New Testament, episode 9 - The Final Letters of Paul: The Prison Epistles and the Pastoral Epistles
As the Book of Acts draws to a close, the Apostle Paul is under house arrest awaiting trial before Caesar. It is during this time that he writes "the Prison Epistles," which are Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, & Philippians. (Some scholars like N.T. Wright advance the idea that these books were written during an otherwise undocumented imprisonment in Ephesus about a decade earlier.) After the close of Acts, Paul apparently is released, and he returns to ministry. It is during this time that he writes "the Pastoral Epistles" (1 Timothy & Titus, as well as 2 Timothy) to two of his missionary colleagues: Timothy & Titus. (Nearly every secular scholar of the New Testament is adamant that Paul did not write the Pastoral Epistles.) These 2 sets of epistles compromise most of Paul's smaller and medium-sized books, and are some of his best writing.