Abstract:
Research by
different scholars concluded that some letters traditionally ascribed to Paul were probably
not written by him and drew a distinction between Pauline and Deutero-Pauline letters.
The majority of scholars nowadays are of the opinion that the letters to the Colossians and
the Ephesians are Deutero-Pauline and that Ephesians, at least, was surely not written by
Paul. The results of research on the synoptic problem can be used and applied to the two
letters under discussion because a comparison shows that there are striking similarities
between the two. The most recent research shows that Ephesians made use of the letter to
the Colossians but not without redactional changes to suit the author’s literary purpose.
This method is exegetically known as redaction-criticism, linked to the social-science
viewpoint that the author of the letter to the Ephesians acted as a change agent on behalf
of a change agency.
