If awareness of inspiration of leading by the Spirit
were an adequate criterion for inclusion of a text in the NT, then many other texts
would have been included. For example, was Paul also inspired to write
Scripture when he wrote his lost first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor
5:9) or the one that he wrote to the Laodiceans (Col. 4:16)? If so, then we
have lost some of the sacred Scriptures. (Lee Martin McDonald, The
Formation of the Biblical Canon, 2 vols. [London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark,
2017], 2:106)
. . . only a small portion of the total number of
ancient written documents is known today, perhaps less than one percent, and
perhaps future discoveries will lead to changes in our perspectives about what functioned
as sacred writings in antiquity. Some of the early Christian writings were
simply lost, e.g., the first letter in Paul’s Corinthian correspondence (1 Cor
5:9) or his letter to the Laodiceans (Col 4:16). (Ibid., 266)
