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The apostle Paul wrote his second letter to the Thessalonians to prepare them for the second coming of Christ, the day “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thess 1:7-8). As frightening as th...
Read MoreThe apostle Paul’s first and second letters to the Thessalonians are possibly the earliest writings in the New Testament. Written to Greek followers of Christ in the port city of Thessalonica, Paul spoke of the second “coming of the Lord” (1 Thess 4:15), which most members of the community assumed would happen in their lifetime. He also described h...
Read MoreThe apostle Paul wrote this letter to “the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae” (Col 1:2), a city near Ephesus in what is now Turkey. Paul was concerned about false teaching in their community, and wrote the Colossians to stress the supremacy of Christ as the greatest power in the universe. Far more than an influential re...
Read MorePaul was a prisoner when he wrote his letter to the Christ-followers of Philippi, a city in the district of Macedonia, located in what is now Greece. The letter is very personal, with Paul saying to his friends in Philippi, “I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:8). He had a desire to visit them again but did not know i...
Read MoreLocated on the west coast of what is now Turkey, Ephesus was a Greek seaport city that existed for hundreds of years before being swallowed up by the Roman Empire. Under the rule of the Emperor Augustus, it grew into a prominent, prosperous, and powerful city, expanding through the first century until it reached a population of more than 400,000 pe...
Read MoreIn his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul was writing to churches in a region called Galatia, located in the central highlands of what is now Turkey. Having taken the gospel to them, he began his letter by saying that he was “astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a diffe...
Read MorePaul’s second letter to the Corinthians was written after he became estranged from this community and wrote, “I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit” (2 Cor 2:1). Although he wanted to visit Corinth, he felt that his leadership there was being questioned, and his ministry was being disrupted by people who were “false apostles, dece...
Read MorePaul’s first letter to the Corinthians was written to followers of Jesus in the Greek city of Corinth, in response to a report that there were divisions in the church. “For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people,” wrote Paul, “that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters” (1 Cor 1:11). Paul reminded the Corinthians of the import...
Read MoreThe apostle Paul’s letters are the oldest Christian documents in the Bible, and all of them probably predate the Gospels. They are arranged from longest to shortest, Romans to Philemon, and are letters written to churches and individuals addressing a variety of theological and personal issues. Paul’s letter to the Romans was written to a community...
Read MoreThe Acts of the Apostles is the book written by Luke after he finished his Gospel, which reported “all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning” (Acts 1:1). The Book of Acts tells the story of the first Christ-followers, with a focus on the ministry and mission of the apostles, a group of leaders whose title means “messenger” or “one who is sen...
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