Page 12 - Pastoral Epistles student textbook

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1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles - Surely you
have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the
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mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.
 In 3:3 Paul is referring to a previous letter which we do not have.
Historical Setting
In the Book of Acts, the history of the church at Ephesus begins with the ministry of Paul on his
second missionary journey. This visit to Ephesus is recorded for us in Acts 18:18-22.

18 Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and
sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at
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Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla
and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they
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asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, “I will
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come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. When he landed at Caesarea, he
went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.

 1 Timothy is written from the Apostle Paul to a young pastor named Timothy who is now
the pastor of the church in Ephesus.
 One of the purposes of the Pastoral Epistles is to warn Timothy about false teaching and
how it is possible for false teachers to destroy what God is doing. The primary responsibility of a
pastor is to guard against false teaching and prayerfully keep our feet on solid doctrine.
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1 Timothy 1:3-4. As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in
Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any
longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things
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promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which
is by faith.

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