A few years ago, while dialoguing with a (grossly misinformed) anti-Mormon activist here in Ireland, Desmond Ferguson (formerly of Irish Church Missions), he stated that the word “epistle” in the Book of Mormon is an anachronism. The argument is fallacious on many points (as one who tried to interact with him over the years, this is part-and-parcel of all his “arguments”).
Firstly, it should be enough to note that the Book of Mormon purports to be a translation—therefore, it stands to reason, that the language into which it was translated is not the language from which, according to its very own claims, it was translated. It would be as stupid as one arguing that the phrase, “In the beginning” in Gen 1:1 is an anachronism, as these are English words, and English did not exist when Genesis was written (regardless of one’s position on the Documentary Hypothesis and other issues).
EPIS'TLE, noun epis'l. [Latin epistola; Gr. to send to; to send.]
A writing, directed or sent, communicating intelligence to a distant person; a letter; a letter missive. It is rarely used in familiar conversation or writings, but chiefly in solemn or formal transactions. It is used particularly in speaking of the letters of the Apostles, as the epistles of Paul; and of other letters written by the ancients, as the epistles of Pliny or of Cicero.
Therefore, it is perfectly valid for Joseph Smith to have used “epistle” to denote a literary structure in the form of a letter.
Thirdly, in the Bible, we read of “letter[s]” in the Hebrew Bible:
And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die. (2 Sam 11:14-15)
So he wrote the letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal; she sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people . . . And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jazebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. (1 Kgs 21:8-9, 11)
Furthermore, it should be noted that the Greek term επιστολη appears throughout the LXX. Using Ferguson's "logic," this "proves" that the LXX cannot be a true translation but a pseudo-translation (1 Chron 30:1, 6; 1 Esdras 2:12, 20; 4:47, 48, 61; 6:7; Ezra 4:6, 8, 11; 5:6; Neh 2:7, 8, 9; 6:5, 17, 19; Esther 3:13, 14; 8:12 [x2]; 9:26, 29; 10:3; 1 Maccabees 8:22; 9:60; 10:3, 7, 17; 11:29, 31; 12:2, 4, 5, 7, 8; 12:17, 19, 35; 14:20; 15:1, 15; 16:19; 2 Maccabees 2:13; 9:18; 11:16, 22, 27, 34; 3 Maccabees 3:11, 25, 30; 6:41; 7:10; Isa 18:2; 39:1; Jer 36:1; Dan 4:37 [x2]). Of course, such an "argument" would be, to be blunt, stupid; the same applies for Ferguson's application of such against the Book of Mormon.
Other examples could be multiplied. The underlining Hebrew term is often סֵפֶר which refers to a "missive, document, writing, book" according to the Brown-Drivers-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon. Of course, using the "logic" of Ferguson, one could claim this disproves the Bible, as "letter" derives from an Old French word, letre(!) In reality, just as there is no problem with the Book of Mormon using the term “epistle” there is no problem with valid English translations to use the term “letter[s].”
Commenting on letters ("epistles" if you will) in the Old Testament, one scholar wrote the following:
Some references are to the official correspondence of royalty, for example, Huram (Hiram) of Tyre’s letter to Solomon written in connection with plans to build the temple in Jerusalem (2 Chron. 2:10 [v. 11 in English]), or public decrees. (These include, for example, Esth. 3:12, the edict to kill the Jews; 2 Chron. 30:1, Hezekiah’s invitation to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem; Esth. 9:20-23, Mordecai’s letters to the Jews concerning the celebration of 14 Adar; see also 9:29, Esther’s letter, and Esth. 8:8; 8:5; 8:10; 1:19.) Some are accusatory; for example, Ezra 4:7-16, the letter written by Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and their comrades to King Artaxerxes to derail the returned exiles’ building projects, and the king’s response (Ezra 4:17-22). Such an accusatory letter relates to another genre of written communication, the lettre de cachet: the communiqué to place Uriah in the forefront of the battle (2 Sam. 11:14, 15); Jehu’s communiqué to the elders of Jezreel to dispatch with Ahab’s seventy sons (2 Kings 10:1, 6, 7); the false accusation against Naboth (1 Kings 21:8, 9). (See also Job 31:35; perhaps also Job 13:26.) Partaking of the interplay between oral and written discussed by Finnegan, Thomas, and others are texts such as Ezra 1:1 (2 Chron. 36:22) referring to a written edict of Cyrus that is also spread in the land orally by herald. Similarly, Elijah is said to engage in a long-distance form of prophecy, sending a letter to King Jehoram of Judah. This passage at 2 Chron. 21:12-15 is not represented in the Deuteronomistic corpus (see at 2 Kings 8). At 2 Chron. 32:17 Sennacherib is pictured to have written letters to “deride” God—letters that are read aloud as a public proclamation to frighten the Israelites. Here communiqué, curse text, oral and written merge.
It is worth noting that this intertwining of written and oral communication with special emphasis on the former is found particularly in postexilic material (see also the written agreement to the covenant discussed above [Neh. 10:1]). Indeed the vast majority of references to letters are late. Note, for example, that Hiram’s response to Solomon in the Deuteronomistic passage parallel to the story of the building of the temple in 2 Chronicles 2 does not introduce Hiram’s words of response with references to a letter or writing (1 Kings 5:1-22 [English vv. 7-8]; cf. 2 Chron. 2:10 [English v. 11]). The later writer of Chronicles frequently adds the accoutrements of a more literate mentality to the earlier version in the Deuteronomistic History. The epigraphic corpus offers many actual examples of letters from the period of the monarchy. One does not mean to imply that letters are a postexilic phenomenon or the like. Nevertheless, late biblical authors of Ezra-Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles, and Esther certainly refer to letters as recordlike documents on file, as proof for certain clams of reliability, or as testaments to the importance and factuality of certain decrees. (Susan Niditch, Oral World and Written Word: Ancient Israelite Literature [Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996], 90-91)
My friend, Stephen Smoot, offered the following comment which is rather apropos:
In Kamose's famous victory stela he quotes a letter ("a letter in writing" or šˁt sšw as he calls it) from the Hyksos king Aauserre to the Nubian king asking for support in the fight against the Egyptian Theban dynasty. That text is from ca. 1300 BC.
With respect to ancient Egypt, there are many letters, both addressed to the living and the dead, that date all the way back to the Old Kingdom period (ca. 2700-2170 BC). One such example is the following is
a letter dating to the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt (ca. 2345-2181 BC). It is a
protest to the Vizier from Saqqara. It was found within the Step Pyramid
enclosure in 1925 and is now in Cairo, JE 49623:
(1) Year of the eleventh occasion, first
month of the Shemu season, day 23.
(2) The overseer of the expedition speaks:
(3) The letter of the vizier has been brought
to this your servant, to effect that the division of troops of Tura should be
brought (4) to the Western Enclosure so that they may be fitted with clothes in
his presence. (However), this your servant protests at (such) unusual requests;
for indeed the letter-carrier (5) is about to come to Tura with the (stone)
barge, while your servant has to spend six days at the Residence (6) along with
this division until it is clothed. It is (this) which gets in the way of your
servant’s work, since but one day (7) needs to be wasted for the clothing of
the division.
So speaks your servant. Inform the
letter-carrier! (Nigel C. Strudwick, Texts
from the Pyramid Age [Writing from the Ancient World; Atlanta: Society of
Biblical Literature, 2005], 177)
There are many examples of letters from the Egyptian New Kingdom, too (16th-11th century BC). The following representative examples are taken from The Ancient Egyptians: A Sourcebook of Their Writings, ed. Adolf Erman (trans. William Kelly Simpson; New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1966)
[PURSUIT OF A RUNAWAY SLAVE.] (Pap. Anastasi, v. 19. 2 ff.)
The commandment of the Auxiliaries of Zeku, Kakemur, (writeth) to the Commandment of the Auxiliaries, Anii, and to the Commandment of the Auxiliaries, Bekenptah.
In life, prosperity, and health, and in the favour of Ammunrē, king of gods, and the Ka of King Sēthos II, our good lord.
I say to Rē-Karakhti: “Keep Pharaoh, our good lord, in health! Let him celebrate millions of jubilees, while we are daily in his favour.”
Furthermore: I was sent forth from the halls of the royal palace after these two slaves on the ninth day of the third month of Summer at the time of evening. And when I came on the tenth day of the third month of Summer to the castle (?) of Zeku, I was told that the news from the south was that they had gone past on the . . . th day of the third month of Summer. And when I came ot the fortress, I was told that the groom (?) had come form the desert (and had reported) that they had crossed the boundary north of the Migdol of Sēthos, who is . . . like Sēth.
When my letter reacheth you, write unto me about all that hath come to pass with you. Where were their tracks found? Which watch(?) found their tracks? What men pursued after them? Write unto me of all that was done about them, and how many men followed them.
Live ye happily! (pp. 198-99)
[REPROOF OF A HIGH OFFICIAL.] (Pap. Anastasi, iv. 10.8)
This royal decree is brought to thee.
What concern hast thou with the Tekten of the Oasis country, that thou hast sent forth this scribe of thine of thine to remove them from their Niau?
If now . . . Rē and Ptah suffer (us) not to hear aught respecting (?) these rumours (?) that one heareth, and this prince then writeth saying: “Thou art to bring hither the Tekten that can spy”—whither wilt thou (turn_? To whose hose wilt thou (go)? He cometh down on thine head like a sand dune. Thou art taken away and art placed there - - - -.
Even so is it with thine other very grace offence, which thou now committest: thou lettest Pharaoh come, in order to be take himself unto Heliopolis, without causing tools for the workshop to be brought as equipment behind thy lord - - - -.
Art thou not put in the place of other superintendents of the treasury, who abstained form removing a Tekten from his Niau, and only thou (doest this)?
When the decree of Pharaoh reacheth thee, thou art to write a letter to this scribe of thine, whom thou didst dispatch to the Oasis country, saying: “Beware! Abstain from taking away even one of the Tekten, or it will be accounted unto thee as a crime worthy of death.” And thou shalt hand over thy letter be a henchman of thine, and thou shalt dispatch him with the runner with all speed. (p. 203)
[LONGING FOR MEMPHIS.] (Pap. Anastasi, iv. 4. 11 ff.]
Behold, mine heart hath gone forth secretly. It hasteneth to a place that it knoweth; it voyageth downstream, that it may see Memphis - - - -.But I sit and wait for (a messenger), that he may tell me how Memphis fareth. I have no message, and mine heart leapeth in its place.
Come to me, Ptah, to take (me) tm Memphis, and let me view thee unhindered.
I spend the day with mine heart dreaming (?). Mine heart is not in my body, all my limbs - - - -, mine eye is weary with looking, mine ear is not . . ., my voice is . . ., so that it speaketh all manner of things pervertedly. Be gracious to me, and suffer (me?) to munt up (?) to them. (p. 205)
It should be rather obvious now that the charge that "epistle" in the Book of Mormon is an anachronism is just simply bogus.
Finally, and rather interestingly, the epistles in the Book of Mormon provide evidence for the historicity of the Book of Mormon as their forms and structure strongly mirror other ancient epistles from antiquity. For a discussion, see:
Robert F. Smith, Epistolary Form in the Book of Mormon