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Which seven letters are widely accepted as authentically written by St. Paul?
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St. Paul the Apostle
The Conversion of St. Paul (second version), oil on canvas by Caravaggio, 1601; in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.
Scholars widely accept seven of the letters attributed to St. Paul as being entirely authentic, meaning they were dictated by the apostle himself. These seven "undoubted" letters are:12
- Romans1
- 1 Corinthians1
- 2 Corinthians1
- Galatians1
- Philippians1
- 1 Thessalonians1
- Philemon1
While 13 books in the New Testament are traditionally attributed to Paul, the authorship of the remaining letters is debated among scholars. These other works are often categorized as "Deutero-Pauline" or "Trito-Pauline," suggesting they were written by followers or members of the Pauline school after his death, rather than by Paul himself.12