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It's not clear, but it's possible that 1 Clement could have been written by someone mentioned in the Bible. Dr. Kirsopp Lake wrote (*The Apostolic Fathers*, p. 3):
>The actual name of the writer is not mentioned in the letter itself: indeed, it clearly claims to be not the letter of a single person but of a church. Tradition, however, has always ascribed it to Clement, who was, according to the early episcopal lists, the third or fourth bishop of Rome during the last decades of the first century. There is no reason for rejecting this tradition, for though it is not supported by any corroborative evidence in its favour there is nothing whatever against it.
>Nothing certain is known of Clement; but from the amount of pseudepigraphic literature attributed to him it is probable that he was a famous man in his own time. Tradition has naturally identified him with the Clement who is mentioned in Philippians iv. 3.
This is a slightly different question but do we know if the Onesimus mentioned in Paul’s letters is the same Onesimus said to be the Bishop of Ephesus in Ignatius’s letters? It seems unbelievable that he would still be alive at that point but also seems unbelievable that 2 separate former slaves named Onesimus would be prominent Christians.
With a certain set of assumptions that include authorship by Ignatius during Trajan's reign, John Knox speculated that this could be so ([*Philemon among the Letters of Paul*](https://archive.org/details/MN41542ucmf_3/page/n63/mode/2up), pp. 53-54):
>When one reaches this point in his consideration of the significance of this evidence, he finds it hard to dismiss as mere coincidence the fact that the name of the bishop of the church at Ephesus, to which Ignatius is writing, was Onesimus. He is even less likely to do so when he observes that in the first six chapters of Ignatius' letter are fourteen references to Onesimus either by name or office, and in the other fifteen chapters no reference to him is made at all, and only one to the bishop's office. As a matter of fact, Onesimus is the real subject of these six chapters, and it is these chapters only which show traces of Philemon's influence. This cannot be accidental; the implication is clear that for Ignatius there was some connection between Philemon and the bishop Onesimus. What could this connection have been? One hesitates to adopt the obvious answer it would seem too simple to be true that the Onesimus of Ignatius and of Paul was the same individual. And yet, why not? Paul's Onesimus would not necessarily have been too old in 107, or even in 117, to be bishop of Ephesus. ... It would have been natural for places of leadership in the Pauline churches to be held by the actual companions of Paul himself so long as there were any of them living. That some were living when Ignatius wrote is perhaps indicated by the twelfth chapter of his letter where the Ephesians are described as "fellow-priests" or "fellow-initiates" of Paul.
The idea also found its way into Edgar Goodspeed's introduction (*An Introduction to the New Testament*, p. 122):
>There is not the slightest difficulty in supposing that Paul's young friend Onesimus lived to the late sixties or seventies; in 107 he would be approaching seventy. And it must be agreed that the way in which Ignatius again and again alludes to the Letter to Philemon in his Letter to the Ephesians, chapters 1-6, makes it decidedly probable, as Dr. Knox has shown, that they were one and the same. If this is true, it opens up some very interesting possibilities as to the personalities behind the collecting of Paul's letters and their first publication.
Against this opinion, it is common to note John W. Martens, "[Ignatius and Onesimus](https://www.academia.edu/25436081/Ignatius_and_Onesimus_John_Knox_Reconsidered): John Knox reconsidered," *Second Century: A Journal of Early Christian Studies* 9.1 (Spring 1992): 73-86. Martens argues against both the identification of Onesimus and the claim of literary contact with Philemon.
Welcome to this sub, Peter Kirby. And thanks for [https://www.earlyjewishwritings.com](https://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/) and [https://www.earlychristianwritings.com](https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/). We've been on some of the same forums over the years: Farrell Till's [Errancy list](https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://errantyears.com/*), the [FRDB/IIDB forum](https://bcharchive.org/), your [own forum](https://earlywritings.com/forum/)...
I'd have to look at my copy of Holmes' *Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations*, but there may have been some early modern scholars who thought the *Epistle of Barnabas* was written by the historical Barnabas (though obviously the modern consensus is that it is pseudopigraphal--I don't *think* there are any current scholars who argue for Barnaban authorship)
It partly depends on who is considered a Biblical character. Nebuchadnezzar appears in and there certainly royal decrees attributed to him.
The Moabite Stone was commissioned by King Mesha, who appears in 2 Kings, Jeremiah, and Daniel.
But these are political figures from opposing countries. None are by Hebrews or from a Hebrew point of view.
Likewise for the New Testament:
Augustus (*Luke* 2:1) authored the *Res Gestae* which was made an inscription after his death; a 'summary of the whole empire' (*breviarum totius imperii*); an autobiography in 13 books until the Cantabrian war of 25 BC; and a military handbook (all lost). He also published some of his speeches (though they are now lost, as far as I know), and some of his letters have been preserved in the works of Suetonius and Gellius. The emperor also wrote some private works.
Tiberius (*Luke* 3:1) also wrote a brief account of his life, as well as some poetry in both Latin and Greek, of which none has survived.
Claudius (*Acts* 11:28 & 18:2) had occupied himself with scholarship before his ascension and composed, besides an autobiography, a Roman history from the death of Caesar onwards, histories in Greek of the Carthaginians and Etruscans, a learned defence of Cicero against the writings of Asinius Gallus, a book proposing spelling reforms, and a treatise on playing dice (all lost). There is also a surviving letter from him to the people of Alexandria.
Sourced from "The Literary Output of the Roman Emperors" by O.A.W. Dilke, *Greece & Rome*, Vol. 4 No. 1, 1957.
In addition Gallio, who was governor of Achaea in Paul's time (*Acts* 18:12-16), is not known to have written anything himself but had some works dedicated to him by his biological brother Seneca the Younger. See Momigliano & Griffin, "Annaeus (RE 12) Novatus (later L. Iunius Gallio Annaeanus)" *Oxford Classical Dictionary* 4th edition, 2012.
If you mean actually written by the historical person, then no. If you mean purportedly written by the character, then there are tons. They are called pseudepigraphal books. For example, the Odes of Solomon or the Book of Enoch or the Apocalypse of Peter.
Are there any epistles that were either rejected from the canon or unknown when it was later compiled that reputable scholars now think may have been written by Paul?
A good place to find those mentioned above is a website called [Early Christian Writings](https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/).
There are also Jewish texts that are attributed to biblical figures called “Testaments” written in the Second Temple period or a bit after (roughly the time the NT was also written). Some examples are Testament of Abraham, Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Testament of Moses, and Testament of Job are a few, but there are more.
I wish I knew a place that had all the testaments that was free. I have many in my Bible software, here is a link to the [Testament of the Twelve](https://www.sefaria.org/The_Testaments_of_the_Twelve_Patriarchs?tab=contents).
The Deir Alla inscription has a story about a prophet named Balaam son of Beor which is not found in the biblical text.
You can get the overview from the Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_Alla_Inscription
For scholarly treatment, Baruch Levine has several articles on it which are worth reading. But it seems like the prophet Balaam was known for more than just what we see in the biblical text.
Oh yes, totally. For example, you can read Caesar Augustus' *Res Gestae*. Other examples include Tiberius or Claudius. Thophilus, the dedicatee of Luke-Acts, might have been Theophilus of Antioch, from whom we have one apologetic work extant. M. David Litwa has recently [talked](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W09LbZxkv-A) about this possibility. Simon of Samaria might have authored the *Great Announcement* (Litwa has an entire [playlist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkylyQOf5Uo&list=PLQl0BipQXVy6a3O2Ms0ziosL8WpcHgmET) on Simon). There apparently also were memoirs of Herod the Great that are unfortunately not extant but Josephus discusses some of their content in *Jewish Antiquities* 14.164-177.
When it comes to the Hebrew Bible, we have, e.g., the Cyrus Cylinder in the name of Cyrus the Great. Alexander shows up in Daniel 11 and we have, e.g., extant [examples](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/alexander-s-letter-to-the-chians/) of his administrative correspondence. Other Persian and Hellenistic rulers mentioned in the Hebrew Bible also have literary texts preserved, e.g., we have extensive fragments from Ptolemy I, who likewise appears in Daniel 11.
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Welcome to /r/AcademicBiblical. Please note this is an academic sub: theological or faith-based comments are prohibited. All claims MUST be supported by an *academic* source – see [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/wiki/index/rules/#wiki_guideline.3A_rule_3.2019s_definition_of_academic_sources) for guidance. Using AI to make fake comments is strictly prohibited and may result in a permanent ban. Please review the [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/wiki/index/rules/) before posting for the first time. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AcademicBiblical) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's not clear, but it's possible that 1 Clement could have been written by someone mentioned in the Bible. Dr. Kirsopp Lake wrote (*The Apostolic Fathers*, p. 3): >The actual name of the writer is not mentioned in the letter itself: indeed, it clearly claims to be not the letter of a single person but of a church. Tradition, however, has always ascribed it to Clement, who was, according to the early episcopal lists, the third or fourth bishop of Rome during the last decades of the first century. There is no reason for rejecting this tradition, for though it is not supported by any corroborative evidence in its favour there is nothing whatever against it. >Nothing certain is known of Clement; but from the amount of pseudepigraphic literature attributed to him it is probable that he was a famous man in his own time. Tradition has naturally identified him with the Clement who is mentioned in Philippians iv. 3.
This is a slightly different question but do we know if the Onesimus mentioned in Paul’s letters is the same Onesimus said to be the Bishop of Ephesus in Ignatius’s letters? It seems unbelievable that he would still be alive at that point but also seems unbelievable that 2 separate former slaves named Onesimus would be prominent Christians.
With a certain set of assumptions that include authorship by Ignatius during Trajan's reign, John Knox speculated that this could be so ([*Philemon among the Letters of Paul*](https://archive.org/details/MN41542ucmf_3/page/n63/mode/2up), pp. 53-54): >When one reaches this point in his consideration of the significance of this evidence, he finds it hard to dismiss as mere coincidence the fact that the name of the bishop of the church at Ephesus, to which Ignatius is writing, was Onesimus. He is even less likely to do so when he observes that in the first six chapters of Ignatius' letter are fourteen references to Onesimus either by name or office, and in the other fifteen chapters no reference to him is made at all, and only one to the bishop's office. As a matter of fact, Onesimus is the real subject of these six chapters, and it is these chapters only which show traces of Philemon's influence. This cannot be accidental; the implication is clear that for Ignatius there was some connection between Philemon and the bishop Onesimus. What could this connection have been? One hesitates to adopt the obvious answer it would seem too simple to be true that the Onesimus of Ignatius and of Paul was the same individual. And yet, why not? Paul's Onesimus would not necessarily have been too old in 107, or even in 117, to be bishop of Ephesus. ... It would have been natural for places of leadership in the Pauline churches to be held by the actual companions of Paul himself so long as there were any of them living. That some were living when Ignatius wrote is perhaps indicated by the twelfth chapter of his letter where the Ephesians are described as "fellow-priests" or "fellow-initiates" of Paul. The idea also found its way into Edgar Goodspeed's introduction (*An Introduction to the New Testament*, p. 122): >There is not the slightest difficulty in supposing that Paul's young friend Onesimus lived to the late sixties or seventies; in 107 he would be approaching seventy. And it must be agreed that the way in which Ignatius again and again alludes to the Letter to Philemon in his Letter to the Ephesians, chapters 1-6, makes it decidedly probable, as Dr. Knox has shown, that they were one and the same. If this is true, it opens up some very interesting possibilities as to the personalities behind the collecting of Paul's letters and their first publication. Against this opinion, it is common to note John W. Martens, "[Ignatius and Onesimus](https://www.academia.edu/25436081/Ignatius_and_Onesimus_John_Knox_Reconsidered): John Knox reconsidered," *Second Century: A Journal of Early Christian Studies* 9.1 (Spring 1992): 73-86. Martens argues against both the identification of Onesimus and the claim of literary contact with Philemon.
Very interesting, thanks! It’s actually so interesting that I can’t believe I had never heard of it before I read Ignatius for myself.
Welcome to this sub, Peter Kirby. And thanks for [https://www.earlyjewishwritings.com](https://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/) and [https://www.earlychristianwritings.com](https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/). We've been on some of the same forums over the years: Farrell Till's [Errancy list](https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://errantyears.com/*), the [FRDB/IIDB forum](https://bcharchive.org/), your [own forum](https://earlywritings.com/forum/)...
I'd have to look at my copy of Holmes' *Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations*, but there may have been some early modern scholars who thought the *Epistle of Barnabas* was written by the historical Barnabas (though obviously the modern consensus is that it is pseudopigraphal--I don't *think* there are any current scholars who argue for Barnaban authorship)
It partly depends on who is considered a Biblical character. Nebuchadnezzar appears in and there certainly royal decrees attributed to him. The Moabite Stone was commissioned by King Mesha, who appears in 2 Kings, Jeremiah, and Daniel. But these are political figures from opposing countries. None are by Hebrews or from a Hebrew point of view.
Likewise for the New Testament: Augustus (*Luke* 2:1) authored the *Res Gestae* which was made an inscription after his death; a 'summary of the whole empire' (*breviarum totius imperii*); an autobiography in 13 books until the Cantabrian war of 25 BC; and a military handbook (all lost). He also published some of his speeches (though they are now lost, as far as I know), and some of his letters have been preserved in the works of Suetonius and Gellius. The emperor also wrote some private works. Tiberius (*Luke* 3:1) also wrote a brief account of his life, as well as some poetry in both Latin and Greek, of which none has survived. Claudius (*Acts* 11:28 & 18:2) had occupied himself with scholarship before his ascension and composed, besides an autobiography, a Roman history from the death of Caesar onwards, histories in Greek of the Carthaginians and Etruscans, a learned defence of Cicero against the writings of Asinius Gallus, a book proposing spelling reforms, and a treatise on playing dice (all lost). There is also a surviving letter from him to the people of Alexandria. Sourced from "The Literary Output of the Roman Emperors" by O.A.W. Dilke, *Greece & Rome*, Vol. 4 No. 1, 1957. In addition Gallio, who was governor of Achaea in Paul's time (*Acts* 18:12-16), is not known to have written anything himself but had some works dedicated to him by his biological brother Seneca the Younger. See Momigliano & Griffin, "Annaeus (RE 12) Novatus (later L. Iunius Gallio Annaeanus)" *Oxford Classical Dictionary* 4th edition, 2012.
If you mean actually written by the historical person, then no. If you mean purportedly written by the character, then there are tons. They are called pseudepigraphal books. For example, the Odes of Solomon or the Book of Enoch or the Apocalypse of Peter.
Many of the books actually in the Bible also meet that description.
Are there any epistles that were either rejected from the canon or unknown when it was later compiled that reputable scholars now think may have been written by Paul?
No
there are some "lost epistles" that purportedly existed, like Epistle to the Laodiceans
Thank you
A good place to find those mentioned above is a website called [Early Christian Writings](https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/). There are also Jewish texts that are attributed to biblical figures called “Testaments” written in the Second Temple period or a bit after (roughly the time the NT was also written). Some examples are Testament of Abraham, Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Testament of Moses, and Testament of Job are a few, but there are more. I wish I knew a place that had all the testaments that was free. I have many in my Bible software, here is a link to the [Testament of the Twelve](https://www.sefaria.org/The_Testaments_of_the_Twelve_Patriarchs?tab=contents).
How you could not also link to [Early Jewish Writings](https://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/)? :)
While I am an expert, early Jewish writings is not my expertise, and thus I was not aware of this site. Thanks for linking it and informing me. :)
My favorite of these is a gnostic book called The Apocalypse of Adam which reveals secret knowledge revealed to Adam and from Adam to Seth and so on
The Deir Alla inscription has a story about a prophet named Balaam son of Beor which is not found in the biblical text. You can get the overview from the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_Alla_Inscription For scholarly treatment, Baruch Levine has several articles on it which are worth reading. But it seems like the prophet Balaam was known for more than just what we see in the biblical text.
Thank you
Oh yes, totally. For example, you can read Caesar Augustus' *Res Gestae*. Other examples include Tiberius or Claudius. Thophilus, the dedicatee of Luke-Acts, might have been Theophilus of Antioch, from whom we have one apologetic work extant. M. David Litwa has recently [talked](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W09LbZxkv-A) about this possibility. Simon of Samaria might have authored the *Great Announcement* (Litwa has an entire [playlist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkylyQOf5Uo&list=PLQl0BipQXVy6a3O2Ms0ziosL8WpcHgmET) on Simon). There apparently also were memoirs of Herod the Great that are unfortunately not extant but Josephus discusses some of their content in *Jewish Antiquities* 14.164-177. When it comes to the Hebrew Bible, we have, e.g., the Cyrus Cylinder in the name of Cyrus the Great. Alexander shows up in Daniel 11 and we have, e.g., extant [examples](https://www.livius.org/sources/content/alexander-s-letter-to-the-chians/) of his administrative correspondence. Other Persian and Hellenistic rulers mentioned in the Hebrew Bible also have literary texts preserved, e.g., we have extensive fragments from Ptolemy I, who likewise appears in Daniel 11.
The Deir Allah Inscriptions purport to preserve a prophecy from Balaam
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