Which Letters Of Paul Did Paul Really Write?

The New Testament contains 13 letters attributed to the Apostle Paul, but which of these letters did he really write? Certain church fathers also thought that Paul wrote Hebrews, but this is unlikely. His name appears nowhere in this sermonic letter. Likewise, its Greek style, content, and theology suggest a different author, though one acquainted with Pauline churches. The author mentions Timothy as a “brother” (Heb 13:23).

Pauline authorship — The Apostle Paul writing. (A.I. image created by meta.ai)

Scholars normally break down the 13 Pauline letters as follows:

Undisputed letters of Paul: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon.

These seven letters are normally thought to be written by Paul. That is why they are called “undisputed” letters.

Disputed letters of Paul: Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus.

There is no scholarly consensus on whether these six letters are actually penned by Paul. That is why they are called “disputed” letters. Others use the term Deutero-Pauline to describe them, a sort of “second” canon of letters that are questionably attributed to Paul.

In this short post, we cannot go into the reasons why each of these letters are rejected by some, questioned by others, and accepted as Paul by yet other scholars. Such inquiries of authorship developed from the Enlightenment period when biblical writings started to be critically examined. This took place through the process of reasoning rather than letting religious dogma of previous generations decide the issue.

A Pauline Spectrum

Modern (and post-modern) scholars normally take into consideration that Paul did not need to actually write his own letters for him to be considered the author. It is clear that Paul used an amanuensis or ancient secretary to write his letters for him. For instance, in Romans 16:22, Tertius claims to be such a writer.

Likewise, some of Paull’s colleagues such as Timothy, Silvanus (Silas), and Sosthenes are sometimes mentioned with him at the beginning of his letters (e.g., 1 Cor 1:1; 1 Thess 1:1, etc). They may have assisted with writing his letters.

Other times it’s at least possible that Paul may have given his colleagues freedom to write in his name. Or, perhaps a colleague may have written in a letter some of Paul’s memoirs after he was beheaded by Nero in Rome.

Still, others suggest that some letters attributed to Paul were written long after his death, and not by one of his colleagues. These writings, according to such a view, are pseudonyms.

So where do scholars stand on this issue these days regarding each of the 13 letters?

A Recent Survey on Pauline Authorship

New Testament professor Bruce N. Longenecker, along with his doctoral student Zen Hess, recently conducted a survey at the national Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) conference in San Diego (Nov. 23–26, 2024). They wanted to find out what biblical scholars today believe regarding the authorship of the 13 letters attributed to Paul. A total of 153 SBL members participated in the survey.

Longenecker’s survey takes into consideration three levels of Paul’s involvement with his letters. He may be significantly involved in writing his letters, somewhat involved, or not involved at all. Another option allows for the participant to be unsure of Paul’s involvement.

Here are the results of the survey:*

My Reflections on This Survey

We have to take into consideration potential setbacks regarding this survey. For example, many of the participants were probably Americans given that this survey was conducted in the U.S.A. Do American biblical scholars represent well other biblical scholars around the globe? I suspect that European scholars would generally be more skeptical about Paul’s authorship in certain letters, and scholars from other parts of the globe might be more conservative about Paul’s authorship.

Another potential setback is the number of survey participants. Only 153 members took the survey. This represents only a small fraction of the total amount of SBL members. If 1,530 members participated, the survey would seem to reflect better what SBL biblical scholars believe.

Nevertheless, this survey is helpful and may point to an encouraging trend. It perhaps shows that recent scholars who think critically about Pauline authorship are coming to conclusions that are steering them away from the pseudonym option that was quite popular in the 20^th century.

In every case except for Ephesians and the Pastoral letters (1–2 Timothy, Titus), a majority of those surveyed think that Paul was significantly involved in the writing of letters attributed to him. If we include that Paul was either significantly or somewhat involved in the writing, then Ephesians receives a 65% majority.

The Pastoral letters, however, are still mixed even when we include Paul being somewhat involved with being significantly involved. The best of the three is 2 Timothy: 50% consider it to be either significantly or somewhat Paul; 41% not Paul (and another 10% unsure). At a virtual tie is 1 Timothy: 44% vs. 43% (and 13% unsure). Titus is slightly underwater with 44% vs. 45% (and 10% unsure).

Moving Forward

It appears that 2 Thessalonians, Colossians, and to a lesser extent, Ephesians, are finding their way back to the undisputed side of the Pauline corpus. The Pastoral letters, on the other hand, are not, though a slight but noticeable majority think Paul may at least be somewhat involved with 2 Timothy.

My own studies of the Pastoral letters lead me to consider that Luke, Paul’s colleague, may have had a hand in writing these. If so, then perhaps Paul may be “somewhat involved.” There is a unique cross-over of Greek vocabulary between these writings and Luke-Acts. More studies should be done to confirm (or disconfirm) this. Perhaps we should take more seriously the words in 2 Timothy 4:11 when Paul, apparently during his final days in prison, says that “Luke alone is with me.”