Lost Books of the Bible for Dummies (ISBN by 0470243805)

Author:0470243805)
Language: eng
Format: mobi
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Published: 2011-07-01T01:27:52+00:00

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Chapter 14: Traditions about St. Paul

259

Later Non-Biblical Letters and

Writings Attributed to Paul

Paul (shown in a mosaic in Figure 14-1) is most famous for his letters in the New Testament. They were addressed mostly to churches but sometimes to an individual (for example, Philemon is in fact a personal letter to an early Christian named Philemon). As we explain earlier, Pauline letters continued to be produced after Paul was long gone. Neat trick, eh?

In this section, we look at some of these later letters that were supposedly written by Paul, even though no one today really believes it. These letters include one that seems to be basically a patchwork from real letters, another tradition that consists of correspondence with the Roman philosopher Seneca, and finally another letter to Corinth!

Figure 14-1:

St. Paul.

Scala / Art Resource, NY

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260 Part IV: Lost Early Christian Writings

The Epistle to the Laodicians

The Epistle to the Laodicians consists largely of sentences from genuine Pauline epistles strung together in a very short letter. It’s no surprise, then, that it sounds like Paul because most of it is! Consider the following familiar-sounding phrases:

And his mercy will work in you, that you may have the same love and be of one mind. Therefore, beloved, as you have heard in my presence, so hold fast and work in the fear of God, and eternal life will be yours. For it is God who works in you. And do without hesitation what you do. And for the rest, beloved, rejoice in Christ and beware of those who are out for sordid gain.

May all your requests be manifest before God and be steadfast in the mind of Christ. And do what is pure, true, proper, just and lovely. And what you have heard and received, hold in your heart, and peace will be with you.

—Epistle to the Laodicians 9–16 (tr. Elliott)

Still, this letter has been recognized as a later writing by early Church writers.

The Correspondence of Paul and Seneca

The Correspondence of Paul and Seneca is supposed to be an exchange of brief letters between Paul and the famous Roman philosopher Seneca (“The Younger”; 4 BCE–65 CE). However, we have no evidence from the known writings of Seneca that he ever carried on such a correspondence, and frankly, very little of any significance is said between them in this writing, other than mutual admiration.

That admiration, in itself, was probably the point; it’s possible that the writing was intended to show how even a famous Roman respects Paul. But beyond that, the Correspondence isn’t very thrilling. Seneca, for example, applauds Paul’s ideas but doesn’t say which thoughts he has in mind or why he likes them:

These thoughts, I believe, were expressed not by you, but through you; though sometimes they were expressed both by you and through you; for they are so lofty and so brilliant with noble sentiments that in my opinion generations of men could hardly be enough to become established and perfected in them. I wish you good health, brother.

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