Of the 27 texts that comprise the New Testament, only 7 were not unanimously accepted by the ancient churches. These 7 books have been called “disputed” (Eusebius), “contested” (Catholic Encyclopedia), and “problem” (as in “problem books” by R. Laird Harris). I think of them as the 7 books that belatedly received the total receptivity immediately granted the 20.
Luther distinguished four (Hebrews, James, Jude, Revelation) of the disputed books from the other twenty-three. (Article describing Luther’s German translation, which includes a picture, near the bottom right, of how the four were distinguished; photo only, and enlarged)
The 7 disputed books are listed below in their canonical order (not the chronological order of their final and complete acceptance into the canon).
DISPUTED BOOKS: Hebrews
The title “To the Hebrews” is often used by those who want to avoid naming Paul as the author of this text. Such people could think someone else wrote it, or they may simply wish to be agnostic on its authorship. However, in the silence about authorship, Paul looms large because he is the only New Testament author whose writings name the recipients of the writing.
The order of the writings (and the sub-collections of writings that preceded the finalization of the New Testament which pre-shaped that order) also implies Paul’s authorship of “To the Hebrews.”
“Canon of Trent” (Wikipedia article)
Of the New Testament: the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles written by Luke the Evangelist; fourteen epistles of Paul the apostle, (one) to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, (one) to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, (one) to Titus, to Philemon, to the Hebrews; two of Peter the apostle, three of John the apostle [ 1, 2, 3 ], one of the apostle James, one of Jude the apostle, and the Apocalypse of John the apostle.[5]
“Canon of the New Testament” (Catholic Encyclopedia on New Advent)
The Catholic New Testament, as defined by the Council of Trent, does not differ, as regards the books contained, from that of all Christian bodies at present. Like the Old Testament, the New has its deuterocanonical books and portions of books, their canonicity having formerly been a subject of some controversy in the Church. These are for the entire books: the Epistle to the Hebrews, that of James, the Second of St. Peter, the Second and Third of John, Jude, and Apocalypse; giving seven in all as the number of the New Testament contested books. The formerly disputed passages are three: the closing section of St. Mark’s Gospel, xvi, 9-20 about the apparitions of Christ after the Resurrection; the verses in Luke about the bloody sweat of Jesus (22:43-44); the Pericope Adulteræ, or narrative of the woman taken in adultery (John 7:53-8:11). Since the Council of Trent it is not permitted for a Catholic to question the inspiration of these passages.
“HEBREWS Greek manuscripts commonly situate Hebrews after Philemon (D, L, Y, other majuscules, most minuscules) or between 2 Thessalonians and the letters to Timothy and Titus. In other words, Hebrews is treated as the last of Paul’s letters to churches and before his letters to individuals (‘, A, B, C, H, I, K, P, etc.).65 Either placement is a clear assertion that Hebrews belongs within the Corpus Paulinum.66 The latter sequence is found in the famous list in Festal Letter 39 of Athanasius (AD 367).67 𝔓46 is the oldest manuscript of Paul’s letters (c. AD 200–250), but it breaks off after 1 Thessalonians 5:28. In 𝔓46 Hebrews is placed between Romans and 1-2 Corinthians on account of its size, being shorter than 1 Corinthians but longer than 2 Corinthians. Trobisch suggests that the stichometric principle was compromised due to a desire to keep the Corinthian correspondence together.68 In Vaticanus, the chapters of the Pauline Epistles are continuously numbered as if one book (chs. 1–93). In that codex, though Hebrews is physically placed after 2 Thessalonians, the six section numbers assigned to Hebrews (which is defective after 9:14a; chs. 59–64) suggest that in the codex from which Vaticanus was copied, Hebrews followed Galatians. The Vulgate (and hence English Bibles) conforms to the majority of late Byzantine manuscripts and places Hebrews at the end of Paul’s letters.69”
Goswell, Gregory. Text and Paratext…, p. 78. (Perhaps there’s more after what’s above.)
“With regard to the Pauline Epistles, it has been observed that the writings were initially arranged on the basis on length. The only n otable expection to this, of course, is Hebrews. As the textual witnesses indicate, however, the placement of Hebrews at the end of the corpus was a later development that took place several centuries after the Pauline corpus first began to circulate.”
Porter and Laird, Five Views…, p 35-36.
DISPUTED BOOKS: James
DISPUTED BOOKS: 2 Peter
Michael J. Kruger, “The Authenticity of 2 Peter,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 42.4 (1999): 645-671 (27 pages). (online pdf, hosted by JETS)
DISPUTED BOOKS: 2 John
DISPUTED BOOKS: 3 John
DISPUTED BOOKS: Jude
DISPUTED BOOKS: Revelation
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