No lost Pauline letter to the Laodiceans — Col. 4 ambiguity
Rome's 'lost letter to Laodicea' rests on a Latin ambiguity in Col. 4, not on a vanished Canon.
The Vulgate's 'epistle of the Laodiceans' is read as a letter to them; the Greek says a letter from Laodicea.
τὴν ἐκ Λαοδικείας means written from Laodicea — anyone with a little Greek can see it.
So the lost-Laodiceans proof for an incomplete Canon falls with the mistranslation.
Latin
IX. Quod vero pertendunt Pontificiorum nonnulli periisse quandam epistolam Pauli ad Laodicenses, non habet ullum fundamentum: sed natum est ex ambiguitate, quae reperitur in verbis veteris interpretis ult. cap. Ep. ad Colos. Sic enim ibi legitur apud veterem interpretem, Quum lecta fuerit apud vos epistola, facite ut in Laodicensium Ecclesia legatur; & eam quae Laodicensium est vos quoque legatis. Per illam vero epistolam, quae ibi Laodicensium dicitur, intelligunt epistolam ad Laodicenses scriptam, cum revera ibi agatur de epistola scripta a Laodicensibus, ut manifestum est ex Graeco contextu, qui sic habet, καὶ τὴν ἐκ Λαοδικείας ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀναγνῶτε, & scriptam a Laodicea vos quoque legatis. Nam certe nullus est Graece tantisper intelligens qui ignorare possit τὴν ἐκ Λαοδικείας significare epistolam scriptam e Laodicea, non vero ad Laodicenses.
About this text
Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu, Sedan Theses, newly rendered from Latin: from theology proper through the Roman theses I–77 and the Reformed theses of Part Two. The theses only — not the collected works.
English follows locked Pitt Latin through Imaginum CLOSED + Sanctorum Cultu Romana CLOSED + Pars Secunda Reformata I-XL. 1675 PDF ~384-390 (book ~370-376); Vision OCR + pdftotext + tess. No modern English. This slice densifies Sanctorum Pars Secunda I-XL. Next: Pars Secunda XLI–fin (~CI). Claim stays claimed (book densify not done).
Catalogue & scope
ESTC R17887; Wing L802. IA bub_gb_eOkHAW4G0-wC (+ EEBO 1675 for gap leaves). Densify through Sanctorum Cultu Romana I-LXXVII + Pars Secunda Reformata I-XL (Pars Secunda not closed; not whole folio).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Theologia I-XLIII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
- Checked print Internet Archive PDF of the 1675 Pitt folio (Latin)
- Checked print pdftotext of De Theologia pages (Latin)
- Checked print Internet Archive DjVu OCR of the 1675 Pitt folio (Latin)
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Fide I-XXII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Authoritate Scripturae Pars I I-XLVII + Pars II I-XXXV + Pars III I-VIII (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
- Copy-text Locked Latin, De Scripturae plenitudine densify (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.