The letters of Paul offer an experience and understanding of the early church through the eyes of the apostle as he writes to the various Christian communities. The correspondence confronts the reader with powerful images, conflicting ideas, a developing theology, and the living witness of believers in the Lord Jesus. While there is no fixed doctrine of church, the dynamic portrayal of the life, commitment, and zeal of Paul, the co workers, and the communities, is by far a more vital testimony to the reality of church.