The catholic epistles (also called the general epistles) are seven epistles of the New Testament. Listed in order of their appearance in the New Testament, the catholic epistles are:
Naming
The use of the word catholic in the term catholic epistles' has been a convention going back to the fourth century. Untied to a particular denomination, it simply meant "general" at that time. Later, the word catholic would become part of the name of the Catholic Church. To avoid the assumption that these texts are therefore specific to the Catholic Church or Catholicism, alternative terms such as "general epistles" or "general missionary epistles" are used.
In the historical context, the word catholic probably signified that the letters were addressed to the general church, and not to specific, separate congregations or persons, as with the Pauline epistles. However, 2 John and 3 John appear to contradict this view, because their addresses are respectively to the "elect lady", speculated by many to be the church itself, and to "Gaius", about whom there has been much speculation but little in the way of conclusive proof as to his identity. Some historians therefore think that the label catholic was originally applied to just 1 John, and expanded to all other non-Pauline epistles later on. In general, with the exception of James, these writings are fairly obscure and receive less attention than the other parts of the New Testament.
Authorship
Three of the seven letters are anonymous. These three have traditionally been attributed to John the Apostle, the son of Zebedee and one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Consequently, these letters have been labelled the Johannine epistles, despite the fact that none of the epistles mentions any author. Most modern scholars believe the author is not John the Apostle, but there is no scholarly consensus for any particular historical figure. (See Authorship of the Johannine works.)
Two of the letters claim to have been written by Simon Peter, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Therefore, they have traditionally been called the Petrine epistles. However, most modern scholars agree the second epistle was probably not written by Peter, because it appears to have been written in the early 2nd century, long after Peter had died. Yet, opinions on the first epistle are more divided; many scholars do think this letter is authentic, although it is written in a polished Greek even better than that of Paul, which is unlikely for an illiterate Jewish fisherman, and adopts Paul's theology, which fits poorly with the tension between Paul and Peter.
References
External links
- Oxford University Press - Bibliographies
- Bible Hub Catholic Epistles
- Coptic Orthodox Church - Dictionary
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Catholic Epistles
- Ancient Faith Ministries - Introduction to the Catholic Epistles
- Notes on the General Epistles by C. I. Scofield