Greetings, listeners. Have you ever opened the New Testament? Read for the Book of Romans and thought Why does this suddenly feel like I'm reading someone else's mail? There's a reason for that. Most of the books that come after Acts aren't stories. They're letters of what we refer to as epistles. And once you understand that, they become much easier to read. Today we're answering a simple question. What is an epistle? And more importantly, why does that matter for you? Because when you understand what these books are, you'll stop feeling lost in them and start hearing them the way they were meant to be heard. Well, welcome everyone. I'm your host, Jacqui Adewole, and this is the Bible Basics Podcast, where every two weeks we break down the basics of the Bible into understandable bite-sized chunks. Okay, let's start simple. An epistle is a letter. That's it. The word means a written message. In the ancient world, letters were how people stay connected across distance. There was no email, no group text, no video calls. If you wanted to teach, correct, encourage, or update someone, he wrote a letter. So when we talk about the epistles in the Bible, we're talking about real letters written by real people to real communities facing real situations. That changes how we read them. Because letters are personal, they are written into something. Maybe a problem, a question, a conflict, maybe a season of suffering. And that means we're stepping into an ongoing conversation. And here's why that matters. Sometimes when we open one of these books, it can feel like we walked into the middle of a conversation. And Paul sounds intense or corrective or deeply emotional, and we're not sure what sparked it. But when you remember this is a letter, you begin to ask questions. What happened before this? What problem is being addressed? Why does this matter so much now? Instead of reading one verse at a time, you start listening for the whole conversation. You notice repeated concerns. You hear the heart behind the correction. You understand the encouragement. And the letter begins to make sense. Now, where do we find these epistles in the Bible? Well, all of the epistles are in the New Testament. Out of its 27 books, 21 are letters. They begin with Romans and continue through Jude. After we read about Jesus' life and the birth of the church in Gospels and Acts, these letters show us how ordinary believers learn to follow Jesus together. These letters were written in the second half of the first century. Jesus had risen, the Holy Spirit had come, the message about Jesus was spreading. Now new communities were forming in cities across the Roman world, and they needed guidance. Okay, now who wrote these letters and who received them? The most well-known letter writer in the New Testament is Paul. Paul traveled from city to city telling people about Jesus. When new communities of believers formed, he stayed for a while. He taught them and then he eventually moved on. But he didn't stop caring for them. He wrote back. He wrote to believers in Rome. That letter is Romans. He wrote to the church in Corinth. We have 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, because that church was dealing with division, questions, and growing pains. He wrote to churches in a region called Galatia. That letter is Galatians, where believers were confused about what truly made someone part of God's family. He also wrote to Timothy, a younger pastor leading a church in Ephesus. Those letters are 1 and 2 Timothy. He wrote to Titus, who was organizing churches on the island of Crete. That letter is named Titus. And to Philemon, a believer navigating a deeply personal conflict involving forgiveness and reconciliation. That short letter is called Philemon. Other early church leaders wrote letters too. James, the brother of Jesus and a leader in Jerusalem Church. He wrote practical guidance to believers scattered beyond Israel. We know that letter as James. Peter, one of Jesus' twelve disciples, wrote to Christians across Asia Minor who were facing suffering and social pressure. One of his letters is 1 Peter. Then there's John, he was another of the 12 apostles. He wrote to churches under his care, urging them to hold on to the truth and to love one another. One of those letters is 1 John. And then there's Hebrews. This letter doesn't name its author. From the earliest days of the church, Christians recognized its authority and spiritual depth, but we simply do not know who wrote it. What we do know is that it was written to believers who were tired and tempted to drift away, and it calls them to endure. Every one of these writers had a unique calling from the Lord Jesus. Part of that calling included writing letters to guide and strengthen his people. These letters were not casual opinions. They were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and they have been preserved as a part of the New Testament for the church in every generation. So when you read the epistles, you're not reading anonymous religious material. You're hearing the voices of pastors, missionaries, and church leaders writing to real communities and trusting that God would continue to use those words long after the ink had dried. Now let's talk a little about the letters themselves. Ancient letters followed a recognizable pattern. They usually included an opening. That's where they named the sender and the recipients, often including a thanksgiving. Then there's the main section explaining why the letter was written. And finally a conclusion with final instructions, encouragement, and greetings. Most letters were read out loud when they arrived. Imagine the whole church gathered. Someone stands up and begins to read. Those words were meant to be heard in community. That helps explain why some letters feel emotional or urgent or deeply personal. They were written for specific people in specific moments. Now, this is the big question. I know you all are thinking it. If they were written to them, are they really for us? Yes, but we read them wisely. We remember we are not the original audience. We are part of a long line of readers who have received these letters and preserved them. The same spirit who guided the writers still uses those words to shape and strengthen us, believers, today. The situations may look different, but the human heart is not so different. Faith, conflict, leadership, suffering, hope, love. We still wrestle with the same things. The gospels show us who Jesus is and what he did. The epistles show us what it looks like to live in response to that. They explain the effects of his life, his death, and his resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. They help ordinary believers live faithful lives in a complicated world. So let's just talk a little about how we might read them well. Here's a simple practice. When you open one of these letters, slow down at the beginning, notice who's writing, notice who's receiving it, and ask what might they have been facing? And then read the whole letter as one conversation, not as isolated verses. Instead of asking only, what does this tell me to do? Also ask, what was the concern being addressed? That question opens up everything. Now let's look at the big picture takeaway. When you open one of these letters, you're hearing the voice of someone who loved the church, someone who saw confusion and wanted clarity, saw conflict and wanted unity, saw fear and wanted courage. These were not abstract religious essays. They were written to guide and study and strengthen believers. And through the Holy Spirit, that same loving concern still reaches us. We're not the first to wrestle with doubt or division or pressure from the culture around us. The early Christians faced it too. And these letters help them remain faithful, and they can help us too. So the next time you open one of these epistles, remember you're not reading random religious rules. You're reading a letter written to real people trying to follow Jesus in a complicated world. It's God's voice. And that makes these letters not just ancient documents, but living guidance for us today. Until next time, keep reading, keep seeking, and keep growing in your faith.