- [Tim] Near the end of the Bible
are 21 letters written to communities of Jesus' followers
throughout the ancient Roman empire.
- [Jon] Letters?
Like I'm reading someone's mail?
- [Tim] Yeah, the letters are written by the apostles.
That is the people that Jesus appointed
to spread the good news about his Kingdom.
And they wrote to Jesus' followers
living in different cities around the Roman world.
These letters were all written
in a style called prose discourse.
- [Jon] Now, if I'm reading a letter
that wasn't written to me,
then there's likely a lot of background information
that's assumed but not mentioned.
- [Tim] Yeah, exactly.
And the letters in the Bible are no different.
- [Jon] Okay, so let's talk about
how to read the New Testament letters
in historical context.
- [Tim] So there are three levels
of historical context to keep in mind
when reading the New Testament letters.
The first is how all the letters
fit into the larger storyline of the Scriptures.
- [Jon] Right, so this story
begins with God creating humanity
as his partners to rule creation with him.
But we choose to rule on our own terms,
leading to violence, exile, and death.
- [Tim] But God promises a guy named Abraham
that life and blessing will spread to all nations
through him and his descendants
to renew God's vision for humanity.
- [Jon] And Jesus said he came to bring
that promise to its fulfillment
through his life, death, and resurrection.
- [Tim] Right, and so the apostles saw themselves
as heralds announcing the arrival
of God's Kingdom in Jesus. Like the apostle Paul
when he wrote to the house churches in Rome
about the good news,
he said his job was to summon people of all nations
to give their allegiance to Jesus,
the exalted King of the world.
- [Jon] That's a bold thing to say
to people living in the capital city of the Roman empire
whose allegiance is supposed to be the Caesar.
- [Tim] Yeah, and that actually brings us
to the second important context
for understanding the New Testament letters,
the culture of the Roman empire in the first century.
- [Jon] So Rome ruled all of these territories
around the Mediterranean Sea.
- [Tim] And they built their empire
by conquering and enslaving their enemies
and then imposing heavy taxes.
The emperor and his small circle
controlled all of the power and wealth.
And they knew how to deal
with people who threatened the social order.
- [Jon] Most people lived
without much money or stability.
- [Tim] And Roman culture had a very clear hierarchy.
Men from important families with money and education
could move ahead in society, but women, slaves, children,
and the poor were always at a disadvantage
and treated as inferior.
- [Jon] Yet in a community of people who follow Jesus,
everyone was treated with love and equal dignity.
- [Tim] Yeah. In Roman life,
it was unheard of for people of high status
to associate with people below them.
But the apostle said that through Jesus,
God had given the gift of his love to everyone,
without regard to their status.
- [Jon] So in that context,
these letters were countercultural,
and they broke down barriers between people.
- [Tim] Exactly,
and so that brings us to the last level of context,
the situational context of each letter.
- [Jon] You mean the specific issues
in the church of a city
that prompted the writing of the letter in the first place.
- [Tim] Yeah, like Paul's letter
to the Christians in Rome.
It's tempting to read this letter
and focus on all the important theology
and then overlook why he wrote this letter.
- [Jon] Why did he write it?
- [Tim] Well, towards the end,
he talks about how Jewish food laws
and sacred days have become controversial
between Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Jesus.
- [Jon] Which was creating divisions in the church.
- [Tim] And if you read carefully,
you can see that some Christians
with higher social status were treating
Jewish followers of Jesus with contempt.
- [Jon] And Jewish Christians
were returning the favor,
condemning the non-Jews as second-rate followers of Jesus.
- [Tim] Exactly, and so all of the ideas
and theology in the first part of the letter
were crafted to address those very problems.
Paul acknowledges that the Roman Christians
have big differences in culture,
theology, and social status.
But he wants them to realize
that they are unified by their faith in Jesus,
who is the real center of their church.
- [Jon] Okay, great.
But if that letter was written to someone else
then what should I get out of it?
I mean, I don't live in ancient Rome.
- [Tim] Well, in these letters,
we see the apostles challenging and transforming
every part of their first century culture in life
with the good news about King Jesus.
And by watching them, we gain wisdom
about how that same good news
can transform our culture as well.
Now there's one more helpful step to take
in reading the New Testament letters.
And that's learning how to follow the flow of thought
from the letter's beginning
all the way to its end.
And that's what we'll look at next.