Chapter Nine
The Epistles
A Mixed Form
THE EPISTLE IS THE DOMINANT LITERARY GENRE of the New Testament in terms of
space. It is a mixed form that combines literary and expository features. The New
Testament Epistles are, moreover, a combination of private correspondence and
public address. They may lean in a literary or nonliterary direction, depending on
how a given writer on a given occasion treats the letter form. At no point, however,
can we understand the New Testament Epistles without applying literary prin-
ciples.
Epistolary Structure
The New Testament epistle has a relatively fixed form, consisting of five main
parts:
1.Opening or salutation (sender, addressee, greeting).
2.Thanksgiving (including such features as prayer for spiritual welfare,
remembrance of the recipient[s], and eschatological climax).
3.Body of the letter (beginning with introductory formulae and concluding
with eschatological and travel material).
4.Paraenesis (moral exhortations).
5.Closing (final greetings and benediction).
This formal element in the New Testament Epistles satisfies the literary impulse
for pattern and design, and it proves that the writers self-consciously met certain
understood conventions of letter writing when they wrote the Epistles.
Discerning the Unity of an Epistle
The letter form requires different activities from a reader than stories and poems
do. One thing all of these forms do have in common is that they will yield most if
they are read as literary wholes, preferably in a single sitting. But the flow of a letter
is topical and logical, in contrast to the flow of events that makes up a story or the
sequence of feelings in a lyric poem. The best way of outlining an epistle is by top-
ics, noting how one argument leads logically to the next. The most crucial rule of
all is to “think paragraphs” when reading an epistle.¹
The Real-Life Situations in the Epistles
Despite the expository and logical nature of the writing in the Epistles, they none-
theless possess the experiential immediacy that we expect of literature. The Epis-
tles are not essays in systematic theology which the apostles sat down to com-
pose in their studies. They are letters addressed to specific people and situations.
They convey a sense of actual life in the manner of other literature. Taken together,
the New Testament Epistles yield a vivid picture of the varied life of the early
Christian church.
Their Occasional Nature
Because they arise from specific occasions, the Epistles should not be pressed
into a more systematic form than they are intended to have. As one biblical schol-
ar has stated,
Since these are letters, the points argued and stressed are often not those of
the greatest importance. They are usually points about which differences of
opinion existed. . . .The churches addressed. . .knew [the author’s] views on
the great central facts; these he can take for granted. It is to show them their
mistakes in the application of these central facts to their daily life, to help their
doubts, that he writes. . . .Many of the questions he discusses are those pro-
pounded by the perplexed church. He answers the question because it has
been raised.²
In a word, the Epistles are occasional letters evoked by a specific situation, not for-
mal essays on theological topics.
Literary Genres Within the Epistles
One of the literary features of the Epistles is the specific genres that are embedded
in them. Proverbs and aphoristic sayings abound (“Bad company corrupts good
character,” 1 Cor. 15:33; “a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough,”
Gal. 5:9). There are liturgical formulas, creedal affirmations, and hymns (e.g., Gal.
5:14; Phil. 2:6–11; Col. 1:15–20; 1 Tim. 3:16). Lists of vices and virtues are also a
recognizable form (e.g., Rom. 1:29–31; Gal. 5:22–23), as is the imperative cluster
(e.g., Col. 3).
Poetic Language
Another thing that makes the Epistles literary is their reliance on the resources of
poetic language and figures of speech. Metaphor and simile are common: “gluing
yourselves to the good”; “boiling with the spirit”; “let the love of Christ make its
home in you”; “let the peace of Christ be umpire in your hearts.”³ Many of the com-
parisons are extended ones that ask for detailed analysis (such as the complete
armor of the Christian in Eph. 6:10–17). Other rhetorical and poetic devices re-
quire more of a willingness to be receptive to their affective style. I refer to such
forms as rhetorical questions (“If God is for us, who is against us?”), paradox
(“when I am weak, then I am strong”), questions and exclamations (“What then
shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means!”), and apostrophe (“O death, where
is thy sting?”).
Rhetorical Patterns
Yet another literary element in the Epistles is their rhetoric and style. To expe-
rience the full impact of these letters requires us to be sensitive to the masterful
use of repetition, balance, antithesis, and parallel constructions. All of them are
present on a small scale in the following passage (2 Cor. 4:8–9):
We are hard pressed on every side,
but not crushed;
perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned;
