Doubtful Epistles.
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.