Who Wrote What Letters to Whom in the New Testament?

• Romans

  From: Paul

  To: All in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people.

• 1 Corinthians

  From: Paul and Sosthenes

  To: The church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours.

• 2 Corinthians

  From: Paul and Timothy

  To: The church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia.

• Galatians

  From: Paul and all the brothers and sisters with him

  To: The churches in Galatia.

• Ephesians

  From: Paul

  To: God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.

• Philippians

  From: Paul and Timothy

  To: All God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons.

• Colossians

  From: Paul and Timothy

  To: God's holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.

• 1 Thessalonians

  From: Paul, Silas, and Timothy

  To: The church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

• 2 Thessalonians

  From: Paul, Silas, and Timothy

  To: The church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

• 1 Timothy

  From: Paul

  To: Timothy, my true son in the faith.

• 2 Timothy

  From: Paul

  To: Timothy, my dear son.

• Titus

  From: Paul

  To: Titus, my true son in our common faith.

• Philemon

  From: Paul and Timothy

  To: Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker—also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your homes.

• Hebrews

  From: Unknown (possibly Paul, Luke, or Apollos)

  To: Unknown (probably Christians who had recently came out of the Old Covenant system that was previously established).

• James

  From: James

  To: The twelve tribes scattered among the nations.

• 1 Peter

  From: Peter

  To: God's elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bythinia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood.

• 2 Peter

  From: Peter

  To: Those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have receieved faith as precious as ours.

• 1 John

  From: Unknown (probably John—the disciple whom Jesus loved)

  To: Unknown (probably Christian’s under John’s care).

• 2 John

  From: The elder (probably John, the disciple whom Jesus loved)

  To: The lady chosen by God and to her children whom I love in the truth (probably the local church and the members of that church).

• 3 John

  From: Unknown (probably John, the disciple whom Jesus loved)

  To: My dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

• Jude

  From: Jude

  To: Those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

Exegetical Meditations (24)

“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.” (Jude 3, NIV)

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.” (Jude 24, NIV)

What Jude’s letter lacks in size it more than makes up for with love and urgency.

The way Jude wrote his letter makes it sound a little like one of those old-time gospel calls. As anachronistic as it is, it has hints of Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley.

Here’s the truth and warning.

Jude begins by stating up-front the reason for his writing. He was very eager to write about the common salvation he and his readers share; however, before he could write about that, something changed his mind. Whatever it was, it caused him to shift the focus of his letter from a hearty celebration of salvation to a hearty urgent call for them to contend for the faith.

He then spends almost all his time in the letter making sure his readers feel the reality of his call on them to contend—to persevere.

• For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

• In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

• Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.

• They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

• “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

Jude has loved them throughout the letter by telling them exactly what they needed to hear. They needed to know the truth and the danger that surrounded them. This bad news was good for them.

You can almost feel what Jude’s readers must have felt as they read through the letter. The steady growing dread that what Jude wrote really is the truth. But then, just before they couldn’t stand to take another bit of truth, he leaves them with possibly the greatest doxology every written.

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 24-25, NIV)

Jude’s original readers were responsible to make sure they didn’t fall into the many traps that surrounded them. And yet, the responsibility placed on them is not one requiring them to micromanage every minute aspect of their lives; instead, it’s a call for them to focus on a person—one person. Jesus is the one who is able to keep them from stumbling.

And so he is for us. The world is full of traps because the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers and he prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. You cannot get through it on your own, but you can with one person—the one who is able.

Exegetical Meditations (12)

These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever. (Jude 12-13, NIV)

How are we to view those who try to lead the church astray?

Some see people who bring a different teaching that isn’t orthodox as a gift to the church because they’re rescuing her from her old way of thinking. Some view these so-called teachers as doing nothing more than trying to help those trapped in a system of thought and a way of viewing the world that is abhorrent to the rest of mankind. They’re here to help; not to harm. They’re here to walk alongside; not to lead. They’re here to set free; not to control. They’re here to get the church out of her old way of thinking and shine her up a bit so she can be helpful to the world.

Jude, however, sees them quite differently.

In Jude’s short but aggressively loving letter, he doesn’t pull any punches while addressing the church and preparing her for those who have crept in and will creep in later (Jude 4). Jude doesn’t have time to minister to those who are bent on tearing the church down and rebuilding her in their image. His main responsibility is to protect. He’s their shepherd he’s exercising his shepherding responsibility by being up-front in identifying the ungodly “teachers.”

Jude ins’t content with simply calling them ungodly. He strings together a number of analogies that help them and us recognize who they really are.

Jude calls them blemishes at your love feasts because they mark up and scar what’s good and healthy. Jude calls them shepherds feed only themselves because they care not about the church and those who make her up. Jude calls them clouds without rain, blown along by the wind, because they produce nothing good and lack self-control. Jude calls them autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead—because a tree without fruit is good for nothing but to be cut down and burned. Jude calls them wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame, because shame is all that drives them and shame is all they give. Lastly, Jude calls them wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever, because even though they look bright there’s no real light in them.

Jude’s love for God and for his brothers and sisters in Christ moves him to be crystal clear about those whom like nothing more than to lead the faithful astray. Now, we could dwell on these ungodly ones and come away worried but Jesus won't have it that way and Jude doesn’t leave his readers that way. He ends his letter with maybe the greatest doxology in the New Testament.

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 24-25, NIV)