Epistle To Ephesians

There are many epistles in the Christian bible that scholars consider to be pseudonymous. Pseudonymous is when an individual creates new work and gives the credit of the piece to someone with authority. One particular set of letters, the letter to the Ephesians, has sparked a debate between scholars over the authorship of the letter. In the past there was no question about the authorship of the epistle to Ephesians. Scholars originally believed the letter was written by Paul. The letter begins by identifying the writer as Paul. (Ephesians 1:1). In 1792, Edward Evanson was first to make the claim (in print) that Paul is the not the author of the epistle written to Ephesians (Collins 133). Although, some scholars continue to believe that Ephesians are composed by Paul, evidence suggest and support that Paul is not the author of the epistles written to the Ephesians.

Scholars that believe Paul is the author of the epistle, suggest that the letter was written in 60-64 AD. (Harris 393). According to Acts 28:30 Paul was imprisoned in Rome for two years when he

When Paul focuses on the church he is referring to the local church. The local church is many churches in an area. In Ephesians this viewpoint is not the same, church is referred to as one church (world-wide) for example, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,” (Ephesians 1:22) in this verse as the other verses in Ephesians “church” is not used in a plural form. This differs from the use of the word church in (1 Corinthians 11:18) which reads, “In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. (Collins 147). Corinthians is an authentic Pauline epistle this letter compared to Ephesians uses church in a plural form considering the word “you” refers to a group of