New Testament Letters: Historical Context

In the New Testament, there are 21 letters or epistles written by early Christian leaders to communities of Jesus' followers in the ancient Roman world. A wise reading of these letters involves learning about their historical context. Who were the letters written to, where did the recipients live, and what prompted sending the letter? In this video, we explore the different layers of historical context with these letters, so that we can better understand the wisdom they still have to offer.

#BibleProject #Epistle #NewTestament

[bibleproject]

BibleProject creates free resources to help you experience the Bible. Everything we make is funded by generous supporters around the world. You can see our entire video library, check out our other resources, and give at bibleproject.com.

[jeremiahgallo]

The details in this are insane: Each character has the first letter of their first name written on their faces, the use of abstract shapes to show destruction and reconstruction of philosophical and Biblical truth, and the design itself looks like an abstract painting from the early 21s Century. This one's a study material for the art as well. Well played, Bible Project.

[EE-]

I had an extremely vivid dream last week, after praying to God before going to sleep to reveal something specific for me... not going to go into detail but I was told very clearly at the very end of my dream the word- Thessalonians. When I woke up I immediately opened my Bible and I didn’t know where to to begin so I just started at 1 Thessalonians. It was amazing that a few verses in, things that were in my dream were relating to what was written! It was so amazing! No one can ever tell me it wasn’t from God. Since then, I have been reading both epistles to the Thessalonians and have been getting revelation after revelation. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. The epistles are written to US, the church!! What an amazing God we serve.

[CANNOTDIEFILMS]

Incredible artistry. God has surely blessed you and us.

[bibleproject]

The New Testament letters are some of the most accessible and easy to read parts of the Bible. They were written by early Christian apostles, representatives of Jesus who were appointed to spread the good news about him to the ancient world. And they are addressed to a "you, " which makes any reader feel like they are being directly spoken to by the people who were closest to Jesus. What could be better? But if you read these letters at any length, you know they are full of sections that are inspiring (Paul's bit about the foolish wisdom of the cross in 1 Corinthians 2), puzzling (Paul's discussion of hairstyles in 1 Corinthians 11), and off-putting (Peter's depiction of obedient slaves and wives in 1 Peter 2-3). It is passages like these that remind modern readers that these letters are ancient texts written in a language and culture vastly different from our own. However, it's precisely by honoring the historical context of the New Testament letters that we can learn how to wisely read them and see how they can speak a powerful word to our own time and place. The apostles were heralds of the good news of Jesus as the risen king of the world, and they believed this message had the power to transform people and whole communities (see Paul's exposition of this theme in Colossians 1-3 and Ephesians 2-4). But because they lived in the first century Roman world, the specific cultural issues and challenges they wrote about are not identical to our own today. This means we need to learn something about life in the ancient Roman empire to gain a deeper understanding of why the apostles said what they said. We also need to search each letter to understand what circumstances in each church community prompted the writing of the letter in the first place. Once we see that Paul's letter to the Romans was written to a church divided along cultural and racial lines, or that Peter's letter was sent to churches facing shame and persecution for following Jesus, we can better comprehend these letters. In these letters we get to watch the apostles navigate the challenges of their day with the good news that the risen Jesus is the king of the world. And if Jesus is still king of the nations, we must address the unique issues of our own time and culture with the same message. And what better guide than the people who surrounded Jesus himself? The ancient words of the apostles, when they're read in historical context, are full of divine wisdom to guide Jesus' followers in every generation.

[makenah]

Did y'all notice the bottle of Caesar salad dressing on the table because oh my goodness

[thewordwithperd]

i thank God everyday for this channel, i’m an artist myself and the fact that there is a biblically accurate channel producing high quality content consistently is such a blessing. love you guys ❤️

[MrNarutoSick]

I'm a muslim and I'm impressed and inspired. Y'all keep up the good work. May he guide us all.

[DaughterOfYahweh-]

Thank you Lord for the the people at the bible project. Give them wisdom and love for you others and themselves

[WintaAssefa]

The deconstructed art graphics: BOMB
The sound effect details: BOMB
The hierarchy representation: BOMBB
That pinball in the end: BOMB


I'm really impressed and inspired to do better with whatever I create too. Ooof. Thank you for putting in the work

[DallasPenner]

Summary
John: So its like I am reading someone’s mail?
Tim: Yes but its really cool, detailed, life changing mail!

[vinceelacion]

The end means: Love produces no harm to a neighbor therefore fulfills the Torah.
You guys are so creative with your videos.

[kcmiles]

Sending love to the Bible Project from Southern California!

[pateunuchity]

Our family has been following you guys since the beginning. Thank you for all the excellent imagery and meaningful study helps. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[sharonwalker]

The graphics brought tears to my eyes. I really enjoy watching your videos. Thank you!

[fernymarques]

You guys are ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! I love studying about our Wonderful God with you. Tim you are just a blessing to listen too. God surely picked a very special person to spread His word. Just love you guys!!!! Great work 😉

[sharingkapoting]

As a new christian this has been a shining light guiding me through the complex historical and theological contexts of the bible! Thanks guys, You are a blessing!

[YouthMinistryEtc]

Can't say enough about the work you guys are doing. Thank you!

[discoverlight]

I've been realizing most of the thing shown on this video by myself, now that I'm older, cz I started to make some questions, when I was at church I would feel a little bad cz the preacher would say a promise or a words from the bible out loud to the whole church and I would feel guilty for not considering that I was seeing or feeling as I should according to the message but them I was like but wait, who was this originally written for? And so in the seek for some answer I've learned so much, and now i see things so clearly, and in huge part is thanks to this guys fromBible porject. I also see how so many different types of churches are so out of line for reading the bible and not cnsidering time, place and historical context. This lessons you put in here should be spread out as much as possible, cz there are so many ppl confused and ripped off for so many years.

[hirtzlifechristianblogs]

Yall are an inspiration! The way you say things so simply and practically has encouraged me.👊😁
- The Hirtz Life Show 🎥📺🙌🏼