Authorship of the Pauline epistles

The Pauline epistles are the thirteen books in the New Testament traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle.

There is strong consensus in modern New Testament scholarship on a core group of authentic Pauline epistles whose authorship is rarely contested: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon. Several additional letters bearing Paul's name are disputed among scholars, namely Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus. Scholarly opinion is sharply divided on whether or not Colossians and 2 Thessalonians are genuine letters of Paul. The remaining four contested epistles – Ephesians, as well as the three known as the Pastoral epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus) – have been labeled pseudepigraphical works by most critical scholars.^[1] Some scholars have proposed that Paul may have used an amanuensis, or secretary, in writing the disputed letters,^[2] although such a solution would not explain the fact that the disputed letters appear to have been written at least a decade after Paul’s death.

There are two examples of pseudonymous letters written in Paul's name apart from the New Testament epistles, the Epistle to the Laodiceans and 3 Corinthians.

The Epistle to the Hebrews is actually anonymous, but it has been traditionally attributed to Paul.^[3] The church father Origen of Alexandria rejected the Pauline authorship of Hebrews, instead asserting that, although the ideas expressed in the letter were genuinely Pauline, the letter itself had actually been written by someone else.^[4] Most modern scholars generally agree that Hebrews was not written by the apostle Paul. Various other possible authorships have been suggested.^[5]

Status	Categorisation^[6]	Epistle
Undisputed	Authentic Pauline epistles	First Epistle to the Thessalonians Epistle to the Galatians First Epistle to the Corinthians Second Epistle to the Corinthians Epistle to the Philippians Epistle to Philemon Epistle to the Romans
Disputed	Deutero-Pauline epistles; may be authentic	Epistle to the Ephesians Epistle to the Colossians Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
	Pastoral epistles; probably not authentic	First Epistle to Timothy Second Epistle to Timothy Epistle to Titus
	Anonymous sermon; not Pauline	Epistle to the Hebrews

^ While seven of, 1972), 124-28. the letters traditionally attributed to Paul (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon) are routinely accepted as authentic in modern scholarship, Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, and Titus remain disputed. For a relatively recent overview, see MacDonald, Margaret T. "The Deutero-Pauline Letters in Contemporary Research," in The Oxford Handbook of Pauline Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 258-279.
^ Richards, E. Randolph. Paul and First-Century Letter Writing: Secretaries, Composition and Collection. Downers Grove, IL; Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press; Apollos, 2004. Or even that Paul's frequent co-authors (i.e. Timothy, Silas, and Sosthenes) contributed to the style/theology of some of the Pauline epistles: Johnson, The First and Second Letters to Timothy, 55-97.
^ Though Hebrews was almost certainly not written by Paul, it was adopted into the Pauline corpus from a very early date, including the third century CE Chester Beatty Papyrus (P46). Attridge, Harold W. Hebrews: A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia; Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1989), 1.
^ [Origen of Alexandria, quoted by] Eusebius of Alexandria. Ecclesiastical History 6.25.
^ The most famous of which argues for Lukan authorship. For a survey, see: Lewis, David A. "The Authorship of Hebrews: Historical Survey of the Lukan Theory." Criswell Theological Review 8, no. 2 (2011): 3-18.
^ Ehrman, Bart (16 December 2014). "Pauline Forgeries: 2 Thessalonians as a Test Case". The Bart Ehrman Blog. Bart Ehrman Foundation. Retrieved 21 February 2022. Scholars normally place the thirteen Pauline letters of the New Testament into three categories: The Pastoral Epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, which are very widely recognized as having been written by someone other than Paul; the Deutero-Pauline letters of Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians, which are fairly widely as being written by other authors (three different authors; these must be judged as authentic or not on a case by case basis); and the other seven letters, which are called the 'Undisputed Paulines': Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon.

[1] While seven of, 1972), 124-28. the letters traditionally attributed to Paul (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon) are routinely accepted as authentic in modern scholarship, Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, and Titus remain disputed. For a relatively recent overview, see MacDonald, Margaret T. "The Deutero-Pauline Letters in Contemporary Research," in The Oxford Handbook of Pauline Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 258-279.

[2] Richards, E. Randolph. Paul and First-Century Letter Writing: Secretaries, Composition and Collection. Downers Grove, IL; Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press; Apollos, 2004. Or even that Paul's frequent co-authors (i.e. Timothy, Silas, and Sosthenes) contributed to the style/theology of some of the Pauline epistles: Johnson, The First and Second Letters to Timothy, 55-97.

[3] Though Hebrews was almost certainly not written by Paul, it was adopted into the Pauline corpus from a very early date, including the third century CE Chester Beatty Papyrus (P46). Attridge, Harold W. Hebrews: A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia; Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1989), 1.

[4] [Origen of Alexandria, quoted by] Eusebius of Alexandria. Ecclesiastical History 6.25.

[5] The most famous of which argues for Lukan authorship. For a survey, see: Lewis, David A. "The Authorship of Hebrews: Historical Survey of the Lukan Theory." Criswell Theological Review 8, no. 2 (2011): 3-18.

[6] Ehrman, Bart (16 December 2014). "Pauline Forgeries: 2 Thessalonians as a Test Case". The Bart Ehrman Blog. Bart Ehrman Foundation. Retrieved 21 February 2022. Scholars normally place the thirteen Pauline letters of the New Testament into three categories: The Pastoral Epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, which are very widely recognized as having been written by someone other than Paul; the Deutero-Pauline letters of Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians, which are fairly widely as being written by other authors (three different authors; these must be judged as authentic or not on a case by case basis); and the other seven letters, which are called the 'Undisputed Paulines': Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon.

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