Will Vaus

 Ruins near Peter's House in Capernaum AUTHOR   The author of this letter identifies himself as “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ”. This letter was universally accepted in the early church as written by Peter, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus.   However, Peter’s authorship of this letter has been questioned by modern scholars. One point at issue is the fact that this letter appears to contain a quality of Greek writing that would seem to be beyond the capacity of a Galilean fisherman. This may be explained by what Peter says in 1 Peter 5:12, namely that he wrote this letter “with the help of Silas”.   Some scholars claim that this letter reflects the persecution under the reign of Domitian, long after Peter’s death. However, what Peter says about persecution in this letter could just as easily be a description of the suffering of Christians under Nero.    DATE   If the Apostle Peter is indeed the author of this letter, then the most likely date of...

AUTHOR   This letter, that we are about to read eleven verses from, is a fascinating one. The author calls himself “James,” a “servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Most scholars today aren’t sure who this James was, but the early church was convinced that the “James” who wrote this letter was a brother, or half-brother of Jesus. If that is so, then he was also one of the first leaders of the first church in Jerusalem.   DATE   If this letter was written by James, the brother of Jesus, then it may also be one of the earliest, if not the earliest, book written out of all the books in the New Testament. I say this because James died around AD 62. Some people think this letter may have been written as early as AD 45 or 50.   THEMES   James writes this letter “to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad”. The mention of the twelve tribes suggests a Jewish audience. But obviously, James is writing to other Jewish Christians like himself because he mentions ...

Today, we are continuing our journey along Route 66, and we are stopping off to visit the letter to the Hebrews…  AUTHOR  The writer of The Letter to the Hebrews does not identify himself. Despite this fact, many have thought over the past two thousand years that this letter was written by Paul. However, the writing style and distinct emphases of this letter are different from those of the Apostle Paul. Thus, most modern scholars are agreed that this letter is not part of the Pauline corpus. In Hebrews 2:3 the author says, “This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.” This indicates that the author was not with Jesus during his earthly ministry, nor had he received revelation directly from Jesus as had Paul. (See Galatians 1:11-12.)  There have been many guesses over the past two thousand years as to who wrote the Letter to the Hebrews. The early church father, Tertullian, suggested that the Letter to the Hebrews was ...