The genuine Epistles of Paul, those whose authenticity is conceded by nearly all critics, are Romans, First and Second Corinthians, and Galatians. The term “genuine” is applied to the books as originally written, and not to the text as it now exists. It is probable that they have undergone various changes since they left Paul’s hand. The last two chapters of Romans are believed to be interpolations. The fifteenth consists chiefly of irrelevant matter which detracts from the symmetry of the work. The sixteenth is mostly filled with salutations. In these several women are given a prominence in church affairs that is wholly at variance with Paul’s attitude toward woman. The subscription to the First Epistle to the Corinthians states that it “was written from Philippi.” The 19th verse of the last chapter shows that Paul was in Asia instead of Europe, while the 8th verse expressly declares that he was at Ephesus. The Second Epistle to Corinthians, it is declared, “was written from Philippi” also. That this is doubtful is admitted even by the most orthodox authorities. The subscription to Galatians reads as follows: “Unto the Galatians, written from Rome.” This book was written between 52 and 55 A.D.; Paul did not go to Rome until 61 A.D. This epistle was written from Ephesus.

While critics are nearly unanimous in acknowledging the genuineness of these books, a few, including Professor Thudichum of Germany, Prof. Edwin Johnson of England, and W. H. Burr of this country, pronounce them forgeries, and contend that the Paul of the New Testament is a myth.

The doubtful Epistles, those whose authenticity is accepted by some critics and rejected by others, are Philippians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon. Sixty years ago to this list of doubtful books critics would have added three others—Ephesians, Colossians, and Second Thessalonians; but the critical labors of the Tubingen school and others have relegated these to the already burdened shelf of spurious Bible books.

In regard to Philippians, Ferdinand Baur, for thirty years head of the Tubingen school and unquestionably the greatest of Bible critics, says: “The Epistles to the Colossians and to the Philippians ... are spurious, and were written by the Catholic school near the end of the second century, to heal the strife between the Jew and Gentile factions” (Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ).

Baur also rejects First Thessalonians. He contends that this, as well as the Second Epistle, contains teachings quite at variance with the teachings of Paul. The German critic Schrader is confident that Paul did not write First Thessalonians.

Respecting Philemon, Dr. Hitchcock says: “This brief Epistle was written at the same time with those to the Colossians and Ephesians, and was sent along with them by Tychicus and Onesimus.” As Colossians and Ephesians have both been declared spurious by the ablest Christian scholars, Philemon, to say the least, is placed in bad company. This Epistle was written in behalf of one Onesimus, a zealous Christian, who is also mentioned in Colossians. There was an Onesimus, a zealous church worker, living in 175 A.D.

Holland’s critics, Dr. Kuenen, Dr. Oort, and Dr. Hooykaas, are disposed to accept Philippians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon, but admit that there are grave doubts concerning the authenticity of each.

The spurious Epistles, those whose authenticity is generally denied by the critics, are Ephesians, Colossians, Second Thessalonians, First and Second Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews.

Ewald and De Wette both admit that Ephesians was not written by St. Paul. De Wette thinks it was compiled from Colossians. Davidson and Mayerhoff believe that neither Ephesians nor Colossians is genuine. I have quoted Baur’s rejection of Colossians. The Encyclopedia Britannica says: “It is undeniable that the Epistle to the Colossians and the so-called Epistle to the Ephesians differ considerably in language and thought from other Pauline Epistles and that their relation to one another demands explanation.”

First and Second Thessalonians are pronounced the oldest of Paul’s writings, both belonging, it is claimed, to 52 A.D. The author of the Second Epistle is very desirous of having his writing accepted as a genuine Epistle of Paul. Several times he declares himself to be Paul. He warns them not to be deceived “by letter as from us” (ii, 2), and concludes with “the salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every Epistle.” This Epistle affirms the first to be a forgery. The first was probably written at an early date, and, whether genuine or spurious, was accepted as a Pauline Epistle. In it the early advent of Christ—during Paul’s lifetime—is predicted. “We, which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep” (iv, 15). “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds” (17). Generations passed, Christ did not come, and the church was losing faith in Paul and Christianity. To restore confidence, another letter from Paul to the Thessalonians was “found,” and this repudiates the first. He exhorts them not to be troubled, “neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand” (ii, 2). It teaches the second coming of Christ, but carefully leaves the time indefinite. Whatever may be said of the First Epistle, the Second is clearly a forgery.

With respect to these Epistles, the Britannica says: “The predominant opinion of modern criticism at present is that the genuineness of the First Epistle is certain, while that of the Second must be given up.”

First and Second Timothy and Titus, known as the Pastoral Epistles, and Hebrews were not written by Paul. The Pastoral Epistles are forgeries, while Hebrews is an anonymous work. The contents of these books betray a later date. Their teachings are not the teachings of Paul. Their language is utterly unlike that of the genuine Epistles. They contain two hundred words never used by Paul. Marcion, the most noted Pauline Christian of the second century, who made a collection of Paul’s Epistles, excluded them. Tatian and Basilides also rejected them.

Against the authenticity of the Pastoral Epistles may be cited nearly every modern critic, including the four great names of Baur, Eichorn, De Wette, and Davidson. Baur says they were written in the second century.

While thirteen of the so-called Pauline Epistles claim to have been written by Paul, Hebrews alone is silent regarding its authorship. Tertullian classed it with the apocryphal books, but thought it might have been written by Barnabas. In the Clermont codex it is called the Epistle of Barnabas. According to Origen, some ascribe it to Luke, others to Clement of Rome. Origen himself says: “Who it was that really wrote the Epistle, God only knows.” Dr. Westcott admits that there is no evidence that Paul wrote it. Grotius attributes it to Luke, Luther to Apollos. Luther says: “That the Epistle to the Hebrews is not by St. Paul, nor, indeed, by any apostle, is shown by chapter ii, 3” (Preface to Luther’s N. T.).

Concerning the seven books that we have been considering, Dr. Hooykaas says:

“Fourteen Epistles are said to be Paul’s; but we must at once strike off one, namely, that to the Hebrews, which does not bear his name at all.... The two letters to Timothy and the letter to Titus were certainly composed long after the death of Paul.... It is more than probable that the letters to the Ephesians and Colossians are also unauthentic, and the same suspicion rests, perhaps, on the first, but certainly on the second of the Epistles to the Thessalonians” (Bible for Learners, Vol. III., p. 23).

The Rev. John W. Chadwick, in his “Bible of To-day,” says that the first four Epistles “are his [Paul’s] with absolute certainty.” Four others, Philippians, Colossians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon, he is disposed to accept, but admits that their authenticity is doubtful. The remaining books he pronounces spurious.

Persons in this age have little conception of the prevalence of literary forgeries in the early centuries of the church. Now, when books are printed in editions of 1,000 or more, such forgeries are nearly impossible and consequently rare. When books existed in manuscript only, they were neither difficult nor uncommon. Books and letters purporting to have been written by Paul, Peter, John, and other Apostles were readily “discovered” when wanted. Of these Apostolic forgeries Prof. John Tyndall says: “When arguments or proofs were needed, whether on the side of the Jewish Christians or of the Gentile Christians, a document was discovered which met the case, and on which the name of an Apostle or of some authoritative contemporary of the Apostles was boldly inscribed. The end being held to justify the means, there was no lack of manufactured testimony.”

Of these fourteen Epistles ascribed to Paul, four, then, Romans, First and Second Corinthians, and Galatians, are pronounced genuine; three, Philippians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon, are of doubtful authenticity; while seven, Ephesians, Colossians, Second Thessalonians, First and Second Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews, are spurious.

The genuine writings of Paul are probably the oldest Christian writings extant. Admitting the authenticity of these four books, of course, is not admitting the authenticity of Christianity. Paul was not a witness of the alleged events upon which historical Christianity rests. He was not a convert to Christianity until many years after Christ’s death. He did not see Christ (save in a vision); he did not listen to his teachings; he did not learn from his disciples. “The gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it” (Gal. i, 11, 12). Paul accepted only to a small extent the religion of Christ’s disciples. He professed to derive his knowledge from supernatural sources—from trances and visions. Regarding the value of such testimony, the author of “Supernatural Religion” says: “No one can deny, and medical and psychological annals prove, that many men have been subject to visions and hallucinations which have never been seriously attributed to supernatural causes. There is not one single valid reason removing the ecstatic visions and trances of the Apostle Paul from this class.”

We have now reviewed the books of the Bible and presented some of the historical and internal evidences bearing upon the question of their authenticity. The authenticity of the books of the New Testament, we have seen, is but little better attested than that of the Old. The authors of twenty books—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Ephesians, Colossians, Second Thessalonians, First and Second Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, James, First and Second Peter, First, Second, and Third John, Jude, and Revelation—are unknown. Three books—Philippians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon—are of questionable authenticity. Four books only—Romans, First and Second Corinthians, and Galatians—are generally admitted to be authentic.

Of the sixty-six books of the Bible at least fifty are anonymous works or forgeries. To teach that these books are divine, and to accept them as such, denotes a degree of depravity on the one hand, and an amount of credulity on the other, that are not creditable to a moral and enlightened people.