The General letters (Epistles) are letters of encouragement to believers, many of whom have suffered persecution for their faith The General letters are a testament in that the Lord Jesus Christ is at the heart of God’s revelation to us; that our true and abiding citizenship is in heaven and not in this world.
In the General Letters we learn that sometimes God uses persecution to purify our faith and that following Jesus may bring hardship but we can trust Him to do what is right because the day is soon coming when evil will be greatly punished and faith will be rewarded. There are eight General Letters: Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John and Jude.