Who Wrote 2 Thessalonians?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman

The question of who wrote 2 Thessalonians stands at the intersection of historical inquiry, theological interpretation, and the development of early Christian identity. Although the letter presents itself as written by “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy” (2 Thess. 1:1), and although it has long been transmitted within the Pauline corpus, modern scholarship has long questioned its authorship.

In this article, I’ll explain the principal arguments for and against Paul’s authorship of the letter, evaluating the theological, linguistic, and historical evidence. While definitive certainty may remain elusive, careful engagement with the evidence can allow us to make a more informed assessment of one of the New Testament’s most enduring scholarly questions: who wrote 2 Thessalonians?

Scholarship on the Letters of Paul

While there are 13 letters in the New Testament in which authors claim to be the apostle Paul, scholars since the 19th century have questioned whether all of these were indeed written by him. In the case of the undisputed letters (Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon), there is almost unanimous agreement that Paul wrote them. However, on the question of the authorship of the other six Pauline letters (Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus), the debate continues. This brings us to the case of 2 Thessalonians.

A majority of scholars believe there is ample evidence to prove that Paul did not write 2 Thessalonians and that it was written in Paul’s name by an author living after Paul’s death. If so, these scholars generally believe that the letter was written around 80–115 CE.

Nevertheless, there is a significant number of scholars who defend genuine Pauline authorship of this letter. They argue for a date of composition around 51–52 CE, not long after 1 Thessalonians was written. In the interest of fairness, I want to explore both sides of this issue here, giving both sides their due and letting you, the reader, decide for yourself.

Arguments Against Pauline Authorship

For centuries, most readers of 2 Thessalonians saw no reason to doubt that Paul had written it. Since Paul’s authorship of this letter was never in question, there was no reason to argue for it, any more than one would argue that the sun rises in the east – it was obvious.

However, as I said above, many biblical scholars have since found reason to doubt that Paul wrote this letter. In fact, the case for Pauline authorship is mostly a set of arguments against the findings of more skeptical scholars. For this reason, I’ll start with those scholars who argue that someone other than Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians, and then look at counterarguments.

For both sides, the argument begins with the broad acceptance of 1 Thessalonians as written by Paul (it is probably the oldest letter written by Paul still in existence). This consensus is vital, as it gives scholars something to which they can compare 2 Thessalonians.

In Forgery and Counterforgery, Bart Ehrman writes that one of the main issues in determining the authorship of 2 Thessalonians is its view of the second coming of Christ. Let’s look first at Paul’s idea of what will happen when Christ returns in 1 Thessalonians 5:1–6:

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This is important for Paul’s theology: Christ’s second coming is imminent. It’s going to happen very soon. It will also happen suddenly and unexpectedly, “like a thief in the night” or “as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman.” For this reason, Paul tells his churches to “stay awake,” in other words, to continue to behave righteously and focus on living godly lives so that they will benefit when Christ returns. He says similar things about how soon the end will come in Romans 13:11–12 (“the night is far gone; the day is near.”) and Philippians 4:5 (“The Lord is at hand (or near).”).

However, in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4, the author claiming to be Paul seems to have a different perspective on the “day of the Lord:”

In this passage, Christ’s return won’t happen until another event, one that will function as a signal of the impending end of the world, occurs. In other words, not until believers in Christ see this rebellion of “the lawless one,” can they know that Jesus is about to return and there is no telling when this will happen. This is a very different idea, and seems to contradict what the undisputed Paul of 1 Thessalonians says about the suddenness and imminence of the eschaton (the Greek word for the end of the world).

In addition to this theological difference between 1 and 2 Thessalonians, skeptical scholars point to the closing greeting of 2 Thessalonians as reason for doubt:

Like most, if not all, of Paul’s authentic letters, this one appears to have been dictated to a scribe. Then, as Paul does at the end of a few other letters including Galatians, 1 Corinthians, and Philemon, Paul sits down himself and writes his own short greeting as a personal touch. However, the problem is the insert the author uses afterwards, insisting that this is how he always ends his letters.

In A Brief Introduction to the New Testament, Bart Ehrman notes that “what is peculiar is that [the author] claims this to be his invariable practice, even though he does not appear to have ended most of his other letters this way, including 1 Thessalonians!” Ehrman goes on to write that these words

In addition, in The Thessalonian Correspondence, Daryl Schmidt compared the syntactical structure of 2 Thessalonians – that is, its overall sentence structures – with those of the seven undisputed Pauline letters. It’s a very technical analysis and a bit difficult for most of us to fully understand, but his conclusions are clear: the sentence structures of 2 Thessalonians are very different from those of the undisputed letters, including 1 Thessalonians. Schmidt therefore concluded that it is very unlikely that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians.

Despite this evidence, however, a substantial number of scholars still defend the idea that Paul is the person who wrote 2 Thessalonians. Let’s look at their arguments.

Arguments For Pauline Authorship

One historical piece of evidence for the authenticity of 2 Thessalonians is that Marcion of Sinope (85-160 CE), a theologian who argued that the God of the Old Testament was not the God of the New Testament, included 2 Thessalonians in his biblical canon. Why does this matter? Because Marcion, living just a few decades after Paul, had come to believe, probably based on traditions passed down to him, that this letter was authentic. In addition, the letter is included in the Muratorian Fragment, an early canon list from the 2nd century.

Additionally, some scholars see the author’s closing greeting to 2 Thessalonians as validation for Pauline authorship rather than evidence of a forgery. In The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, & Content, eminent biblical scholar Bruce Metzger takes this position. Moreover, in his 2008 article “’In My Own Hand': Grapho-Literacy and the Apostle Paul,” Chris Keith notes that there are numerous parallels to the author’s clumsy-seeming signature line in letters by other ancient authors:

Furthermore, in his article “Who Wrote 2 Thessalonians: A Fresh Look at an Old Problem”, Paul Foster writes that differences in eschatology between 1 and 2 Thessalonians merely show that Paul’s theology had developed further by the time he wrote the second letter:

In other words, the differences actually confirm Pauline authorship, in that Paul’s ideas had grown over time, which could be seen as the mark of a good theologian.

Conclusion: Who Wrote 2 Thessalonians?

Scholars delineate three categories of Pauline literature in the New Testament. The first is the undisputed letters, those which virtually every biblical scholar admits were written by Paul. The second is sometimes called the disputed letters or the Deutero-Pauline letters, those whose authenticity is still debated. Finally, there are the Pastoral Letters, which a large majority of scholars classify as written by someone other than Paul.

Second Thessalonians falls into the second category. While a majority of biblical scholars doubt that Paul wrote this letter, there are still many scholars who continue to believe in and champion the letter’s authenticity.

Arguments against Pauline authorship during discussions about who wrote 2 Thessalonians include discrepancies in eschatology between 1 and 2 Thessalonians; 2 Thessalonians emphasizes not the sudden arrival of “the day of the Lord,” but rather a required sign that will indicate its arrival. In addition, many scholars think that the author’s post-script, “This is the mark in every letter of mine; it is the way I write,” is a clumsy insert by a forger to convince readers of Paul’s authorship. Finally, the overall sentence structures of 2 Thessalonians are different from that of the seven undisputed letters of Paul.

On the other hand, arguments abound for the letter’s genuineness. Some argue that despite how clumsy it may appear to modern readers, Paul’s post-script was merely part of ancient letter-writing etiquette for those afraid of forgers writing in their names. In addition, a couple of early canon lists included 2 Thessalonians as a genuine Pauline letter. Finally, at least one scholar argues that the very differences which some scholars believe to be evidence that the letter was not written by Paul merely show Paul’s development as a theologian over time.

Unfortunately, though, it’s almost impossible to discern for certain who wrote the letter. As Bart Ehrman writes in his New Testament textbook, “We obviously don’t know who actually wrote this letter if it wasn’t Paul.”

If you’re interested in learning more about Paul’s theology, check out Bart Ehrman’s online course “Paul and Jesus.”