Timothy apparently became a Christian as a result of Paul's missionary work in Lystra
(Acts 14:6-23). He joined Paul on the second missionary journey when the apostle's
evangelistic team passed through that area where Timothy lived (Acts 16:1-3). On the
second journey Timothy helped Paul in Troas, Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica, Athens, and
Corinth. During the third journey he was with Paul in Ephesus. From there Paul sent him
to Macedonia (Acts 19:22). Later he was with Paul in Macedonia (2 Cor. 1:1, 19) and
apparently traveled with the apostle to Corinth (Rom. 16:21). On the return trip to
Ephesus, Timothy accompanied Paul through Macedonia as far as Troas (Acts 20:3-6).
Still later Timothy was with Paul in Rome (Col. 1:1; Phile. 1; Phil. 1:1), and from there
he probably made a trip to Philippi (Phil. 2:19-23).

At the end of the Book of Acts, Paul was under house arrest in Rome (Acts 28:30-31).
Our knowledge of his activities after that time comes mainly from scanty references in
his epistles and conjectures since we have no canonical history of this part of his work.

Following his trial before Caesar
and his acquittal, Paul evidently
left Rome. He made his way
eastward and eventually arrived
in Ephesus. While in Ephesus
Paul doubtless visited other
churches in the area and later set
out for Macedonia and probably
for other provinces intending to
continue his pioneer missionary
work (cf. Rom. 15:24, 28). When
Paul departed from Ephesus he
left Timothy in charge as his
special representative to continue
the work there (1 Tim. 1:3).
Sometime after that Timothy evidently wrote to Paul, probably asking if he could leave
Ephesus, perhaps to rejoin Paul. Paul responded with this letter in which he instructed
Timothy to remain in Ephesus and to continue his needed ministry until Paul would
rejoin him there (3:14; 4:13).


"As the first-century churches increased in number, questions of church
order, soundness in the faith, and discipline arose. The apostles themselves
dealt with these questions, but the approaching end of the apostolic period
made necessary authoritative teaching about faith and order for the future
guidance of the churches. This teaching is revealed in the Pastoral
Epistles."1

Timothy's function in Ephesus was to represent Paul to the church. "The church" in
Ephesus at this time would have consisted of a number of house-churches (cf. 1 Cor.
16:19). He evidently was not an elder in that church. Paul spoke of the Ephesian elders in
this epistle as individuals different from Timothy.

When Paul had met with the Ephesian elders toward the end of his third missionary
journey, he had warned them about false teachers who would arise in their midst (Acts
20:29-30). This situation had happened (cf. 1:6; 6:21; 2 Tim. 2:18). Evidently
Hymenaeus and Alexander were two of those "wolves" (1:20). Paul alluded to others in
this epistle as well (1:3-11; 4:1-5; 6:3-10). We shall consider their errors in the exposition
to follow.

If Caesar released Paul from prison in Rome about A.D. 62, he may have written this
epistle in the middle 60s, perhaps A.D. 63-66. Paul's reference to his going from Ephesus
to Macedonia (1:3) suggests that he may have been in Macedonia when he wrote
1 Timothy. Nevertheless, since we have no other references to guide us, he could have
been in any one of a number of other provinces as well.

The authorship of the Pastorals is a major critical problem in New Testament studies, but
I believe the arguments for Pauline authorship are most convincing. Since the nineteenth
century, scholars have attacked the Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles more than
the Pauline authorship of any of the apostle's other writings. This is an introductory
problem that may be studied by referring to the major commentaries on the Pastorals and
to the more comprehensive New Testament Introductions.2 William Mounce argued for
Luke being Paul's amanuensis in all three Pastoral Epistles.3 But that is impossible to
prove.

"The majority of modern scholars maintain that the Pastoral Epistles are
pseudepigraphical—that is, written pseudonymously (in Paul's name)
sometime after Paul's death (so Dibelius and Conzelmann, Brox, Barrett,
Hanson, Houlden, Karris, Hultgren). Most today locate these three letters
around the turn of the century, suggesting that the author aimed to revive
Pauline teaching for his day or to compose a definitive and authoritative
Pauline manual for denouncing heresy in the postapostolic church."4

PURPOSE

First and 2 Timothy and Titus are called "Pastoral Epistles" because Paul wrote them to
pastors (shepherds) of churches outlining their pastoral duties. The term "Pastoral
Epistles" appeared first in the eighteenth century, though as early as the second century
they had been grouped together within the Pauline corpus.5 These leaders' main pastoral
duties were to defend sound doctrine and to maintain sound discipline.6

"The pastoral Epistles are primarily practical rather than theological. The
emphasis lies rather on the defense of doctrine than on its explication or
elaboration. The distinctively doctrinal passages comprise only a small
part of the whole; Timothy and Titus had already been instructed."7

"It may be time to say farewell to the nomenclature 'the Pastoral Epistles.'
This term, which many trace back to Paul Anton in the eighteenth century,
has become something of a restraining device. Its use to describe the
contents of the letters is benign enough, but the assumptions about the
letters and their intention on which it rests already betray a tendency
toward restraint.

"The term PE [Pastoral Epistles] is no longer helpful, even if it is
convenient, for what is gained by economy of reference is more than lost
by the weight of the baggage the term has accumulated along the way."8

Towner believed that by grouping these three epistles together as "the Pastoral Epistles"
and treating them as a unit the church has strayed from interpreting each one as an
individual epistle. He acknowledged that these three have certain characteristics in
common, but he felt that interpreting them together as a unit does more harm than good.
Several of Paul's other epistles are equally as pastoral as these three, though, granted,
these three deal with pastoral leadership issues.

"There are . . . several reasons that Paul wrote the first epistle to Timothy:
(a) to encourage Timothy to stay on at Ephesus and deal with the
significant and difficult issues that had arisen; (b) to provide authoritative
instruction on how the household of God was to conduct itself in case Paul
delayed in coming; and (c) to combat directly the opponents and their
teaching and to remind Timothy of how he was to conduct himself and
what he was to teach. The underlying purpose was then to encourage
Timothy in his work but also to transfer Paul's authority to Timothy in his
fight against the opponents."9