In the last post, we began the discussion of Paul’s Epistles. There were too many to do all in one post, so here’s the rest of the group with a brief description of the highlights of each:
1 Thessalonians (Written during Paul’s second missionary journey to the church in Thessalonica. One of the main themes is an exhortation to holiness for believers in light of the LORD’s imminent return.)
2 Thessalonians (Also written during Paul’s second missionary journey and to the church in Thessalonica. Christ’s return is a theme as is encouragement of believers.)
1 Timothy (The first of the “pastoral” epistles, those letter written by Paul to individuals who were pastors of churches. This letter is written to Timothy during Paul’s first imprisonment. It is a guide to leadership of a church and it addresses the issues of false teachers, public prayer, the role of women, and the qualifications for elders and deacons.)
2 Timothy (The second of the “pastoral” epistles, this is also written to Timothy, but it is written during Paul’s second imprisonment, near the time of his death. Its purpose is to encourage Timothy in his ministry to be faithful even through adversity and hardships.)
Titus (This is the third of the “pastoral epistles”, and it was written to Titus while Paul was in prison in Rome. It gives the qualifications for elders and gives Titus instructions for dealing with different groups in the church.)
Philemon (This is a letter from Paul to Philemon, a believer, regarding his runaway slave, Onesimus. Paul asks Philemon to forgive Onesimus and receive him for Paul’s sake.)
