A considerable variety of opinions on this subject has been advanced from the earliest times. From around AD 400 to 1600, the author was traditionally considered to be Paul. However, the epistle makes no internal claim of authorship, which is inconsistent with the rest of Paul's epistles. Also, while many of the letter's ideas are Pauline, the writing style is substantially different than that of Paul's epistles, nor does the epistle contain a discourse on Apostolic authority. The author of the epistle also includes himself as a second generation believer in chapter 2:3-4, this would seem to indicate that Paul was not the author.