The Apostle Paul and his Pastoral Epistles Essay - 1

The Apostle Paul and his Pastoral Epistles - Essay Example Though Titus is not mentioned in the book of acts, he and Timothy were Paul’s Spiritual children who he was mentoring for Pastoral ministry, with Titus being mentioned in the book of Galatians 2:1 for the first time (Christ Lutheran Church of the Deaf). Paul wrote the three epistles, known as pastoral letters to provide instructions to his two sons pertaining to their pastoral duties and to warn them about false teachings and occult practices which could easily have affected the churches they were pastoring. Both Timothy and Titus were young and Paul as their mentor also wished to encourage them, like he tells Timothy not to let anyone despise him because of his youth but to be an example 1 Tim 4:12. Paul was imprisoned twice in his life in Rome, in 60-63A.D and in 67-68A.D (NewApologia). He wrote 1Timothy during his first imprisonment, wrote Titus upon his release and 2 Timothy during his second imprisonment, after which he was killed by beheading. The letters contained instructions for ministry to Timothy and Titus, and thus he was able to continue with his work even while in prison. Timothy had been a companion of Paul in his missionary journeys and now was serving God in Ephesus. The different vocabulary and writing style from other Pauline letters should be understood from the view point that their theme is common, as they are aimed mostly to address the issue of Pastoral care and that is why between them they are very similar. Linguistic evidence to prove that they were not written by Paul could be countered by the fact that there is much that is not known pertaining to the conditions of production of the three epistles and also the other Pauline letters (Smith). There is also general concurrence that the Pastoral letters do not provide an adequate sample by which to make comparisons with the other Pauline letters. The differences are not also as great