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Introduction to 1 Timothy
Overview
Paul wrote Timothy to help him correct the church at Ephesus. Many false teachers were in this church. They caused a lot of problems. Paul knew this would happen. He also told others it would happen when he met with the leaders in the Ephesian church. Paul wrote to Timothy to encourage him to correct the false teachers. He also wrote him to give Timothy an example of how to do the things that honor God. The main purpose of 1 Timothy was to help Timothy to teach and care for the churches.
See Map: Ephesus
Who wrote 1 Timothy?
Paul wrote that he was the author of 1 Timothy. He wrote about how he used to persecute the church. Also, he wrote about how the story of how he started to believe in Jesus was an example of God’s grace toward people (1:12-16). He called himself an “apostle” (see: 1:1, 2:7), a “herald,” and a teacher of the gentiles (see: 2:7).
See: Persecute (Persecution); Grace; Apostle; Gentile; Herald
When did Paul write 1 Timothy?
- Some scholars think Paul wrote First Timothy during his third missionary journey. He left Ephesus and went to Macedonia (see: Acts 20:1). Timothy joined him later (see: 20:4).
- Some scholars think that Paul was released from his Roman imprisonment (see: Acts 28:30-31) and then wrote this letter before a second imprisonment in Rome.
See: Paul's Missionary Journeys
See Map: Macedonia; Rome
To whom did Paul write First Timothy?
Paul mainly wrote this letter to Timothy. However, he also wrote this letter to the church of which Timothy lead. He did this so they would know that Paul wanted Timothy to lead this church. Paul had Timothy join him while on Paul’s second missionary journey (see: Acts 16:1-3). Later, when Paul going into Macedonia, he asked Timothy to stay in Ephesus to help the church there with problems it was having (see: 1:3).
See: Church; Paul's Missionary Journeys
See Map: Macedonia
Why did Paul write First Timothy?
Paul wrote the letter to give Timothy instructions about helping the church at Ephesus. They needed this help because false teachers had taught the wrong things and caused many Christians to sin. People thought the church in Ephesus did evil things. Paul wanted Timothy to make people to think good things about this church because it did good things. He wanted Timothy to do this by teaching Christians the right things about God. In particular, he wanted families to live in an orderly and godly way (see: 3:4-5, 3:12, 5:4-8, 13-14; 6:1-2).
What did the false teachers teach other people?
The false teachers taught a different type of Judaism. Teachers in that day used much time arguing about tiny details of the Old Testament (see: 1:3-8; 6:4-5; 6:20). Some of the teachers believed that Gentiles could not be saved (see: 2:4-7). They thought that some things in the world were unclean, such as certain foods and marriage (4:3-5). Some teachers taught that there would not be a future resurrection of Christians (see: 2 Timothy 2:18). They also did sinful things and love to have a lot of money (see: 4:2; 6:5- 9). Paul taught that Satan tries to get people to believe the wrong thing and to do things that do not honor God (see: 4:1; 5:15).
See: Satan (The Devil); Gentile; Save (Salvation, Saved from Sins); Clean and Unclean; Marriage; Resurrect (Resurrection)
Outline of 1 Timothy
- Paul greeted Timothy (1:1-2)
- Timothy needed to stop false teaching in Ephesus (1:3-20)
- The Christians in Ephesus must all do the things that Christians should do (2:1-15)
- Timothy must appoint good leaders for the church (3:1-13)
- Timothy must be a good leader (3:14-4:16)
- The Christians in Ephesus must all do the things that Christians should do, continued (5:1-6:2)
- Timothy must warn against false teaching and against greed (6:3-19)
- Conclusion (6:20-21)