Page 92 - New Testament Survey Student Textbook

the Pastoral Letters must be read in light of the elements that make them each unique as well
as those uniting them.” 126
Background

Author, Date, and Recipient

We have the internal evidence from the opening of 1 timothy which names Paul as its author. With
regards to the dates, he apparently wrote 1 Timothy and the two other Pastoral Letters (2 Timothy and
Titus) toward the end of his life during the mid-60s AD, sometime after his captivity in Rome (around AD
61–63). Nevertheless, there is modern debate about the authorship of the Pastoral Letters. The theory
regularly proposed is that “after Paul’s death—in the late first or early second century AD—the Pastoral
Letters were written by one of Paul’s close associates in tribute to him, to record ideas developed from
his teachings.” 127

The possible understanding of this theory of pretentious authorship is grounded on the hypothetical
inconsistencies between the Pastoral Letters and Paul’s other letters in vocabulary, writing style, and the
handling of specific church issues such as leadership. It is hard to connect the events and strategies
described in the Pastoral Letters with Acts and Paul’s other letters. Also, the false teachings opposed in
the Pastoral Letters connect better with known problems of the second century than the 60s AD. 128
Never the less, some of our scholars argue that,

“the Pastoral Letters could reflect different circumstances: Paul was writing to an individual rather
than a congregation, addressing very specific situations, and possibly dictating to a different scribe
(compare Rom 16:22). In addition, Acts and Paul’s other letters may not record the full church
leadership structure, and Paul’s views could have progressed as a response to the false teachers
and his imminent death. Either way, early on in church history, all 13 of the New Testament letters
ascribed to Paul were received as an authentic and authoritative collection.” 129

Occasion

Paul’s First letter to Timothy is a very good example of what it should be like to have order and direction
in the church which has lost its focus. The setting of 1 Timothy is that, Paul assigned Timothy to teach
sound theology and practice at Ephesus where he left him. The church at Ephesus through its leaders
had lost focus on the real Christian mission. They had turned out to be more self-centered in their
interests. This prompted Paul to write 1Timothy as a way of resolving such problems so that the church
would be Christ centered and have a clear way of focusing on the gospel and its mission.

Themes
One of the themes we find in 1 Timothy is combating false teaching. False teachers in Ephesus had
arisen and had placed their focus on myths, genealogies (1:4), and enjoyed senseless arguments (1:5-7).
They generated some rules on food and marriage (4:3). These men were full of pride and arrogance (6:3-
5), covered in greed (6:6-10), and other things which did not promote the Gospel. Their conduct brought

126 Towner, P. H. (2012, 2016). The Pastoral Letters. In Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
127 Barry, J. D., et al
128 Barry, J. D., et al.
129 Ibid
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