DID YOU KNOW?
The answer
He dictated it and took the pen for the close. Up to that line a secretary had been writing down what Paul said; now Paul writes in his own hand, and he points at the difference. He points to his own handwriting again in the greeting near the end of 1 Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:21), and in Philemon 1:19, where he writes out a promise to repay.
Why it’s interesting
Dictating to a secretary was the ordinary way to write a letter, even for the highly educated. Romans names Paul's secretary: "I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord" (Romans 16:22).
Scholarly consensus
Learn the Bible.
Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.