A Biblical Vision, Part II: Mastering the New Testament Witness to Christ

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A B i b l i ca l Vi s i on, Par t I I : Mas ter i ng the New Tes tament Wi tnes s to Chr i s t

d. The General Epistles are aptly named, containing very few personal references, and are structured more after the rhetorical plan of the authors.

3. Formally structured . Generally, the elements of an epistle include the 1) name of the writer, 2) the name of the recipient, 3) greetings and salutations, 4) prayer wish and/or thanksgiving, 5) the body of the letter itself, and 6) the final greeting and farewell.

4. Occasional documents . Epistles arose out of a need to address the issues, concerns, and opportunities of a specific occasion and situation.

a. This is the critical element in reading and interpreting all of the epistles ; they all share this fundamental characteristic.

b. The primary occasion is from the first century.

5. Task theology . The contextual nature of the epistles give us insight into how we can bring to bear the teaching of Christ on the situation and task at hand (German, sitz im leben , or “situation in life”).

a. Not a systematic theology, not theological treatises (in the modern sense), nor the definitive record of the author’s formal theology

b. “Thus one will go to the Epistles again and again for Christ theology; they are loaded with it. But one must always keep in mind that they were not primarily written to expound Christian theology. It is always theology at the service of a particular need ” (Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All