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58-795: (Redirected from Apostolic Letter ) The term apostolic letter ( littera apostolica in Latin) can designate: Bible parts, which are: the Pauline epistles the Epistle to the Hebrews the seven catholic epistles One of the major types of ecclesiastical document issued by the pope or in his name in Antiquity in the medieval period in modern times See also [ edit ] Apostolic constitution Topics referred to by

116-518: A date in the early 2nd century is possible. There are two major textual variants of Acts, the Western text-type and the Alexandrian . The oldest complete Alexandrian manuscripts date from the 4th century and the oldest Western ones from the 6th, with fragments and citations going back to the 3rd. Western texts of Acts are 6.2–8.4% longer than Alexandrian texts, the additions tending to enhance

174-474: A harmonious church is quite at odds with that given by Paul's letters, and it omits important events such as the deaths of both Peter and Paul. The mid-19th-century scholar Ferdinand Baur suggested that the author had re-written history to present a united Peter and Paul and advance a single orthodoxy against the Marcionites (Marcion was a 2nd-century heretic who wished to cut Christianity off entirely from

232-586: A member of The Twelve. On Pentecost , the Holy Spirit descends and confers God's power on them, and Peter and John preach to many in Jerusalem and perform healings, casting out of evil spirits , and raising of the dead . The first believers share all property in common , eat in each other's homes, and worship together. At first many Jews follow Christ and are baptized, but the followers of Jesus begin to be increasingly persecuted by other Jews. Stephen

290-465: A second copy to the recipient(s); surviving collections of ancient letters sometimes originated from the senders' copies, at other times from the recipients' copies. A collection of Paul's letters circulated separately from other early Christian writings and later became part of the New Testament. When the canon was established, the gospels and Paul's letters were the core of what would become

348-555: A two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts . Together they account for 27.5% of the New Testament , the largest contribution attributed to a single author, providing the framework for both the Church's liturgical calendar and the historical outline into which later generations have fitted their idea of the story of Jesus and the early church . The author is not named in either volume. According to Church tradition dating from

406-621: Is accused of blasphemy and stoned . Stephen's death marks a major turning point: the Jews have rejected the message, and henceforth it will be taken to the Gentiles. The death of Stephen initiates persecution, and many followers of Jesus leave Jerusalem. The message is taken to the Samaritans, a people rejected by Jews, and to the Gentiles . Saul of Tarsus , one of the Jews who persecuted

464-671: Is an attempt to answer a theological problem, namely how the Messiah of the Jews came to have an overwhelmingly non-Jewish church; the answer it provides is that the message of Christ was sent to the Gentiles because the Jews rejected it . Luke–Acts can also be seen as a defense of the Jesus movement addressed to the Jews: the bulk of the speeches and sermons in Acts are addressed to Jewish audiences, with

522-587: Is around 62 AD, the time of Paul's imprisonment in Rome, but most scholars date the work to 80–90 AD on the grounds that it uses Mark as a source, looks back on the destruction of Jerusalem, and does not show any awareness of the letters of Paul (which began circulating late in the first century); if it does show awareness of the Pauline epistles, and also of the work of the Jewish historian Josephus, as some believe, then

580-441: Is considerably different from Paul's on key points and does not represent Paul's own views accurately." He was educated, a man of means, probably urban, and someone who respected manual work, although not a worker himself; this is significant, because more high-brow writers of the time looked down on the artisans and small business people who made up the early church of Paul and were presumably Luke's audience. The interpretation of

638-510: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Pauline epistles Most scholars believe that Paul actually wrote seven of the thirteen Pauline epistles ( Galatians , Romans , 1 Corinthians , 2 Corinthians , Philemon , Philippians , 1 Thessalonians ), while three of the epistles in Paul's name are widely seen as pseudepigraphic ( 1 Timothy , 2 Timothy , and Titus ). Whether Paul wrote

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696-465: Is for all mankind. The Gentile church is established in Antioch (north-western Syria, the third-largest city of the empire), and here Christ's followers are first called Christians. The mission to the Gentiles is promoted from Antioch and confirmed at a meeting in Jerusalem between Paul and the leadership of the Jerusalem church. Paul spends the next few years traveling through western Asia Minor and

754-473: Is intended as a work of "edification", meaning "the empirical demonstration that virtue is superior to vice." The work also engages with the question of a Christian's proper relationship with the Roman Empire, the civil power of the day: could a Christian obey God and also Caesar? The answer is ambiguous. The Romans never move against Jesus or his followers unless provoked by the Jews, in the trial scenes

812-478: Is lowered down the walls in a basket. But details of these same incidents are frequently contradictory: for example, according to Paul it was a pagan king who was trying to arrest him in Damascus, but according to Luke it was the Jews (2 Corinthians 11:33 and Acts 9:24). Acts speaks of "Christians" and "disciples", but Paul never uses either term, and it is striking that Acts never mentions Paul being in conflict with

870-520: Is reflected in Peter's speech to the Roman centurion, Cornelius (Acts 10:36). Peter states that "this one" [οὗτος], i.e. Jesus, "is lord [κύριος] of all." The title, κύριος, was often ascribed to the Roman emperor in antiquity, rendering its use by Luke as an appellation for Jesus an unsubtle challenge to the emperor's authority. As the second part of the two-part work Luke–Acts, Acts has significant links to

928-562: Is the geographic movement from Jerusalem, centre of God's Covenantal people, the Jews, to Rome, centre of the Gentile world. This structure reaches back to the author's preceding work, the Gospel of Luke , and is signaled by parallel scenes such as Paul's utterance in Acts 19:21, which echoes Jesus's words in Luke 9:51: Paul has Rome as his destination, as Jesus had Jerusalem. The second key element

986-472: Is the roles of Peter and Paul, the first representing the Jewish Christian church, the second the mission to the Gentiles. The Gospel of Luke began with a prologue addressed to Theophilus; Acts likewise opens with an address to Theophilus and refers to "my earlier book", almost certainly the gospel. The apostles and other followers of Jesus meet and elect Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot as

1044-511: Is used in Acts 10, and Mark's account of the accusation that Jesus has attacked the Temple (Mark 14:58) is used in a story about Stephen (Acts 6:14). There are also points of contacts (meaning suggestive parallels but something less than clear evidence) with 1 Peter , the Letter to the Hebrews , and 1 Clement. Other sources can only be inferred from internal evidence—the traditional explanation of

1102-577: The Gospel of Luke . Major turning points in the structure of Acts find parallels in Luke: the presentation of the child Jesus in the Temple parallels the opening of Acts in the Temple, Jesus's forty days of testing in the wilderness prior to his mission parallel the forty days prior to his Ascension in Acts, the mission of Jesus in Samaria and the Decapolis (the lands of the Samaritans and Gentiles) parallels

1160-611: The Kingdom of God and teaching freely about "the Lord Jesus Christ". Acts ends abruptly without recording the outcome of Paul's legal troubles. Prior to the 1950s, Luke–Acts was seen as a historical work, written to defend Christianity before the Romans or Paul against his detractors; since then the tendency has been to see the work as primarily theological. Luke's theology is expressed primarily through his overarching plot,

1218-560: The ascension of Jesus to Heaven . The early chapters, set in Jerusalem , describe the Day of Pentecost (the coming of the Holy Spirit ), the expulsion of Christians from Jerusalem and the establishment of the church at Antioch . The later chapters narrate the continuation of the message under Paul the Apostle and concludes with his imprisonment in Rome, where he awaits trial . Luke–Acts

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1276-417: The "we" passages as indicative that the writer was a historical eyewitness (whether Luke the evangelist or not), remains the most influential in current biblical studies. Objections to this viewpoint include the above claim that Luke-Acts contains differences in theology and historical narrative which are irreconcilable with the authentic letters of Paul the Apostle . The earliest possible date for Luke-Acts

1334-547: The 16th century onwards opinion steadily moved against Pauline authorship and few scholars now ascribe it to Paul, mostly because it does not read like any of his other epistles in style and content and because the epistle does not indicate that Paul is the author, unlike the others. A number of scholars have argued that from biographic details from Paul, he likely suffered from some physical impediment such as vision loss or damaged hands and Paul does explicitly state, or even names, in multiple epistles that he used secretaries, which

1392-693: The 2nd century, the author was Luke , named as a companion of the apostle Paul in three of the letters attributed to Paul himself; this view is still sometimes advanced, but "a critical consensus emphasizes the countless contradictions between the account in Acts and the authentic Pauline letters." (An example can be seen by comparing Acts's accounts of Paul's conversion (Acts 9:1–31, 22:6–21, and 26:9–23) with Paul's own statement that he remained unknown to Christians in Judea after that event (Galatians 1:17–24).) The author "is an admirer of Paul, but does not share Paul's own view of himself as an apostle; his own theology

1450-536: The Aegean, preaching, converting, and founding new churches. On a visit to Jerusalem he is set on by a Jewish mob. Saved by the Roman commander, he is accused by the Jews of being a revolutionary , the "ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes", and imprisoned. Later, Paul asserts his right as a Roman citizen, to be tried in Rome and is sent by sea to Rome, where he spends another two years under house arrest, proclaiming

1508-588: The Apostles" ( Praxeis Apostolon ) would seem to identify it with the genre telling of the deeds and achievements of great men ( praxeis ), but it was not the title given by the author. The anonymous author aligned Luke–Acts to the "narratives" (διήγησις, diēgēsis ) which many others had written, and described his own work as an "orderly account" (ἀκριβῶς καθεξῆς). It lacks exact analogies in Hellenistic or Jewish literature. The author may have taken as his model

1566-540: The Baptist , each time as a sign of God's approval. The Holy Spirit represents God's power (at his ascension, Jesus tells his followers, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you"): through it the disciples are given speech to convert thousands in Jerusalem, forming the first church (the term is used for the first time in Acts 5). One issue debated by scholars is Luke's political vision regarding

1624-481: The Christian missionaries are always cleared of charges of violating Roman laws, and Acts ends with Paul in Rome proclaiming the Christian message under Roman protection; at the same time, Luke makes clear that the Romans, like all earthly rulers, receive their authority from Satan, while Christ is ruler of the kingdom of God . Acts is divided into 28 chapters . The work has two key structural principles. The first

1682-492: The Earth." They then proceed to do so, in the order outlined: first Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, then the entire (Roman) world. For Luke, the Holy Spirit is the driving force behind the spread of the Christian message, and he places more emphasis on it than do any of the other evangelists. The Spirit is "poured out" at Pentecost on the first Samaritan and Gentile believers and on disciples who had been baptised only by John

1740-568: The Gentiles because the Jews rejected it. This theme is introduced in Chapter 4 of the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus, rejected in Nazareth, recalls the rejection of prophets. at the end of the gospel he commands his disciples to preach his message to all nations, "beginning from Jerusalem." He repeats the command in Acts, telling them to preach "in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of

1798-488: The Greco-Roman world at large. He begins his gospel with a preface addressed to Theophilus ( Luke 1:3 ; cf. Acts 1:1 ), informing him of his intention to provide an "ordered account" of events which will lead his reader to "certainty". He did not write in order to provide Theophilus with historical justification—"did it happen?"—but to encourage faith—"what happened, and what does it all mean?" Acts (or Luke–Acts)

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1856-424: The Jerusalem church and places Paul under the authority of the Jerusalem church and its leaders, especially James and Peter (Acts 15 vs. Galatians 2). Acts omits much from the letters, notably Paul's problems with his congregations (internal difficulties are said to be the fault of the Jews instead), and his apparent final rejection by the church leaders in Jerusalem (Acts has Paul and Barnabas deliver an offering that

1914-523: The Jewish rejection of the Messiah and the role of the Holy Spirit, in ways that are stylistically different from the rest of Acts. The majority of scholars prefer the Alexandrian (shorter) text-type over the Western as the more authentic, but this same argument would favour the Western over the Alexandrian for the Gospel of Luke, as in that case the Western version is the shorter. The title "Acts of

1972-474: The Jews had rejected the Messiah. The name "Acts of the Apostles" was first used by Irenaeus in the late 2nd century. It is not known whether this was an existing name for the book or one invented by Irenaeus; it does seem clear that it was not given by the author, as the word práxeis (deeds, acts) only appears once in the text ( Acts 19 :18) and there it refers not to the apostles but to deeds confessed by their followers. The Gospel of Luke and Acts make up

2030-574: The Jews); Baur continues to have enormous influence, but today there is less interest in determining the historical accuracy of Acts (although this has never died out) than in understanding the author's theological program. Luke was written to be read aloud to a group of Jesus-followers gathered in a house to share the Lord's supper. The author assumes an educated Greek-speaking audience, but directs his attention to specifically Christian concerns rather than to

2088-632: The Messianic kingdom by Israel, and God's sovereign establishment of the church for both Jews and Gentiles. Acts agrees with Paul's letters on the major outline of Paul's career: he is converted and becomes a Christian missionary and apostle, establishing new churches in Asia Minor and the Aegean and struggling to free Gentile Christians from the Jewish Law . There are also agreements on many incidents, such as Paul's escape from Damascus, where he

2146-630: The New Testament. Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( Koinē Greek : Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων , Práxeis Apostólōn ; Latin : Actūs Apostolōrum ) is the fifth book of the New Testament ; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire . Acts and the Gospel of Luke make up a two-part work, Luke–Acts , by the same anonymous author. Traditionally,

2204-476: The Romans serving as external arbiters on disputes concerning Jewish customs and law. On the one hand, Luke portrays the followers of Jesus as a sect of the Jews , and therefore entitled to legal protection as a recognised religion; on the other, Luke seems unclear as to the future that God intends for Jews and Christians, celebrating the Jewishness of Jesus and his immediate followers, while also stressing how

2262-412: The anonymous Epistle to the Hebrews is placed at the end of Paul's letters and before the general epistles . This practice was popularized through the 4th century Vulgate by Jerome , who was aware of ancient doubts about its authorship , and is also followed in most medieval Byzantine manuscripts with hardly any exceptions. The placement of Hebrews among the Pauline epistles is less consistent in

2320-485: The author is believed to be Luke the Evangelist , a doctor who travelled with Paul the Apostle . It is usually dated to around 80–90 AD, although some scholars suggest 110–120 AD. The first part, the Gospel of Luke, tells how God fulfilled his plan for the world's salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth . Acts continues the story of Christianity in the 1st century , beginning with

2378-519: The consensus dates are probably incorrect. The letters thought to be pseudepigraphic by many scholars (traditional dating given): The content of these letters strongly suggests they were written a decade or more later than the traditional dates. Finally, Epistle to the Hebrews , although anonymous and not really in the form of a letter, has long been included among Paul's collected letters. Although some churches ascribe Hebrews to Paul, neither most of Christianity nor modern scholarship does so. In

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2436-440: The end of the New Testament. In all of these epistles, except the Epistle to the Hebrews , the author and writer does claim to be Paul. The contested letters may have been written using Paul's name, as it was common to attribute at that point in history. Seven letters (with consensus dates) considered genuine by most scholars: The three letters on which scholars are about evenly divided: If these letters are inauthentic, then

2494-515: The followers of Jesus, is converted by a vision to become a follower of Christ (an event which Luke regards as so important that he relates it three times). Peter, directed by a series of visions, preaches to Cornelius the Centurion , a Gentile God-fearer, who becomes a follower of Christ. The Holy Spirit descends on Cornelius and his guests, thus confirming that the message of eternal life in Christ

2552-416: The illegal practice of magic (Acts 19:17–19) as well as the amicability of his rapport with Roman officials such as Sergius Paulus (Acts 13:6–12) and Festus (Acts 26:30–32). Furthermore, Acts does not include any account of a struggle between Christians and the Roman government as a result of the latter's imperial cult. Thus Paul is depicted as a moderating presence between the church and the Roman Empire. On

2610-442: The manuscripts: Paul's own writings are sometimes thought to indicate several of his letters that have not been preserved: Several other epistles were attributed to Paul during the course of history but are now considered pseudepigraphic : David Trobisch finds it likely that Paul first collected his letters for publication himself. It was normal practice in Paul's time for letter writers to keep one copy for themselves and send

2668-603: The missions of the Apostles in Samaria and the Gentile lands, and so on (see Gospel of Luke ). These parallels continue through both books, contributing to the narrative unity of the work. However, scholars have noted differences between Luke and Acts, including some apparent contradictions. For example, the gospel seems to place the Ascension on Easter Sunday , shortly after the Resurrection , while Acts 1 puts it forty days later. Such differences have led to debates over

2726-414: The nature of the unity between the two books. While not seriously questioning the single authorship of Luke–Acts, these variations suggest a complex literary structure that balances thematic continuity with narrative development across two volumes. Literary studies have explored how Luke sets the stage in his gospel for key themes that recur and develop throughout Acts, including the offer to and rejection of

2784-489: The order they appear in the New Testament, the Pauline epistles are: This ordering is remarkably consistent in the manuscript tradition, with very few deviations. The evident principle of organization is descending length of the Greek text, but keeping the three pastoral epistles addressed to individuals in a separate final section. The only anomaly is that Galatians precedes the slightly longer Ephesians. In modern editions,

2842-417: The other hand, events such as the imprisonment of Paul at the hands of the empire (Acts 22–28) as well as several encounters that reflect negatively on Roman officials (for instance, Felix's desire for a bribe from Paul in Acts 24:26) function as concrete points of conflict between Rome and the early church. Perhaps the most significant point of tension between Roman imperial ideology and Luke's political vision

2900-679: The relationship between the early church and the Roman Empire. On the one hand, Luke generally does not portray this interaction as one of direct conflict. Rather, there are ways in which each may have considered having a relationship with the other rather advantageous to its own cause. For example, early Christians may have appreciated hearing about the protection Paul received from Roman officials against Gentile rioters in Philippi (Acts 16:16–40) and Ephesus (Acts 19:23–41), and against Jewish rioters on two occasions (Acts 17:1–17; Acts 18:12–17). Meanwhile, Roman readers may have approved of Paul's censure of

2958-429: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Apostolic letter . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Apostolic_letter&oldid=1175313741 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

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3016-596: The sources for Acts can only be guessed at, but the author would have had access to the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures), the Gospel of Mark , and either the hypothetical collection of "sayings of Jesus" called the Q source or the Gospel of Matthew . He transposed a few incidents from Mark's gospel to the time of the Apostles—for example, the material about "clean" and "unclean" foods in Mark 7

3074-410: The three "we" passages, for example, is that they represent eyewitness accounts. The search for such inferred sources was popular in the 19th century, but by the mid-20th it had largely been abandoned. Acts was read as a reliable history of the early church well into the post-Reformation era, but by the 17th century biblical scholars began to notice that it was incomplete and tendentious—its picture of

3132-450: The three other epistles in his name ( 2 Thessalonians , Ephesians and Colossians ) is widely debated. According to some scholars, Paul wrote the questionable letters with the help of a secretary, or amanuensis , who would have influenced their style, if not their theological content. The Epistle to the Hebrews , although it does not bear his name, was traditionally considered Pauline (although Rome questioned its authorship), but from

3190-565: The way scenes, themes and characters combine to construct his specific worldview. His "salvation history" stretches from the Creation to the present time of his readers, in three ages: first, the time of "the Law and the Prophets" (Luke 16:16), the period beginning with Genesis and ending with the appearance of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5–3:1); second, the epoch of Jesus, in which the Kingdom of God

3248-444: The works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus , who wrote a well-known history of Rome, or the Jewish historian Josephus , author of a history of the Jews . Like them, he anchors his history by dating the birth of the founder (Romulus for Dionysius, Moses for Josephus, Jesus for Luke) and like them he tells how the founder is born from God, taught authoritatively, and appeared to witnesses after death before ascending to heaven. By and large

3306-472: Was a common practice in the Greco-Roman world; likely explaining the epistles that are seemingly non-Pauline. The Pauline epistles are usually placed between the Acts of the Apostles and the catholic epistles (also called the general epistles) in modern editions. Most Greek manuscripts place the general epistles first, and a few minuscules ( 175 , 325 , 336 , and 1424 ) place the Pauline epistles at

3364-410: Was preached (Luke 3:2–24:51); and finally the period of the Church, which began when the risen Christ was taken into Heaven, and would end with his second coming . Luke–Acts is an attempt to answer a theological problem, namely how the Messiah, promised to the Jews, came to have an overwhelmingly non-Jewish church; the answer it provides, and its central theme, is that the message of Christ was sent to

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