Module 7 Lecture Transcripts
Lecture 12: Catholic Epistles
In this module we are studying what are called the Catholic Epistles. First, it’s important to know what
“catholic” means. It has nothing to do with the Roman Catholic Church or the Pope, catholic means
“universal.” You may already be familiar with this meaning. Towards the end of the Apostles’ Creed we
affirm that “we believe in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church,” which means we believe in the
one universal Church that was instituted by Christ and carried forth by His apostles.
Capitalization is important here! Catholic with a capital “C” refers to the Roman Catholic Church;
catholic with a lower case “c” means universal. Similarly, you may have noticed in the lecture transcripts
that sometimes I will talk about the Church with a capital “C” and other times I’ll put church with a lower
case “c;” this is not an error! Capital “C” Church is referring to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic
Church; lower case “c” church refers to individual communities of believers. So your local church is a
lower case “c” church. It’s a small distinction, but an important one that reminds us that all Christians
are followers of Christ and part of the one Church of Christ.
Now back to the Catholic Epistles; these are called catholic because they are considered
universal or general epistles, meant for all faithful Christian communities rather than specific
communities like we saw with the Pauline Epistles. The Catholic epistles address general situations that
all believers would have faced and thus were intended to be circulated between all of the churches
throughout the Roman Empire.
We will return to the the themes of these “general situations” in a moment, but I do want to
point out that naming these the Catholic Epistles is a bit of a misnomer. As Smith and Kim will point out
in each individual chapter, some of what we read are sermons or theological tracts. Now they were sent
and circulated like letters, so it’s fine to continue calling them the “Catholic Epistles,” but it is really
helpful to recognize the genre of the books we will read this week before we start reading them- I think
it will make a difference in how you receive them.
Theme of Suffering
Let’s return to those general situations that these Catholic Epistles cover. You’ll notice that a
common thread is the theme of suffering under the Roman Empire. Many Jews and Christians were
living in exile, or diaspora, as Smith and Kim will call it. This could have been a physical removal from
their homeland, or could even refer to being social outcasts within their own community (although this
wouldn’t have been considered “dispora”). As we’ve covered how counter-cultural the calls of Jesus
were to the lives of first-century believers, it’s understandable how the lives of Christians would have
rubbed those in power, especially those in political power, Rome, in the wrong way. Christians were not
only considered suspicious and odd, they were also imprisoned and killed, as we’ve seen in Acts. Thus,
as Christians faced this life-threatening situation because of their faith, they needed tactics that would
help them endure and survive exile and persecution not only as individuals, but as the Church. One of
the key techniques for the survival of the Church was the establishment of the institutional side of the
Church, like we saw in the Pastoral Letters in the last module. Establishing the institution of the Church
helped solidify Christian identity, provide a hierarchy of leadership, and a moral code, all of which
allowed for the community to keep marching forward even when individuals came under distress.
Beyond the threat of persecution, there was another reason Christians were concerned with the
survival of their community, and it’s something else I’ve already mentioned. As we saw with some of
Paul’s letters, many Christians, like Paul, expected Jesus to return in their lifetime. You may remember in
the Gospels that Jesus’ own statements about His return do sound imminent. But as the end of the first
century came around, the first generation of disciples starting dying, and Jesus still hadn’t returned!
Here too the message was to stick together, stick to the continuation of Jesus’s mission, the Church, and
persevere, keep going until Jesus did return.
Solutions Offered
In the remainder of this lecture, I want discuss here two solutions that are offered in the
Catholic Epistles. One strategy for survival is to adapt a common cultural philosophy to the Church’s life
and thought. In 1 Peter, we see the use of Stoicism as a way to try to steady the life of the church. One
of Stoicism’s basic principles is that all things are ordered for the good of the whole and that goodness in
life is found in accepting your place in the order of the world. In 1 Peter we see this repackaged to say
that all things in the world and society have been ordered by God for the good of the whole and that
moral goodness was found in accepting your role in society and playing that role well. The household
codes are a good example of this as they define roles and state their moral purpose. We see the author
of 1 Peter encouraging believers to be like good citizens and not look like threats to Rome. Now, is this
strategy helpful? Is it telling marginalized people just to accept their place, and does that run counter to
Jesus’ teachings? Is it a way for people with power and knowledge within the church to keep power and
keep weaker people submissive? Or are the teaching of Jesus, which center people at the margins still
operating and thus, this message is subversive to the Roman concept and application of Stoicism? I hope
to hear your thoughts on this in our forum this week.
Next, I want to turn to the book of James. The strategy offered there is that it is faith in God’s
grace that allows believers to persevere. However, as we discussed with Paul, so here too, faith is not
simply belief, but requires action, hence James famously writes “faith without works is dead.” One of
the specific situations that the book of James is addressing is some influential members of a church
taking advantage of poorer members. The author however reminds believers that their job is to give life
to those who are having life crushed out of them by the oppressive powers of the world. While the rest
of the world may order their lives around “getting ahead” to survive, the survival of the Church can only
be achieved by continuing the work of Jesus, to minister to and give life to the downtrodden, oppressed,
poor, and marginalized. To forget this mission and to order the church around wealth or prosperity
starts to look more like Rome than Jesus.
Conclusion
How are we to persevere in the faith is a key questioned asked and answered in the Catholic Epistles.
We are reminded that we are to stand firm in love and faith so that we don’t begin to live according to
unjust ways of the world around us. We will continue this discussion of preserving in the face of
suffering in our next and final module as we turn to the book of Revelation.
