The Letters of Paul

Paul wrote to his churches when he could not be with them (2 Corinthians 13:10). The first letter to the Thessalonians opens in the name of “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy”. It was written after Timothy, whom Paul had sent back from Athens, returned with good news of the new church, and it ends with the charge that it be read to all the believers (1 Thessalonians 1:1) (1 Thessalonians 3:1–6) (1 Thessalonians 5:27). On the usual dating it was written about AD 50–51 at Corinth, earlier than the Gospels as most scholars date them; see the Four Gospels Are Written.

The others likewise answer to particular needs. Galatians is a protest to churches that were turning to “a different good news” (Galatians 1:6–9). 1 Corinthians, written at Ephesus, replies to reports of division and to questions the Corinthians had put in writing (1 Corinthians 1:11) (1 Corinthians 7:1) (1 Corinthians 16:8). Romans introduces Paul and his message to a church he had not yet visited, as he was about to take a collection to Jerusalem and hoped to go on to Spain (Romans 1:8–15) (Romans 15:23–28).

The letters show how they were made. Several name co-senders (1 Corinthians 1:1) (Philippians 1:1). Paul dictated at least some of them: the scribe of Romans adds his own greeting, “I, Tertius, who write the letter”, and Paul closes other letters with a line in his own hand (Romans 16:22) (1 Corinthians 16:21) (Galatians 6:11). The letter to the Colossians asks that it be read at Laodicea as well and exchanged for a letter from there (Colossians 4:16).

They hold early written statements of what the first Christians believed. Paul reminds the Corinthians of what he had himself “received” and passed on: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared to Cephas, to the Twelve and to many others (1 Corinthians 15:3–8). Romans sets out its theme as the good news that is “the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16–17).

Thirteen letters in the New Testament bear Paul’s name. 2 Thessalonians, itself one of the disputed letters, warns against a letter “as if from us” and points to the greeting in Paul’s own hand as the mark of a real one (2 Thessalonians 2:2) (2 Thessalonians 3:17). Seven of the thirteen are generally treated as undisputed, and scholars are divided over the other six; the dating note lists them and names works that discuss them.

The letters came to be known beyond the churches they were written to, and to be gathered. About AD 96 the church of Rome could tell the Corinthians, “Take up the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul” (1 Clement 47). 2 Peter speaks of “all of his letters” and sets them beside “the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15–16). The papyrus book known as Papyrus 46 is divided between two libraries. The University of Michigan calls it the oldest known copy of Paul’s writings, and dates it about AD 200 on one of its pages and to the third century on another (Papyrus 46 P.Mich.inv. 6238) (Papyrus 46 introduction). The Chester Beatty in Dublin calls it the earliest surviving collection of his letters and labels its leaf third century (Papyrus 46 CBL BP II f.61). Michigan’s description gives the contents in this order: Romans, Hebrews, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians and 1 Thessalonians, with the last leaves lost (Papyrus 46 contents).