Several New Testament passages contain lists that have come to be labeled Catalogues of Vices and Virtues by scholars. The catalogue form was extremely popular in 1st century Hellenism. Plato wrote the earliest catalogue. They could easily be adapted for a range of philosophies and ethics. Philo, a hellenized

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, also wrote several. There is surprisingly little difference between the Christian and non-Christian catalogues. The longest list is in the Epistle to the Galatians and every item is common among pagan catalogues except one. Catalogues vary by size, content, and style. There was, apparently, little interest in Christians for creativity, systemization, or completeness. Their primary function, therefore, was to show that Christian morality should approximately conform to the well accepted morality of Hellenism. Therefore, the catalogues should not be considered creedal or specifically Christian.

Early Christian Catalogues

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

1:29-31 *

13:13 *

1 Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-autho ...

5:10 *

6:9 *

2 Corinthians The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author named Timothy, and is addressed to the church in Corinth and Christians in th ...

12:20 * Galatians 5:19-23 *

Ephesians The Epistle to the Ephesians is the tenth book of the New Testament. Its authorship has traditionally been attributed to Paul the Apostle but starting in 1792, this has been challenged as Deutero-Pauline, that is, pseudepigrapha written in Pau ...

4:31 *

Colossians The Epistle to the Colossians is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Timothy, and addressed to the church in Colossae, a small Phrygian city near Laodicea and approximately f ...

3:5, 8 *

1 Timothy The First Epistle to Timothy is one of three letters in the New Testament of the Bible often grouped together as the pastoral epistles, along with Second Timothy and Titus. The letter, traditionally attributed to the Apostle Paul, consists ...

1:9 *

2 Timothy The Second Epistle to Timothy is one of the three pastoral epistles traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle.. Addressed to Timothy, a fellow missionary, it is traditionally considered to be the last epistle he wrote before his death. Alth ...

3:2-5 * Titus 3:3 *

1 Peter The First Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament. The author presents himself as Peter the Apostle. The ending of the letter includes a statement that implies that it was written from "Babylon", which is possibly a reference to Rome. T ...

2:1 *

4:3 *

4:15 *

Apocalypse of Peter The Apocalypse of Peter (or Revelation of Peter) is an early Christian text of the 2nd century and an example of apocalyptic literature with Hellenistic overtones. It is not included in the standard canon of the New Testament, but is mentioned i ...

* Didache *

Epistle of Barnabas The ''Epistle of Barnabas'' ( el, Βαρνάβα Ἐπιστολή) is a Greek epistle written between AD 70 and 132. The complete text is preserved in the 4th-century ''Codex Sinaiticus'', where it appears immediately after the New Testament ...

Later Christian Catalogues

* *

Resources

Hans Dieter Betz Hans Dieter Betz (born 21 May 1931, Lemgo, Germany) is an American scholar of the New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Chicago. He has made influential contributions to research on Paul's Letter to the Galatians, the Sermon o ...

, ''Galatians''. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979. p281-283 New Testament theology {{Bible-stub

Early Christian Catalogues

Later Christian Catalogues

See also

Resources