First Epistle to Timothy
The First Epistle to Timothy is one
of three letters in New Testament of the Bible often
grouped together as the Pastoral Epistles. (The others
are Second Timothy and Titus.) The letter consists
mainly of counsels to his younger colleague and delegate
Timothy regarding his ministry in Ephesus (1:3). These
include instructions on the forms of worship and
organization of the Church, the responsibilities resting
on its several members, including episcopi (overseers or
bishops) and diaconi ("deacons"); and secondly of
exhortation to faithfulness in maintaining the truth
amid surrounding errors, presented as a
prophecy of erring teachers to come.
This historical relationship between Paul and Timothy is
one of mentorship. Timothy is first mentioned in Acts
16:1. His mother Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, are
mentioned in 2 Tim. 1:5. All that we know of his father
is that he was a Greek not a Jew (Acts 16:1). Paul's
second visit to Lystra is when Timothy first connected
with Paul (1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 3:11). Paul not only
brought Timothy into the faith but he was Timothy’s main
mentor in Christian leadership (Acts 16:3), having done
church planting and missionary journeys together.
Timothy would have received his authority to preach in
the churches directly from Paul who of course was the
greater known and accepted of the two and an apostle.
Timothy’s official position in the church was one of an
evangelist (1 Timothy 4:14) and he worked with Paul in
Phrygia, Galatia, and Mysia, Troa, Philippi and Berea
(Acts 17:14) and continued on to do even more work in
Athens, and Thessalonica for the church (Acts 17:15; 1
Thessalonians 3:2) not to mention his work in Corinth,
Macedonia, Ephesus and greater Asia. Timothy was also
noted for coming to Paul’s aid when Paul fell into
prison (Philippians 1:1, 2 Timothy 4:13). It is
noteworthy that despite not being required due the
ruling of the Jerusalem council; Timothy took
circumcision himself to be a better witness among the
Jews. According to church tradition he was loyal to
Paul’s wishes and stayed and worked in Ephesus until he
finally suffered the Martyr's death himself.
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