The Farmville herald and farmer-leader. (Farmville, Va.) 1934-1957, 1956-06-29

the readers while kn..,d
to make a special
study OF these let
tiers this summer. DR. FOREMAN
Perhaps all the teachers in Sun
day school could chip in and buy
a commentary or two.
Letters iFem -.
No two people write quite alike.
All letters bear the mark of their
writer's even when they are I'm
signed. So it is with these nine.
Some OF them are signed some
are not. But the writer's can be
told apart without any trouble. II
Hebrews and James were printed
together without a break, high
school student should be able to
notice the difference between them.
The writer of the first letter is
plainly a highly educated man.
man who is keenly interested in
ritual and in the history OF the
Hebrew people. The writer OF the
second is less highly educated, but
a more practical man all around
Not that his advice is any better,
but he loses no time getting down
TO particular problems. The first
man is greatly interested in theol-
ogy, the second is so little inter
ested in it that his letter has Wor-
lied some people like Luther. for
example. who wondered whether
it really belonged in the New Tes-
lament Or again, comparing He
breWs with the letters of Paul the
reader can see why scholars are
for the most part quite certain
that Paul never wrote this enc 1t
is obviously written by d different
kind of man-one who used diff
ferent vocabulary, went at prob
lens differently. constructed let
ter differently, quoted the Old les
lament in a different way; indeed
while all of Paul's letters are care
fully signed, Hebrews is not signed
at all . So one may 60 through
the rest of these letters seeing the
writer's through what they wrote.
Letters to-.
Letters vary according to the
persons to whom they are written.
A woman writing to her mother,
her husband, the tax collector and
her boy at school will write four
different kinds of letters So these
nine letters were written to diff
ferent kinds Of people. To be sure,
some of them we're sent to pretty
wide circle of readers tPeter for
instance). but even so, that wide
circle had something in common:
in this case, suffering and perse-
cution Is it too much to suggest
that the Christians John has in his
mind S eye as he writes his letters
are much more mature than the
Christians to whom James writes
lis plain advice? Now the inter
sting thing is that the. various
.inds Of Christians to whom these
etters we're addressed are matched
~ Christian types today. That is
Why one Christian will sometimes
get more out of one part of the
New Testament. while another
Christian finds more meat in an
other part. And yet for all the
differences there are some impor-
tant likenesses. and the noticing
reader will find them.
Letters about. >.
Few if any of these letters. or
any others in the New Testament.
are about things in general.
They usually speak to some par
ticular problem, situation or trou-
BILE. The New Testament does not
consist of a series of theological
essays neatly arranged by topics.
Rather. it consists OF fairly short
letters speaking to certain specific
problems that had been distressing
the readers Some of these prob
lens emerged in more places than
one at the same time. just as hap
pens today In the short passages
selected for special study in most
quarterlies. two problems are high
lighted, as the reader will find:
false teachings. and persecution.
In these times in which we live,
with half the world in ferment
against Christianity and even in
the Christian" part of the world
a bewildering jangle and Wrahgle
Of sects and '"isms" soap-boXing
all over the place-the Christian
church threatened by enemies
without and 'crackpots" often
times within. who can call the
New Testarent's themes out Of
late
Based on outlines copyrighted BY tAs
i-ss!os 81 Christian Education Ma
io-.l Coc.eM 9. TIE Churches Of Christ
'he l. 5. 4. Released by Com IA unity
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