Preface — How to Read 1 Timothy

1 Timothy is a pastoral letter written to Timothy while he remains in Ephesus. Paul’s primary concern is the health of the teaching and the order of the household of God. Certain men are teaching a different doctrine, paying attention to myths and endless genealogies. Timothy is charged to stop them and to set the churches in proper order.

The letter moves from the charge against false teaching, through instructions for prayer and the roles of men and women, to the qualifications for overseers and servants, the conduct of widows and elders, and the final charge to guard the deposit against those who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

What this letter shows

• The goal of the command is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.
• There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.
• The assembly is the household of God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
• The mystery of godliness is great: God was revealed in the flesh and received up in glory.
• Godliness with contentment is great gain; the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

How to read it

Read 1 Timothy as a letter written inside the transition generation. The truth has already been delivered. The task is to guard it, order the household according to it, and refuse the myths, genealogies, and greed that characterised the closing period of the old order.