PASTORAL EPISTLES  , the name given to St Paul's letters to Timothy and Titus . The term seems to have originated with J . A . L . Wegscheider (1771-1849), professor at Halle . The three epistles mentioned are written to men rather than churches, and to men appointed to certain pastoral work . In this respect they differ from the personal and intimate note which Paul wrote to Philemon . They are closely related in origin, style, diction and thought, and occupy 'so distinct a place in these respects that the Pauline authorship of them has been much questioned .