Are Paul’s Letters Authentic?

Q. I wanted to see what your thoughts were on the 13 letters penned by Paul.  I have read in some research that scholars only are sure that 7 were penned by Paul, maybe another 2 are 50-50, and the rest are likely not penned by Paul (the pastoral epistles).  Personally, I think Paul did pen them but have no proof of this other than faith.   In fact, one article I read was on a catholic resources page.  One of the letters in question is 2Thesselonians which our prime sources for the rapture defense (this one is disputed by approximately 1/2 of biblical scholars).    Since early church fathers such as Polycarp did not question Paul’s letters as part of early canon, I would believe we should not either.

A. You’re using the term scholar loosely.  There’s never been a credible attack on Paul’s authorship of his letters, they mention him by name, the early church believed that he wrote them, and the context of the letters support his authorship.  And besides, what purpose is served by denying his authorship?  Are these “scholars” trying to convince us that the “disputed” letters don’t belong in the Bible, or that they’re not inspired?

The only purpose in denying their authenticity is to justify ignoring what they say. But the letters to Timothy describe the very conditions we see around us in the church today, no matter who wrote them. Are these “scholars” trying to convince us not to believe the obvious?