Letter

Holman Bible Dictionary

Old Testament One of the earliest biblical references to a letter was the letter that David wrote to Joab about Uriah ( 2 Samuel 11:14-15 ). Ironically, Uriah was the bearer of the letter that contained orders for his own death. This letter was typical of many in the Old Testament in its brevity and terseness. This can be accounted for by the fact that the letter was from king to subject; thus, many standard expressions of polite address have been omitted (compare  Ezra 4:17;  Ezra 5:7 ).

Jezebel sent letters in Ahab's name ordering Naboth's death. She sealed the letters with Ahab's seal ( 1 Kings 21:8-11 ). The king of Syria sent Naaman to the king of Israel with a letter instructing that Naaman be cured of his leprosy ( 2 Kings 5:5-6 ). Jehu sent letters to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, ordering that the sons of Ahab be killed ( 2 Kings 10:1-7 ). King Hezekiah of Judah sent letters by couriers ordering that the Passover be kept ( 2 Chronicles 30:1-6 ). The king of Assyria sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah ( 2 Kings 19:8-14 ). The king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and presents ( 2 Kings 20:12 ).

 Jeremiah 29:1 contains a different kind of letter. The prophet Jeremiah wrote a pastoral letter to Jewish exiles in Babylon. Unable to be with the exiles, Jeremiah wrote words of exhortation and encouragement. The content, purpose, and tone of this letter foreshadowed the letters that became books of the New Testament and sound very much like the letters Paul, Peter, James, and John wrote.

The period of the restoration resulted in many letters. The Persian Empire must have been a fertile period for letter writing (See History Of Israel ). These letters are mentioned in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. See  Ezra 4-6;  Nehemiah 2:1;  Nehemiah 6:1;  Esther 3:1;  Esther 8:1;  Esther 9:1 .

New Testament Letters are even more important in the New Testament. A number of references appear to letters within other Bible books. More than half of the books of the New Testament are letters.

The Book of Acts contains several letters and references to letters. When Saul went to Damascus to persecute believers, he went armed with letters from the high priest ( Acts 9:1-2;  Acts 22:5 ). After the Jerusalem conference, a letter was written to inform the churches of the decision that had been reached. Men were selected to carry the letter and to explain it to the churches ( Acts 15:22-23 ). (Compare also  Acts 23:16-35;  Acts 28:21;  1 Corinthians 16:3;  2 Corinthians 3:1-2 ).

Archaeological finds have confirmed that letters were common. Many letters were written on papyrus for business and personal reasons. See Paper; Papyrus . These archaeological finds also show that the form of letters in the New Testament reflected the letters of that time.

The nature of Paul's work made letters an important means of communication. He traveled widely and established many churches. He spent part of his time imprisoned. He continued and expanded his ministry by writing letters. He wrote letters to places he had been and to places he hoped to visit. Paul's critics in Corinth accused Paul of being bolder in his letters than in his personal ministry. Paul denied the charge. He viewed his letters as consistent with what he would have said had he been there in person ( 2 Corinthians 10:9-11 ).

Most of Paul's letter were addressed to churches. Even the letters addressed to individuals were designed to minister to churches. The so-called Pastoral Letters to Timothy and Titus were sent to men who were working with churches in given areas. Even the Letter to Philemon included the church in its greeting ( Philippians 1:1-2 ).

The Roman Empire had a postal service, but it did not include personal letters. Paul's letters, therefore, were carried by messengers (see  Philippians 2:25;  Colossians 4:7-8 ).

Most of Paul's letters were designed to be read to entire churches.  Colossians 4:16 instructed the Colossian church to read the letter and to pass it along to the Laodicean church. The Colossians also were told to read the letter that Paul had written to the Laodiceans. Scholars disagree about the identity of the letter to the Laodiceans. Some say that it was the Letter to the Ephesians. Others feel that it was the Letter to Philemon. Or it may have been a letter that has not survived. Paul wrote other letters that have not survived. Perhaps two such letters are mentioned in   1 Corinthians 5:9 and   2 Corinthians 7:8 .

 2 Peter 3:15-16 mentions the difficulty some people had in understanding Paul's letters. This implies that Paul's letters were widely read. It also shows that some first-century readers had problems understanding all that Paul wrote.

The New Testament contains other letters. The two Letters of Peter and the Letter of Jude follow the familiar first-century form of letters.

The salutation is the only letter characteristic that has been positively identified in the Book of James. The content and approach of James is that of a wisdom writing. (See James; Wisdom and Wisemen). Hebrews on the other hand, begins like a sermon and ends like a letter. See Hebrews .

The three letters of John have some distinctives in style and format; only 2,3John have the basic letter format. Their brevity parallels the vast majority of surviving Hellenistic letters.

Even the Book of Revelation has some characteristics of a letter. John sent it to the churches of Asia ( Revelation 1:4 ).  Revelation 2-3 contain letters to these churches from the risen Lord.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

The distinction between the ‘true letter’ and the ‘epistle’ was dealt with in the articleEpistle. In the Christian literature of the Apostolic Age till the end of the 1st cent. we have, besides  Acts 15:23-29;  Acts 23:25-30, sixteen letters in the proper sense of the term-viz. the ten Epistles of St. Paul that may reasonably be regarded as authentic; the three Pastoral Epistles, which, if authentic, are undoubtedly real letters, and, if spurious, are at all events based upon genuine letters from the Apostle’s hand; the Second and Third Epistles of St. John, both of which could at once be characterized rather as something like short private missives; and, finally, the First Epistle of Clement. Of the genuine Pauline letters, Romans comes nearest in character to the ‘epistle,’ though the fact that it is less personal and intimate in its tone and more suggestive of the treatise is quite well accounted for by certain psychological considerations-as, e.g. , that the writer was not personally known to the community which he was addressing; we should not therefore be justified in saying that the letter-form is a mere artifice. On the other hand, the so-called First Epistle of Clement, which is written in the name of one entire community to another, is a peculiar composite of ‘letter’ and ‘epistle’; it was certainly meant to be a true letter, arising out of the actual circumstances of the writer’s own church at Rome, and having in view the actual circumstances of the church in Corinth, but it is quite clear that Clement was working upon a tradition of Christian letters and epistles, so that-especially in regard to the length of his message-he does not altogether succeed in maintaining the characteristics of a true letter. The Christian writers of the Apostolic Age, in fact, had not yet become proficient in such literary forms as the treatise, the dialogue, or the controversial pamphlet, and this explains why they had recourse to the letter as the simplest literary vehicle, and yet at the same time burst the trammels of its form. A comparison of the true letters of the Apostolic Age with true letters from approximately the same period of the heathen world shows that, while the similarities in style and diction are manifold and by no means insignificant, yet the former class display a very remarkable independence in their use of the traditional form.

Literature.-Cf. the works cited in articleEpistle; on the true letters of the ancients cf. esp. L. Mitteis and U. Wilcken, Grundzüge und Chrestomathie der Papyruskunde , 2 vols., Leipzig, 1912; also H. Lietzmann, Griechische Papyri 2, Bonn, 1910; G. A. Deissmann, Licht vom Osten 2, 1909 (Eng. translation2, 1911), and the well-known edd. of Oxyrhynchus papyri, etc. On ‘true letters’ from the Christian sphere, cf. the present writer’s Gesch. der altchristl. Literatur , Leipzig, 1911.

H. Jordan.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Γράμμα (Strong'S #1121 — Noun Neuter — amma — gram'-mah )

primarily denotes "that which is traced or drawn, a picture;" then, "that which is written," (a) "a character, letter of the alphabet,"  2—Corinthians 3:7; "written," lit., "(in) letters;"  Galatians 6:11; here the reference is not to the length of the Epistle (Paul never uses gramma, either in the singular or the plural of his Epistles; of these he uses epistole, No. 2), but to the size of the characters written by his own hand (probably from this verse to the end, as the use of the past tense, "I have written," is, according to Greek idiom, the equivalent of our "I am writing"). Moreover, the word for "letters" is here in the dative case, grammasin, "with (how large) letters;" (b) "a writing, a written document, a bond" (AV, "bill")  Luke 16:6,7; (c) "a letter, by way of correspondence,"  Acts 28:21; (d) the Scriptures of the OT,  2—Timothy 3:15; (e) "learning,"  John 7:15 , "letters;"  Acts 26:24 , "(much) learning" (lit., "many letters"); in the papyri an illiterate person is often spoken of as one who does not know "letters," "which never means anything else than inability to write" (Moulton and Milligan); (f) "the letter," the written commandments of the Word of God, in contrast to the inward operation of the Holy Spirit under the New Covenant,  Romans 2:27,29;  7:6;  2—Corinthians 3:6; (g) "the books of Moses,"  John 5:47 .

2: Ἐπιστολή (Strong'S #1992 — Noun Feminine — epistole — ep-is-tol-ay' )

* see EPISTLE

King James Dictionary

LET'TER, n. from let.

1. One who permits. 2. One who retards or hinders. 3. One who gives vent as a blood-letter.

LET'TER, n. L. litera.

1. A mark or character, written, printed, engraved or painted used as the representative of a sound, or of an articulation of the human organs of speech. By sounds, and articulations or closures of the organs, are formed syllables and words. Hence a letter is the first element of written language, as a simple sound is the first element of spoken language or speech. As sounds are audible and communicate ideas to others by the ear, so letters are visible representatives of sounds, and communicate the thoughts of others by means of the eye. 2. A written or printed message an epistle a communication made by visible characters from one person to another at a distance.

The style of letters ought to be free, easy and natural.

3. The verbal expression the literal meaning.

We must observe the letter of the law, without doing violence to the reason of the law, and the intentions of the lawgiver.

4. Type a charter formed of metal or wood, usually of metal, and used in printing books. 5. Letters, in the plural, learning erudition as a man of letters.

Dead letter, a writing or precept, which is without authority or force. The best law may become a dead letter.

Letter of attorney, a writing by which one person authorizes another to act in his stead.

Letter of marque, a private ship commissioned or authorized by a government to make reprisals on the ships of another state. See Marque.

Letters patent, or overt, open, a writing executed and sealed, by which power and authority are granted to a person to do some act, or enjoy some right as letters patent under the seal of England.

LET'TER, To impress or form letters on as, to letter a book a book gilt and lettered.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A telegram longer than an ordinary message sent at rates lower than the standard message rate in consideration of its being sent and delivered subject to priority in service of regular messages. Such telegrams are called by the Western Union Company day, / night, letters according to the time of sending, and by The Postal Telegraph Company day, / night, lettergrams.

(2): ( n.) A mark or character used as the representative of a sound, or of an articulation of the human organs of speech; a first element of written language.

(3): ( n.) A writing; an inscription.

(4): ( n.) One who lets or permits; one who lets anything for hire.

(5): ( n.) One who retards or hinders.

(6): ( n.) A written or printed communication; a message expressed in intelligible characters on something adapted to conveyance, as paper, parchment, etc.; an epistle.

(7): ( v. t.) To impress with letters; to mark with letters or words; as, a book gilt and lettered.

(8): ( n.) Verbal expression; literal statement or meaning; exact signification or requirement.

(9): ( n.) A single type; type, collectively; a style of type.

(10): ( n.) Learning; erudition; as, a man of letters.

(11): ( n.) A letter; an epistle.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Letter. The letters mentioned,  2 Samuel 11:14;  2 Kings 10:1;  Ezra 4:11, were in the form of rolls, not unlike those used in the East at the present day. Thus the Arabs roll up their letters, and then flatten them to the breadth of an inch and paste up the end instead of sealing them; and the Persians make up their letters in the form of rolls, about six inches long, and paste a bit of paper around them with, gum and seal them with an impression of ink. When sent to inferiors they were often sent open,  Nehemiah 6:5; but when sent to equals or superiors they were enclosed in a purse or bag.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Romans 2:27,29 2 Corinthians 3:6Writing

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Letter See Writing.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

stands in only two passages of the Bible in its narrow sense of an alphabetical character ( Γράμμα , in the plural,  Luke 23:38; and prob.  Galatians 6:11, Πηλίκοις Γράμμασι ; A. V. "how large a letter," rather in what a bold hand); elsewhere it is used (for סֵפֶר , A Book; Γραμμα , either sing. or plur.; but more definitely for the later Heb. אַגֶּרֶת [Chald. אגְּרָא , נַשְׁתְּוָן : [Chald. id. also פַּתְגָּם ; Ἐπιστολή ) in the sense of an Epistle (q.v.). (See Alphabet); (See Writing).