THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO TIMOTHY
[Sidenote: The Author.]
Reasons have already been given for rejecting the arguments which have been alleged against the Pauline authorship of this Epistle. We may add that it is unlikely that a forger would have inserted the word "mercy" (i. 2) in the usual Pauline greeting "grace and peace." The reference to Timothy's "youth" (iv. 12; cf. 2 Tim. ii. 22) has seemed strange to many. But although {201} St. Paul had been acquainted with Timothy for about twelve years, Timothy must have been greatly the junior of St. Paul. Even if Timothy was as old as thirty-five, the word "youth" would be quite natural from the pen of an old man writing to a pupil, whom he had known as a very young man, and whom he was now putting in authority over men old enough to be his own father. We can attribute this Epistle to St. Paul without hesitation.
[Sidenote: To whom written.]
Timothy was one of the apostle's own converts, his "child in faith." We learn from Acts xvi. 1 that he was the son of a Greek-speaking Gentile father and a Jewish mother. He had received a strictly religious Jewish training from his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois (2 Tim. i. 1-5; iii. 14, 15). He was converted by St. Paul on his first missionary journey, at Lystra or Derbe. On St. Paul's second visit to that district, Timothy was so well reported of that he was thought worthy of being associated with the apostle in his work. Before employing him as a colleague, St. Paul had him circumcised, that he might be able to work among Jews as well as Gentiles (Acts xvi. 3). Some Christian prophets pointed him out as destined for his sacred office (1 Tim. i. 18). He was ordained by the laying on of the hands of St. Paul himself and the presbyters of the Church (1 Tim. iv. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6). He was frequently associated with the apostle in travelling and in the writing of Epistles. His name occurs as sending a salutation in Rom. xvi. 21, and as the fellow-sender of six of the apostle's letters. He was with the apostle during his first imprisonment at Rome (see Phil., Col., and Philemon). From this Epistle we learn that after the apostle's release he was left in charge of the important Church at Ephesus. While he was in this position, the two Epistles which bear his name were written to him.
[Sidenote: Where and when written.]
It is impossible to ascertain the precise direction of St. Paul's journeys after his release, and it is wisest to refrain from mere conjecture. Before writing this letter he had been recently {202} at Ephesus and had been called away to Macedonia (i. 3). He intended to return before long, but had been unexpectedly delayed (iii. 14, 15). This delay rendered it necessary for him to send directions to Timothy. The precise date cannot be exactly fixed. If St. Paul's martyrdom was as early as A.D. 64, and his release as early as A.D. 61, we may reasonably put this letter in A.D. 63.
[Sidenote: Character and Contents.]
The letter is personal, but it is also official. It is intended to guide Timothy in his work of apostolic delegate. In speaking to the presbyters of Ephesus at Miletus (Acts xx. 29, 30), St. Paul had already expressed fears about the future of the Church, and these fears now seem to have been partly realized. Ephesus was a meeting-place of east and west, a place where religious speculations and religious divisions were likely to increase, and where wise supervision of the Christian Church was essential. The contents of the Epistle therefore mainly consist of warnings against Judaism and false knowledge, and directions as to the duties of various classes of Christians, and especially the clergy.