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.

2 Timothy 1:7 The Spirit

2 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Having exhorted Timothy to fan into flame his ministerial gifts, Paul goes on to remind him what effect the gift of God and of the Spirit of God should be having on him. Negatively, God's Spirit does not make us timid. The man who has the Spirit is ultimately afraid of nothing. Rather, positively, the Spirit gives us at least three things power, love and self-discipline. It is the Spirit who gives us the power to live godly lives, to preach the Word and to do all our other duties. It is the Spirit who enables us to love our fellow believers and all who we meet, even our enemies. He also enables us to be self-disciplined so that we want to pray and read the Word and deny ourselves and be godly and so that we live orderly and productive lives. Without the Spirit we are timid wrecks without power, unloving and lacking self-discipline. With the Spirit, there is the hope that we may boldly live energetic, loving and self-disciplined lives that bring glory to God. How thankful we should be for the Holy Spirit and his work within us whether we are ministers or not.
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