Letters.

Paul's Letters.

The earliest form of Christian writing was naturally the letter, the personal communication from man to man or man to group of men, such as first-century Greeks and Romans, and Jews as well, constantly wrote. In the hands of Paul this simplest form of composition had developed into a powerful instrument of religious instruction, and by A.D. 80 the collection and publication of his letters had standardized it as a Christian literary type. This is the background of all the other early Christian letters, particularly of what we know as the Letter of Clement.