How many books of the Bible did Paul write?
Paul's name stands at the head of more letters than any other writer in the New Testament, but the exact total depends on one disputed book. Counting his letters raises two questions at once: did he write Hebrews, and why does that one letter alone leave his name out?
The count
Commentators in this collection settle on fourteen, and they also weigh how much of the New Testament that represents:
A J PollockOut of twenty-one inspired epistles we have in the New Testament no less than fourteen come from the pen of the Apostle Paul. To put it another way, out of 3,601 verses no less than 2,767 of them come from his pen, while only 834 verses come from the pens of the remaining writers of inspired epistles.
The same writer sets Paul's share against the other four letter-writers by name:
A J PollockThere are twenty-seven epistles in the New Testament, and five writers—Paul, Peter, John, James and Jude—inspired penmen whom the Holy Spirit used. Of these... the Apostle Paul wrote fourteen (if we include the Epistle to the Hebrews), and the rest of the writers wrote thirteen... There are one hundred chapters in the Pauline epistles, whereas in the rest of the epistles there are but twenty-one chapters.
The fourteenth letter
Thirteen letters open with Paul's name. Hebrews does not, and that is what makes the total debatable:
Walter ScottThe Epistles of Paul, of which there are fourteen, form a distinct group by themselves... The authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews has been long a disputed point. It has been variously ascribed to Peter, Apollos, and Paul. From internal evidence we gather that the great Gentile apostle was the writer (Heb. 13:23); while from 2 Peter 3:15, we are certain that Paul was the author... The Hebrews was placed last of the fourteen Pauline Epistles, as the collector of the sacred books or editor of the New Testament had, it is supposed, doubts as to its authorship. Its inspiration, however, does not depend at all on the particular writer employed. The first word in each of these inspired Epistles is "Paul," except in the fourteenth.
Why the name is missing
One suggestion is that Paul held back his name so that his readers' hostility toward him would not stop them reading:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThis is the only Epistle attributed to Paul that does not bear his name. In all the oldest manuscripts his name does not occur, either at the beginning or at the end... The question as to who the writer was does not touch its inspiration: of this there can be no legitimate doubt. It may be that Paul's name is withheld because he was so slandered by the Jews, many of whom were related to the very ones he was writing to, so that they might not be prejudiced against the Epistle.
Another reads the silence as deliberate, so that only one apostle is named in the letter — Christ Himself. Commentators differ here, and some decline to name the author at all:
Arend RemmersAs a matter of fact the author of the epistle remains unknown. The Holy Spirit who inspired this epistle deliberately wanted to introduce the Lord Jesus only as apostle and high priest of our profession (Heb. 3:1). Origen (around 185 to 254 AD) fittingly wrote: Only God knows in truth who the author is.
The count therefore varies with the verdict. One writer records that "thirteen Epistles in all are generally ascribed to him, of which twelve bear his name" (C. E. Stuart), while those who accept Hebrews say fourteen.
Order and dating
The order in our Bibles is not the order Paul wrote in:
J. N. DarbyThere is nothing in that order which, as to its details, is connected with any moral or chronological reason: it differs also in different countries and in different versions... It is probable that among the epistles of Paul that to the Thessalonians was the first. The date of the Epistle to the Galatians is less certain, but it was written after several years of labour; the two to the Corinthians, and that to the Romans, at Ephesus, Macedonia, and Corinth, respectively, during his journey round the Archipelago after his long stay at Ephesus; those to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, during his captivity.
What the letters carry
The number matters because of what these letters brought into Scripture that no earlier writer had given:
C. E. StuartHe, the only apostle who had persecuted the Church of God, was the honoured instrument chosen to reveal the dispensation or economy of the mystery of the Christ. The mystery, when thus revealed, completed the range of subjects which it has pleased God in His word to treat. Creation, the fall of man, the atonement, and the kingdom had been declared by other instruments. By Paul was made known the mystery — Christ the Head, and His people the members of His body.
Summary
- Fourteen — Paul is credited with fourteen of the New Testament's twenty-one letters, Hebrews included.
- Thirteen — drop Hebrews, and the count falls; Hebrews is the one letter that never names its writer, and commentators differ on whether it is Paul's.
- Weight — his share is larger than the number suggests: about 2,767 verses out of 3,601, and one hundred chapters against twenty-one.
- Sequence — the familiar order is not the order of writing; Thessalonians came first, and Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians were written from prison.
- Reason — the volume serves a purpose: through Paul came the mystery of Christ the Head and His people His body, the subject that completed what God had already revealed.