Behind | Letter Writing in the First Century, Part 2

Letter writing in the first century was no casual matter. Each letter required planning and logistics. Their financial cost alone made them serious investments for Paul and his patrons. We can estimate that a copy of Romans for example, the longest of Paul’s letters, would have taken two or three days to produce. Preparing it for dispatch, including one copy for mailing and one for backup, would have cost the equivalent of more than $2,000 (US) in today’s currency.

So while we remember that while these books were originally letters, their content would not have been taken lightly. Their contents would be carefully crafted. They were sent at a significant cost to Paul and the early Christian community. Each of them offers a message that Paul viewed as essential for early Christians, which will be evident in these letters’ energy and sense of urgency. 

Reference: E. Randolph Richards, Paul and First-Century Letter Writing: Secretaries, Composition and Collection, 2004, pp. 47, 156-157, 165, 168.