Now, it needs to be said that there’s nothing wrong with using historical linguistic or archaeological research into the writing habits of those in the first century or prior in order to determine how the books of the Bible came about. Plenty of good books and articles have been written on that topic, and we can be and are greatly helped by them. The question is, though, why not use the Bible as a primary resource to better understand how these collected writings came about?
Let’s look at the letter to the Romans as an example of how this might help us answer the question of authorship.
On the first page of the letter it’s clear who’s behind it: “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,” (Rom. 1:1, NASB). Who’s the one speaking to us from this letter? Clearly, Paul. He is the first person identified in the letter and his name is actually the first word of the letter. These are absolutely his words.
What do we see, though, when we get to the last sentences of the letter? In Romans 16:22 we read, “I, Tertius, who write this letter, greet you in the Lord.”
Who is Tertius, and what does he have to do with this letter? Well, according to the letter itself, he’s the one who wrote it.
This means that although the letter is rightly ascribed to Paul—as it’s his words, and his thoughts, and his theology—the one who wrote down those words, thoughts, and theology was not Paul—it was Tertius. And it’s right there in the text. There’s no mystery here. And neither is there any scandal. This is how, at least, the letter to the Romans came about.