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00:00You, remain firm in everything you have learned, of which you are convinced.
00:12You already know who taught you that.
00:15Remember that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures that can instruct you and lead you to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
00:25All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
00:44The two letters to Timothy and the letter addressed to Titus have been known since the beginning of the 18th century as the Pastoral Epistles.
00:52This designation stems from the fact that these letters, unlike those addressed to particular churches, were written for specific individuals who are responsible for leading Christian communities and therefore must face the challenges of a young church.
01:13These letters can be placed in a new context in relation to the rest of Paul's writings and at the same time in a new situation of the church.
01:24The communities present at the time of the pastoral letters belong to a third generation.
01:31Timothy had received the faith from his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois.
01:37Time has passed and now the people of God are gradually moving away from the apostolic times, the early times of the gospel, and the question arises of how to remain faithful to their origin.
01:49In fact, the theme of the Lord's coming has changed, while the communities that preceded him expected an imminent arrival and it has been delayed, so the communities that are experiencing this delay are forced to think differently.
02:06For them, it is necessary to begin to have the awareness of being situated in the world and no longer facing the world, that Greco-Roman world of the beginning of the 2nd century.
02:17We are faced with pastoral letters that also present a new stance that is both pastoral and disciplinary, and with it a new representation of the figure of Paul.
02:31who now emerges as a model of the evangelical message, as well as a new representation of the time to be lived in the world, giving the gospel a new vision.
02:42The people of God are now living in new times, and it is necessary to adapt the message of salvation to the new daily realities in order to respond to the various difficulties that arise in Christian communities.
02:57The transmission of the message and apostolic powers to Timothy and Titus becomes, through these letters, the model.
03:07but at the same time in the guarantee of a well-executed transmission that can be replicated in other communities
03:15and consequently we can say that it is possible to carry out a message update.
03:22If, as we have already said, Paul is the basic model of faith and mission, now Timothy and Titus become models for believers.
03:32entrusting the inheritance of faith to trustworthy men who in turn are able to teach others.
03:39It must be ensured that this apostolic model persists over time so that the heirs primarily collect the traditional deposit
03:50and have the ability to reread it in light of new situations in order to transmit it to future generations.
04:00This model is evident in the words of the apostle to Timothy, as we can read in the following texts.
04:09Follow the pattern of sound teaching that you have received from me and live in the faith and love that we have through Christ Jesus,
04:21With the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, take care of the good doctrine that has been entrusted to you.
04:28What you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to trustworthy men who will be able to teach it to others.
04:40The apostles had received the truth of the faith from the Lord.
04:45They themselves had first transmitted it orally, especially to their disciples and successors in the ministry.
04:54But these latter have the duty to preserve it in the integrity of its purity and to communicate it in turn to men of trust and ability to ensure a new transmission.
05:07However, even if this model were followed faithfully, human effort cannot guarantee the preservation of sound doctrine and its subsequent transmission.
05:19It is the Holy Spirit who preserves them from all alteration and all deviation.
05:26It can be said that this action of the Holy Spirit is exercised with particular effectiveness in the members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy.
05:33The author Philippe Rousseau comments regarding pastoral letters that these have often been somewhat sidelined, at least for two reasons.
05:45First, because they can hardly be recognized as having been written by Paul himself.
05:51From this, one too quickly and in a very modern way concludes that they are false, or at least not as interesting as the others.
06:01And secondly, because, according to the expression of the German critic Di Vellius,
06:05The morality of these letters is a bourgeois morality within an established church in which the dynamic of Paul's hope in the return of Christ has almost disappeared.
06:17But then, shouldn't we say that these pastoral letters have a lot to do with us?
06:24Are the old churches of Europe also established alongside our young sisters from other continents?
06:30In any case, pastoral letters deserve a rediscovery, beyond preconceived ideas and hasty judgments.
06:40These letters take on particular relevance in the present times,
06:44where it seems that what Paul announced is the reality that the world presents to us today.
06:51For the time will come when people will not put up with sound teaching.
06:55Rather, according to their own whims, they will seek out a lot of teachers who will teach them what they want to hear.
07:03They will turn their backs on the truth and believe all kinds of stories.
07:09A constant concern of the early communities was to maintain the integrity of the link with the teaching they had received from the apostles,
07:19those witnesses of the life of Jesus Christ.
07:21Faithfulness to this sound doctrine was very important in the face of the avalanche of proposals from different religious currents.
07:30especially philosophical and Gnostic currents that were active at that time.
07:36Today, as before, God's people are constantly threatened by various ideologies,
07:43pseudo-religions and various philosophical currents that offer man a tailor-made package
07:50and that, ultimately, distance the modern Christian from the sound doctrine of the church.
07:57Letter from Tito
07:58Titus, as well as Timothy, was a close collaborator of the apostle Paul, as evidenced in various texts of the New Testament,
08:08where his name is mentioned.
08:11In Galatians 2, verses 1-3, it says that Titus accompanied Paul and Barnabas to the council of Jerusalem
08:19And, although he was not Jewish, but of Greek origin, he was not forced to submit to circumcision.
08:26This letter suggests that Paul left Titus on the island of Crete to continue his work of consolidating and organizing this church.
08:35Titus is presented to us as Paul's collaborator in delicate missions.
08:44As we mentioned earlier, he even accompanied the apostle at the first council of the church.
08:51At the height of the crisis in the Corinthian community,
08:55He was the one who managed to calm the spirits and lead the community to repentance.
09:01Pablo knew how to appreciate it.
09:03But God, who encourages the discouraged, encouraged us through the coming of Titus,
09:10and not only because of your arrival, but also because he was very encouraged by you.
09:19Titus received the delicate task of organizing the collection in Corinth,
09:24But even more than this list of missions,
09:27the descriptions that Paul gives to Titus in his letters to the Corinthians,
09:32They show us the esteem in which he held him.
09:36Associate and collaborator.
09:38He is a much-loved brother.
09:41A generous and selfless apostle.
09:44According to the letter he addresses to her,
09:46It is his responsibility to establish presbyters in each city of Crete.
09:50It is the only indication in the New Testament about the evangelization of this large island.
09:55From there, Titus has to go and meet with Paul in Nicopolis.
10:00where the apostle plans to spend the winter.
10:03Another mission will take him to Dalmatia.
10:05The letter begins in chapter 1, verses 1 through 4,
10:13with a more expansive greeting than in the other pastoral letters,
10:17where the apostle calls Titus, a true son in the faith.
10:21In the central part, 1.5 to 3.14,
10:27There are several recommendations that refer to different responsibilities of Titus in Crete.
10:34First, he speaks to them about those who preside over the community.
10:38He reminds her that he left her on the island to fix what needed fixing,
10:43and so that in each town elders or presbyters might be appointed,
10:48according to the instructions given here.
10:51Recommendations regarding false teachers follow.
10:55The apostle says that there are many of them and that they are of Jewish origin.
10:59who deceive and say nonsensical things.
11:03Then he talks about the various members of the community.
11:06He asks him to encourage young people to be wise and servants to serve their masters in everything,
11:12as well as promoting obedience to the authorities.
11:16Later he gives general instructions,
11:18remembering God's saving work through Jesus Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit.
11:25In conclusion, here are some personal recommendations.
11:29Finally, at 3.15 we have a brief farewell.
11:36According to the criterion of non-authenticity of pastoral letters,
11:40It is difficult to establish both the date and the place of composition,
11:45Therefore, it is necessary to address the issue regarding the authorship of the pastoral letters.
11:50However, we find positions both for and against the aforementioned authorship of the apostle.
11:57First and foremost, the argument in favor of authenticity is
12:01the tradition of so many centuries,
12:03with explicit evidence from the 2nd century onwards.
12:06The argument is valid at least to say that,
12:10If the pastoral letters were not written by the apostle,
12:13They must have been introduced to the church by their legitimate heirs.
12:18On the other hand, we have, for example, the language and style,
12:22as has already been said,
12:23These writings show great differences in relation to the Pauline style.
12:28Theological differences have been magnified to the point of seeing these letters
12:35as completely irreconcilable with the apostle's thinking.
12:39If the author of the pastoral letters is not Paul,
12:43It may be more or less close to him,
12:46And in reality, there have been hypotheses to suit all tastes.
12:50The most advanced theory is the one that attributes the pastoral letters to Polycarp of Smyrna,
12:54and places them accordingly around the year 135.
12:59We have another commonly accepted piece of information,
13:02but that doesn't solve our problem,
13:05that the pastoral letters use the letters to the Ephesians and to the Colossians as a source.
13:11According to this opinion,
13:12The pastoral letters predate the apostolic father Clement of Rome,
13:17which he wrote around the year 95.
13:19Regarding the location,
13:22We have clues in two directions that point to Rome and Ephesus as possible places of composition.