The eschatology described in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 begins similarly to the undisputed Pauline letters with in verse 2 the author essentially says beware of false teachings that say the day of the Lord is already here and that Christians on earth were already living an exalted life, staying on par with his letter to the Galatians and letters to the Corinthians. This is where the similarities end and fake Paul is revealed. Verses 3-12 speak of the end of time in a way we, as a class, have yet to read. The idea of some pure antichrist taking over and declaring himself God, to be followed by Christ’s return and defeat of this antichrist, is not consistent with the eschatology in the undisputed Pauline letters. Verse 5, “Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?” also exposes the fake Paul. To me, this question is posed to the Thessalonians to deliberately confuse them. I imagine the fake author composing this letter, inserting his own view on the conning of the end of time, knowing full well when the Thessalonians received and read it, there would be some claiming that is was not Paul’s Gospel. The question fake Paul asks then attempts at avoiding this, probably hoping they would trust the current letter since they most likely did not remember every detail Paul taught them. A clever move by the fake Paul to receive credibility.

Compared with the undisputed Pauline letter 1 Thessalonians, and the idea of 2 Thessalonians being a forgery becomes evident. In 1 Thessalonians 13-17 Paul describes the end of time with no mention of a powerful antichrist, directly disputing what in written in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12. Also, in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 Paul references the end of time coming like a “thief in the night” and “sudden destruction,” which differs from fake Paul’s account because there does not seem to be anything sudden about the rise of an antichrist and the decent and triumph of Jesus. Other than the pseudonymous author theory, which I believe is the truth, Ehrman proposes that Paul may have changed his mind for unknown reasons, hence the second letter, but another possibility, although quite unlikely, is that Paul wrote this portion of the letter while in a mad state during his imprisonment, as prison was notoriously known for making sane men go mad. In Romans 13:11-12 Paul describes the end of time as “near,” which unfortunately for the author of 2 Thessalonians exposes him more because he makes no reference to it being close to the then-present day. He does say in verse 2 that the day of the Lord has not already come, and in verse 9 he says that the coming of the lawless one is at work but gives no indication to the speed of that process.

I have no real clue what historical or social events may have occurred that spawned the creation of the letter by a false author, and it is possible, as Ehrman mentions, that the fake Paul was a good man, a possible companion, that just wanted what he thought was correct to be preached to a large congregation, and using Paul’s name was a sure fire way to do that, as he is a central figure to Christianity. It is possible that the Thessalonians were receiving some new forms of persecution or that more false prophets arose claiming false Gospels, and that fake Paul wanted to reassure the Thessalonians of the true Gospel. It is possible that when the author references an anti-christs rise to power he is hinting directly at Roman leadership. Fake Paul hears of Roman leaders persecuting and false professing, and writes them a letter that directly deals with the authoritarian King they were then-presently dealing with.