1. The Pauline epistles are thirteen in number, or fourteen, if we add to them the epistle to the Hebrews. Three of these are distinctively styled the Pastcral Epistles, nameh', those to Timothy and Titus, as being chiefly on the duties of the pastorate. Up to our days the genuineness of the first thirteen epistles of Paul has almost unanimously been recognised in Germany, with the exception only of the pastoral epistles, and more especialh' the first letter to Timothy. Eichhorn and Bauer have attacked the genuineness of all the three pastoral epistles, and Schleiermacher that of the first epistle to Timothy. Indeed, the very peculiar character of the Pauline epistles is so striking to any one who is not ignorant of the want of ease and orig- inality conspicuous in the counterfeit writings of early times, as to leave not the least doubt of their genuine- ness. Depth of thought, fire of speech, firmness of character — these manly features, joined withal to the indulgence of feelings of the most devoted love and affection, characterize these epistles. The amiable personal character of the apostle may be most beauti- fully traced in his epistle to the Philippians and in that to Pliilemon. (On man}' peculiarities of the Pauline ejustles, see Laurent, Neutestam. SfueKen, Gotha, 1866.) See Paul.
All Paul's epistles, except the one to the Romans, were called forth by circumstances and ])articular oc- casions in the affairs of the communities to which they were nddressed. It is believed that all the apos- tolical epistles of Paul have been preserved ; for the inference from 1 Cor. v, 0, that a letter to the Co- rinthians has been lost, is not warranted by the lan- guage and circumstances. See Corixtiiiaxs, First Epistle to. From Col. iv, 16, it has also been con- cluded— though probably erroneously, since tliere per- haps the letter to the Ephcsians is referred to — that another letter to the community of Laodicea has like
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wise been lost. See Laodickaxs, Epistles to and FiiOJi. Prt'ss of business usuallj' compellod Paul — as was, besides, not uncommon in those times — to use his companions as amanuenses. He mentions (Gal. vi, 11), as something peculiar, that he had writ- ten this letter with his own hand. This circumstance may greatly have favored the temptation to forge let- ters in his name, because, since tlie period of Alexan- drine literature, it was not unusual to indite spurious books, as is evident from Eusebius {Hist. Eccles. p. 23) ; and even Christian bishops made complaints about tiie falsification of their letters. Paul alludes to this (2 Thess. ii, 2), and therefore writes the greeting (2 Thess. iii, 17) with his own hand. Paul himself exliorted the communities mutuallj' to impart to each other his let- ters to them, and read them aloud in their assemblies (Col. iv, 16). It is therefore probable that copies of these letters had been early made by the several com- munities, and deposited in the form of collections. So long, therefore, as the various communities transmit- tjd the manuscripts to each other, no otlier letters, it is obvious, could come into the collections than those to whose genuineness the communities to wiiom they were originallj' addressed bore witness. Even Peter (2 Pet. iii, IG) seems to have had before him a number of Paul's letters, as, about forty years later, a number of letters of Ignatius were transmitted by Polycarp to Smyrna, while the church of Philippi forwarded to him those directed to them (Ep. Folic, sub. tin. ; Eu- seb. Hist. Eccles. iii, 36). The Pauline collection, in contradistinction to the Gospels, passed bj^ the name of o a~i(yTo\oQ, or "The Apostle."
The letters of Paul may be chronologically arranged as those written before his first Roman imprisonment, those written during it, and those written after it : thus, (rt), beginning with his first letter to the Thes- salonians, and concluding with that to the Komans, cmln'acing an interval of about six years (A.D. 49-55) ; (6), from tlie letter to the Ephesians to that to the He- brews, about two years (A.I). 57-S) ; and (c), his letter to Titus and his second to Timothy, about two j-ears (A.D. 63-4). See Acts (of the Apostles). In our Bibles, however, the letters are arranged according to thi pre-eminent pails and st.itions of the communities to whom they were addressed, and conclude with the epistles to the two bishops and a private letter to Phil- emon. (See each in its proper place.)
That these epistles offered great difficulties was al- ready felt in the earliest times (2 Peter iii, 16). In the lioman Church their true understanding was more particularly lost by the circumstance that it under- stood by THE LAW only the opm operatum of the cere- monial law; consequentl}^ the Roman Church could not comprehend justification by faith, and taught in- stead justification bj' works. As soon, therefore, as the true understanding of the Pauline epistles dawned upon Luther, his breach with the RomLUi Church was decided. See Justification.
2. The Catholic epistles. There is, in the first in- stance, a diversity of opinion respecting their name : some refer it to their loriters (letters from all the other apostles who had entered the stage of authorship along with Paul) ; some, again, to their contents (letters of no special, but general Christian tenor) ; others, again, to the recipients (letters addressed to no communitj' in particular). None of these views, however, is free from ditliculties. The first and the second views — and more especially the first — cannot be brought to harmo- nize witii the idiomatic expressions in the extant pages of tlie ancient writers ; the second is, besides, contra- dicted by the fact that the letter of James is of a spe- cial tenor, while, on the contrarj', that to the Romans is of such a general character as to deserve the name "Catholic" (q. V.) in that sense. The third opinion is most decidedly justified by passages from the an- cient writers (Euseb. Hist. Eccles. v, 18; Clem. Alex. Strom, iv, 15, ed. Potter, p. G06 ; Orig. c. Cels. i, 63).