Why Paul Writes So Many Lists

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Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things (Philippians 4:8, ESV, emphasis mine).

Why did Paul write so many lists in his epistles? Anyone who reads Paul in the New Testament could conclude that his writings contain list after list; hardly a chapter goes by without a list. There are several reasons…

First: Philippians 4:8 (the verse above) contains the reason for Paul’s lists when he concludes this list with the phrase “think about these things.”  

In a first-century culture without traditional media, TikTok®, Facebook®, Instagram®, and people like Rogan, MrBeast, and Megyn — all who continually remind us what they believe — Paul’s readers couldn’t rely on a Google® search to see what he wrote about spiritual gifts or other topics; they had to memorize what he said. 

Second: Paper and writing utensils were expensive. 

Each letter Paul wrote was intended for a specific locale, based on what would be most beneficial to the church in that city. And since there weren’t multiple copies of Paul’s epistles, he compiled lists to summarize his thoughts, as a sort of catechism. 

Consider the important summation of love in a list Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 for a church that needed to understand the true meaning of love (we need this today)… 

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

Third: There’s the term “cognitive efficiency,” meaning people learn better by memorizing lists, as these lists help categorize, summarize, and organize thoughts into meaningful clarity, to which all of us who are uncategorized, not easy to surmise, and not organized should say, “Amen!”

Yet the Holy Spirit, writing through Paul, knew about memory, how it worked, and the best way to use this “list” process with scripture written two thousand years ago.

Fourth: In the Judaism that educated Paul, memorizing lists was essential, and the famous Jewish scholar Gamaliel, as Paul’s rabbi/teacher in Judaism, would never have accepted Paul as a student if he hadn’t shown his intellectual capacity with lengthy memorized passages of the Law — a law that was made up of lists! 

Paul put into practice the methods he had learned in his training when writing his epistles.

For the above reasons we have lists that tell us the gifts of the Spirit (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4), a list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, a wonderful list on the humility trademarks of Jesus at the beginning of Philippians 2, one with the weapons of our spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6, and many others.

Let’s be grateful that Paul wrote lists.