St. Polycarp was the bishop of Smyrna and a disciple of St. John, according to St. Irenaeus (c. 130-c. 202) and Tertullian (c. 155-c. 220). I’d like to examine his Epistle to the Philippians. It ...
Philippians, Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, is often called the “epistle of joy.” Over and over, Paul uses words like “rejoice” and “joy.” The secret of joy, he maintains, is the peace that God gives to those who live in union with Jesus Christ. This emphasis on joy is especially noteworthy because Paul was writing from prison in Rome. But his imprisonment didn’t ...
Among the extant epistles of Paul there is none more genial in its attitude and more revealing of the author than the epistle to the Philippians. Like an excerpt from an intimate diary, this short ...
Definition of epistle An Epistle is a type of letter. The word comes from the Greek word epistolē, which means a letter. The difference from a regular letter is that the word epistle describes a kind of elegant or formal letter that is often directed or sent to a special person or a group of people. Why is an “epistle” not just called a ...
Many commentators hold that the author of the epistle of Jude, who identifies himself as the "brother of James," was one of these brothers (Jude 1). It is also generally believed that the leader of the church at Jerusalem was James the brother of Jesus, (see Acts 12:17; 15:13).
The theme of this epistle was unity—the unity that comes from a common commitment of faith in Jesus Christ. Just ten verses into the letter, Paul writes that it is God’s plan “to gather together in one all things in Christ.” In the first part of Ephesians, Paul gives the theological reasons for this unity.