First Epistle to Timothy

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“”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…

—Gore Vidal

The First Epistle to Timothy is a New Testament book traditionally believed to have been written by Paul of Tarsus to Saint Timothy, who was a companion and assistant to Paul, and first bishop of Ephesus 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:

By the end of the twentieth century New Testament scholarship was virtually unanimous in affirming that the Pastoral Epistles were written some time after Paul's death. … As always some scholars dissent from the consensus view.

In addition, David E. Aune states:

While seven of the letters attributed to Paul are almost universally accepted as authentic (Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon), four are just as widely judged to be pseudepigraphical, i.e., written by unknown authors under Paul's name: Ephesians and the Pastorals (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus).

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 (2 Timothy 3:13; Titus 1:10), 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.

Sexism

Although many books of The Bible are infamous for their misogyny, this book contains one of the more infamous verses. 1 Timothy 2:12 reads "I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." (Given three quarters of teachers in the modern world are women, it is easy to see that we no longer follow this specific request.) It should be noted that the original Greek could be taken to mean "all women over all men, one woman in particular over one church group, or wives over husbands" and that "in the 1st century AD, it would have been shocking to suggest that women could learn, period!" However, even granting that historical context, the verse has become a favorite of sexist Christians who attempt to prove their hatred is Biblical.

The commands regarding the place of women have become especially relevant as Christians debate the merits of female pastors, with one article discussing the controversy surrounding the issue using primarily this book to explain the opposition.

A famous quote, kind of

Chapter 6 verse 10 contains a line which has become popular over the centuries, "money is the root of all evil." However, if one wishes to get technical, they could point out the verse doesn't quite say that, instead saying "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Essentially, the verse is not criticizing money but is instead criticizing greed, which makes sense given Christianity has traditionally called greed one of the seven deadly sins, not merely gaining money on its own.

See also

• RationalWiki:Annotated Bible/1 Timothy