If the Epistle to the Laodiceans were found, could the Church add it to the canon, or is that closed?
A viewer asks whether, if the Epistle to the Laodiceans were discovered, the Church could evaluate it and possibly include it in the canon, or whether that issue is closed.
Answer
The Church can make any decision it feels is correct. The reason the Council of Trent closed the canon was not for issues like the Epistle to the Laodiceans, but because someone was contesting the canon the Church had already approved; Cardinal Cajetan contested seven New Testament books and Martin Luther contested the seven deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament, and that kind of pressure pushed the Church to make a decision. But Christ gave the Church the authority, 'whatever you bind shall be bound, whatever you loose shall be loosed,' and there is no time limit on that, because there is no time limit on truth. So if the letter to the Laodiceans turned up and the Church determined it was inspired, she could add it and we would have twenty-eight books; or, not likely, she could decide not to add it, or shelve the decision for a hundred years. The early church actually knew about it, because Paul mentions 'the other letter I wrote to the Laodiceans' in the New Testament, so everyone was looking for it but nobody found it. The Church could even leave room in her decision so that if it is ever found and determined inspired, it can be added, and then tradition has taken care of the problem, because it is not something new we are making up.