these letters were actually written by a member of the Pauline entourage and dispatched under Paul’s authority at various times in the fifties and early sixties of the first Christian century (thus, in various forms, Jeremias, Kelly, Holtz, and Fee; see also the special studies by Dockx, Chronologies; Lestapis, L’Enigme; Reicke, “Chronologie”; W. Metzger, Die letzte Reise; and Prior, Paul). When an interest in gathering the apostle’s correspondence began at the end of the first century, the PE were
Page 18