The General Letters

General Letters is a common description of the seven short letters than immediately follow Hebrews in our English Bibles. These seven letters have only 21 chapters-James has five chapters, 1 Peter has five chapters, 2 Peter has three chapters, 1 John has five chapters, and the books of 2 John, 3 John, and Jude are so brief that they are not divided into chapters. They are usually described as one-chapter books. By volume, the General Letters make up approximately 7% of the New Testament. The designation as General Letters is an apt description in the sense that the letters are not addressed to specific churches or individuals. The exceptions are 2 John and 3 John, both of which appear to be addressed to specific indi-viduals. The book of 1 John does not mention the recipients and does not have the typical characteristics of a first-century letter. Two prominent themes in the General Letters are suffer-ing and heresies.