III. PAUL'S WRITINGS
STUDY X
PASTORAL AND PERSONAL
FOURTH GROUP OF EPISTLES
FIRST TIMOTHY. TITUS. SECOND TIMOTHY.
THE PLACE OF THE EPISTLES
When Written.—It is generally agreed among scholars that no place can be found for the writing of First Timothy, Titus, and Second Timothy in the period covered by Luke in his narrative in Acts.
Agreeing with the tradition of the church, however, the opinion of many eminent scholars is that Paul was released from the first Roman imprisonment (Acts 28:16, 30), that he again took up his missionary work, and at the end of a few years of such work, he was a second time imprisoned and suffered martyrdom under the Roman Emperor Nero.
It was during this period between the first and second imprisonments that First Timothy and Titus were written. Second Timothy was written during the second imprisonment at Rome, and at the time when Paul was expecting his sentence of death. Eusebius (H. E. 2:22-2) says, that "at the end of the two years of imprisonment, according to tradition, Paul went forth again upon the ministry of preaching; and in a second visit to the city ended his life by martyrdom under Nero, and that during his imprisonment he wrote the Second Epistle to Timothy."