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 5:16 Prioritising need

1 Timothy 5:16 If any woman who is a believer has widows in her care, she should continue to help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need.
This is a re-iteration of the sometimes abused principle that charity begins at home. The principle is established earlier in the chapter in verses 3-8 (Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. ... Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.) Paul was quite happy for the church to provide for those in need but not where there were family members who were Christians who could do the job just as well if not better. The order is for the widows to look after themselves, if they could and remarry then rely on other family members if necessary with the church as a last resort. Today the state seeks to playa role in all this too. Such instructions are never intended to be applied in some wooden way so that the church says "we have no responsibility now,  the family is taking care of it" there will always be a mix. The point for pastors and churches is to see that they have some responsibility but not sole responsibility.

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