How Do I Know Paul’s Epistles Are Relevant for My Life?

00:00:00.000 | Welcome back to the Ask Pastor John podcast.

00:00:07.400 | We begin another week with a question from a listener named Tom who asks this, "Hello

00:00:11.680 | Pastor John, the epistles of Paul seem to be addressed to specific audiences in the

00:00:16.960 | cities of Rome and Corinth and Philippi and others."

00:00:20.320 | Indeed they are.

00:00:21.320 | "So how do we know that those epistles now apply to me and to other people today?

00:00:26.920 | I know that the epistles are to believers, but I'm confused how that logically includes

00:00:31.920 | believers today.

00:00:33.440 | How does the Bible answer that question?"

00:00:36.360 | It's a question that is really worth thinking about.

00:00:39.920 | We just kind of assume that, and it's good to pause and reflect on why is that?

00:00:47.720 | Why do we assume that they're so relevant and valid for us today?

00:00:51.540 | So let me think out loud for a few minutes and give maybe six or seven ideas or reasons

00:01:01.400 | from the Scriptures why even the parts of the Bible that are very focused on one particular

00:01:09.840 | situation two thousand years ago or more are relevant and are valid for us today.

00:01:17.120 | Number one, we know that Paul wanted at least one of his letters read elsewhere.

00:01:25.840 | So he says in Colossians 4:16, "And when this letter has been read among you, have

00:01:33.440 | it also read in the church of the Laodiceans."

00:01:38.100 | So the very least we can say is, even though there were peculiar relevancies to the church

00:01:45.320 | in Colossae, Paul thought the letter would be useful in another place.

00:01:50.680 | So that's a good pointer that Paul didn't think of his letters as useful only in one

00:01:56.880 | place or time.

00:01:59.180 | Number two, not all epistles were designated for only one church, and the fact that they

00:02:08.900 | were written to whole regions and churches would caution us from thinking that the letters

00:02:17.360 | have only tiny, small, particular congregational significance.

00:02:22.520 | So James, for example, starts, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus to the

00:02:28.880 | twelve tribes of the dispersion."

00:02:31.360 | Well, I think that's a code word for Christians all over the Roman Empire in all kinds of

00:02:37.960 | situations.

00:02:39.680 | Or Peter begins like this, 1 Peter, "Peter, an apostle to those who are elect exiles of

00:02:46.320 | the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia."

00:02:51.080 | My, my, my, that's a lot of places and a lot of diversity that this letter is set

00:02:56.320 | to.

00:02:57.320 | So let's be careful that we don't over-particularize the letters of the New Testament.

00:03:04.400 | Third response, "The apostles knew that the teachings they were giving were not merely

00:03:10.360 | their own, but were the words of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit always knows how to

00:03:17.920 | make His words valid and relevant for His people, His people of all time."

00:03:24.380 | So Paul says, for example, 1 Corinthians 2.12, "We have received not the Spirit of

00:03:29.320 | the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely

00:03:34.540 | given to us by God."

00:03:35.720 | And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting

00:03:43.220 | spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

00:03:46.920 | Those who are spiritual would include us, and the Holy Spirit is able to see all of

00:03:53.440 | those who will be reading His words and know what to say through the apostle Paul so that

00:03:58.640 | they would be useful.

00:04:00.320 | Number four, the fourth reason for thinking these are valid and relevant, "The teaching

00:04:05.980 | of the apostles was seen as the foundation of the whole church, universal, not just the

00:04:14.600 | foundation of a single local congregation."

00:04:17.680 | For example, Ephesians 2.19, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you

00:04:24.820 | are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation

00:04:32.080 | of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Himself being the cornerstone."

00:04:39.220 | So that verse is teaching that the apostles, that is, in their writing and in their teaching,

00:04:48.160 | have become a foundation for the household of God, universal, not just a particular church

00:04:56.080 | in Ephesus.

00:04:57.480 | And so the foundational nature of the apostolic teaching in their own minds is a pointer to

00:05:03.920 | the fact that the church of Jesus Christ would rest upon them and find them foundational

00:05:09.000 | and useful for their whole existence, the church's whole existence.

00:05:13.840 | Number five, much of the epistles are instruction about the nature of salvation, the nature

00:05:20.440 | of man, the nature of God, and His way of working in the world, and not about a situation

00:05:27.120 | in the local church.

00:05:29.760 | Here's just a few examples.

00:05:31.680 | First Corinthians 15.3, "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,

00:05:37.360 | that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that

00:05:42.000 | He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures."

00:05:44.920 | There's nothing about that sentence that is time-bound or situation-bound.

00:05:49.400 | It is an explication of the historical reality of the gospel.

00:05:54.000 | Here's another one, Romans 3.28, "We hold that a person is justified by faith apart

00:05:59.660 | from works of law, or is God the God of the Jews only?

00:06:03.000 | Is He not God of the Gentiles also?

00:06:05.000 | Yes, of the Gentiles also, since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith

00:06:11.320 | and the uncircumcised through faith."

00:06:13.440 | That's a statement that is not determined by any particular local situation.

00:06:18.320 | It's good for all time because it's rooted in the very nature of God.

00:06:22.960 | One more example, First Corinthians 2.14, "The natural person does not accept the things

00:06:29.760 | of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him.

00:06:32.120 | He's not able to understand them, for they are spiritually discerned."

00:06:35.960 | That's a statement about the nature of fallen man that's good for all time.

00:06:40.360 | So the point there is lots of instruction in the epistles is not related in particular

00:06:46.040 | to the situation or the time.

00:06:48.800 | And here's number six.

00:06:52.240 | The arguments that are made in the epistles for why we should act a certain way, even

00:06:59.520 | if it's in a particular time and place, are arguments that are based on truths that

00:07:05.440 | are valid across time.

00:07:08.040 | For example, Ephesians 4.25, "Having put away falsehood, let each of you speak truth

00:07:16.080 | with his neighbor."

00:07:18.280 | Now should we stop there and say, "Well, maybe that's not true for us today.

00:07:22.720 | Maybe we can speak lies to each other."

00:07:25.240 | He grounds it like this, "For we are members of one another."

00:07:30.800 | In other words, he roots the call for truthfulness in a truth that is true for all time.

00:07:37.080 | In the body of Christ, we are members of one another.

00:07:39.560 | Or Romans 12.19, "Beloved, never avenge yourselves.

00:07:43.840 | Leave it to the wrath of God."

00:07:45.080 | Now if a person says, "Well, maybe we should avenge ourselves today.

00:07:48.660 | Maybe that's only relevant for the Romans."

00:07:50.160 | No.

00:07:51.160 | Here's the way he argues, "For it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says

00:07:56.200 | the Lord."

00:07:57.200 | So the nature of the argument is in God, not in the situation.

00:08:01.160 | Here's another example, 1 Timothy 2.12, "I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise

00:08:05.680 | authority over man.

00:08:07.680 | She is to remain quiet.

00:08:09.360 | For Adam was formed first, then Eve.

00:08:12.800 | Adam was not deceived, but the woman."

00:08:15.160 | In other words, the argument for a woman's listening and submitting to the teaching of

00:08:22.800 | the men in the church isn't rooted in the local situation.

00:08:26.160 | It's rooted in creation.

00:08:28.920 | Or take Philemon.

00:08:30.080 | Now Philemon is the most personal book in the Bible.

00:08:35.080 | It is so unbelievably concrete and specific.

00:08:38.720 | And yet, Paul, writing to Philemon to try to get him to take back Onesimus, who had

00:08:46.280 | been converted under Paul's ministry in prison, he says, "Though I am bold enough in Christ

00:08:52.360 | to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you."

00:09:00.120 | Now, in that way of talking, he's showing us something about the nature of love that's

00:09:05.200 | not grounded in the situation at all.

00:09:07.840 | It's grounded in the nature of love that prefers to appeal rather than to command.

00:09:15.200 | And I've got a whole bunch of more illustrations, but that's enough.

00:09:18.640 | Let me just close like this.

00:09:20.120 | Number seven, "Would it be like God?"

00:09:25.640 | I don't think it would be like our Good Shepherd if he gave a book to his people in the first

00:09:32.560 | century that was useless to the people that he loves and intends to guide in the later

00:09:41.440 | centuries.

00:09:42.440 | Yeah.

00:09:43.440 | It's always good to ask foundational questions like this one and not make assumptions about

00:09:47.280 | the relevance of the Bible.

00:09:48.280 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:09:50.180 | This is the purpose of the podcast.

00:09:51.680 | I mean, taking important topics that are often assumed and then rethinking them.

00:09:55.840 | And to that end, thank you for the question, Tom.

00:09:58.640 | If you have a question, send it in to us.

00:10:00.120 | Go to our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn and click on the button to send us a brief

00:10:06.800 | email with your question.

00:10:09.120 | And there you can also take a look at our most popular episodes all time and browse

00:10:12.880 | our recent episodes and search through our entire collection.

00:10:15.920 | We have now over 900 episodes to date.

00:10:20.000 | Amazing.

00:10:21.000 | Well, why is John Pfeiffer so opposed to fun?

00:10:24.240 | Does he shudder in the presence of glee?

00:10:26.320 | Is he a moody killjoy, a cloudy curmudgeon, a melancholic puddle glum, a wet blanketed

00:10:32.080 | downer or just a sore headed codger?

00:10:35.360 | We'll find out more tomorrow about John Pfeiffer's beef with fun.

00:10:39.840 | I'm your host Tony Reike.

00:10:41.600 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.

00:10:43.440 | We'll see you then.

00:10:44.320 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

00:10:52.640 | you

How Do I Know Paul’s Epistles Are Relevant for My Life?

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