Are we missing a book of the Bible?

Starting with Matthew and ending with Revelation, there are 27 books in the New Testament. You might recall memorizing the names of these books. After the four gospels and the book of Acts come letters written by the apostle Paul: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and the list goes on.

One letter of Paul absent from that list is his letter to the Laodiceans.

Paul’s letters

In Colossians 4:16, the apostle Paul writes, “After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.”

The first letter mentioned in Colossians 4:16 is Paul’s letter to the Colossians. The Holy Spirit shared many beautiful truths in that letter. Paul described our source of eternal comfort. “[God the Father] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14). Paul highlighted that Jesus is true God. “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). Paul encouraged Christians to give glory to God in all that they do. “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

Paul’s letter to the Colossians was a treasure, and he did not want the Colossians to keep it to themselves. “See that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans.” The Laodiceans needed comfort, clarity, and encouragement just as much as the Colossians did.

No doubt, the Colossians listened to Paul’s instruction. Imagine a Colossian Christian, letter in hand, walking west about 10 miles through the beautiful Lycus Valley in the southwestern part of modern Turkey. If the sky was clear, that Colossian would have seen from a distance a city that was massive compared to his own. Laodicea was at least 20 to 30 times larger than the small town of Colossae.

The handoff was made. “I have a letter from Paul to share with you.” Did the Laodiceans respond, “We have one for you too”? That would fit what Paul describes in Colossians chapter 4. Congregations in both cities had received letters, letters almost certainly written about the same time. Paul would have composed them while imprisoned in Rome during the early 60s A.D., and it is likely that the same letter carrier, Tychicus, delivered both after a long journey from Italy (Colossians 4:7). The Colossians would read their letter, the Laodiceans would read their letter, and then they would trade. The powerful words of God written to two distinct communities would be shared.

“Missing” writings

That all makes sense, but there is one small issue. We have the letter to the Colossians, but the letter to the Laodiceans has not survived.

Is that concerning? Does it trouble us that words of God put on parchment or papyrus by an inspired apostle were not preserved for us?

The letter to the Laodiceans is not the only “missing” writing of Paul. In 1 Corinthians 5:9, Paul wrote, “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.” Paul seems to be referring to an earlier letter. This would mean that our 1 Corinthians is actually 2 Corinthians, and our 2 Corinthians is actually 3 Corinthians, and the real 1 Corinthians has not survived.

Is that concerning? Does it trouble us that words of God put on parchment or papyrus by an inspired apostle have not remained to this day?

In John 21:25, the apostle John writes this about the life of Jesus: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” What is John saying? John is saying that he didn’t include all of Jesus’ words and actions in his gospel. It takes less than two hours to read the gospel of John, yet Jesus had three and a half years of ministry. So much was never recorded for later generations to read.

Should this make us even more concerned?

The apostle John has something more to say. In John 20:30-31, he writes, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

We do not have every word that Jesus ever spoke. We do not know every miracle Jesus ever performed. But when the Holy Spirit was deciding what we should know, he had a plan: We would have everything we needed to be brought from spiritual death to spiritual life, to be brought from unbelief to faith and eternal life.

Many words of Jesus were not preserved, and certain writings of Paul have not survived to this day. We don’t have everything, but we have everything that we need.

Preserved text

Is there a difference, though, between the apostle John choosing not to write something and a letter of the apostle Paul being lost?

Know this: If a divine message is lost but God decides that message needs to be preserved, he is fully capable of making that happen.

In Jeremiah chapter 36, we learn of a wicked king who did not like the prophecy of disaster God had spoken through Jeremiah. King Jehoiakim, after listening to the reading of three or four columns of Jeremiah’s scroll, sliced off the section and burned it in a fire. More columns were read, and more columns were cut off. By the time the reading was done, the entire scroll was ash.

Can human beings successfully frustrate the Lord when the Lord determines that his words must be preserved?

After Jehoiakim destroyed the scroll, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah once more. God told Jeremiah to say to Jehoiakim, “You burned that scroll . . . this is what the LORD says about [you] . . . I will punish [you]” (Jeremiah 36:29-31).

It is God’s powerful grace that makes sure the words we need are preserved for us to read.

That wasn’t all. God had also said to Jeremiah, “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up” (Jeremiah 36:28).

Is God able to make sure that we have all the Scriptures we need, even if a human purposefully tries to eliminate the divine text? Absolutely. It is God’s grace that put words on papyrus or parchment in the first place, and it is God’s powerful grace that makes sure the words we need are preserved for us to read.

We do not have in writing everything God has ever said, but by God’s grace we have in writing everything we will ever need to know.

Learn more about the origins of the Bible in a new book by Stephen Geiger called How the Bible Came to Be. Available from Northwestern Publishing House. Read a review of the book.

Ask a question at forwardinchrist.net/submit.

Author: Stephen Geiger
Volume 113, Number 05
Issue: May 2026