The First Letter to Timothy

Guidelines for Pastors of the Church

The Letters to Timothy and Titus form a group apart in the literature attributed to Paul. They are addressed not to communities but to individuals, Timothy and Titus, that is, men who were responsible for the government, instruction, and behavior of communities. Because the Letters give guidelines for pastors of the Church, they are called the Pastoral Letters.

A very ancient tradition has placed these Letters among those of Paul; today, however, there are doubts about this attribution, doubts stronger than in the case of the Letters to the Colossians and the Ephesians. In these Pastoral Letters we do not see the vehemence of the Letter to the Galatians or the sensitivity of those to the Corinthians. The tone is weightier, the style more opaque, the vocabulary very different.

Certainly, numerous ideas dear to Paul are presented in their pages, but they lack much of the mystical Pauline aspect. The newness of the faith appears less dazzling. They place a great deal of emphasis on piety, good conduct, and an honorable life, while listing lengthy moral recommendations. The life of communities is also different. We no longer find the previous animation stemming from countless charisms and ministries, such as prophecies; leaders appear to be invested with a regular and stable office, and the Letters speak primarily to them. Doctrine itself is no longer affirmed as such, in opposition to Judaism or paganism and in its fresh and vibrant newness. There is a tradition to maintain and to renew, a teaching to conserve and to deepen.

We thus have the image of a Church seeking to organize her life and functions. A very great crisis threatens her, possibly very much like the Church we encountered at Colossae. The new Christian doctrine is set forth in answer to a heretical movement that mixes together Jewish ideas and Eastern speculations. This movement was important at the end of the first century and the beginning of the second. In the face of these new currents, Christianity had to make precise its teaching and its identity.

Not a few critics are therefore inclined to date the Pastoral Letters toward the end of the first century. But without reaching that conclusion, regarding which various difficulties can be raised, it would be enough to imagine a Paul advanced in years, who makes use of secretaries and is writing in rather difficult practical circumstances. Since he is addressing individuals, it is not surprising that he no longer has the same enthusiasm as when he was writing to entire communities. On the other hand, the problems are new, and so too, therefore, are the answers.

It is of little importance, however, whether these Letters were from Paul himself or from the Pauline tradition. The directions they give are precious because of their reflections on fidelity, on Christian behavior, on the effort to live continually in faith, and on organizing the responsibilities and relationships in the Church. They provide us with important concerns for the thought and life of communities. We can, however, assign them to the last period of Paul’s life, the years to which the Book of Acts makes no reference.

After the Apostle was set free in A.D. 63/64, there is reason to believe that he undertook a Fourth Missionary Journey (not recorded in Acts 28). This belief is based on (1) Paul’s expressed intention to travel to Spain (see Rom 15:24, 28); (2) the implication by the early Church historian Eusebius that Paul was released after his first Roman imprisonment; and (3) early attestations by Clement of Rome and the Canon of Muratori that he preached the Gospel in Spain. The places Paul may have visited are indicated by statements of intent to do so in his earlier Letters and by their mention in the Pastoral Letters.

After this last visit, Paul left Titus in Crete and Timothy in Ephesus. This was the period that ended with a new arrest of Paul: he would be condemned to death and executed on the Via Ostiensis about the year A.D. 67.

Timothy was Paul’s chief fellow worker; he was often with Paul when the latter wrote his Letters, so much so that more than one of them are described as written by Paul and Timothy. The Book of Acts (16:1-2) tells us of a man, who was fervent and faithful, though in poor health (1 Tim 5:23). From that point on he was a traveling companion of Paul (see Acts 17:14-15; 18:5; 24:4; 2 Cor 1:19) and carried out rather difficult missions for him in Macedonia (see Acts 19:22) and in the tumultuous community of Corinth (see 1 Cor 4:17; 16:10).

If the Second Letter to Timothy was written in Rome, almost on the eve of Paul’s martyrdom, the first may have been written some time earlier, around A.D. 64 or 65, after a mission in Macedonia. Paul, to whom God had entrusted the care of the Churches among the pagans, insists, in the First Letter, that Timothy exercise, firmly and courageously, the office he received from Christ in the rite of the laying on of hands, which entails the proclamation of the truth, the organization of worship, and the guidance of the People of God and their varied groups. This last is the starting point for a theological and spiritual reflection on ministry in the Church.

The First Letter to Timothy may be divided as follows:

I: Salutation (1:1-2)

II: Timothy, Champion of the Truth (1:3-20)

III: Qualities of Public Worship and Church Leaders (2:1—3:16)

IV: General Regulations (4:1-16)

V: Specific Regulations for Various Groups (5:1—6:2a)

VI: Final Charge (6:2b-19)

VII: Conclusion (6:20-21)