Although the theology between Colossians and the authentic Pauline letters differ, the question on which scholars are divided is whether or not it would have been possible, in certain circumstances, for Pauls theology to have developed in this direction. 2 Thessalonians, a pseudonymous letter, also preaches a politically conservative and accommodative message, as does 1 Peter. Although these views may have some details in their favor, several other arguments have persuaded a number of scholars of thepseudonymity of 2 Thessalonians(5). In some cases, such as 2 Thessalonians, the letters share significant literary similarities with one or . e-Catena: References to the New Testament in the Church Fathers, Edgar Goodspeed: The Second Letter to the Thessalonians, Catholic Encyclopedia: Epistles to the Thessalonians, The Lord Has Not Come Yet: An EasyEnglish Commentary, Who Wrote the New Testament? 2 Thessalonians? 2:18) was perhaps achieved through Pauls bouts of illness (cf. p. 388. The most common books that are said to be pseudonymous are 2 Peter, the Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus), and Ephesians. Explain the immigration quota laws passed in the 1920s. of the faith, or a possible the physical departure of the Believing Church indwell By The Holy Spirit is intended. months[7]="July"; In actuality, it was widely and strongly condemned, sometimes even within documents that are themselves patently forged. Which of the following is pseudonymous? Also suggested is that the canonical order is wrong and that 2 Thessalonians was written first. All of the following were reasons for writing pseudonymously except, One reason some scholars doubt the authenticity of the authorship claim of 2 Thessalonians is, it teaches the end will not come immediately, The opponents in 1 Timothy appear to resemble, One of central concerns in the Pastoral epistles is, IN the churches that Paul founded, all of the following were true except, The author of the Pastoral writes against all of the following except. Marshalls comprehensive and judicious treatment of this issue (17 pages) indirectly highlights the need for a full-scale examination of the detailed arguments against the traditional Pauline authorship adduced first by W. Wrede in 1903 and then by W. Trilling in 1972. google_ad_client = "ca-pub-2665675471425577"; The reference in 2:2 suggests that the letter belongs to the deutero-Pauline period, and the letter may have been intended to replace 1 Thessalonians entirely. The pains taken by the author at the end (iii, 17) to declare his signature genuine render it the more suspect.". Bassler, Jouette M. 2010. months[8]="Aug."; (b) Identify Alternatives What In addition, many Christian colleges and universities and virtually all secular universities are filled with professors who accept the pseudonymity of NT epistles as a standard presupposition. + date + " " + lmonth + " " + year); Obviously these critics hold a very low view of Scripture. Bassler, Jouette M. 2010. Green did for 2 Peter in his Tyndale New . 8. By virtue of Paul's authentic letters usually being called the seven authentic letters, this naturally excludes 2 Thessalonians. Which of the following is not one of the Pastoral epistles? Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Professor Emeritus) In light of these factors, neither position regarding the authenticity or pseudonymity of 2 Thessalonians has acquired a general consensus. But in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, Paul (or an unknown author writing in his name) argues against an imminent expectation. In 2 Thessalonians 2:2, Paul warns the Thessalonians not to be misled by letter as from us (di epistoles hos di hemon). 1 Timothy c. Titus d. 2 Timothy All of the following were reasons for writing pseudonymously except a. for profit b. as an act of humility c. to gain authority for the work d. to become famous One reason scholars doubt the authenticity of the authorship claim of 2 Thessalonians is a. it claims to have been written by Paul She gives special attention to the maternal imagery in these texts (and in Paul in general) and she also addresses Paul's eschatology more broadly. I was attending FBBC while he attended another well-known Christian college. In this chapter, Ehrman argues that at least six of the New Testament books may have been written pseudonymously: the Deutero-Pauline epistles (2 Thessalonians, Colossians, and Ephesians) and the Pastoral Epistles (1-2 Timothy and Titus). If this letter was was written first, then there is a more natural progression of circumstance, tone, and eschatology. First, the vocabulary differs somewhat from Pauls undisputed letters (8). 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 9-12. During the last quarter of the 20th century a majority of biblical scholars came to support the view that 2 Thessalonians is a pseudonymous composition. If the letter is genuine, this means that early in Pauls career, letters were being written and sent to groups in his name, but without his approval, although many scholars find this unlikely. I don't see a majority position on this question. Acts 14:1517; 17:31) (p. 57). (22)However, in order to defend the Pauline authorship of 2 Thessalonians, Sometimes scholars use the term pseudepigraphy instead. This way of thinking is not only non-Pauline, it belongs to a generation later than Paul's, more poetically expressed in Rev 16:5-7 and 19:2. Faith Baptist Bible College and ACA Agree to Preschool Rental Space, Wilkenings to Join Faculty and Staff at Faith Baptist Bible College, Goergen Ends Eagles Career as an All-Time Great On and Off the Court, 2023 Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary, Federal Compliance | Institutional Goals and Effectiveness | Title IX Policy | Privacy Policy. // --> Some were duped by false teachers that were forging letters to make them look as if they had come from Paul ( 2 Thessalonians 2:2 ). 2 Thessalonians 1:6-7, "God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. Since Marcion accepted it as authentic, we can hardly place it as late as 130-135. Its primary audience is theological students, pastors and scholars. This suggests that 2 Thessalonians, like the Pastorals, wasn't known as part of the Pauline corpus to the author of Ephesians. Rom. You may also want to consider recent Congressional activity around this issue. Scholars question the authorship of Colossians because: a. InBlackwell Companion to the New Testament, edited by David E. Aune, 373-398. This is a considerable christological step from "Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you; and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another. Paul frequently refers to the "distinguishing mark" in all his letters (e.g. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul's addressing a situation in Thessalonica where believers were worried they'd missed Jesus' return and had lost hope. Finally, the idea of canonical pseudonymity falls short ethically. 2.2 refers to a letter either written or alleged to have been written by Paul, as captured in the most common rendering of the text, 'a letter allegedly from/by us'. Communl; cohesion among early Christian communities was fostered by all of the following except, The church in Corinth had all of the following problems except, members were concerned about those who had died, Class differences in the Corinthian church led to all of the following except, Paul says that his primary message to the Corinthians was, The Christians in Corinth appear to have believed that, they already enjoyed the full benefits of salvation, In 1 Corinthians, Paul says that he learned about some of the problems in Corinth from, Paul taught the Corinthians that the resurrected body, Paul demonstrates the truth of the general resurrection by appealing to, According to Paul, one problem with misunderstanding the resurrection is that, they are the only undisputed letters Paul writes to the same community, Presuming 2 Corinthians is a composite letter, Paul wrote at least ___ letters to Corinth, Corinth is all of the following except superapostles. if (year < 2000) In 1 Thessalonians the parousia, the coming of Jesus from heaven as apocalyptic judge and redeemer, is imminent. 119-120): Second Thessalonians is so like 1 Thessalonians and yet so different that it must be an imitation of 1 Thessalonians written to meet a later situation. Beverly Gaventa (Interpretation) [2 Thess = pseudonymous]. year = year + 1900; On the other hand, if 2 Thessalonians was not written by Paul, it presents the irony of one pseudonymous letter warning against the danger of another. Early Christian Writings is copyright Few will doubt that the most disputed question in the discussion of the Thessalonian epistles is the authenticity of 2 Thessalonians. In Document D, Chief Joseph likens a reservation to a. Gaventa masterfully provides a theological exposition of these letters. Johnson: Paul's "Anti-Christology" in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 127 graciously provided the church with the whole of canonical Scripture as a framework within which ruled Christian readings6 can emerge, which may go beyond the original intention of the human author. 2 Thessalonians is a pseudonymous True A teaching circulated among the Thessalonians that Christ had already come True Paul visited thessalonica on his second missionary journey True Thessalonica is part of the Roman province called Macedonia Apostasy Falling away from it abandoning the faith Thessalonica Home \ Faith News \ Pseudonymity and the New Testament. Ibid. Third, I will provide a reasonable defense for why Bible believing Christians can and should trust the authenticity of each NT book. What happens across those three sets of letters is that the radical Paul of the authentic seven letters (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon) is slowly but steadily morphed into the conservative Paul of the probably inauthentic threesome . Ibid. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write." Given statements like these, I think it is logically and morally incompatible to hold to pseudonymity / pseudepigraphy and the ultimate authority of Scripture. (1 Thess 3:11-13). States decide to drop the atomic When comparing the Deutero-Pauline and Pastoral epistles with those considered genuinely Pauline, which of the following is not evidence against Pauline authorship? 2 Thessalonians 2:13, "But we ought always thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord . it will come like a "thief in the night" 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; 2:9-14. a. Dont discount the authorship of the letter based solely upon your misinterpretation of two totally different events. 2 Corinthians c. 3 Corinthians d. 1 Thessalonians All of the following were reasons for writing pseudonymously except _____. Three years later and no less consistently Marshall has interpreted the epistle as the work of Paul, thus doing for 2 Thessalonians what E. M. B. Pauls thoughts about the end times coming suddenly are evident in other letters as well. Furthermore, the generation following Paul tended to ascribe to Jesus attributes and functions that Paul's generation reserved to God, a tendency that was a natural consequence of a developing Christology. Ephesians and Colossians use which term in a different manner from its usual meaning in Paul's undisputed letters? We got the three blatant pseudepigraphica. I'm browsing through search results. Bassler, Jouette M. 2010. google_ad_slot = "4364046558"; I would strongly contend that the inclusion of pseudonymous works in the canon does in fact damage the Bibles integrity and, therefore, its authority. Before he could travel to Rome, Paul notes that he expects to make a trip to, In Romans, to show that he did not invent his gospel message, Paul stresses that his message is rooted in, Paul's participationist and judicial models of salvation, Paul and Jesus are similar in all the following ways except, taught the need for faith in Jesus' resurrection. But one difference, as I mentioned before, is that the author of 2 Thessalonians tells them that they will have a warning before the eschaton and 1 Thessalonians says it could come at any time. First, the letter is close in language and structure to 1 Thessalonians, which suggests that both letters were written around the same time while the words were still fresh in the Apostle Pauls mind or, alternately, that one served as the literary template for the other, indicating a different author (1).]. c. The letter claims to have been co-written by Timothy. The Deutero-Pauline Epistles H'alright. Eric Hinderaker, James A. Henretta, Rebecca Edwards, Robert O. Self, Byron Almen, Dorothy Payne, Stefan Kostka, John Lund, Paul S. Vickery, P. Scott Corbett, Todd Pfannestiel, Volker Janssen. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. 1 Timothy c. Titus d. 2 Timothy Which of the following is pseudonymous? a. for profit b. as an act of humility c. to gain authority for the work d. to become famous Do you think the The authors do not, however, believe that the truthfulness of scripture is necessarily undermined if some Pauline letters are pseudonymous (p. 81). Which of the following is not one of the Deutero-Pauline epistles? Some are anonymous, and others are pseudonymous, meaning that they were written by someone pretending to be someone else. In First Thessalonians, Paul is referring to the Rapture of the church which will come without warning. 12:7) (pp. First, these types of arguments generally are very subjective and arbitrary. Thank for the information, please visit 20-21): "Imitated from the First Epistle and specially co-ordinated with the insertion on the resurrection of the dead [4:13-5:11], the Second to Thessalonians is, for the most part, a theological dissertation on the conditions of the Second Advent. In 1 Thessalonians 4:14 the word vessel (skeuos) refers to the mans own body in its sexual aspects and the whole verse to the need for sexual self-control (pp. I would really like to thanks for the efforts youve got made in writing this post. 100, 211). What is important to understand is that many of these scholars are trying to justify canonical pseudonymity while attempting to preserve some semblance of biblical authority. An example of this is 2 Thessalonians, which is written by an author claiming to be Paul. D. A. Carson accurately concludes, So far as the evidence of the fathers goes, when they explicitly evaluated a work for its authenticity, canonicity and pseudonymity proved mutually exclusive.11. Ibid. The time of composition is likely to have been in the last two decades of the first century when hopes in the imminent parousia were faltering. Decide which form of the vocabulary word in parentheses best completes the sentence. 2.5) real questions. But, again, this could possibly be accounted for in terms of a new set of issues that Paul was confronting. Write the correct word in the space next to each definition. a. Which book of the NT has been attributed to Paul even though it does not claim Pauline authorship? We got Colossians as deutero-Pauline (and Ephesians by proxy). The theory that 2 Thessalonians is a forgery must be rejected, not only because of the inherent difficulties of the thesis already mentioned, but also for want of a sufficient motive. Yeah, not so much. Which of the following did Paul meet for the first time in Corinth? 3:1 f.; 2 Cor. 1 Thessalonians 2:16b means that the divine wrath in its full and final manifestation had drawn very near to the Jews collectively as a people since by and large they were opposed to the gospel (pp. a. However, it has more acceptance as authentic than Colossians, and substantially more than the pastorals. The reference in 2:2 suggests that the letter belongs to the deutero-Pauline period, and the letter may have been intended to replace 1 Thessalonians entirely. 118122). The air ( around the earth) is presently satans domain but this will change when we are our caught up to be united with our Lord there and receive our bodily change and be and rule with Him forever. Both the Gospel of Luke and Acts highlight the significance of which of the following cities? 7. Ultimately, all such attempts to argue that it is pseudonymous falter on the same his 2. ", Alfred Loisy comments (The Birth of the Christian Religion, pp. . In 2 Thessalonians 2:67 that which restrains may be the preaching of the gospel to all nations (Mk. made no difference in whether a person was righteous, Galatians is unique among the undisputed Pauline letters because, Paul's opponents in Galatia appear to have, Paul countered his Glatian opponents by saying that he, One way Paul argued against his Galatian opponents was, to point out that the apostles agreed with him, Which of the apostles joined Paul in Antioch and stopped eating with the Gentiles, According to Paul, a person is justified by, According to Paul, Gentiles fulfill the law by, Philemon is different from the other undisputed letters because, Which Pauline letters includes a Christ hymn, Paul's letter to the Galatians is best characterized as, What is one likely reason for Paul's relative lack of attention to social inequities, Romans is unique among the undisputed Pauline letters because, it is written to a community Paul did not found, Paul may have written to the Romans for all of the following reasons except, In Romans, Paul defends himself and his beliefs using the rhetorical tool of, In the judicial model, all of the following are true except, The participationist model envisions Jesus' death and resurrection as, According to Paul's letter to the Romans, which statement is not true concerning both the Jews and Gentiles, They both can be made right with God by being circumcised, baptized, and obeying the Law, Paul believed all people were enslaved to sin because of. Why should Christians reject pseudonymity and accept the authenticity of the New Testament? 3:6-15). In order to whet the readers appetite, the conclusions the author reaches on some of the principal exegetical points in the letters may be mentioned. I remain unconvinced that 2 Thessalonians is pseudony mous. Which of the following views of Paul did Jesus share? 1 Thessalonians has many similar themes as 2 Thessalonians, so similar in fact that people have questioned why Paul would write almost the same letter twice. He is a graduate in Creative Brand Communication and Marketing (CBC), and in Theology (majoring in Psychology). The nature of the error that Colossians addresses (Col. 2:8, 16-23) is difficult to reconstruct with precision but it is not impossible to reconcile it with developments that were plausible in Pauls lifetime. The outlier is 2 Thessalonians. months[6]="June"; 6. (abstract) _____________________. A substantial minority of biblical scholars continue to hold the traditional view that 2 Thessalonians was an actual letter written by the apostle Paul to a gathering of Christians at Thessalonica. Pseudepigraphy literally means falsely ascribed and is virtually synonymous with pseudonymity. As good a read as these are, I'm caught up on the arguments for or against the authenticity of these letters. What are the arguments for its authenticity? I will offer three basic lines of defense against canonical pseudonymity. However, 2 Thessalonians 2:2 seems to warn its readers against accepting teachings from a letter forged in Paul's name, indicating that either a pseudonymous author was attempting to disarm the letter's audience into accepting his forgery as authentically Pauline, or that Paul himself was writing to warn his readers that forged letters were . 8687). Jesus does not come back to earth here. Praise His Name. Which of the following does not represent a methodological issue for the study of Paul? months[12]="Dec."; I will follow your article. Also, this intent would make it unique among the Pauline pseudepigrapha, right? 1 Cor. Apostasy literally means departure and CONTEXT must determine what type of departure, i.e. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic. 8:6; Phil. d. Early Christians did not think Colossians was Pauline. p. 389. 1 Thessalonians anticipates thesudden arrival of the day of the Lord like a thief in the night with no warning signs (3). Ibid. }? as truth, bravery, and love are generally considered difficult to define. Please buy the CD to support the site, view it without ads, and get bonus stuff! Neither of these should be confused with anonymity, the absence of an authors name, which would apply to some NT books such as Hebrews. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. First, the NT itself argues against pseudonymity. In his NT survey class his professor believed and taught that many of the epistles in the NT were not written by the claimed authors, but rather that they were pseudonymous. It is not written for the instruction of a particular community but aims rather to dissapate the general uneasiness of Christian thought in regard to the Parousia, impatiently expected and continually postponed. The manner of expression is favored by 42 words and expressions repreated twice or more. What little I can find is 'Paul wrote it because his name is on it and it's a lot like 1 Thessalonians' or 'Paul didn't write it because it's too similar to 1 Thessalonians and its eschatology is a bit different'. 2nd Thessalonians is referring to the 2nd coming of Jesus during end times, of which there is much warning, as the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ goes into great detail about. But 2 Thes 2:3-12 sets out an elaborate program of what must first happen before that event can occur. Second, I will explain briefly why critics argue for pseudonymity within the NT. One of the largest differences between 2 Thessalonians and other letters that were supposedly written by Paul are the ideas mentioned in the letters on the end times, or eschatology. Amongst other things, a discussion of the standard introductory matters of historical and geographical setting, date, occasion and purpose, authorship and authenticity, structure and integrity; at points of ambiguity, an indication of the exegetical options with reasons given for the alternative preferred; interaction with recent literature on the book found not only in other commentaries but especially in articles and general works that may be inaccessible; and, more generally, an avoidance of the temptation to import foreign ideas into the text and a willingness to let the biblical text in all its potency speak for itself. Many ancient historians express a preference for. In contrast to the undisputed Pauline letters, 2 Thessalonians lacks antithetical formulations, passages in the style of the diatribe, and (with the exception of 2 Thess. Not only has the apocalyptic imagery changed, but the whole tenor of the expectation is different. 4. Yet over the last few decades, the growing trend is that even some evangelical scholars are embracing similar positions. 9. B. Mayors judgment that the same author could not have written both 1 and 2 Peter in full because they use the OT in different ways.4, Although a point-by-point refutation is beyond the scope of this article, a couple of general observations should be made. This nifty chart shows its authenticity has much less acceptance among scholars. Judgement will take place within the current generation. What may the theological student legitimately expect of a serious exegetical commentary on a biblical book? Ibid. Second Thessalonians is widely regarded as pseudonymous. Aresponseagainst pseudonymous authorship is that the letters were penned concurrently but intended for different groups in the church, thus accounting for their different emphases and tones (4). If one accepts pseudonymous works into the canon, he must overlook insurmountable blows to Scriptures truth claims. The nearly unanimous consensus of modern scholarship is that 2 Thess. The best explanation, many argue, is that 2 Thessalonians is pseudonymous and therefore written in Pauls name to correct an eschatological error that had developed in that church. The church included many people who had come out of idolatry that implies that Paul had preached to gentiles there. . It will be no surprise for any who already know of Professor Marshalls splendid contributions to New Testament studies to learn that this commentary on the Thessalonian letters fully meets each of these expectations. This objection seems more persuasive, and -- if indeed 2 Thessalonians is to be understood as pseudepigraphical and intends to refute somePauline teaching -- might lead us to look for the culprit among other "realized eschatology" elsewhere in the Pauline or pseudo-Pauline corpus. Colossians proclaims the present status of believers in terms usually reserved in the undisputed letters for their resurrection (2:9-14; cf.