Page "Epistle to Titus" Paragraph 6

However, works written under a false name would have been very problematic since the early church clearly excluded from the apostolic canon any works they thought to be pseudonymous.

While critics point to the common practice of pseudonymous writing in the ancient world, they usually fail to point out that this practice, though common in the culture, was not common in personal letters, and was categorically rejected by the early church ( cf.

2 Thess.

2: 2 ; 3: 17 ; also Muratorian Canon 64 – 67 ; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 6. 12. 3 ).

Tertullian ( c. a. d. 160 – 225 ) wrote that when it was discovered that a church elder had composed a pseudonymous work, The Acts of Paul ( which included a purported Pauline letter, 3 Corinthians ), the offending elder “ was removed from his office ” ( On Baptism 17 ).

Accepting as Scripture letters that lie about their origin is also a significant ethical problem.

Thus, there is a good basis for affirming the straightforward and traditional claim that the Epistle to Titus was authentically written by Paul.