54. 1 Timothy: The two Epistles to Timothy and the one to Titus, commonly know as the Pastoral Epistles, belong to the period at the close of Paul’s life and provide valuable information about the great missionary Apostle’s thoughts as he prepared to pass on his tasks to others. It is generally believed that 1 Timothy was written About A.D. 63. Timothy was the son of a mixed marriage; his mother, who evidently instructed him in the Scriptures, was a Jewess, and his father was Greek (Acts 16:1; 2 Timothy 1:5). He was a native of Lystra (Acts 16:1). He was highly esteemed by his Christian brethren both there and in Iconium (Acts 1:2). He came to know the Lord on Paul’s first missionary journey which included Lystra in its itinerary. When Paul took his second missionary journey, Timothy’s mother was also a Christian.
Author: Paul
Likely Date of Writing: A.D. 63
55. 2 Timothy: The Apostle Paul wrote this Epistle to Timothy, his “beloved son” (2 Timothy 1:1-2). He wanted to prescribe the path which Timothy should follow in trouble times, both inside and outside the church.
Author: Paul
Likely Date of Writing: A.D. 66
56. Titus: Titus was probably a Gentile from Antioch (Galatians 2:3) who was brought to Christ by Paul (Titus 1:4) fourteen years after Paul himself had been converted. At that time, when the dispute arose about the circumcision of Gentiles, Titus accompanied Paul to Jerusalem. While there, some dogmatic Jewish brethren insisted that Titus be circumcised. Paul would not allow it for the sake of principle(Galatians 2:5, 16). To do otherwise would imply that all non-Jewish Christians were second-class citizens in the church.
Author: Paul
Likely Date of Writing: A.D. 65
57. Philemon: The Epistle touches upon servitude among the Jews in the time of Christ and His Apostles. It was written during Paul’s first mprisonment in Rome (A.D. 62)
Author: Paul
Likely Date of Writing: A.D. 62
58. Hebrews: We do not know exactly who wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews. Perhaps it was Apollos. According to Acts 18:24-28, he was a well-read Hellenistic Jew from Alexandria in Egypt. Martin Luther guessed that he wrote it. Tertullian (A.D. 150-230) said that Hebrews was a letter of Barnabas. Adolf Harnack and J. Rendel Harris speculated that it could have been written by Priscilla (Prisca). William Ramsey suggested that it was done by Phillip. However the traditional position is that the Apostle Paul wrote Hebrews. From the early beginning the eastern church attributed the letter to him, but the western church did not accept this until the fourth century.
Author: Unknown
Likely Date of Writing: A.D. 65
59. James: There were two Apostles with the name of James. One was the brother of John, son of Zebedee. The other was the son of Alphaeus (Mt. 10:2,3). However, neither of them is thought to have been the author of this Epistle. The oldest half-brother of Jesus was also named James (Mt. 13:55). Jesus appeared to him after He rose from the grave (I Cor. 15:7). He was present in Acts 1:14. Later he became a great leader in the Jerusalem congregation (see Acts 12:17; Gal. 1:18,19). Most scholars believe that he wrote this general letter. Tradition has it that he spent so much time on his knees in prayer that they became as callous as the knees of camels. Paul listened to his advice in Acts 21:18-26. Though he was a very conservative Jewish believer, he moderated a potentially explosive situation in Jerusalem and helped draft a very tolerant letter to the Gentile Christians in Antioch regarding their status (Acts 15:13,19; Gal.2:1,9,10,12). Though James certainly recognized Paul’s role to the Gentiles, he concentrated on his own mission, that of winning his Jewish brethren to Jesus.
Author: James
Likely Date of Writing: A.D. 50