Authenticity of the Second Letter to the Thessalonians

Scholars continue to debate whether Second Thessalonians was written by Paul or pseudonymously. The suggestion that the letter is a late imitation is largely based on the comparison of the parallel expressions of the two epistles to the Thessalonians. There are more words and phrases that are shared between these two letters than there are in any other two New Testament letters. William Wrede’s study is the ultimate source of scholarly perception of these parallels. Not only does Wrede locate some exact parallels, he also finds definite words, verses, and related passages that precisely mirror and reflect their counterparts in First Thessalonians. Scholars who conclude that Second Thessalonians is pseudonymous owe much of that conclusion to Wrede’s work. Wrede’s order of the Greek parallels has been reproduced with his original annotations in this translation.