We've Got Mail: The New Testament Letters in Modern English

By Warren C Biebel

This new paraphrase is like a “Reader’s Digest” version of the New Testament letters, capturing the original writers’ essential meaning in 21st Century language - easy to read and understand. Without chapters or verses, notes, references, cross references, theological or denominational slants, these letters flow much

• Language: English
• Publisher: Healthy Life Press, LLC
• Release date: Aug 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9780982580080

Warren C Biebel

Rev. Warren C. Biebel Jr. has been communicating the Good News and hope of the gospel for more than 60 years. While pastoring in New Hampshire and Vermont for 25 years, he also served as a chaplain at the Vermont State Prison and the Veterans Administration Hospital in White River Jct., Vermont. He and his wife founded Singing Hills Conference Center in Plainfield, New Hampshire, in 1972. Throughout his ministry and now through his writings, Rev. Biebel has demonstrated an interest in helping people come to know the Lord and to grow in their faith. He has published four books with Healthy Life Press. They are: We've Got Mail (a modern English paraphrase of the New Testament letters), The Other Side of Life - Over 60? God Still Has a Plan for You, Handbook of Faith - Authentic Faith Believes the Bible, The Big Black Book - What the Christmas Tree Saw; and My Wonderful Journey Through Life with God, Family, and Friends. All of these books are available at: www.healthylifepress.com.

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INTRODUCTION

Recently, in my own personal devotions, I have gained a new appreciation for the letters of the New Testament, especially those of the apostle Paul. As I read them from several translations, my heart was struck in a new way by the honesty and forthright approach of this apostle, who has been called The Great Lion of God.

Such a nickname may seem to imply a forceful and unfeeling man, yet as you read his words, it is impossible to miss the true warmth and compassion that flow through all his writings. These letters contain not only the explanation of the basics of Christian doctrine, but they also provide much practical advice for godly living.

The other letters, including those by Peter, James, John, and Jude also remain as relevant to life today as they were to living the life of a follower of Jesus in the first century.

The deeper I got into these writings, the more I felt that I would like to bring another dimension to their understanding. Using these letters as the source, I felt moved to put them into my own words. But I wanted to do this with a view toward how the authors would write them today.

Having said that, please know that it was especially important to me that, in doing this, I would be faithful to the doctrine contained in the letters. Where I have added a phrase or sentence, it is to emphasize a thought that is clearly expressed in or implied by the text. Where I have omitted a phrase of sentence or changed the wording, it was not to diminish but to enhance the teaching for today’s reader.

I believe the Bible and its message to be the very message and Word of God. The original manuscripts were God breathed, and I am so thankful that in our day we have the privilege of access to word-for-word renditions of those in various translations and versions of the Bible.

My goal in this book is to capture the excitement and drama that must have accompanied first hearing these words, together with the actual messages of the authors, and combine them in such a way that 21st Century believers might better understand both the letters and their meaning.

Understanding these epistles and their meaning will enable today’s readers to respond in ways consistent with the intentions of the various authors, who were appointed by God to explain the meaning and broader implications of the gospel message to those who first received this divinely inspired mail.

My hope is that we who have also received this mail may be aroused by the profound simplicity of the New Testament letters to a new spirit of love for Christ and for each other in the family of God. And may the end result be a renewed passion to serve the Lord in godliness and humility, as those whom He has called out of darkness into His marvelous light.

My prayer is that this effort will further enlighten and bless the hearts and minds of those who truly seek the depths of God’s Word, just as if they went to their spiritual mailbox and found that this particular mail is especially relevant to them as they try to live a life before others that will introduce them to the Author, Himself.

Finally, for some time it’s been my growing concern that although many people may have a Bible, very few are cracking its pages between Sundays, leaving its interpretation and application to preachers, teachers, and evangelists, when it is clear to me that the Author’s intention is for us to read our mail every day, allowing His Spirit to make it alive and practical to us as we seek to know and honor the Lord day by day. I trust that this book will help many do that.

– Rev. Warren C. Biebel Jr.

ROMANS

Paul’s Letter to the Believers in Rome

God, through His prophets promised to send His Son, Jesus Christ. As promised, He came to us through the ancestry of David. When He rose from the dead, this was confirmed. He is the promised Messiah indeed!

I received the call to be an apostle from God Himself and became dedicated to preaching the gospel. Now you, too, have been called into God’s grace.

I am writing to all of you at Rome who have answered God’s call. My desire is that you experience the grace and peace that He gives. I am especially pleased that the word of your faith has been broadcast everywhere. This is an answer to my prayers for you.

One thing I have asked of God is that if it is His will, I might soon be able to visit you. You are always in my heart, and my greatest desire is to share God’s special gifts with you. The end result will be that our hearts will be knit together by His own comforting. Please know that I have often wanted to make this trip, but have always had to postpone it. My responsibility to preach the gospel to unbelievers everywhere is forever before me.

I can’t wait to share the good news there in Rome because I am proud of the gospel of Christ - it is the only answer to salvation. It came first to the Jews and then to the Gentile world. It is in this gospel that the holiness of God is revealed.

Faith in Christ is the only answer to sin. It is quite obvious that God created the universe in such a way that every person should easily understand that it is He who did this. There is no excuse for unbelief.

What really happened is this; by nature, human beings can see the visible glory of creation and know that there is a God, even though He Himself is invisible to them. What they did was to allow their imaginations to run wild and instead of worshipping Almighty God, they reduced their own gods to something they could see and touch. They even made images of lower forms of life - animals, birds, and snakes - and proceeded to bow before them. Imagine - worshipping something that they made themselves. How ridiculous!

Since this is what they decided, God allowed them to do it. He left it up to them to engage in the worst kinds of sins. They proceeded to take the purity of human sexuality and turn it into something filthy. Even nature itself shows how wrong this is. Instead of engaging in natural sex, they twisted that part of the human experience into a homosexual life style.

God permits them to do it, but they do pay a very high price. That kind of life leads to all kinds of sin like jealousy, gossip, lying, murder, and a whole list of awful things. But these people aren’t concerned about the terrible price, because they have written off the fact that God judges sin. To make it even worse, they are glad when others join them in this kind of lifestyle.

But we must not think of only the most despicable kinds of sins. We ourselves are not exempt. It is easy to judge someone else and forget that there are other ways of disobeying God. There is one simple truth about God - He does judge those who continue in any kind of sin without repenting, and He does bless those who honor Him with good living. He responds by giving them a taste of His own glory, honor, and peace. God includes everyone in this - He has no special choice. But history shows that He dealt first with the Jewish people, and now He is dealing with the Gentiles, too.

In regard to commandments, it doesn’t really matter whether or not you know the Law of Moses. What does matter is that you do what you know is right. God after all gave everyone a conscience and the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.

Speaking of wrong, you who are Jews are bragging about how much more you know about God and His will. You want to represent Him, but at the same time that you are talking about keeping the Law, you are breaking it yourselves. You are stealing, committing adultery, and even engaging in spiritual idolatry. Because of this, some of the Gentiles even blame God for your excesses and hypocrisy. The truth is that a real Jew is not identified by his appearance at all, but by a change of heart that comes from God and pleases Him.

Being a Jew, though, does have some advantages. God did choose our nation to be the custodian of the Holy Scriptures. But God Himself is the real issue and sometimes we question why He treats mankind this way. To answer that question, we need to deal with the reality that there is good and there is evil. It is evident that evil has permeated the world to the degree that we are all sinful, both Jews and Gentiles. Everyone is involved - we can’t escape that fact when we look around and see the terrible results of a world gone wild. Misery and destruction of all kinds seem to proliferate. The evidence of this is undeniable!

Yes, we have all engaged in sin and this means that we cannot come before a holy God. But there is an answer and it is this! God gave us His own Son, Jesus, who came here to pay the price for our sinfulness and to bring redemption. This He did by shedding His own blood on the cross and now it is through faith in Him that our sins can be forgiven.

Yes, we can come to God - but it is only by faith in Jesus. As for the Law, we haven’t thrown it away by believing; instead, we have verified its power.

Let’s take Abraham as an example. The Scriptures are clear that it was because Abraham believed that he became righteous in God’s eyes. He dared to believe God’s promise that he would become the father of many nations even though he and his wife, Sarah, were well beyond child bearing years. This pleased God! David also knew what it meant to be forgiven of grievous sins. In the Psalms he describes the blessedness of those whom God has forgiven.

Abraham was the father of faith! What an amazing account the Scriptures give of his relationship to God. He was just like us - a human being, yet he dared to trust God for something that seemed impossible. Imagine God coming to a man who was about one hundred years old and promising that he would be the father of a child.

Not only that, he was told that it was his destiny to become the ancestor of many nations. Abraham’s response was to believe God’s message. He did this even though he knew his body was old and that Sarah could no longer bear a child. Yet, because it was God who made this promise, Abraham believed! God was pleased.

God has the same feeling for us when we believe in His Son, Jesus. It was for us that Jesus was put to death and it