What is the purpose of Paul's letters?

Answer 1

Paul's Epistle to the Romans reads like a job application. Paul wants to preach to the Christian community in Rome before proceeding to Spain, and needs to convince the Romans that can provide them faith and leadership.

Paul says he was the first to preach the gospel in Corinth, but he now he has to defend his authority against others. In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul also admonishes them regarding moral issues and deals with matters of administration and justice.

Although now more confident of the support of the Christians in Corinth, in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians Paul still has to defend his authority against others whom he derisorily calls super-apostles. He explains the resurrection of the dead and deals with some other theological and moral issues, as well as the collection for the needy saints in Judea.

In the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul is making a dramatic, last-ditch effort to keep the churches of Galatia from deserting him for those who taught another gospel, one which among other things demanded circumcision. He uses all his literary skills to convince the Galatians, and the evidence is that he was probably successful.
The Epistle to the Philippians is the most intensely personal of the 'prison epistles', Paul discusses the possibility of his own death and expresses gratitude for the thoughts and concerns of the Philippians.

The Epistle to Philemon is a moving, personal letter, Paul does his best to help an escaped slave whom he is returning to his owner. Paul has been imprisoned but expects to be released soon, and intends to spend some time with his friend Philemon.

The Christians of Thessalonica deserved Paul's warm praise for keeping their faith after so much early difficulty. He taught that Jesus would return within the lifetimes of those he had converted, but so far this wondrous event had not occurred. Now they fear for those of their congregation who had already died before the second coming of Jesus. Paul wrote his First Epistle to the Thessalonians to set the record straight and offer encouragement.

The majority of New Testament scholars believe that the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is pseudepigraphical, in other words written in Paul's name, without his knowledge, and after his death. Paul's teaching about the imminent return of Jesus was beginning to appear false, No doubt 1 Thessalonians had circulated widely throughout the Christian community and 2 Thessalonians was written as an encyclical, in the form of an newly discovered letter to the Thessalonians, in order to correct this perception. The author warns (2:2,11-12) of a previous letter falsely written as if by Paul, then tells the reader (2:3) not to be deceived, because (2:3-10) that day will not come until other things have happened.

The majority of New Testament scholars believe that the Epistle to the Ephesians was not written by the Apostle Paul, being written in his name approximately 80-90 CE. The epistle is something of a puzzle because it is the only epistle, genuine or otherwise, that has no obvious purpose.

New Testament scholars believe that Paul did not write the Epistle to the Colossians, and that it was only attributed to him to add credibility to the message of the real author. The epistle addresses problems facing the church, probably in the 70s of the first century, from 'false teachers' who deceive by specious arguments and from immorality among the congregation.

The Epistles to Titus and Timothy are called Pastoral Epistles, because they offer pastoral advice to the Christian Church of the second century. Burton L. Mack (Who Wrote the New Testament) says the three letters were written at different times, undoubtedly during the first half of the second century.

Answer 2

Commentary and exlanation