Do we have missing epistles of Paul?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

The question of whether there are "missing" epistles of St. Paul is one that requires a distinction between historical mentions of letters and the divinely inspired Canon of Holy Scripture.

From a historical and textual perspective, it is highly probable that St. Paul wrote more letters than the fourteen we have in the New Testament. However, from the Coptic Orthodox perspective, we believe that the Holy Spirit preserved exactly what was necessary for the salvation of the Church and the establishment of dogma.

1. Evidence of Other Letters

In the New Testament itself, St. Paul mentions letters that are not included in our current Bible:

• The Letter to the Laodiceans: In Colossians 4:16, St. Paul instructs, "And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea."
• A "Previous" Letter to the Corinthians: In 1 Corinthians 5:9, he writes, "I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators." This suggests there was a letter sent before our "1 Corinthians."
• The "Severe" Letter: Many scholars believe there was an intermediate, "painful" letter sent between 1 and 2 Corinthians (referenced in 2 Corinthians 2:4).

2. Why Are They "Missing"?

We do not view these as "missing" in the sense of a lost truth or a failure of the Church. There are several reasons why they are not in the Canon:

• Providence: God ensured that the letters containing the universal, timeless truths for the Church survived.
• Occasional Nature: Some letters may have been very specific to local, temporary administrative issues that did not carry the same weight of universal revelation as the others.
• The Canonization Process: The Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and through Fathers like St. Athanasius (who was the first to list the 27 books of the New Testament exactly as we have them today in his 39th Festal Letter), recognized which writings were "God-breathed."

3. Refutation of Heretical "Recovered" Letters

Throughout history, various heretics or scholars have claimed to find "lost" letters of Paul. Famous examples are the "Epistle to the Laodiceans" that circulated in some Latin manuscripts and the "Third Epistle to the Corinthians."

• The Orthodox Refutation: These were tested by the Church and found to be pseudepigraphal (forgeries). They often lacked the apostolic authority, the correct theological "flavor," and the historical chain of custody that our fourteen epistles possess.
• Protestant Errors: While Protestants often engage in endless speculation about these "lost" letters, we rest in the authority of the Church. We do not need a "new" letter to understand the faith, for the faith was delivered "once for all unto the saints" (Jude 1:3).

4. The Fourteen Epistles

In the Coptic Orthodox Church, we acknowledge fourteen epistles of St. Paul, including the Epistle to the Hebrews. While some Western critics and heretics have questioned the authorship of Hebrews, the Alexandrian tradition (following St. Clement and Origen) has always affirmed its Pauline origin and its deep miaphysite Christological implications.

Conclusion:

While St. Paul may have written more correspondence in his lifetime, we do not have "missing" scripture. The New Testament is complete. As St. Paul himself tells Philemon, the focus of his ministry was the "tender care" of the faithful and the application of Christ’s death to every person. What we have in our and the Pauline corpus is the fullness of the mystery of God revealed to man.