How to read Paul's letters the way they were meant to be read

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This is a companion to the video "You've Been Reading Paul's Letters WRONG Your Entire Life," the one I made before we started walking through Ephesians together. It is for the person who decided to take Paul seriously, opened Romans and read it straight through like a real book, lost the thread somewhere around chapter three in a pile of "therefores," and concluded in private that the problem was them. It is also for the person who was handed a verse-a-day habit years ago and has a nagging sense that there is more going on in these letters than the verse of the day ever lets them see. If either of those is you, this guide was written with you in mind.

Here is how to use it. Watch the video first if you can. Then pick one of Paul's letters, keep your Bible open beside you, and read "The teaching" straight through, because that section carries the whole argument on its own. After that, work "The passages" slowly, with a pen, checking every quotation against your own Bible and looking up the cross-references. Save "Questions to sit with" for last, and answer them on paper. Several of them ask you to do something with your Bible in hand, and those are the ones that will stick.

One thing before we begin. Being right about how ancient letters worked does not save anyone. Faith in Christ does. I have friends all over the map on the questions in this guide, people who love the Lord and love their neighbors, and none of us should break with a brother or sister over how many letters Paul sent to Corinth. So hold this study with an open hand. Be convinced by the text where the text convinces you, and stay kind toward everyone who reads it differently.

Why bother, then? Because you are going to read these thirteen letters for the rest of your life, and the way you read them decides whether Paul becomes a stranger who shouts rules at you from the first century or a pastor you get to watch work. I want you to have the second one.