What Are the New Testament Letters?

In the New Testament, following the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, are twenty-one letters, or epistles, addressed to communities and leaders of the early Jesus movement. The first thirteen of these are attributed to Paul, or Saul of Tarsus, best known for spreading the “good news” of the advent of Jesus, whom he believed was the messianic redeemer, to gentile communities throughout Asia Minor and the Levant. However, scholars generally agree that only some of the letters claiming to be by Paul were actually written by him. These are typically referred to as “authentic letters of Paul,” while the others are called pseudonymous, or Deutero-Pauline, letters. The fourteenth letter, Hebrews, though traditionally associated with Paul, is in fact anonymous. The remaining seven letters are attributed to other leaders of the early Jesus movement: Peter, John, and two brothers of Jesus, James and Jude.

The authentic letters of Paul are the earliest writings in the New Testament and are some of our best sources for understanding how Christianity, originally a Jewish sect, became a distinct religion with mostly non-Jewish adherents. The Letters address a broad range of issues faced by the early Jesus movement, from practical questions relating to conduct and observance of Jewish law to philosophical and theological questions about the role of faith, the salvific nature of the crucifixion, and expectations for the end of days.