First Timothy, Second Timothy and Titus, termed the Pastoral Epistles since the eighteenth century, are, with Philemon, letters of the Pauline corpus addressed to individuals. Like other NT literature written under Paul’s name, they employ the letter form to convey not just personal communications but primarily teachings and exhortations, some of them preformed traditions already in use in Pauline congregations (Ellis, Making). In the face of defections and of the depredations of