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.

Titus 1:9 Encourage, Refute

Titus 1:9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
One of the main things in Titus 1 is the delineation of the qualifications for eldership or being an overseer. Paul completes his list with this statement in verse 9 that says that an elder must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught and so on. The verse gives us one statement about what sort of man an elder is required to be and two connected statements about what he must do. So he must hold to the trustworthy message, he must do so firmly (there must be no doubt about his commitment to it) and it must be the message as it has been taught. He must not be an innovator but a faithful passer on of the tradition. This is a plea for a rigorous orthodoxy. Despite the claims of some, there was a specific message or body of truth that was taught in those days and it was expected that elders should hold firmly to it. This was one of the things that was expected of anyone who held such office in the churches. The reason for this is so that he can do two things, one positive and one negative - encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. The emphasis on careful, accurate teaching is undeniable and points to thorough preparation for followed by steadfastness in the office. Elders are to be thoroughly conversant with sound doctrine or the trustworthy message as it has been taught and are then to do all that they can to encourage believers to follow the truth and to refute opposers of that truth wherever they arise. Few things will encourage the true Christian as much as sound teaching. Ministers have a duty not only to faithfully teach the sympathetic but also to carefully refute false teaching wherever it arises. This is the work of all elders.

 

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