AUTHOR
AUTHOR
The authorship of this letter has been the subject of considerable discussion. Until the last century no serious question about Pauline authorship seems to have been raised. Even then questions were raised only by a minority of scholars. In the period between the two wars in this century, Bultmann and others began to speak of Colossians as "deutero-Pauline,” and that tendency has grown since 1945. It is plain enough that there is a connection with Paul, but many recent scholars think that a follower of Paul rather than the apostle himself actually penned the book. No new evidence has been adduced; the considerations urged against the traditional view have simply come to be seen as more weighty. Some still argue for Paul as the author, including Kummel, Moule, Bruce, and O’Brien, 1but others think "deutero-Pauline” a better description. 2 The letter claims to have been written by Paul in the opening (Col. 1:1), in the "I, Paul” of 1:23, and in "I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand” (4:18; this is "the distinguishing mark in all my letters” [2 Thess. 3:17]). This claim has usually been accepted through the centuries, but in modern times it has been disputed on three main grounds: language, theology, and the relation to Ephesians. 3