Paul's 1st Letter to Timothy

Background Information

Paul most likely wrote this letter while he visited churches in Macedonia (northern Greece, incl. Berea, Thessalonica, Philippi, etc.). This trip would have occurred after his first imprisonment (house arrest in Rome).

The details of Paul’s ministry work and travels following his release from his first imprisonment in Rome, up until his second and final imprisonment there (leading to his execution), remain largely unknown. This phase of his missionary efforts is not as thoroughly documented in Scripture as his earlier ministry activities. Likely or possible activities include revisiting Ephesus (Phil 22), visiting Colosse (Phil 22), doing evangelistic work on the island of Crete with Titus, and traveling to Spain (Rom 15:24, 28). It seems that his missionary labors came to an end with an unexpected arrest at either Nicopolis (Tit 3:12) or Troas (2 Tim 4:13).

Paul wrote to a man named Timothy (1:2).

This man was a trainee, coworker, and close spiritual son to Paul who is mentioned 24 times in the New Testament (NT). He grew up in Lystra, a town in Asia Minor which Paul had visited during his first missionary journey, about a decade or more before writing this letter (Acts 14:6-23; 1 Tim 1:2, 18). This was a very superstitious, pagan town at the base of the Black Sea. Consider, for instance, how when Paul and Barnabas first visited this town, the citizens wanted to worship them as though they were gods at the start of the day, but by day’s end they wanted to kill them for blasphemy. In fact, they stoned Paul and left him for dead. It seems that Paul never quite figured out what had happened to him there (2 Cor 12:1-4).

The name Timothy means “honoring God.” It is fascinating then that Paul uses the word for ‘honor’ (timae) eight times in his two letters to Timothy. This is 21% of all thirty-eight times he uses forms of this word in all thirteen of his letters (1 Tim 1:17, 5:3, 17, 6:1, 16, 2 Tim 2:20-21, and 4:2). Here is some of Timothy’s backstory:

• He was raised by his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, both of whom were Jews (2 Tim 2:5).
• His father was a Greek who probably died when Timothy was a young child (Acts 16:1).
• Timothy had benefited from careful exposure to the Old Testament (OT) from a very early age (2 Tim 3:15). He had lived an honorable life in his community (Acts 16:2), despite seeming to have a timid personality (1 Tim 4:12; 2 Tim 1:8).
• Paul invited Timothy to join him at the beginning of his second missionary journey (Acts 16:1-3), and Timothy accompanied him to Troas, Philippi, Berea, and Athens.  Paul then sent him from Athens back to Thessalonica, from where he then rejoined Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:5).
• Timothy reappears at Ephesus during Paul’s third missionary journey (Acts 19:22). Paul had sent him into Macedonia, after which he rejoined Paul at Ephesus when Paul wrote his second letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor 1:1, 19). He later accompanied Paul to Corinth (Rom 16:21), and then returned to Macedonia and Asia (Acts 20:3-6).
• He did not accompany Paul on his trip to Jerusalem and imprisonment in Caesarea.
• He reappears in Rome, during Paul’s house arrest, from where he travelled roundtrip to Philippi and back (Phil 2:19-23). Upon Paul’s release, Timothy journeyed to Ephesus with Paul, where he evidently stayed. This seems to be where Timothy resided when Paul wrote his first epistle to him. From there, he seems to have served as the lead pastor of the church at Ephesus.
• During Paul’s second and final imprisonment in Rome, he requested for Timothy to visit him one last time (2 Tim 4:21)

Even though Timothy had grown up in a dysfunctional home situated in a thoroughly pagan community, he still became a key leader in the church. This should encourage anyone with a similar experience. God is able to overcome both of these seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

The theme of this book is “Order in the House of God.” (3:15)

“If I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” (3:15)

Paul wrote this letter for the purpose of giving Timothy instructions for both being an effective leader for the church at Ephesus while also equipping and identifying other good leaders for the church, as well. There is a very real sense in which this letter provides the closest thing to a “practical church manual” of all the NT writings, providing clear guidance for both how a pastor should conduct his ministry and how a church should behave in worship.

Outline of the Book

A personal, direct charge to Timothy (1)

In this chapter, Paul opens his letter urging Timothy to remain “on point” (1:3-11), focusing his ministry on teaching the Scripture clearly and directly, not wandering off into useless agendas and ideas or into a legalistic approach to morality. He then thanks God for God’s grace in calling him into ministry (1:12-17), as an example for Timothy to follow, and urges Timothy not only to remain focused on sound biblical teaching, but to remain committed to his calling, knowing that he would face many challenges to quit, both from without and even within his own heart and mind (1:18-20). Pastoring is not for the faint of heart!

Guidelines for church ministry (2-3)

• Related to the corporate worship of men and women (2)

It is interesting to note what Paul highlights in his discussion of public worship in the church. First, he emphasizes prayer for all people, especially government leaders, and a heart for reaching nonbelievers with the gospel (2:1-7). He then emphasizes that men should pray aloud and that women should dress in a modest manner (2:8-15). This does not, of course, mean the opposite – namely that men should not dress modestly or that women should not pray. Instead, it indicates a needed emphasis and focus knowing that men might tend not to pray aloud and know that women might tend to not dress modestly. Paul does insist, though, that only men provide the teaching functions and elder roles in church gatherings in which adult men were present due to the headship position God had assigned to men at the beginning of the world.

• Related to church leadership, namely elders and deacons (3)

In this chapter, Paul provides detailed requirements for men chosen to serve as pastor/elders in the church as well as serving as deacons. The key difference between pastor and deacon requirements are that pastors must have a strong desire to serve as pastor and must be able to teach, while deacons do not share these requirements. It is worth noting that the requirements of deacons’ wives most likely apply to pastors’ wives, as well.

Paul reiterates profound doctrinal truth to Timothy about Jesus Christ being the one mediator between God and people, the ransom for all people, and having come as a human being and returned to heaven in glory (1 Tim 2:5-6; 3:16). This glorious truth about Christ was the basis for everything else that Paul taught Timothy and Timothy was to be and do as a pastoral leader in the church at Ephesus.

Guidelines for confronting false teaching (4)

Chuck Swindoll summarizes the final three chapters of this letter in this way:

• Seeing the importance of faithful teaching, sound doctrine, true godliness, and perseverance.
• Paying attention to various age groups, widows, elders, and wisdom.
• Developing a new perspective towards masters/slaves, rich/poor, internals/externals, and eternal/temporal.

Guidelines for particular people groups (5-6:2)

• Everyone (5:1-2)
• Widows (5:3-16)
• Elders (5:17-25)
• Slaves (6:1-2)

Final considerations (6:3-21)

• About false teachers (6:3-5)
• About earthly, material wealth (6:6-10, 17-19)
• About godly living (6:11-16)

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (6:12)

• About Timothy’s responsibility before God (6:20-21)