All Articles For Bible Study Guide

In combating the evil philosophy that had affected the members of the church at Colosse, Paul sets forth the gospel of the headship of Christ. Rather than to turn from this world in an evil spirit of asceticism, Paul exhorts them to see its glory in relation to Christ the Head of all things.

In attempting to summarize the single message of this epistle, we encounter difficulty. This letter is a good example of Paul as pastor, instructing the rather young church of Thessalonica how to deal with specific problems that arose in her midst.

As we study the epistle to the Romans, it is helpful to consider the circumstances under which Paul wrote it. 

Among the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, God has seen fit to include four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Three of these gospels are known as the synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.They are called that because they take a general view of the ministry of our Lord. The authors either witnessed personally or had access to oral tradition or written material that dealt with this history. They wrote concerning this with a certain purpose in mind.

The hope of the coming Messiah lived in the soul of every faithful son of Abraham. Already in the Garden of Eden, God had promised, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). The Jews came to know the Promised One as the Messiah, a Hebrew name for the Anointed One. According to the law and the prophets, Christ was coming as Mediator of the covenant.

We continue with our outline of the book of Romans. So far we have seen that in Romans 1:16-11:36 the Holy Spirit led Paul to set forth the exalted theme of justification by faith. This we call the doctrinal part of the book. 

The Gospel of Luke spells out in greater detail the life and ministry of Jesus Christ than any of the other Gospels. The author, Luke, the beloved physician, also wrote the book of Acts. Hence his interest in a historically accurate account of the ministry of Jesus extended also to an account of the establishment of the New Testament church. In a real sense he is the inspired historian of the early church. 

We must now examine the letter itself to see how it is that the inspired apostle expresses his care for the church at Thessalonica which had so recently come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Paul assured the church at Corinth that when he comes, his personal dealings with them will be as open and faithful as his letter had been (vss. 7-11). His boasting of authority (vs. 8) is rooted in Paul’s being an instrument of the Holy Spirit to write by divine inspiration; hence he teaches infallibly. They must realize this is not for the destruction of the church (a personal victory of Paul at the expense of others), but for their edification (salvation).

Having considered an outline of the gospel of Matthew, we have yet to make some summary observations that deal with this gospel’s distinctive emphasis.