Jensens survey of the old testament adam 442
Bạn đang xem bản rút gọn của tài liệu. Xem và tải ngay bản đầy đủ của tài liệu tại đây (114.35 KB, 4 trang )
freedom. His second letter to Timothy was
written from prison, and the letter reveals
that he did not expect to be released (2 Tim.
4:6). His trial was probably very brief, and
according to tradition he was beheaded.
Stalker describes the scene, as he imagines
it:
The trial ended, Paul was
condemned and delivered over to
the executioner. He was led out of
the city with a crowd of the lowest
rabble at his heels. The fatal spot
was reached; he knelt beside the
block; the headsman’s axe gleamed
in the sun and fell; and the head of
the apostle of the world rolled
down in the dust. So sin did its
uttermost and its worst. Yet how
poor and empty was its triumph!…
ten thousand times ten thousand
welcomed him in the same hour at
the gates of the city which is really
eternal. Even on earth Paul could
not die … in ten thousand
churches every Sabbath and on a
thousand thousand hearths every
day his eloquent lips still teach
that gospel of which he was never
ashamed.9
II. PAUL’S LETTERS
The epistolary form of most of the New
Testament (21 of 27 books) is one of its
unique characteristics, distinct from all
other sacred writings of the world. Hiebert
compares that form with the Old Testament
legal document form:
CHART 60: GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT
The use of the epistle as a medium
of revelation in the New Testament
reveals the di erence between the
ages of law and grace. Under the
legal dispensation the demands of
God were set forth in legal
documents, sealed with the direct
authority of God; in the age of
grace God further makes known
His will to His children through
loving letters of instruction and
exhortation.10
The writings of Paul — at least thirteen of
twenty-one New Testament letters —
constitute a major part of the New
Testament.11 A fourteenth book, Hebrews,
also might have been written by Paul. All
twenty-seven New Testament books are
shown on Chart 60, which breaks down the
list into three major groups. What are the
groups?
Nine of Paul’s letters are addressed to
seven Gentile churches (in Galatia,
Thessalonica, Corinth, Rome, Colossae,
Ephesus, and Philippi). Locate these places
on Map L, p. 207. (Galatia is a region; the
other places are cities.)
Four of Paul’s letters are addressed to
individuals (Timothy, Titus, and Philemon).
Paul wrote four “prison epistles.”12 The
epistle to the Hebrews, whoever the author,
was written especially for Jewish Christians
and may have been intended as a circular
