In the preceding chapter we have described the circumstances amid which the Christian letter-writing was

developed; and it was pointed out in conclusion that in the pressure of those circumstances, or rather in the

energetic use of the opportunities which the circumstances of the Roman Empire offered, there came into

existence a kind of letter, hitherto unknown in the world. The Christians developed the older class of letter

into new forms, applied it to new purposes, and placed it on a much higher plane than it had ever before

stood upon. In their hands communication by letter became one of the most important, if not the most

important, of the agencies for consolidating and maintaining the sense of unity among the scattered

members of the one universal Church. By means of letters the congregations expressed their mutual

affection and sympathy and sense of brotherhood, asked counsel of one another, gave advice with loving

freedom and plain speaking to one another, imparted mutual comfort and encouragement, and generally

expressed their sense of their common life. Thus arose a new category of epistles.

Dr. Deissmann in Bible Studies, p. 1ff, following older scholars, has rightly and clearly distinguished two

previously existing categories, the true letter-written by friend to friend or to friends, springing from the

momentary occasion, intended only for the eye of the person or persons to whom it is addressed--and the

literary epistle --written with an eye to the public, and studied with literary art. The literary epistle is

obviously later in origin than the true letter. It implies the previous existence of the true letter as a well-

recognised type of composition, and the deliberate choice of this type for imitation. Soon after the death of

Aristotle in 322 BC a fictitious collection of letters purporting to have been written by him was published.

Such forged letters are composed for a literary purpose with an eye to the opinion of the world. The forger

deliberately writes them after a certain type and with certain characteristics, which may cause them to be

taken for something which they are not really. A fabrication like this proves at least that the letter was

already an established form of composition; and the forger believed that he could calculate on rousing

public interest by falsely assuming this guise.

But it is impossible to follow Dr. Deissmann, it seems to me, when he goes on to reduce all the letters of the

New Testament to one or other of those categories. He shows, it is true, some consciousness that the two

older categories are insufficient, but the fact is that in the new conditions a new category had been

developed--the general letter addressed to a whole congregation or to the entire Church of Christ.

These are true letters, in the sense that they spring from the heart of the writer and speak direct to the heart

of the readers; that they were often written in answer to a question, or called forth by some special crisis in

the history of the persons addressed, so that they rise out of the actual situation in which the writer

conceives the readers to be placed; that they express the writer's keen and living sympathy with and

participation in the fortunes of the whole class addressed; that they are not affected by any thought of a

wider public than the persons whom he directly addresses; in short, he empties out his heart in them. On the

other hand, the letters of this class express general principles of life and conduct, religion and ethics,

applicable to a wider range of circumstances than those which have called forth the special letter; and they

appeal as emphatically and intimately to all Christians in all time as they did to those addressed in the first

It was not long before this wider appeal was perceived. It is evident that when St. Paul bade the Colossians

send his letter to be read in the Laodicean Church, and read themselves the Laodicean letter, he saw that

each was applicable to a wider circle than it directly addressed. But it is equally evident that the Colossian

letter was composed not with an eye to that wider circle, but directly to suit the critical situation in Colossae.

The wider application arises out of the essential similarity of human nature in both congregations and in all

mankind. The crisis that has occurred in one congregation is likely at some period to occur in other similar

bodies; and the letter which speaks direct to the heart of one man or one body of men will speak direct to the

heart of all men in virtue of their common human nature. Here lies the essential character of this new