How To Read NT Letters part 1

Introduction

The New Testament has a large collection of ancient letters from the circle of the apostles:

• Paul: 13 letters to 7 church communities

• Peter: 1 & 2 Peter

• John: 1, 2, 3, John

• Jacob (“James”)

• Jude

• To the Hebrews

The letters from the apostles found in the Bible were not written as timeless, abstract essays on theology and ethics. They are real letters with real audiences, written for particular purposes and in response to specific situations. For a robust understanding of these texts, and to make sure that we don’t take their words out of context, we need to develop a reading skill-set that takes all this into consideration. So how do we essentially read someone else’s mail? It requires knowledge of the sender, receiver, the situational context of the relationship, and the cultural and language context in which these people live. Without considering these factors, we are bound to misunderstand the meaning of the writers and take their words out of context.

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The Modern Inclination to Overlook Context

The special attention needed to read the letters is hard for modern Bible readers to remember for lots of reasons. Here are just a few:

• The rest of the Bible feels challenging to read, and the New Testament letters can appear “easier” to read in comparison to the Old Testament prophets or laws.

• The letters are written from an “I” to a “you” audience, which feels immediately relevant to the reader. This makes the letters feel like “God’s word to me” in a way that other parts of the Bible don’t.

• The New Testament letters are about Jesus, who he is, why he matters, and how I should live as his follower. That seems to directly address me and my place in the biblical storyline. So, we often assume that we can simply pick the New Testament letters and plop them into the life of a local 21st century church where they can speak to us “directly”.

• There are lots of “sound-byte” and “tweetable” Christian truths that seem to require no knowledge of context. Here’s a few examples:

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. ROMANS 6:23

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. EPHESIAN 2:8-9

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 JOHN 4:7.

Problematic Passages for Direct Application

Some Christians may carry the sentiment “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.” But, there are many passages that become immediately problematic for those who read the New Testament letters as “God’s word directly to me.” Here’s just a few examples:

1 Ti 5:23 “(No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)”

Question Raised: Is wine the cure for stomach illnesses?

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1 Peter 5:14 “Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.”

Romans 16:16 “Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.”

Question Raised: Should we be kissing one another to have a proper greeting?

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1 Cor 7:29 “This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none,”

Question Raised: What about Genesis 2:23-24 where God blesses marriage as a sacred gift, or other passages where Paul affirms or praises marriage (like Ephesians 5)?

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1 Cor 11:14 “Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him,”

Question Raised: What about the Nazarites in Numbers 6? There God commands men to never cut their hair because it represents a sacred dedication to God, like Samson. And what about the fact that we’re told in Acts 18:18 that Paul had grown out his hair in a Nazirite vow!

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1 Cor 14:34 “the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.”

1 Cor 11:5 “but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.”

Question Raised: What about where Paul clearly assumes and approves of women leading a house church in praying and prophesying? And what about Priscilla, who was clearly a teacher in the churches of Corinth and Rome. And what about the women “speaking” in church in 1 Corinthians 11?

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Col 3:22 “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.”

Question Raised: What about Galatians 3:28 and Philemon (who lives in Colosee!) where Paul says that slave and free are meaningless categories in Christ and that Christians are to recognize that slaves are actually siblings, not their slaves?

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So we have to ask

“How is a letter which Paul directed to specific churches in specific situations at particular times the word of God for the church at large in all times?” KRISTER STENDAHL, PAUL AMONG THE JEWS AND GENTILES, (PHILADELPHIA:FORTRESS, 1963): 6.

Questions so far?

A Way Forward: Reading the New Testament Letters in Context

Four set of context we need to be aware of

Narrative

Cultural/social

Situational

Literary

We’re going to look at the first three tonight.

Narrative Context

Where do the New Testament letters fit within the narrative context of the larger biblical story? Can a better understanding of that context help us in ‘translating’ their message into our own day?

Within the storyline of the Hebrew Bible, three important themes are developed that set the context for the international spread of the Jesus movement and the movement of the letters.

1. The Image of God

2. The Family of Abraham

3. The Messiah

Image of God

In Genesis 1, God appoints humanity as the divine image who will rule the world in partnership. (Gen 1:26-27

Then God said, “Let Us make human in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” And God created human in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. GENESIS 1:26-27

In Genesis 3, humanity fails at this task and is exiled from the royal-temple-garden. This creates the need for a new human, a true image of God who can rule as God’s partner over all creation.

Theme 2: The Family of Abraham Bringing Blessing to the Nations

The story continues as we follow the life of Abraham and the nation of Israel. God promises to bless the family of Abraham and, through them, bless all nations.

Genesis 12:1–3 (ESV)

Now the Lord said to Abram,

“Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors (curse) you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 17:1–6 (ESV)

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.

The blessing of Abraham spread to all nations through a "kingdom of priests". This is best represented by the exalted "messianic servant" who sends out his "servants" to announce the reign of God.

‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. And now, if you will listen-listen to my voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own special possession among all the peoples, for all the land is Mine, so you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ EXODUS 19:4-6.

Fast forward to when Israel becomes a nation. God says that through the line of King David, a new human will come who will assume the role as the true image of God.

“When your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will raise up one of your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. “He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. “I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. “But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’” 1 CHRONICLES 17:11-14

This becomes the Messianic Servant theme.

Theme 3: The Messianic Servant

Through this Messianic Servant the people become the new covenant Israel. The people of the new covenant are marked by hearts transformed by God’s new-creation Spirit so that they can love God and neighbor.

• Deuteronomy 30:1-6: Circumcision of the heart

• Jeremiah 31:31-34: Torah written on the heart, everyone knows Yahweh

• Ezekiel 36:22-30: Yahweh’s Spirit creates new humans who love and listen to God

Jesus: True Human Image, Messianic Servant Over the Nations

When we arrive at the Gospels, the three themes emerging from the Hebrew Scripture converge in the life of Jesus. Jesus presented himself as the royal-priestly servant who is inaugurating the Kingdom of God and creating the New Covenant Israel spoken of in the Torah and Prophets. The following verses show the intentional connections to the previous story, and how Jesus and his followers continue the plotline.

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Turn around and trust the good news!” MARK 1:14-15

The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” MATTHEW 26:63-64

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to be a servant, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” MARK 10:45

In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. LUKE 22:20, SEE ALSO MATTHEW 26:26-28.

Questions to this point?

The Apostles Continue the Story

Let’s look at the summary of the biblical story up to this point:

• Creation and Image of God

• Rebellion, the fallout, and Babylon

• God’s mission through Israel

• Israel’s exile and the hope for God’s kingdom

• Jesus: the true royal-priestly image and the Kingdom for Israel

• Jesus’ kingdom for the nations through the apostles

• Consummation of the kingdom in new creation

The apostles play a crucial role in the unified story of the Bible. They traveled around the ancient mediterranean world in the early decades of the Jesus movement (mid-30s and 40s A.D.), announcing that Jesus was the exalted king of the cosmos, calling all nations to believing loyalty.

It’s at this point in the story that the epistles are written to specific people at a specific time. The Bottom Line: The apostles’ letters represent the announcement and teaching of king Jesus given to specific local house-churches living in the Greek and Roman worlds. We inhabit the same spot in the biblical story as the original recipients, but we live in a vastly different cultural setting. This means we must provide cross-cultural translation of the apostles’ teaching into our own multi-cultural contexts.

The Cultural Context

The Jesus movement moved from Jerusalem out into the world first as a messianic Jewish movement through networks of diaspora synagogues, and then into the wider non-Jewish world of Greco-Roman culture. This culture was vastly different from our own in a number of ways. This particular context stamped every single part of the language, theology, and cultural assumptions at work in these letters.

The Roman Empire

The NT letters were all written to house churches spread throughout the Eastern end of the Mediterranean, the heartland of the Roman empire in the mid-1st century A.D. So what do we need to know about the Roman empire? The Roman empire had been ruling over the Mediterranean world for nearly 80 years by 50 A.D. At the top was the emperor who viewed himself a divine-human whose rule brought good news and salvation to the world. Roman law, values, gods, roads, and coins spread the ‘good news’ of Augustus through the empire.

‘The emperor cult’ spreading throughout the first century was cultic and religious devotion to the Roman emperor as an incarnation of the divine power of Rome. The emperor was not only the king, but the “high priest” (pontifex maximus). Temples spread through the empire where people would offer sacrifices and offerings to the “god-Augustus” (divi Augusti). Statues of the emperor were placed everywhere, prayers were said for him and in his name at public events and festivals. The emperor was given titles such as “savior” (Grk. soter), whose rule brought “good news” (Grk. euangelion) and “peace” (Grk. eirene).

The Greek and Roman empires relate to each other in a similar way that England and America do today. Greece/England was the reigning world empire of a previous generation, and Rome/ America inherited the imperial territory, ruling ideology, and economic dominance from their forebears but also gave it all their own unique cultural stamp.

Honor and Shame in the Greco-Roman World

Honor comes from the public affirmation of a person’s worth, validated by family, peers, and community members. Social status is indicated by “esteem/reputation” which comes from the Greek word dokeo (δοκεω) “to be recognized.” In fact, this verb is the root of the Greek noun doxa (δοξα) often translated as “glory,” but which is better rendered as “honor.” Honor is awarded on the basis of the person’s ability to embody the virtues and traits that the society values.

• Some attributes are not earned: birth into a family of wealth or status; birth into a particular ethnos (Roman vs. Barbarian)

• Other attributes can be earned: piety (worship of the gods), courage, reliability

• Honor differs according to class and sex: a free man’s honor differs from a free woman, in contrast to a male or female slave

Implications of the Greco-Roman Standards for Honor

• In a culture where an individual’s honor is tied to the group’s honor, there is strong incentive to promote conformity to the group’s core values. Violations of the group’s code of honor are dealt with severely: adultery, cowardice, theft.

• In this kind of culture, persuasion often takes the form of showing how certain behaviors result in honor, while others in dishonor and shame. Praising people and criticizing others is a regular practice.

• In honor cultures, there is a carefully defined group of elites, who define the group’s values and practices, and who enforce the boundary lines of the community through honor and shame

Multicultural Dynamics of Honor and Shame

The Roman empire was an ancient melting pot: Greek, Roman, and Jewish honor codes all differed and overlapped in various ways.

• Jews: Monotheism and allegiance to the one God of Israel, expressed through Torah observance of kosher laws, circumcision, and Sabbath.

• Romans: piety for the traditional Roman deities.

• Jews thought Romans acted dishonorably by giving reverence to idols and not worshipping the one God.

Honor and Shame in the New Testament

The early Christians were a persecuted religious minority whose founding figure was a degraded and shamefully executed criminal of the Roman state. What we see in the New Testament letters is a reframing of the meaning of Jesus’ death as an act of courage and self-giving generosity, therefore showing it honorable. Notice the reference to ‘shame’ in Romans 5:

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” ROMANS 5:3-5

Early Christians were viewed as social deviants and were shunned, shamed, and dishonored. 1 Peter is a full reframe of this shame in terms of inverted honor. You’ll find other texts in the New Testament that try to lower the importance of popular standards of honor and elevate the evaluation of an alternative set of standards (God, Jesus, the apostles, etc.).

Hierarchy and Patriarchy

The honor-status hierarchy is an alpha-male centered social structure. From the Roman emperor on down to the family household, Greco-Roman culture was vertically structured around a lone male freedman who gained honor as a benefactor to those underneath him.

Patriarchy and Family Structure

Families were arranged in extended family household structures that were models of the empire itself: at the top was a patriarch who had legal and economic ownership of all who lived in his estate:

• The wife / Children / Extended family / Slaves

• The alpha-male had patria potestas, absolute power and legal authority over anyone in his household.

• Kinship groups referred to each other as siblings, and were organized around a patriarch.

There was incentive for patriarchs to be generous patrons, who became benefactors to everyone of a lower status in exchange for loyalty and submission. For example:

• Gifts were given by the patriarch to those deemed worthy of benefaction, such that they could provide ‘return’ to the giver. This was called “grace.”

• Public buildings, infrastructure, local festivals, etc. were all sponsored by wealthy benefactors in an effort to gain status and allegiance among their subordinates.

Patriarchy in the New Testament Letters

Let’s take a look at some Bible passages addressing household codes in light of the cultural context of patriarchy.

Ephesians 5:21–6:9 ESV

submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

At first glance, the apostles can be viewed as upholding the patriarchal status quo when we ignore the cultural background against which they operate. When viewed in comparison to their cultural neighbors, it’s clear that the good news about Jesus undermined patriarchy by insisting that all people were of equal status in the Messiah’s family. This opened up new cultural possibilities for women and slaves in the early Christian communities. Here’s just one example of the cultural view of women at the time (a quote from Josephus):

“The woman… is in all things inferior to the man. Let her accordingly be obedient, not for her humiliation, but that she may be directed; for God has given authority to the man.” JOSEPHUS, AGAINST APION 2:24

The household codes of Paul and Peter can feel as if they are mandating a patriarchal ideal. In reality, they are undermining its basis with the upside-down value system of the Gospel. The following quotes provide further insight to this point.

“This instruction [in Ephesians 5] to the husband/patriarch is completely at odds with contemporary household codes… First, husbands are commanded to "love" their wives, a command that appears in no other contemporary household code… which focus on the proper ordering of household units by the patriarch for his own comfort and ease. Second, husbands are not to dominate their subordinate wives, but their love is to imitate the self-sacrificial love of Christ. Paul directly confronts the system of domination in the wider culture… where the great authority that is invested in patriarchs over their entire households was often exercised with conniving manipulation. Husbands are to resist the temptation to operate according to the Old Humanity, and not to take advantage of their position as the head, but rather to use the power of their position for the sake of their wives.” GOMBIS, “THE RADICALLY NEW HUMANITY,” 327.

Other contextual issues would be connections of patronage and honor; as well as purity and pollution

The Situational Context

The situational context of the house-church(es) provides the backstory of the letter’s occasion, purpose, and motivation. Nearly every one of the NT letters was prompted by an occasion, circumstance, or series of events in the author and audience’s shared past. This context should inform our interpretation of every part of the letter.

Here’s a helpful analogy. If you’ve ever overheard another person talking on the phone, you probably tried to listen and guess (1) who they’re talking to and (2) what they are talking about and why. Reading the New Testament letters is like listening in on the apostle’s correspondence with actual house churches, full of people with whom they have a prehistory of relationship.

Skill 1: Read Letters as a Whole The baseline skill in reading the epistles is to read them as a unified whole. While reading, look for any explicit statements about the purpose of the letter or the situation that motivated the author to write the letter.

Skill 2: Mirror Reading An important contribution to this discussion was by two scholars John Barclay and Nijay Gupta, who honed a method called “mirror reading” for using information in the New Testament letters to reconstruct the situation out of and into which the apostle is speaking. The metaphor goes like this: we have only the reflection, not the actual situation that the reflection represents. We only get one angle on the objects in the mirror, so we need to “gap fill.”

“Mirror-reading a letter involves, of course, looking at an ‘image’ (part of a conversation) and trying to discern the original ‘object’ (the original discussion or context). From a letter of Paul, for instance, we can learn some details about the situation against which he might be reacting…. But not all the details are clear, so gap-filling is required to understand why Paul writes the things he does in the letter.” NIJAY GUPTA, “MIRROR-READING MORAL ISSUES IN PAUL’S LETTERS,” IN JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, VOL. 34 (2012), PP. 361-381.

John Barclay and Nijay Gupta proposed a series of criteria that are helpful when we hypothesize a situation that the apostle is speaking into.

5 Things to Pay Attention To in Mirror Reading

1. The type of statement

Assertion: likely imply that someone is practicing or teaching the opposite •

Denial: implies that someone has made a false claim about the author •

Command: implies that people are not doing what is described •

Prohibition: implies that people are doing what is mentioned

2. Tone: Does he issue the above statements with emphasis or urgency?

3. Frequency: Does Paul repeat this theme or idea often enough to show that he’s responding to an issue?

4. Consistency: We should assume that each letter addresses one core problem, argument, or person/ group, unless it is explicit that diverse issues are being addressed. •

Example: In 1 Corinthians, Paul explicitly shifts topics and groups. •

Example: In 1 Thessalonians, there are a variety of problems addressed, but they could all be explained as manifestations of one core issue: overzealous end-time fanaticism.

5. Historical Plausibility: Do we have evidence that the reconstructed group or ideas existed at the time?

We’ll pause here and pick up next week with an example of how to read Romans in light of the narrative, cultural, and situational context.

Questions?