15. The Pastoral Epistles
15. The Pastoral Epistles
THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PAULINE EPISTLES
The two epistles to Timothy and that to Titus are usually classed together under the title "Pastoral Epistles,” a title that was apparently given to them by D. N. Berdot in 1703 and followed by Paul Anton in 1726. 1The term is almost universally used in modern discussions. It is objected that the title is not completely appropriate because the letters are not taken up with pastoral duties. However, as they are directed to people with pastoral responsibility and with the task of appointing pastors, we should not cavil at the term. The three letters form a unit in that they are the only New Testament letters addressed to individuals with such responsibilities (Philemon is addressed to an individual, but not one in a position like that of Timothy or Titus).
There is, however, nothing to indicate that they were written at the same time or from the same place, or that the author intended them to be studied together. They are almost routinely treated as a group in modern studies, and it is necessary to consider the three together if we are to follow modern writing. But there are differences among them that may be important. For example, while 1 Timothy has quite a lot about the ministry of the church, 2 Timothy has practically nothing and Titus very little. False teaching is being opposed in all three letters, and it is usual to treat it as though it were
the same in all cases, 2but we need to ask if it really is. From another angle, Johnson points out that the Thessalonian correspondence might well look different if we decided to isolate these letters from all the other Pauline writings and treat them as a group on their own. He puts the other side of the coin in this way: "If Titus is read with other travel letters, or 2 Timothy with other captivity letters, their strangeness is greatly diminished.” 3In discussing problems that arise from these three writings, we should bear in mind that things would look a lot different if we studied each of them by itself or in a different grouping.
Contemporary critical orthodoxy insists that the Pastorals were all written by someone other than Paul and at a time considerably later than that of the apostle. Considerations of style, vocabulary, attention to church order, and attitude to orthodoxy and to heretical teachings are some of the things that lead most scholars to hold that the letters are pseudonymous and that they do not fit into Paul’s world. Despite all their differences, there are many links with Paul’s teaching, so it is generally held that they come from a convinced Paulinist. The thought is that the writer is addressing the problems of his own day as one who has drunk deeply from the Pauline well. He is trying to say to the people of his own day what he thought Paul would have said, had he been confronted by the situation of that day. The following considerations are important.