Royal Epistles

Paul writes letters. Letter-writing—or mail electronically composed and delivered—has become so commonplace that we don’t immediately grasp the significance of Paul’s activity. Noting the Old Testament background will shake us from our privatized assumptions about epistle-writing.

There are two main words for “letter” in the Old Testament. The first, sepher, has a broad meaning, referring to various forms of writing. Moses has a sepher of the law, and prophets write “books” of Chronicles of kings of Israel and Judah. When it means “letter,” the word refers to something that originates from an authority figure and bears the authority of the source. David sends a letter to Joab, giving him instructions about to dispose of Uriah (2 Samuel 11). A letter sealed with Ahab’s seal seals the fate of Naboth (1 Kings 21).

The other word for “epistle,” agereth, appears only in Chronicles, Nehemiah, and Esther. Hezekiah sends letters throughout Israel and Judah to invite all Israel to celebrate Passover (2 Chronicles 30:1, 6). Nehemiah requests letters from the Persian emperor to authorize safe passage back to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:7–9). Letters from Mordecai instruct Jews to celebrate Purim (Esther 9:26, 29).

Then comes Paul, writing letters that bear the authority of King Jesus and sending messengers bearing letters that give them safe passage to their destination. Perhaps by writing letters Paul himself is assuming a derivative form of royal authority. Paul’s letters are often deeply personal, but they are also instructions from Paul’s Lord, an exercise of authority from a distance. It’s no accident that Jesus’s messages to the angels of the churches (Revelation 2–3) begin with a royal-prophetic “Thus saith.”