Authorship of Ephesians, the Pastorals and 2 Peter
What is the response to the argument against Petrine authorship: (6) reference to Peter's imminent death means he would die soon thus could not have written it?
(6) pseudonymous letters in the church were dismissed, silly to say he could not have written it shortly before he died
What is the response to argument against Pauline authorship of the Pastorals: (1) situations in pastorals don't line up with Acts?
(1) gaps in Acts narrative or second Roman imprisonment
What is the response to the argument against Petrine authorship: (1) Greek could not have been written by Peter, 57 hapax?
(1) may have been raised as a fisherman but we cannot say how he trained after he began ministry, is not that distinctive of Greek
What are the arguments against Pauline authorship of the Pastorals?
(1) situations in pastorals don't line up with Acts (2) method and manner: does not try to argue anything but appeals to known and accepted truths? (3) Ecclesial organization is too advanced; Titus and Timothy are like monarchial bishops? (4) pseudonymous writing was normative in ancient world? (5) theological differences omits important concepts (6) hapax legomena present in the writing
What is the response to argument against Pauline authorship of Ephesians: (1) Theology is not Pauline, developed past his theology ?
(1) this is a later letter, his theology could have developed
What is the response to argument against Pauline authorship of Ephesians: (2) Language is different than other letters?
(2) Paul was educated and versatile, very difficult to say why he has different language
What is the response to argument against Pauline authorship of the Pastorals: (2) method and manner: does not try to argue anything but appeals to known and accepted truths?
(2) he is writing to colleagues, not a church, plus he does develop some theology eg. women's role
What is the response to the argument against Petrine authorship: (2) the false teaching spoken of is Gnosticism?
(2) the specific heresy is not mentioned and is fairly ambiguous, to label it is irresponsible
What is the response to the argument against Petrine authorship: (3) Peter claims Paul's letters are scripture?
(3) Paul attested his letters as scripture, Jesus' words as scripture, and if we assume Peter thought they were scripture it just means they were accepted as scripture then (does not prove anything either way)
What is the response to argument against Pauline authorship of the Pastorals: (3) Ecclesial organization is too advanced; Titus and Timothy are like monarchial bishops?
(3) Paul speaks of Ecclesial structure in tons of other places
What is the response to argument against Pauline authorship of Ephesians: (3) The style of letter is off, length of sentences?
(3) second half fits his style
What is the response to the argument against Petrine authorship: (4) the phrase "death of our fathers" and delayed parousia (second coming)?
(4) fathers could refer to ancestors as it often does, the parousia is in line with typical NT teaching
What is the response to argument against Pauline authorship of the Pastorals: (4) pseudonymous writing was normative in ancient world?
(4) not widely practiced in early church and even strongly opposed
What is the response to argument against Pauline authorship of Ephesians: (4) relation to Colossians is to similar but not similar enough?
(4) the degree of similarity is exaggerated
What is the response to argument against Pauline authorship of Ephesians: (5) looks back to early church history?
(5) Paul does not actually say that the apostles are dead
What is the response to the argument against Petrine authorship: (5) weakly attested to by early church?
(5) smaller book and was included in canon make this weak argument
What is the response to argument against Pauline authorship of the Pastorals: (5) theological differences omits important concepts
(5) theological differences are just nuanced emphasis
What are the arguments against the Petrine authorship of 2 Peter?
(1) Greek could not have been written by Peter 57 hapax! (2) the false teaching spoken of is Gnosticism (3) Peter claims Paul's letters are scripture (4) the phrase "death of our fathers" and delayed parousia (second coming) (5) weakly attested to by early church (6) reference to Peter's imminent death means he would die soon thus could not have written it
What are the arguments for the Petrine authorship of 2 Peter?
(1) Letter claims it is written by Peter (2) would not have been accepted if thought to be a forgery
What are the arguments for Pauline authorship of the Pastorals?
(1) The all claim Paul as author, plus several personal touches to Titus and Timothy (2) Widely accepted as written by Paul (burden of proof) (3) differences are attributed to fact that they are written to fellow laborers
What are the arguments for Pauline authorship of Ephesians?
(1) The letter claims it (2) Widely accepted as Pauline early on (3) It has many Pauline features, structure, language, style (4) Issues with similarity to Colossians just show development in thought (5) Little reason for pseudonym / didn't add to credit (6) themes line up with undisputed epistles (7) Paul's imprisonment is best reason for writing this letter (8) Pseudonyms were not that widely practiced
What are the arguments against Pauline authorship of Ephesians?
(1) Theology is not Pauline, developed past his theology (2) Language is different than other letters (3) The style of letter is off, length of sentences (4) relation to Colossians is to similar but not similar enough (5) looks back to early church history
What is the response to argument against Pauline authorship of the Pastorals: (6) hapax legomena present in the writing
(6) vocab and style is a very weak argument for such short letters written by such a well learned man