The Epistles in the New Testament are not all alike. Some are more personal in nature, such as Philemon; others are letters written for a wider audience. Most of the letters have six parts:

• the name of the writer
• name of the recipient/addressees
• greeting, prayer/thanksgiving
• main body of the letter
• final greeting
• farewell

In this regard the New Testament letters are very similar to ancient letters in the Greco-Roman world. These various parts may be found either as a whole or in part in most letters in the New Testament.

The New Testament Epistles are “occasional” documents, arising out of and intended for specific occasions. They were written out of the context of the writer to the context of the original recipients. They were occasional in that they originated out of special circumstances, and most New Testament letters- except perhaps Romans, James, and Philemon-were occasioned by circumstances on the part of the recipients. We need to attempt to reconstruct the occasion that prompted the letter.

Epistles in the New Testament not attributed to Paul are called General Epistles or Catholic Letters. These are “Catholic” in the sense that these letters do not address a specific audience but perhaps churches in a larger geographical area or churches in general.

The Epistles are not theological treatises, though we find theological insights and themes occasioned by the particular need or the context of the writing. Theology in these letters is thus theology at the service of a particular need.

When reading the Epistles, we must attempt to reconstruct the most likely situation or the context the writer is writing to, or dealing with in the letter. Placing the Epistles in the historical context is extremely crucial understanding the message of the Epistles. Places such as Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus, Colosse, and the province of Galatia are important places in the Pauline letters.

• What was going on in these cities during Paul’s days?
• What were the religious movements and influences of this period in these cities?
• What were the social conditions in these cities?

However, we cannot adequately reconstruct the historical context of a number of Pauline letters, such as Ephesians, Colossians, and the Pastoral Letters. This is true of the General Epistles also, though attempts have been made to establish the context based on the content of these letters.

Read the entire letter before attempting to do exegesis of a selected text. Attempt to gather as much knowledge as possible about the theme(s) of the letter. At this point, the reading is first and foremost informational reading.

Outline the letter following the major parts of the letter, and then further divide these parts into paragraphs or verse units following the themes or arguments. This working outline will help you see the literary and theological relationship between various units, or lack thereof.

Recognize the fact that some passages in the Epistles are difficult to understand . Let’s look at a few: 1 Cor 11:10 and 15:29; 1 Pet 3:19.

Always attempt to establish what the text could have meant to its writer and original readers. This would also mean our assessment of what the text does not say. Read 1 Timothy 2:14-15 and attempt to understand what Paul could not have meant by this statement.

In texts where the writer deals with particular issues and problems of the first-century Christian Church, that may not have any corresponding modern-day counterparts, attempt to recognize the spiritual/theological principles underlying such texts that transcend the historical particularity of the first-century situation. Even then such theological principles cannot be applied as timeless/universally applicable principles to any given context.

we must apply that principle only to genuinely comparable situations.

First Corinthians 10:23-11:1 poses another issue. On the one hand Paul prohibits participation in the temple meal, but deals with eating in the market place in a different way. Look at this text and see what theological principle Paul is trying to convey. To him, such eating is a matter of indifference; it does not matter to him or to God. But it matters to some others.

Some issues to consider:

• On issues such as the place of women and their ministry in the church, we must honestly seek to see if Paul is dealing with specific issues and problems that existed in specific contexts: 1 Tim 5:11-15; 2 Tim 3:6-9. If we take 1 Cor 14:34-35 and 1 Tim 2:11-12 at face value ,without evaluating these texts in light of Paul’s teaching and theology as a whole, we should then be prepared to say women have no authority to teach, preach, or even write books on biblical matters at any level at all.

These passages need to be treated as culturally conditioned texts that do not deal with moral issues. We also need to consider these in light of the vast difference in the way women were viewed in the first century and in our time, their educational opportunities, their freedom, their social standing, etc.

Paul’s letters need to be understood in light of his own cultural and religious heritage, his Hebrew ancestry and heritage, and Hellenistic cultural background.

Paul’s writings need to be evaluated in light of the overall context of Paul’s life and thought. His call, conversion, his conviction that his call was a call to apostleship, a call to preach the gospel among the Gentiles, all of these have impacted his writings.

Keep in mind theological concepts that are central to

Paul’s thinking, such as

• justification by faith
• freedom of a Christian from the Law
• the power of the gospel
• grace
• union with Christ
• unity of the believers
• life in the Spirit
• equality of all before the gospel
• the sharing of God’s glory by all believers

Notice in particular Paul’s emphasis on faith, hope, and love, the three essential qualities of the Christian life.