Scholars tend to consolidate the Pauline epistles into four groups: (1) Thessalonians; (2) Galatians, Corinthians & Romans; (3) the Captivity epistles; and (4) the pastorals. The two letters (or epistles) addressed to Timothy, along with the Letter to Titus, are collectively named as pastoral epistles. Scholars have labeled them as such due to the fact they are addressed to individuals (Timothy & Titus), who exercised spiritual authority over specific local churches.
Saint Paul was a prolific writer and fourteen books of the New Testament are ascribed to him. Seven of Paul’s letters are accepted as authentic by an overwhelming majority of New Testament scholars. This statement should not be construed denying authenticity to the others nor as some sort of argumentum ad populum or appeal to the masses, but the statement is in fact limited to a select group of highly specialized scholars, who continually examine, affirm or discount the assertions of their colleagues in peer-reviewed literature. Divine inspiration is accorded by the Church to all fourteen letters. In regard to the pastoral epistles, there is debate among the scholars about their provenance. However, Timothy and Titus were both trusted disciples of Saint Paul.
In Timothy, Saint Paul the Apostle saw almost an “alter ego”; in fact he entrusted him with important missions to Thessalonica and elsewhere. In the Letter to Philemon, Paul spoke about Timothy this way, “I have no one like him, who will be genuinely anxious for your welfare” (Phil 2:20). Titus, too, must have been very dear to the Apostle, who explicitly describes him as “full of zeal… my partner and fellow worker” (2 Cor 8:17-23), and further “my true son in the common faith” (Ti 1:4). He had been assigned a few very delicate missions in the Church of Corinth.
In the general audience of January 28, 2009, held in the Paul VI Hall, the late Pope Benedict XVI turned his attention to the theological content of the pastoral letters because they are addressed to Paul’s close collaborators Timothy and Titus. These letters, said the Holy Father, refer to a situation in which “certain erroneous and false doctrines had arisen, such as the attempt to present marriage as something bad. This concern remains current today because Scripture is sometimes read as a historical curiosity and not as the Word of the Holy Spirit, in which we can hear the voice of the Lord Himself and perceive His presence in history”.
Nature and dignity 