Lesson 8: The Right Use of Scripture
NT Epistles
When we first moved into our new home, we regularly received mail that wasn’t for us. I guess it took awhile for the old owners to update their mailing address. So, their mail kept coming to our mailbox! It wasn’t a huge problem. We looked at the name on the letter and set it aside. Their mail wasn’t for us. So, we didn’t open it.
Is using NT epistles like reading someone else’s mail? Think about how most NT epistles begin. For example, 1 Timothy begins with:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. —1 Timothy 1:1–2
That’s a pretty intimate and direct mailing address! What right do I have to use this letter as if it was for me and my church?
A Biblical Model for Using the Epistles Rightly
The NT epistles are contextual letters. Specific authors wrote and sent them to specific recipients. They were written in a specific language (Greek), fit the forms of a specific culture (Greco-Roman), and addressed specific problems or questions.
For example, Paul wrote the book of Colossians to the church in Colossae (Col 1:2). In this letter, he mentions specific people known by him and the church in Colossae: Epaphras, Onesimus, Archippus, etc. He warns against a specific group of false teachers and their “hollow and deceptive philosophy.” (Col 2:7 NIV) He calls for unity among specific ethnic groups like Gentiles, Jews, Romans, barbarians, and Scythians (Col 3:11). He instructs Christians regarding how to live with Christ as Lord within the Roman household system (Col 3:18–4:1). Colossians is a very personal and contextual letter.
But even within this letter, Paul provides at least three bases for our own use of this epistle.
- Paul introduces himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ. The apostles uniquely represented Jesus and spoke on his behalf to his people.¹ Thus, as an apostle, Paul did not write with merely human words. When he wrote as an apostle, Christ spoke through him to his church. That the epistles represent Christ’s words provides us with one basis for using these epistles to order our own churches. What the Living Lord declared and commanded through Paul to one outpost of his universal church still binds Christ’s whole church today.
- Paul proclaims a universal gospel to the Colossians. The message he proclaimed was “bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world.” (Col 1:6; see also 1:15–23) There is one gospel from God for the church (Col 1:23–2:8), and it reveals the one Lord who is supreme in, through, and over all things (Col 1:18). Thus, even as Paul proclaimed his gospel to the Colossian church in chapter 2, he consciously proclaimed a gospel for the whole church from every nation, place, and time.
- Paul commands other churches to read this letter: “After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.” (Col 4:16 NIV) From this command, we see that Paul expected his apostolic letters to encourage, warn, and instruct other churches.
The Right Use of NT Epistles
The Bible teaches us to use NT epistles as contextual letters from Christ for the whole church.
Contextual Letters
As mentioned above, the NT epistles are real letters. We must respect the context in which these letters occurred. When we use them, we need to remember that they do not speak directly into our context. Instead, we should understand their original context and then carefully consider how they speak across time and culture into our own context.
From Christ
Just as an ambassador speaks the words of his nation’s leaders, so the apostles spoke the words of Christ to his churches. Thus, we should receive and use these letters ultimately as letters from Christ communicated and sent by him through the apostles, his chosen representatives. These letters bear Christ’s words and authority just as much as the quotations from Jesus in the Gospels.²
For the Whole Church
The NT epistles were sent to specific churches and individuals, but they are, ultimately, for the whole church. Using the NT epistles to develop doctrine or to order worship is not like reading someone else’s mail. The human authors themselves intended their letters to be read by other Christians and churches, whether the Laodiceans reading Paul’s letter to the Colossians, the church in Ephesus reading Paul’s letters to Timothy, or even Peter reading and referencing Paul’s letters (2 Pet 3:15–16). Further, the apostles commanded the church to pass on their words and teachings to the succeeding generations of Christians and churches (2 Tim 2:2). Therefore, we must use these apostolic letters as the foundation for our own faith and practice.