Epistolary Literature: Explanations, Illustrations and Applications
The Epistolary Literature: Explanations, Illustrations, and Applications
Introduction
Epistolary literature forms a major part of the New Testament: it makes up twenty one of twenty four books in the New Testament, and takes up one-third of the content. As its name implies, Epistolary literature, or epistles, is a literature. In contrast to expository writing, literature is often called “imaginative literature” or “creative writing” that needs literary methods to unfold its true meaning. This paper aims to conduct a brief overview of epistolary literature. It has these three main parts: the first part will talk about the background information about epistolary literature, its forms and patterns. It is followed by some illustrations of the key characteristics of epistles in the New Testament. The last part will discuss some practical ways to better interpret and apply New Testament epistles in light of the knowledge about epistolary literature.
What is a New Testament Epistle?
Despite being a major genre in the New Testament, epistolary literature is also one of the oldest and most abundantly preserved forms of text from antiquity as early as 2nd millennium BC. It also appears many times in the Old Testament. For example, David to Joab concerning Uriah (2 Sam 11:14f), Jezebel to Jezreel officials concerning Naboth etc. During the time of New Testament writings, it became more popular in Greco-Roman world due to the increased need for different kinds of communication, for example, business, governmental, essays etc. The epistle used in this period follows a fixed form and there are six standard elements: 1. Name of writer; 2. Name of recipient; 3. Greetings; 4. Prayer wish or thanksgiving; 5. Body; 6. Final greeting and farewell. This form is also seen in two letters found in the book of Acts (Acts 15:23-29) . The New Testament epistles or NT epistles also follow this form very closely. Besides a fixed form, an epistle is flexible in embedding other
Introduction
Epistolary literature forms a major part of the New Testament: it makes up twenty one of twenty four books in the New Testament, and takes up one-third of the content. As its name implies, Epistolary literature, or epistles, is a literature. In contrast to expository writing, literature is often called “imaginative literature” or “creative writing” that needs literary methods to unfold its true meaning. This paper aims to conduct a brief overview of epistolary literature. It has these three main parts: the first part will talk about the background information about epistolary literature, its forms and patterns. It is followed by some illustrations of the key characteristics of epistles in the New Testament. The last part will discuss some practical ways to better interpret and apply New Testament epistles in light of the knowledge about epistolary literature.
What is a New Testament Epistle?
Despite being a major genre in the New Testament, epistolary literature is also one of the oldest and most abundantly preserved forms of text from antiquity as early as 2nd millennium BC. It also appears many times in the Old Testament. For example, David to Joab concerning Uriah (2 Sam 11:14f), Jezebel to Jezreel officials concerning Naboth etc. During the time of New Testament writings, it became more popular in Greco-Roman world due to the increased need for different kinds of communication, for example, business, governmental, essays etc. The epistle used in this period follows a fixed form and there are six standard elements: 1. Name of writer; 2. Name of recipient; 3. Greetings; 4. Prayer wish or thanksgiving; 5. Body; 6. Final greeting and farewell. This form is also seen in two letters found in the book of Acts (Acts 15:23-29) . The New Testament epistles or NT epistles also follow this form very closely. Besides a fixed form, an epistle is flexible in embedding other