Editing New Testament (section)

===Pauline epistles===
{{Main|Authorship of the Pauline epistles}}
[[File:PaulT.jpg|thumb|''Saint Paul Writing His Epistles'' by [[Valentin de Boulogne]] (c. 1618–1620). Most scholars think [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] actually dictated his letters to a secretary.]]
The Pauline epistles are the thirteen books in the New Testament traditionally attributed to [[Paul of Tarsus]]. Seven letters are generally classified as "undisputed", expressing contemporary scholarly near consensus that they are the work of Paul: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon. Six additional letters bearing Paul's name do not currently enjoy the same academic consensus: Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus.{{Efn|name="Lock, Meinertz p.622"|[[Donald Guthrie (theologian)|Donald Guthrie]] lists the following scholars as supporting authenticity: Wohlenberg, Lock, Meinertz, Thörnell, Schlatter, Spicq, [[Joachim Jeremias|Jeremias]], Simpson, Kelly, and Fee{{sfn|Guthrie|1990|p=621–622}}}}

The anonymous Epistle to the Hebrews is, despite unlikely Pauline authorship, often functionally grouped with these thirteen to form a corpus of fourteen "Pauline" epistles.{{Efn|Although Hebrews was almost certainly not written by Paul, it has been a part of the Pauline corpus "from the beginning of extant MS production".<ref name=hebot01>{{cite web |last=Wallace |first=Daniel B. |url=https://bible.org/seriespage/19-hebrews-introduction-argument-and-outline |title=Hebrews: Introduction, Argument, and Outline |publisher=Bible.org |date=28 June 2004}}</ref>}}

While many scholars uphold the traditional view, some question whether the first three, called the "Deutero-Pauline Epistles", are authentic letters of Paul. As for the latter three, the "Pastoral epistles", some scholars uphold the traditional view of these as the genuine writings of the Apostle Paul;{{Efn|name="Lock, Meinertz p.622"}} most regard them as [[Pseudepigraphy|pseudepigrapha]].{{sfn|Ehrman|2004a|p=385}}

One might refer to the [[Epistle to the Laodiceans]] and the [[Third Epistle to the Corinthians]] as examples of works identified as pseudonymous. Since the early centuries of the church, there has been debate concerning the authorship of the anonymous Epistle to the Hebrews, and contemporary scholars generally reject Pauline authorship.<ref>{{harvnb|Ehrman|2004a|p=323}}</ref>

The epistles all share common themes, emphasis, vocabulary and style; they exhibit a uniformity of doctrine concerning the [[Mosaic Law]], Jesus, faith, and various other issues. All of these letters easily fit into the chronology of Paul's journeys depicted in Acts of the Apostles.