First Epistle to Timothy

As Saint [Paul] was dyslexic, he couldn’t write much more than a name for the Holy Rolodex but he could dictate faster than anyone I’ve [Timothy] ever known. Of course he had a short attention span, which is why he seldom finished any of the letters. I don’t give away any great secret when I say that I wrote maybe half of the letters Saint signed. I was particularly good at the fear-and-trembling stuff. Of course the basic bad news and bad-mouthing of just about everybody came from Saint himself, as he danced around our, hotel suite in downtown Corinth…

The First Epistle to Timothy is a New Testament book traditionally believed to have been written by Paul of Tarsus to who was a companion and assistant to Paul, and first bishop of  in western Anatolia. It contains instructions on organizing the church and Timothy's duties as a church leader.

Claims of Pauline authorship are widely challenged. Raymond F. Collins states:

In addition, David E. Aune states:

To balance these views, MacArthur's Study Bible points out that "it is unnecessary to dignify such unwarranted attacks by unbelievers with an answer" but also asks, "Why would he include warnings against deceivers, if he himself were one?" Presumably, a deceiver would want to avoid bringing up the idea that there might be a deceiver about because that might prompt them to ask, 'What if the person writing this is a deceiver himself?' That would be as foolish as a pickpocket warning his prey that there are vultures everywhere. … Except that is precisely a pickpocket tactic used to induce marks to signal where on their persons their valuables are located.