keys words and phrases.

 Once you have a handle on the problem being addressed by the writer, begin to follow his argument paragraph by paragraph, jotting down phrases as you go. Try to answer the “what” and “why” of each paragraph in your notes.  Try to understand the point of the letter within the text of the letter.  Look for anything in the text that does not seem to fit the problem as you have perceived it.  Does your thinking make perfectly good sense compared to the text?

 What God wants us to know He has told us. There are some things we just might not be able to discover and we have to be content with that.  Just because we do not have all the details does not mean we cannot glean the point of the passage.  Concentrate on the certainties of the passage.

 The good commentators give you the variety of interpretations to choose from when it comes to the difficult passages of scripture.  Note that when there are over four viable options as to how to view a certain passage, even the scholars are guessing.

 Guidelines for Application  Problems of Modern Application  Problem of Cultural Relativity  Problem of Task Theology

 What part of the Epistle applies to us today and what part is to be left in the first century?  When was Paul just talking to Timothy and when was he saying things that also apply to us?  What preconceived notions are we bringing to our study in regards to our theological heritage, our religious traditions, our cultural norms?

 Guidelines for Application  The Basic Rule: A text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or its readers. (While this rule does not always lead us to what a passage means, it does verify what it cannot mean.)  Rule Two: Whenever we share our similar specific life situations with the first-century setting, God’s word to us is the same as God’s word to them.

 Problems of Modern Application  Problem of Extending the Application  Problem of Particulars That Are Not Comparable  Other highly improbable happenings  How do we distinguish things are matters of indifference?

 How do we leave “a little wine for your stomach’s sake,” women’s head coverings, and ”the holy kiss” in the first century and bring forward women silent in the church, and “no homosexuality allowed” from the same contexts.  How do we pick and choose the items that are culturally relative to us today and still leave others in the first century?

 What is inherently taught as moral in the New Testament and what is not?  For example, homosexuality is not condemned on cultural grounds, but on moral grounds; while abstaining from meat sacrificed to idols is discouraged on cultural grounds and not moral ones.

 Determine if a uniform teaching of the New Testament exists.  This is clear to see on topics such as strife, hatred, murder, homosexuality, drunkenness and sexual immorality.

 Sometimes our problem with the texts of the Epistles is that we are trying to answer our questions with passages that were designed by God to answer their questions.  Let us then be about obeying what we can hear and understand.

PALM VALLEY CHURCH EQUIPPING U FALL SESSION 2011