Page 11 - Pastoral Epistles I & 2 Timothy, Titus

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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
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about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the 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 Cenchreae because
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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 asked him to spend more time with them,
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he declined. But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from
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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
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that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote
themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial
speculations rather than advancing God’s work, which is by faith.

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