Who Wrote the Epistles?

- The New Testament contains 27 books, including 21 epistles. In episode six of his Who Wrote the Bible? series, Matt Baker examines the letters that follow the four Gospels and Acts. An epistle is simply a letter.

- The epistles are divided into Pauline and general epistles. Fourteen books have traditionally been attributed to the apostle Paul and are called the Pauline epistles. The remaining seven are attributed to other early Christian leaders and are known as the general or Catholic epistles, with Catholic meaning wide-ranging rather than referring specifically to the modern Catholic Church.

- The Pauline epistles fall into three groups. Nine letters are addressed to particular churches, four are addressed to individual people, and Hebrews is considered separately because virtually all modern biblical scholars reject Pauline authorship.

- The nine letters to churches identify Paul as their sender. They are Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Unlike modern letters, which commonly begin by addressing the recipient, these epistles begin with the sender's name, followed by the recipient and usually a personal greeting.

- The Pauline letters address communities across the Roman world. Romans was sent to Rome, while 1 and 2 Corinthians were addressed to Corinth, a major Greek city. Galatians was addressed to a region rather than a single city: Galatia, in central Anatolia, in present-day Turkey.

- Several Pauline letters were addressed to cities in Anatolia and Macedonia. Ephesians was sent to Ephesus, on the Anatolian coast, and Colossians to Colossae, another Anatolian city. Philippians was addressed to Philippi in ancient Macedonia, named after Philip, the father of Alexander the Great; 1 and 2 Thessalonians were addressed to Thessaloniki, in the same region as Philippi.

- Most scholars accept six letters as authentic writings of Paul. These are Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, and 1 Thessalonians. Baker emphasizes that even highly secular and critical scholars generally accept Paul's authorship of these six, despite widespread scholarly rejection of traditional authorship claims elsewhere in the Bible.

- Scholars distinguish authentic Pauline letters from disputed ones largely through writing style. The six generally accepted letters share similar vocabulary, grammar, writing patterns, and ideas. Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians differ enough to raise questions about whether Paul wrote them.

- There are competing explanations for the stylistic differences in the disputed Pauline letters. Paul might have used an assistant, written at a different stage of his life, or been in a different state of mind. Alternatively, the letters might be pseudepigrapha: works written by later authors who presented themselves as Paul, potentially several decades after his death. Baker notes that writing under another person's name was not uncommon in antiquity.

- Paul's lifetime provides the chronological framework for dating his authentic letters. According to Baker, Paul did not follow Jesus during Jesus's lifetime; he became a Christian sometime in the 30s CE, after Jesus's death, and died in the 60s during the reign of Emperor Nero. The authentic Pauline letters therefore fall within the period of Paul's ministry.

- Galatians and 1 Thessalonians are generally considered the earliest New Testament books. Both are usually dated to around 50 CE. Romans and the two Corinthian letters are generally placed in the late 50s, while Philippians is usually dated to the early 60s. If the disputed Pauline letters are pseudepigraphal, they may date to the end of the first century or the beginning of the second.

- The authentic Pauline letters predate the four Gospels. This chronology matters for historical-Jesus research because Paul's letters are among the earliest surviving Christian writings. They provide evidence for early Christian beliefs before the Gospel narratives were composed.

- Paul's letters contain remarkably little biographical information about Jesus. As Baker presents the issue, they contain no references to Jesus's earthly biography beyond his death and supposed resurrection. Paul does not mention Mary or other members of Jesus's family, Bethlehem or Nazareth, or any specific parables, sermons, exorcisms, healings, or other miracles performed by Jesus.

- The absence of Jesus's biography in Paul's letters fuels disagreement over the historical Jesus. Skeptics argue that the lack of references to familiar Gospel episodes is surprising and supports the possibility that Jesus was primarily a legendary figure, or even entirely fictional. Believers counter that Paul's letters were written to explain theology and address the needs of existing Christian communities, not to provide biographies of Jesus; their recipients may already have known the stories.

- Only one of the four Pauline letters addressed to individuals is universally accepted as authentic. These letters are known as the pastoral epistles. Philemon is generally accepted as genuine because its writing style closely resembles that of the six undisputed Pauline letters, bringing the total of generally accepted Pauline epistles to seven.

- The authorship of the two letters to Timothy and the letter to Titus is disputed. Baker states that at least 50% of biblical scholars consider these three pastoral epistles pseudepigrapha. Under this interpretation, they were written considerably later than Paul's lifetime and attributed to him to establish authority.

- Hebrews is anonymous and is not considered a genuine letter of Paul. Virtually no biblical scholars today, including those in highly conservative circles, attribute it to Paul. Unlike most Pauline letters, it does not begin by identifying a sender or recipient. Its closing mentions greetings from people in Italy, while its title reflects the belief that it was directed to Jewish Christians, traditionally associated with Jerusalem.

- The authorship of Hebrews remains uncertain, and Priscilla is one proposed candidate. Priscilla and her husband, Aquila, appear six times in the New Testament as early Christian leaders and associates of Paul. Baker suggests that Priscilla may have held a particularly prominent position in the early church, making her a possible author of Hebrews, although he stresses that this is a hypothesis rather than the scholarly consensus.

- The possibility of female authorship extends beyond Hebrews. Baker notes that women rarely appear as named authors in surviving ancient literature, but the anonymity and composite nature of many Old Testament books leave open the possibility that women contributed to the Tanakh. He suggests that an anonymous woman may have written a psalm or another biblical passage and mentions a scholar's proposal that the J source of the Torah could have had a female author.

- The Priscilla hypothesis is connected to questions about women's roles in early Christianity. Baker proposes that women and men may initially have been treated more equally in Christian communities before the church became more patriarchal. If Priscilla wrote Hebrews, her authorship might help explain why the work circulated anonymously. This remains speculative, and Baker does not present it as an established historical conclusion.

- Hebrews is distinguished by its polished Greek and careful composition. Baker describes it as the most carefully composed and eloquent book in the New Testament. Its literary sophistication makes precise dating difficult, so he adopts the standard estimated range of approximately 70–100 CE.

- The Epistle of James is traditionally attributed to Jesus's brother. This James is usually identified as the initial leader of the church in Jerusalem. Because several individuals named James appear in the New Testament, Baker directs viewers to an earlier episode about Jesus's family tree for a fuller discussion of their identities.

- James was one of the books whose inclusion in the New Testament was disputed. Baker explains that most scholars consider the epistle likely to be pseudepigraphal. It may have been written by someone claiming to be James, the brother of Jesus, or by a less prominent person who happened to share the name.

- Neither of the two epistles attributed to Peter is generally considered authentic. Traditionally, they are associated with Peter, the leader of the twelve apostles. However, their differing styles suggest that they were written by two different authors, and 2 Peter appears to borrow material from Jude.

- Peter's presumed literacy and the letters' sophisticated writing raise questions about their authorship. Baker considers it reasonable to assume that Peter, traditionally described as a fisherman, was illiterate. Defenders of his authorship could argue that he learned to write later or employed a secretary, but Baker identifies another difficulty: the letters read like the work of highly educated writers with expert knowledge of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of Jewish scriptures, and other ancient literature. Their tone also does not strongly resemble that of someone who personally knew Jesus.

- The three epistles of John are probably connected to the author of the Gospel of John. Tradition attributes them to the same person who wrote the Gospel, although the apostle John himself probably did not write that Gospel. The letters do not identify their sender by name; the second and third begin with the designation “the elder.” Their stylistic similarities lead Baker to suggest that the Gospel and all three epistles were probably written by the same individual, possibly a member of the hypothetical Johannine community.

- Jude is traditionally identified as the brother of James and therefore, under the traditional interpretation, the brother of Jesus. The Epistle of Jude identifies its author as James's brother. Like James, Jude was one of the books whose place in the New Testament was contested, and most scholars consider it likely to be pseudepigraphal.

- The general epistles differ from the Pauline epistles in their traditional authorship record. Baker's conclusion is that none of the seven general epistles is generally accepted by modern scholars as an authentic letter from the person traditionally named as its author. This contrasts with the seven Pauline epistles that he identifies as genuine. The general epistles are therefore generally dated to the late first or early second century.

- The Epistle of Barnabas was circulated among early Christian writings but eventually excluded from the New Testament. Barnabas was a traveling companion of Paul, but the letter attributed to him was probably not written by the historical Barnabas. Baker treats it as another example of pseudepigrapha and notes that it was included alongside books such as James and Jude during the first few centuries of the Common Era before being dropped.

- The reasons for excluding Barnabas while retaining other disputed works remain uncertain. Baker observes that the letter's eventual rejection cannot be explained simply by the fact that it was probably pseudepigraphal, since other works with disputed authorship became part of the New Testament. The episode does not establish a definitive explanation for the different outcomes.

- Two other early Christian works were excluded from the New Testament: the Shepherd of Hermas and the Didache. Neither is an epistle, but Baker mentions them because he will not devote a separate episode to New Testament apocrypha. Their exclusion illustrates that early Christian literature included important works that did not ultimately become part of the canonical collection.

- The Shepherd of Hermas and the Didache served different purposes. The Shepherd of Hermas consists of visions, commandments, and proverbs. The Didache functions like an early catechism: a summary of Christian doctrine intended for teaching.

- The final episode of the series will examine Daniel and Revelation together. Revelation is the only New Testament book left for Baker to discuss, while Daniel was omitted from his earlier Old Testament coverage. He groups them in episode seven because their content is similar and both are examples of apocalyptic literature.