FIRST

EPISTLE TO

See also:

• TIMOTHY
• FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY
• TIMOTHY, SECOND EPISTLE TO

TIMOTHY  . This book of the New Testament is really a pastoral letter upon church order, addressed by the apostle Paul to the Asiatic Christian communities in and round Ephesus (i.3).1 The object of the writing is stated in iii . 15: 1- 44 I €i bi airy Oeoi3 ava.Qrpkbeo-Oat . It is thrown into, the literary form2 of a letter from Paul to his lieutenant Timothy, but, as the closing salutation indicates (vi . 21, "grace be with you," spiv), the writer really has the Church in his mind all through . The Pauline standard of doctrine is set up (i . 3-20) as the norm of thought and practice . This trust and tradition is to be maintained throughout the churches . It involves, the writer proceeds to argue, the proper conduct of public worship (ii . I seq., 8 seq.), and the proper qualification forepiscopi(iii . 2 seq.) and diaconi (iii . 8 seq.) .

The

finale of this section (iii . 15-16) leads, by way of contrast, to a sharp prophetic warning against contemporary errorists(iv . 1 seq.), with advice upon the proper management of various classes of people within the Church (v . 1 seq.) . Special attention is given to the ecclesiastical widows " (3 seq.) and to presbyters (17 seq.) . After a word on slaves and masters (vi . 1-2), the epistle recurs to the errorists (vi . 3 seq.), passing into a warning against wealth (6 seq.) and an impressive closing charge (II seq.) . The writing closes with the , Xaptn O' vlliav of verse 21 . The context and contents of vi . 17-21a suggest that it is a later interpolation, such as writings on church discipline were i The same motive occurs in the preface to Irenaeus's treatise, Adv. ivies .