Three Things You Should Know About the Epistles
Bible in a Minute is entering it's Epistle era!
Hello!
With a mere 148 chapters/videos to go, Bible in a Minute is quickly approaching our Epistles era. With only five chapters remaining in the book of Acts, we will be turning the page to Romans and the 21 Epistles in the Christian Scriptures.
Before we dive in on these 122 chapters (and then 22 chapters in Revelation), I wanted to share three things you should know about the Epistles:
The word “epistle” means “letter.” Techincally it comes from the greek word ἐπιστολή which means “to send.” And it’s a fitting title because these are the messages that were sent to some of the earliest Christian communities!
The epistles are in an intentional order. But it’s probably not what you think! They’re not listed in order of importance or chronology. Instead, they’re listed from longest to shortest! This even resulted in the two letters to the church in Corinth being placed in reverse chronological order — Paul wrote 2 Corinthians before he wrote 1 Corinthians (and these letters alude to two other letters he wrote this community as well).
Even though his name appears on (almost) all of them, Paul did not write them all. Scholars tend to agree that he wrote these – Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon – but the rest of them likely came from someone else writing in his name (and likely with their own agenda!).
It’s going to be an amazing experience to journey through the Epistles each day with Bible in a Minute. You can find this ongoing project on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Substack. Be sure you’re following along wherever you watch content online!
Rev. Jim Keat
Minister of Digital Worship & Education
p.s. Open Bible Study is on hiatus for the summer. It will start back again in September!
The Word Made Fresh
What’s your Odyssey with scripture?
This Sunday, Rev. Dr. Leah Fowler closes out our Timothy series with a question worth sitting with: is the Bible something we’re handed whole, or something we journey with — questioning, resisting, and rediscovering along the way? Drawing on 2 Timothy’s “kept the faith” and (fittingly) The Odyssey, Dr. Fowler invites us to think about which scripture stories have shaped us, and why.
Coming Sooooooon!
Mark your calendar because we’ve got a few things happening online that you won’t want to miss:
Monday through Friday at 8:00 am ET: Morning Prayer on Zoom
Sunday, August 9 at 10:30 am ET: Sunday Morning Worship
Sunday, August 9 at 12:30 pm ET: Virtual Coffee Hour
Wednesday, August 12 at 12:30 pm ET: Midweek Bible Study (Numbers 20-21)
Ready for Short Circles?
We’re planning another year of Short Circles at Riverside. And since you read all the way to the very bottom, we want to hear what themes or topics you would find most interesting! Short Circles are 2-3 week classes led by the Riverside clergy around different topics that let us connect more with one another and with our pastors. Leave a comment or send me an email and let us know what you’re interested in!