¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, ²To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

One of Paul’s later epistles, 1 Timothy begins a trilogy of so-called pastoral letters to his frequent traveling companions and understudies. Traditionally, interpreters have taken these letters as instructions to pastors, with Timothy and Titus assumed to be in that role in their respective churches. Some have even described them as bishops presiding over area churches. But we must be careful about reading much later religious practices into the biblical text. The letters are indeed pastoral in the sense of instructions about shepherding the church. But the best way to see Timothy and Titus is simply as an extension of the apostle Paul’s ministry, or as apostolic delegates. A modern-day equivalent might be missionaries or influential teachers among the churches. There is no sense of ultimate authority conveyed to them.

Conservative scholars place the time of writing late in Paul’s ministry, so the Holy Spirit is using this older servant of the Lord to pass his knowledge and ministry insights to the next generation of faithful leaders who will then, in turn, pass them on to other faithful individuals (see 2 Tim. 2:2). Timothy appears to be situated in the city of Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3, 2 Tim. 1:18) a place where Paul had spent time teaching for over two years (Acts 19:9–10). The church also enjoyed the ministry of Priscilla and Aquila and Apollos, a newly converted, powerful preacher of the Word. The results of all these teachers were that the Word of God spread widely (Acts 19: 20).

Additionally, Paul met up with the Ephesian elders later for his final address to them (Acts 20:17–38). Add to this that the Ephesian believers were the recipients of a letter from Paul that included teaching about the nature of the church. Now Timothy is there carrying on the work, building up the believers, and Paul is writing about how to shepherd the church. This was a well-taught church!

Sadly, at the end of the biblical record, the Ephesian church was censured for having lost their “first love” (Rev. 2:4). They apparently missed Paul’s overriding principle, “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:5). In this letter to Timothy, Paul lays out many instructions about church order and behavior (1 Tim. 3:15); a mature church is one that is shepherded in doctrine and growing in love.

Lord, in my quest for right doctrine, help me to learn and live in love.