The Letters of Paul May Not Be Authentic

Another post from "Sir Wilfred" providing some fascinating insights from Bart Ehrman. 

We have something like 5,600 manuscripts of the Bible, however we do not have any of the original manuscripts of any of the books of the Bible. If I remember correctly the earliest 'manuscript' of the gospel of John that we have is 2nd century and it's only a very small fragment. 

Also if I remember correctly we don't have a 'complete' copy of the gospel of John until the early 4th century. All we actually have are copies of the copies of the copies of the copies of the copies of the copies of the copies of the copies . . . of any of the books of the Bible.

For anyone who is interested there are numerous videos on youtube where Bart Ehrman points out that we cannot actually know what the original books of the new testament say because we do not have any of the original manuscripts. As he points out in one of those videos, let's say that Paul is dictating one of his letters to a scribe, the scribe fails to write down exactly what Paul said, would that copy be the original? What if Paul proof reads what the scribe has written down and then changes it, would that copy be an the original?

Just a couple of the topics that Bart Ehrman covers on the youtube videos are "Forged" and "Misquoting Jesus". WARNING: These videos could be hazardous to your faith.

Click to hear the "Forged" interview  (Interviewed by Ian Punnett on Coast to Coast AM) 

Click here to see the "Misquoting Jesus" video 

A Christian Apologist responds by saying... "If your source claims that Paul's letters were altered from the very beginning, such claims are extremely suspect."

In fact the idea that Paul's letters are not entirely authentic is not a new one, and is far from suspect, and has been demonstrated by many historians and theologians over the last 100 years. 

Overview here...
http://vridar.org/2014/09/08/list-of-scholars-believing-pauls-letters-were-interpolated/

And here is a small selection of sources...

Les origines du Nouveau Testament - Alfred Loisy 1935

The Evidential Value of Paul’s Conversion and Ministry -- By: Everett F. Harrison, 1936

Paulinisme en Petrinisme by JHA Michelesen  

Il Mistero Di Gesu - P.L. Couchoud - 1926

The Problem of the Pastoral Epistles by P.N. Harrison, (London: Oxford University Press, 1921).

Polycarp's two epistles to the Philippians by PN Harrison -  Cambridge university press 1936

The Primitive Christian Catechism: a Study in the Epistles. by Philip Carrington 

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940.

Romans: A Reinterpretation - by R.M. Hawkins 1941 

Paul's Letter to the Romans.  John C. O'Neill, 1975 

Authority in Paul and Peter: The Identification of a Pastoral Stratum in the Pauline Corpus and 1 Peter (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series) Hardcover – 24 Feb 1983 by Winsome Munro

St. Paul and the Church of the Gentiles by Rudolf Bultmann1947

Apocalyptic Movement: Introduction & Interpretation by Walter Schmithals - 1975

“The New Exodus of Salvation according to St. Paul.” In The Root of the Vine: Essays in Biblical Theology by H Sahlin 1953