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.

What Must I Do to Be Saved?

THE THEOLOGY OF ‘GHOST’

Podcasts are the best.

I especially like listening to The Rewatchables, which is a podcast where a group of 2-4 people discuss their favorite “rewatchable” movies.

During the last episode I listened to they were talking about Ghost. (A movie I haven’t seen before… I know, I know, I should make it a point to watch it.) Since the movie is about someone’s loved one being killed and then returning as a ghost it didn’t take long for the conversation to come to a discussion about the afterlife. Specifically, the discussion was on what type of people “go to heaven” and what type of people “go to hell.” The consensus between the hosts on that episode was that if you at least live a decent life—and don’t murder anyone—you’ll go to heaven.

If you know me at all, I can’t let that go.

GOOD PEOPLE GO TO HEAVEN, BAD PEOPLE GO TO HELL?

In all fairness to the hosts who (by their own admission) are not beholden to any sort of biblical theology, they badly misunderstand the way in which the New Testament authors speak to us about the reality of the afterlife, and the means by which those realities will be experienced. Again, in all fairness to them, they have done little more than grab on to what we might call the pop theology of our day, which runs something like this: Good people go to heaven because they’re good and bad people go to hell because they’re bad. What or who determines whether a person is good or bad is largely up for debate but, in the end, it’s our deeds here that determine our destiny there.

To come back to where that previous paragraph began… that sort of belief may be widely held today (even among many Christians) but it is in no way friends with the testimony of the New Testament texts—one in particular that will be our focus for this article.

AN EXERCISED WOMAN

Shortly (and I use that word in a relative sense) after the conversion of Paul, he, Luke, Silas, and some others were traveling around telling people about the good news of Jesus Christ—they were preaching about the kingdom of God. One day they ran into this woman who had a spirit which allowed her to predict the future. As you can imagine, she made bank because everyone wants to know their future. For some reason she followed Paul and his friends shouting, “These men are servants of the most high God, who are telling you the way to be saved!” She was relentless. Her shouting lasted for days. At some point Paul had enough of it and commanded that the spirit in her come out, which it did.

Good for the woman, right? Sort of.

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

She was no longer being tormented by this “future-telling spirit,” and she was no longer making money for the people who owned her—she was a slave—and they didn’t like that one bit. Her owners were so upset that they dragged Paul and Silas into the marketplace so something could be done with them. A crowd gathered and they joined in on the attack and the authorities decided that they were to be stripped, beaten with rods, and thrown into prison. So, to prison they went.

Paul and Silas, being who they were, were praying and singing hymns to God in prison and all the other prisoners were listening to them. All of a sudden, in the middle of their praying and signing, a violent earthquake shook the foundations of the prison, and all the doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer—who was the one put in charge of making sure none of the prisoners escaped—woke up, saw that the doors were open and that their chains were off, and thought it best to kill himself rather than face the fury of his Roman bosses. Before he could do so, Paul shouted to him, “Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here!” At this the jailer fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas and asked them, “What must I do to be saved?”

What would you have said to the jailer?

Well, if you want to be saved, you must live a good life, so you need to take stock of your life immediately. You need to find out whether or not you’ve lived a life worthy of heaven. If you haven’t you need to make a change immediately, because you know it’s only the good who get through heaven’s doors.

Of course, you wouldn’t say that… I hope you wouldn’t say that.

Live a good life and you’ll get to heaven is a recipe for disaster. Live a good life according to whom—according to what? Your standard? My standard? God’s standard? Do we each get to decide for ourselves what “good enough” is? What if I think I’ve lived a pretty good life, but you think I’ve messed up in big way in a few areas? Who decides between us?

Thank God for what Paul and Silas said.

BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:31, NIV). There it is. How was the jailer going to be saved? By believing in the Lord Jesus. How were his household—his parents, wife, and children—going to be saved? By be believing in the Lord Jesus. And how are you and I going to be saved? Well, you see, we think we have a better understanding than Paul and Silas who lived in a much more primitive time. In order to be saved you need to be a good person. No! The answer remains the same: Believe in the Lord Jesus.

Believe.
Trust.
Give your allegiance not to an idea, not a pie in the sky hope, not a modern day invention of how we measure good and bad. Not even for a second.

If you want to be saved, place your faith in the only person who is able, and not only able, but the only person who made salvation possible. Place your faith in the only person who made salvation a reality. Place your faith in the only person who, after all the rejection he experienced by a world he came to save, held out his arms and said if you come to me, I will have you.

That’s the message Paul and Silas had for a 1st-Century jailer, and it’s the same message we have for a 21st-Century world. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. Sure, we can talk about how belief ought to come with a change in how we live our lives, but that is a different discussion. Not an unimportant discussion—just a different discussion.

We must have an answer for the one who asks what they need to do to be saved, and our answer does not have to be any more complicated than believe in the Lord Jesus.

A Walkthrough of Romans 8: Verse 1

Romans 8 begins like a bridge that connects a land of hopelessness to a land where only hope exists.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1, NIV).

As Paul states, however, this bridge to a land of hope can only be traveled by a certain person. A person who is found in someone greater than themselves. A person who is found in Jesus.

For this one who is found in Jesus, the condemning result of their past life as one defined by a separation from God—even a rejoicing in that separation—no longer exists. We must remember to think and process this statement based on what it says, not how we often feel or assume.

Note the language used by Paul. Put overly straight forward, it reads: “…now no condemnation in Christ Jesus.”

Paul did not say, just a little condemnation left. Nor did he say, no condemnation unless you mess up again. He didn’t even say, for right now there’s no condemnation. What he said was that condemnation no longer exists.

Accept that. Rest in it. Trust that Paul is telling you the truth with these words written almost 2,000 years ago.

The gospel that Paul believed in, and Jesus preached, is such that for the person and people who find themselves abiding in Jesus—living as he instructs, viewing the world through his eyes, and loving like he did—any penalty that was once due to them because of their sin and idolatry before God, has been done away with.

To talk of condemnation in relationship to the person found in Jesus is a nonsensical topic. Paul wouldn’t understand what you mean.

We must ground ourselves in what Paul has said, not what the world offers as acceptable. And grounding ourselves in what Paul has said is believing that the hopeless of condemnation has been put away for the hope of a real life in Jesus.

The Heart of Paul on Display

“And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:22-24)
 

Paul is led by the Holy Spirit to Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit has told him that he will be imprisoned and afflicted. Paul does not view his life as having any value or as being precious to himself. Paul’s is motivated to finish what Jesus has called him to do in his life and his ministry by making known the good news of the grace of God.

This is the new heart of Paul on display as it has been rescued and held by God.