Hi, everyone! We're Shmoop, and we like warm hugs! We also like heart-to-heart talks, nuzzling kittens, and skipping and holding hands while walking the street. We're pretty big into togetherness.

You know who else really loves for people to be together? The Bible. Specifically, the Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians. Both of these letters are way into unity and harmony. They were written by the Apostle Paul, a guy who thought that Jesus was the greatest thing since sliced bread. He also thought that the coming of Jesus did away for the need for every single division on Earth.

Because of Jesus, Paul says, Christians are all in this together. They're like individual bricks making up God's temple. They're like different body parts that all come together to make one rocking bod. Sure, everyone is unique and different, but the magic really happens when everyone is united as one big happy family. Paul even says that because of Jesus, "there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free" (Colossians 3:11).

Funny story about that quote: Paul didn't really mean it literally.

Even though all people are equal in God's eyes, that doesn't mean that all people are gonna be equal in the eyes of society. This means no 1st-century feminism for wives. You just have to obey your husbands, ladies. Also, kids shouldn't rebel against their parents. And slaves? Keep right on slaving away.

At first, this might seem like a total contradiction. If everyone is equal and there's "no longer slave and free," then why are there still slaves and free people running around? Doesn't make much sense. But while Paul thought that Jesus could get rid of every division in the world, he had a harder time convincing the rest of the Roman Empire. So in these letters, he kind of takes the middle ground. People from opposite ends of the spectrum need to be nice to each other, but they don't cease to be who they are.

Sure, you could call that a cop-out. Or you could call it a step in the right direction. But however you think of it, can we just have a group hug?

Cue the spooky music and call the Scoobies because we've got a real mystery on our hands.

Yup.

When most people think of the Bible, they imagine a book filled with answers. Can I sing in church? Oh, yeah! Should I have sex before marriage? That's a big fat no. But the Good Book is also filled with a lot of riddles and unknowns. One of them is the identity of the author for these two epistles.

Sure, we just said that Paul of Tarsus wrote them both. But you don't believe everything you read on the Internet, do you? See, the epistles are generally referred to as "the disputed letters." That just means that scholars can't say for sure who wrote them. Both of them are signed by Paul, but they could also be… forgeries.

Lots of super smart folks have tried to sort through the different arguments for or against Paul being the author, but in the end no one can come up with a solution that totally satisfies everyone. You might say that we should try getting Mystery Inc. or Sherlock Holmes on the case. But when you've been investigating the truth for two millennia and still haven't come up with an answer…well, we'd say that this case has gone cold.

Of course, we here at Shmoop have our own theories. Maybe the butler wrote them?