Topic 9 of 33 - Your Place in the Learning Journey
Paul and His Letters
Paul is the dominant figure of the New Testament outside the Gospels. His letters account for thirteen of the twenty-seven New Testament books, and they are the earliest Christian writings we possess - predating all four Gospels by at least a decade. Understanding Paul is essential for understanding early Christianity, and understanding his letters requires knowing something about how and why they were written.
Paul's letters are occasional documents - written to address specific situations in specific communities, not as systematic theological treatises. Romans comes closest to a comprehensive statement of his theology, but even it was written with a specific purpose: to introduce himself to a church he had not founded and to address tensions between Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome. The other letters respond to problems Paul heard about, questions communities sent him, or situations he needed to address at a distance. Reading them well requires reconstructing the situation they address - asking what question Paul is answering before evaluating his answer.
Of the thirteen letters attributed to Paul, scholars broadly accept seven as certainly his own: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon. These seven are the bedrock of Pauline scholarship. The remaining six - Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus - are disputed or widely regarded as pseudonymous, written by later disciples in Paul's name. The differences in vocabulary, style, and theological emphasis between the undisputed and disputed letters are significant enough that most scholars do not regard them as coming from the same hand.
Paul's theology centers on the death and resurrection of Jesus as the turning point of history - the event that opens the covenant promises of Israel to all people, Jew and Gentile alike, on the basis of trust rather than ethnic identity or Torah observance. His letters wrestle at length with what this means for the law, for Jewish-Gentile relations, and for the life of communities trying to live out its implications. These are not abstract questions. They were matters of urgent practical importance for the communities Paul founded and wrote to, and they have continued to shape Christian theology ever since.