The three pastoral letters or epistles are books of the canonical New Testament: the First Epistle to Timothy (1 Timothy) the Second Epistle to Timothy (2 Timothy) and the Epistle to Titus. They are letters from Paul the Apostle to Timothy and to Titus. They are generally discussed as a group (sometimes with the addition of the Epistle to Philemon) and are given the title pastoral because they are addressed to individuals with pastoral oversight of churches and discuss issues of Christian living, doctrine and leadership. While the title is not technically quite correct in that the Epistles do not deal with pastoral duties in the sense of the cure of souls, yet it is popularly appropriate as denoting the essentially practical nature of the subject matter as distinguished from the other Epistles attributed to Paul. The term "pastorals" was popularised in 1703 by D. N. Berdot and in 1726 by Paul Anton.

1 Timothy 1:17 Honour God

1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
In the opening chapter of 1 Timothy, the Apostle Paul refers to his conversion and it prompts a line of praise found in verse 17, either reproducing words that were already known or something more spontaneous but God's Word whichever. Paul desires that honour and glory should be given to God for ever and ever. He refers to him as the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God. So God, we must remember, is firstly sovereign, he is the King. Secondly, he is the King of the ages, the eternal one. Third, not only is he without beginning and without end but he is immortal - he never decays; there is no corruption in him. He is also a spirit, of course, and so is invisible. He cannot be seen. Fifthly, he is  the only God. There is no other. These five things remind us then that God is worthy of all honour and glory. The final Amen emphatically declares that this is the case. It is true. Undoubtedly, we are too slow to praise God. If we had a better idea of his sovereignty, eternity, immortality, invisibility and divinity we would be quicker to honour and glorify him and more ready to join in the praise of others with our Amen too. If preachers preached these truths more perhaps there would be more praise and more amens.
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