Paul the Letter-Writer

A study of the New Testament shows that about one fourth of its contents are assigned to the apostle Paul. The influence of these writings has been in even greater proportion. The writings of no other Christian man can be set beside those of Paul in this regard. The great leaders of Christian thought, like Augustine and Calvin, have always looked to him. In the great religious movements within the church, like those led by Luther and Wesley, it is Paul's message that has been revived. There is not a city where Paul founded Christianity that could be called a great Christian center today; but these letters, directed to these churches, have been a ferment for Christian thought and a guide for Christian life through all these years; nor do they show signs of diminishing power today. If the test of inspiration be the power to inspire men, then these writings must be placed among the first of all writings wrought by the Spirit of God.

Probably no one dreamed less of such a future for these writings than Paul himself. A distant posterity was farthest from his mind when he wrote. Certainly he had no thought that his letters would ever be included in a new collection of sacred writings to be placed side by side with the Sacred Scriptures of his people. He never thought of his words as being on the same plane with the Old Testament or the words of Jesus. Neither did Paul ever think of his letters as words of literature or treatises on theology. Paul's writings all had a special occasion for their composition in some practical need. They were simply a part of his missionary work. Paul was not theologian and not author; he was just apostle and missionary. These letters are all connected with a definite situation. Now he writes to thank the Philippians for their gifts, or to send his love to the Thessalonians and encourage them in their persecutions. Now it is to answer questions that the Corinthians have sent him, or to call the Galatians back from their errors. Usually, he has more than one purpose. But always there is a definite end, and the letters move on toward this and in earnest and practical fashion.

If we ask why these letters have lived, they themselves will give us the answer. It is not due to any claim that Paul made for them or any theory of inspiration that his churches held about them. It is due to what the letters are in themselves. They are the noblest expression of that Spirit of God which Paul and his disciples believed was working in their midst. It is true that Paul is treating matters that are local and questions that were often temporary. We are not troubled today about meats offered to idols, nor are we divided about the question of keeping the Jewish law. But these passing questions were all considered by Paul in the light of great Christian principles. We do not need Paul's discussion as to whether a Christian may eat such meats, but we need his great principle still: Knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up. The Jewish law is behind us, but we have not yet caught up with Paul's great truth, that life is a spirit lived out in freedom and not a matter of rule and routine. And as in matters of conduct, so in matters of faith: the varying needs of each one of these little brotherhoods is only another occasion for Paul to set forth in new form the eternal truths of his gospel. Paul himself was not unconscious of what he was offering. He sees the larger company behind those whom he is immediately addressing. He directs this letter not to one church, but to a whole province (2 Cor 1:1). He arranges to have his letters passed on from church to church, or exchanged among them (Col 4:16), Paul's letters were dictated (Rom 16:22; Gal 6:11; 1 Cor 16:21). This may have been due to trouble with his eyes, or to the fact that his hands roughened with work were not adapted to the pen, or simply that he let another write for him while he plied his tent-maker's needle. The habit, in any case, explains some qualities in Paul's style. They have a certain lack of literary finish, but there are a directness and vigor and vividness that more than compensate for this. We hear Paul speaking as we read. His arguments are often dramatic. He sets his opponents before him and questions them. He breaks out in impassioned utterance. Sometimes he begins sentences without completing them, as though he had been interrupted in his dictation. To be fully appreciated, these letters should be read aloud, or recited.

While Paul follows no rule, most of his* letters fall naturally into three parts, aside from the salutation. (1) The introductions are used by Paul to establish relations with his readers. They are models of Christian courtesy and tact and skill. Here is the letter to the Romans. Paul is paving the way for a later visit. He begins with an appreciation of their faith, which "is proclaimed throughout the whole world." He tells them how he has long since wished to see them, and has been prevented. He wants to preach his gospel to them also, to "impart some spiritual gift." And then, lest he might seem to assume too much, he hastens to make the service mutual: he is to comfort them and they are to comfort him (Rom 1:8-15). In these modest, friendly, appreciative words Paul strikes just the right note for the letter to a church upon which he had no claim as founder. (2) The doctrinal part comes second. It is never abstract or general, but always a discussion of Christian truth in relation to the particular needs of a given church. (3) The practical exhortations come last. They form the finest body of ethical teachings and practical maxims to be found in Christian literature. They are Paul's answer to the important questions as to the meaning of the new faith for the relations of daily life.

Though the letters almost all have these three elements of the personal, the doctrinal, and the practical, yet Paul follows no fixed rule in writing. Each letter, indeed, stands by itself and reveals a new aspect of this great man. Some are written to churches which he does not personally know and so are less personal and more objective, as well as more doctrinal; such are Romans, Colossians, and Ephesians. Some are mainly practical and ethical, like First Corinthians. Two are letters of controversy and self-defense—Galatians and what we have called Third Corinthians, that is, 2 Cor 10 to 13. These are full of passionate appeal, of argument and denunciation. And, finally, there are the more intimate personal letters: First Thessalonians, written to the little company of Christians which he had been compelled to leave so suddenly but a few months before; Philippians, the letter of friendship to his most loyal church; and Philemon, the only letter preserved which Paul wrote to a private individual. The last two may be taken for closer study as examples of Paul's art as a letter-writer.

Paul's letter to the Philippians is the great friendship letter of the New Testament. With no church did Paul have so close a relation. Here he had accepted private entertainment from Lydia contrary to his rule. And they formed an exception also in the gifts which they sent him again and again. He had revisited them twice and no doubt had written them as well, but these earlier letters are lost. At the time of this letter Paul had reached Rome as a prisoner. The Philippian friends had learned of his situation and had sent one of their number, Epaphroditus, to bring him money and to help care for him. Epaphroditus had fallen seriously ill at Rome. He was recovered now, but was homesick, and Paul prepares to send him back. He plans also to send Timothy to them a little later, as soon as he knows how his trial is coming out. Meanwhile he writes this letter, Paul's love letter some German scholars have called it. He tells them of his affection, of his need, of his appreciation. And yet he is still the faithful missionary and pastor, who tells them frankly of their needs at the same time. We may outline the epistle as follows:

1. Introduction and personal items: In my every prayer I thank God for you, remembering your help. May God make your love abound more and more and add to it wisdom. My imprisonment has been really an opportunity. It has given me the chance to preach to all the soldiers of the pretorian guard and it has encouraged others. I do not know what the end of my trial will be, whether life or death. I do not even know which I wish for myself. I should like to go and be with Christ, but I am ready to stay here and serve (1:1-26).

2. An exhortation: Live worthily of the gospel of Christ, undisturbed by persecutions. And complete my joy by giving up all divisions and jealousies and pride. Instead of such selfish quarrelings, let each show in his life the spirit that Jesus showed. He left his high estate and became a servant of men, though that service led him even to death. That is why God has exalted him and why every knee is to bow before him. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Live the pure life despite the sin that is about you (1:27 to 2:18).

3. A message: I expect to send Timothy to you in a little while. I am hoping to come to you myself before long. It seemed necessary to send back Epaphroditus now. Honor him for his work (2:19-30).

4. Some warnings: Beware of those Judaizers who teach that you must be circumcised and keep the law. If the law were worth anything, I should have been saved. No one can boast purer Hebrew blood or stricter obedience than I. But when I found Christ, these things were mere refuse to me. Now I have only one purpose—to gain the life that is in him. Like the runner I have only one goal; I press on to lay hold of that for which Jesus once laid hold of me. Beware also of those who say we are delivered from all law, whose only law "is self-indulgence. We are citizens of heaven; we must not follow things of earth (3:1-21).

5. Further exhortations: Stand fast. Let Euodia and Syntyche agree. Live in joy and in trust, and God's peace shall keep you. Whatever is good, note and follow; and what I have stood for, that do (4:1-9).

6. Thanksgiving: I rejoice in your gift to me; you have not had the chance for some time to send to me. For myself I do not complain; I can do all things in God's strength. You are the only church that has ever thus served me. And all your needs shall be supplied from God's riches as they are in Christ (4:10-23).

The letter to Philemon stands alone in the New Testament. It shows the value placed upon Paul's words from the first that such a letter should have been preserved, for it is purely personal and has no discussion of doctrine or declarations as to moral principles. It is probably from the same period as Philippians. Paul is a prisoner at Rome. As that letter shows us, Paul was free to preach not only to the soldiers of his guard but to any who might visit his rooms. Men called the Rome of that day the sewer into which all the empire emptied its filth. Then, as now, the big city was a better hiding place for the runaway than was the desert. Among Paul's hearers one day was a runaway slave, such a man as might loiter idly on the edge of a Salvation Army street meeting in our time. Some word of Paul's gospel reached this man. He became a disciple. Very naturally, he told his story and confessed his fault. Then it appeared that this slave belonged to an old friend of Paul, one, indeed, who had been converted by the apostle, a certain Philemon who lived in Colossæ, and who was probably won by Paul while the latter was at Ephesus. Philemon was well to do. He not only had servants but was able to entertain. Paul writes asking him to have lodgings ready for him, for he was evidently expecting to be released and to travel to Macedonia and Asia. Philemon was not only a Christian but had been an active helper of Paul. Archippus, to whom Paul twice refers, may have been his son (Col 4:17). Apphia was probably his wife. The letter suggests a Christian home of the best type.

Under the circumstances Paul writes this brief epistle. This charming letter, playful yet serious, appealing as a friend when he might have demanded as an apostle, honoring the friendship by his confident request, pathetically referring to himself as "being such a one as Paul the aged, and now a prisoner also of Christ Jesus," the next moment punning upon the name of the slave—this letter is not outranked by any letter of friendship in literature, and at the same time throws still further light upon this many-sided man.

"I thank my God always for you," Paul writes, "remembering your faith and your service to the church. I might come with a command; instead I am bringing a request for friendship's sake on behalf of this convert of mine, your slave Useful (that is, Onesimus). So far, indeed, he has been Useless to you; now, however, he is useful to both you and me. I should have liked to keep him, but I wanted your goodness to be free and not of compulsion. And this may be why he left you as a slave—that he might return as a brother. If you count me a partner, receive him as you would myself. If you have lost anything by him, charge that to my account. I know you will do even more than I ask. Prepare a lodging for me, for I hope to come to you soon."

Directions for Reading and Study

Read and compare the introductions to First Corinthians, Colossians, and First Thessalonians. What is common to them? Why should that of First Thessalonians be longer?

Read carefully Philippians and note its intimate and personal character. Make a list of the passages in which Paul sets forth his personal faith and purpose. Write an account of Paul's relations with the Philippians on the basis of Acts 16:11-40; 2 Cor 11:8, 9; and Philippians. Select eight or ten passages from Philippians which reveal his personal regard for this church.

Read Philemon. Does Paul expect Philemon to set Onesimus free? What bearing has the Christian religion had upon the problem of slavery?