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GENERAL LETTERS ON FAITH AND BEHAVIOR

Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles

General theme = protecting a new religious movement!

Key Point = God’s revelation through Jesus is FINAL AND COMPLETE!!!

HEBREWS AND THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES

letter writing as a Pauline tradition of instructing and encouraging the faithful; directed to congregations.

forms a special unit between Paul’s letters and Revelation; 8 books in all.

Hebrews and the Catholic or universal epistles are the last books accepted into the biblical canon.

THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES

1 & 2 PETER

JAMES

1, 2 & 3 JOHN

JUDE (7 books in all)

HEBREWS

KEY POINTS:

represents the longest sustained argument in the Bible; most eloquent writing by a brilliant early Christian thinker

expresses the superiority of Christ’s sacrifice in heaven to early ritual sacrifices in the Jewish Temple

HEBREWS

Reason for the letter = Christians were on the verge of giving up the faith and returning to Judaism.

Hebrews argues that Jesus is superior to the prophets even Moses

Jesus’ priesthood is the Priesthood of Melchizedek (Gen.14:18-20) which is superior to Aaron and the Levitical priesthood of the O.T.

THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES:
Key Themes and Purposes

1 Peter: to encourage believers to promote Christian ethics; he urges the faithful to live blamelessly so their lives reveal what it means to be a Christian

2 Peter: defends the Parousia doctrine with a theodicy (3:1-18); calls for Christian love in all debates.

THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES:
Key Themes and Purposes

Jude: a short letter denouncing some unidentified group of heretics

uses invective in his argument

threatens the heretics with apocalyptic punishment

ends with a famous doxology

THE CATHOLIC EPISTLES
Key Themes and Purposes

James:

A Theodicy: God is not responsible for society’s evils; it is all caused by human selfishness (1:1-17)

Respect for the poor (2:1-13)

Works are the ONLY MEASURE OF FAITH (2:14-16) compare to Galatians 3

Warnings against spiritual ambition (4:1- 5:6)

LETTERS OF JOHN

Scholar’s view: John, the Elder, wrote all 3 letters, but he is not the author of the Gospel nor is he the Apostle John.

Key themes: all 3 letters offer a defense against the influence of Gnostic teachings in the early Church.

LETTERS OF JOHN

1 John: asks Christians to "test the spirits" of Christian experience for truth in 2 ways:

DOCTRINE = Jesus the man and Christ (God’s Messiah) were one person in the flesh;

BEHAVIOR = God is love; love reveals true Christianity (4:8-9)

LETTERS OF JOHN

2 John: a true letter of only 13 verses; warns of the anti-Christ; don’t invite "renegades" into Christian homes; let love be the community’s sole guide

3 John: a private note to Gaius; asks him to extend hospitality to Johannine missionaries led by Demetrius