Paul's Lost Letters to the Corinthians

“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people” (1 Cor. 5:9, NASB)

“For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while” (2 Cor. 7:8, NASB).

Based on the above passages, it is believed that Paul actually wrote four letters to the Corinthians. The two that exist in our New Testaments are not genuinely the first and second, but are as follows:

Paul’s Actual Letters Today’s Presence of Paul’s Letters

1 Corinthians Lost

2 Corinthians 1 Corinthians

3 Corinthians Lost

4 Corinthians 2 Corinthians

Of course, Paul could have written more than four letters to the church of Corinth, but evidence has yet to surface to support their existence. We also know that Paul wrote a letter to the church of Laodicea (Col. 4:16).

Why Are They Lost?

The lost letters to the Corinthians are speculated by a few scholars to be intermingled into 1 and 2 Corinthians. However, without any historical evidence and conflicting literary evidence to support such theories, this is unlikely to be the case. Unless new information is unearthed, the lost letters are simply that, lost. It is unlikely that every letter written by the apostles containing Christian instructions somehow made it into the New Testament.

Should Their Absence Shake Confidence in Christian Faith?

Confidence in Christianity should not be placed in God’s word based on mankind’s ability to preserve all of Paul’s writings to the churches. The New Testament presents no criteria for canonizing Scripture and Paul would not have likely believed his letters to be equal to what he considered Scripture (Old Testament); rather, his aims were to show that Scripture was fulfilled through Jesus Christ. Confidence should be placed in the reliability and authenticity of Paul’s letters as demonstrated by ages of scrutiny. When Christians place “magical” parameters upon the New Testament (e.g., terms like canonized, inspired, and infallible) they will eventually question its contents outside of reasonable thought. Accepting that some of Paul’s letters are absent from the New Testament in no way diminishes the validity of his other writings when looked at objectively. Their absence should not weaken one’s faith but strengthen reasonable faith in the historical reliability of the New Testament regardless of mankind’s inability to preserve all of Paul’s writings.

One last food for thought: If Paul's lost letters to the Corinthians were found, should they be added to our Bibles? If not, then why not? If so, then wouldn't this exception demonstrate the problem with thinking the Bible is the perfect word of God just the way it is now?

13 May 2019