About 95-99% of scholars today agree that all of these letters were actually
written by Paul himself.
The six "Disputed Letters" (a.k.a. the "Deutero-Pauline Epistles").
For two of these, the scholarly divide is about 50/50 (that is, about
50% of scholars think they were written by Paul himself, while the other 50% think
they were written later by some follower of Paul):
If 2 Thessalonians is authentic, Paul probably wrote it soon after
1 Thess (in order to correct some misunderstandings caused by 1 Thess itself),
since it is so similar in form and content to 1 Thess.
But if Colossians is
authentic, Paul probably wrote it near the end of his life (after spending
several years in prison), since the theology expressed in it is rather different
from Paul's earlier letters.
For the other four, about 80% of scholars think they were written not by
Paul, but by one of his followers after his death:
Ephesians is almost
definitely a later expansion of Colossians, since they are so similar in structure
and theology, but quite different from Paul's earlier letters; Ephesians was probably
written to serve as a "cover letter" for an early collection of Pauline letters.
1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus (a.k.a. The
Pastoral Epistles) were most likely written late in the first century
by some member(s) of the "Pauline School" who wanted to adapt his teachings to
changing circumstances.
The so-called Epistle to the Hebrewsis
definitely not written by Paul, and is not even explicitly attributed
to him.
For centuries, many Christians counted it as the fourteenth "letter" of the
Pauline corpus, mainly because the epistolary ending mentions Timothy, Paul's closest
associate (see Heb 13:23).
Contrary to all other letters and epistles, however, the opening of Hebrews
does not name its author at all.
In literary genre, therefore, Hebrews is not really a "letter"; rather, it
is a "homily" (a scripture-based sermon).
Note: Click on the Letter Titles hyperlinked above to go to separate webpages
devoted to the various letters.
