When was 1 Timothy written?

Much has been written on the date of the First Epistle to Timothy. The question of one or two imprisonments of the apostle becomes important in connection with the date of the First Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus. Paul was no doubt imprisoned twice, and between the two imprisonments, when he was a free man, the First Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus were written. If only one imprisonment is maintained, the date of the writing of these Epistles is hopelessly obscure, besides other unexplainable difficulties. Paul reached Rome as a prisoner in the year 61 A.D. and remained there for two years (Acts 28:30). During this time he wrote the Epistles to the Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and to Philemon. In each he speaks of the fact that he was a prisoner. He does not mention himself as a prisoner when he writes the first letter to Timothy. He tells Timothy that he hoped to come unto him shortly. In writing Titus he speaks of spending the winter in Nicopolis (Tit. 3:12). This is sufficient evidence that he was no longer a prisoner. His trusting confidence to be released had been realized (Phil. 1:25; 2:24; Philemon, verse 22). The prayers in his behalf had been answered. For several years he was again at liberty, and Eusebius, a reliable source, states that it was known that Paul went forth preaching again.

This epistle, and that to Titus, were written about the same time, the date considered to be 64 A.D., three years before the martyrdom of Paul. Only his second epistle to Timothy is written later, evidently just immediately before his death. The apostle had in his many previous epistles communicated the truth of God so necessary for the saints of God collectively and corporately. But it remains that there must be good, solid instruction to be pressed upon the individual child of God in connection with his responsibilities in fellowship with the assembly, the Church of God. These epistles, therefore, are addressed personally to Timothy and Titus, as was that to Philemon just two years before. (In this, however, Paul had not written as an apostle, but a prisoner of Jesus Christ.) While the unity of the Church of God is a matter of vital importance, as all the epistles to the assemblies bear witness, yet the obedience of the individual is most vital to that unity: a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Moreover, whatever the response of the assembly unitedly may be, the individual is fully responsible still: there is no reason for us individually to be wrongly affected because of wrongs collectively.

The New Testament does not contain any further indications regarding the life of the apostle Paul than what is said in the Pastoral Epistles. The end of Acts however would indicate that Paul has been released after two years of imprisonment in Rome. Afterwards he wrote the First Epistle to Timothy in 63/64 AD and the Epistle to Titus wherein he does not mention anything regarding imprisonment but instead mentions various places to travel to. He visited the assembly in Ephesus where he left Timothy behind (1 Tim. 1:3). He himself went on to Macedonia. During this time he told Titus, who was another co-worker, that he had the intention to winter in Nicopolis (Titus 3:12). He once again visited Troas and maybe Ephesus as well (2 Tim. 4:12; 1 Tim. 3:14). From there he went to Milet and Corinth (2 Tim. 4:20) and was taken captive a second time. We do not know much about this though. He was brought to Rome again and condemned to death. It was from there that he wrote his last inspired testimony which was the Second Epistle to Timothy (autumn 66/67 AD). He was deserted by many but strengthened by his Lord.

At some time after leaving Rome, Paul and his companions must have visited Asia Minor and Greece. "As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine." (1 Tim. 1:3) Feeling, it may be, somewhat anxious about his son Timothy, and the weight of the responsibilities of his position at Ephesus, he sends him a letter of encouragement, comfort, and authority from Macedonia — The First Epistle To Timothy.

Another ancient source (the Muratori fragment, 170 A.D.) gives the information that Paul after leaving Rome went to Spain . The interval between the first and second imprisonment explains fully the statement in 2 Tim. 4:20, "Trophimus have I left at Miletus sick." When Paul was at Miletus before he came to Rome (Acts 20:17), he did not leave him there sick, but Trophimus accompanied him (Acts 21:29). Therefore Paul visited Miletus and Ephesus again; this must have been between his first and final imprisonment. Nor could the statement in 1 Tim. 1:3 be explained if Paul had written this Epistle before his arrest in Jerusalem . He wrote Timothy that he had besought him to abide still at Ephesus .

The book of Acts records two visits of Paul to Ephesus . In Acts 18:19-22 we read of his brief visit, and in Acts 20:31 we have the record of his longer stay which lasted three years. At this time he did not request Timothy to stay in Ephesus , but he sent him into Macedonia (Acts 20:29, 30) he predicted the coming danger for that church, grievous wolves coming from the outside and false teachers from the inside. Some eight years later this prediction came true. He visited Ephesus again, and left Timothy there facing the different heresies which had sprung up, and bearing witness against them. A short time after he wrote this first Epistle to his beloved Timothy, beseeching him to abide still in Ephesus . The second Epistle was written from Rome after he had been thrown into prison the second time, and immediately before he suffered the martyr's death.

Paul had visited Ephesus on two occasions ere he went to Rome. (Acts 18:19; 19:1.) On the first occasion he was on his way to Jerusalem from Macedonia. On the second occasion Timothy had left Ephesus, sent by Paul into Macedonia (Acts 19:22), whilst he tarried for a season still in that city, the metropolis of proconsular Asia. Hence it is pretty plain, from the circumstances recounted in this epistle (1:3), Timothy being left at Ephesus when Paul went into Macedonia, that it must have been written at a date subsequent to his first appearance before Nero.

Timothy was to keep watch over the doctrine taught in the assembly. There was need for this. Of what would take place in Ephesus after Paul's death he had warned the Ephesian elders years before at Miletus. How the prediction was verified the Lord's address to the angel of that Church surely intimates. (Rev. 2:2.) But whilst he was still in life he saw heterodoxy getting in there, and the saints in danger of being ensnared by fables and endless genealogies, which ministered questions rather than God's dispensation which is in faith; whereas the end of the command, i.e. what was enjoined, is love, out of a pure heart and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned, which things some having missed had turned aside to vain talking, desiring to be law-teachers, understanding neither what they said nor whereof they affirmed. Such were the dangers at Ephesus to the maintenance of sound teaching to which Timothy's attention was especially drawn. Paul had pointed them out before leaving for Macedonia; he refers again to them in this letter.

Later, when Paul was going to Macedonia, he besought Timothy to abide still at Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3). In the history given in Acts Paul went from there to Macedonia twice (Acts 16:8-11; 20:1). Timothy accompanied him on the first occasion, and on the second went in advance of the apostle (Acts 17:1-15; 1 Thess. 3:1-6; Acts 19:22; Acts 20:1-5). It is probable that 1 Timothy 1:3 refers to an occasion between Paul's first and second imprison-ment at Rome2.

The history of Paul is thus far given in the Acts of the Apostles, but there are intimations in the later epistles that after the two years at Rome he was liberated. His movements from that time are not definitely recorded; apparently he visited Ephesus and Macedonia, 1 Tim. 1:3; wrote the FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY; visited Crete, Titus 1:5; and Nicopolis, Titus 3:12; wrote the EPISTLE TO TITUS (the early writers say that he went to Spain, which we know he desired to do, Rom. 15:24, 28); visited Troas and Miletus, 2 Tim. 4:13, 20; wrote the EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS; and when a prisoner at Rome the second time, wrote the SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY, when expecting his death. Early writers say that he was beheaded with the sword, which is probable, as he was a Roman citizen.

The pastoral epistles of Paul, all three written we may safely affirm after the termination of the apostle's first imprisonment, now claim our attention. In each of them he presents himself in his apostolic character, and that in connection with God and the Lord Jesus Christ, supplying us, by the way in which he introduces himself in these three letters, with a keynote to the contents of each of them. In the one before us, which contains regulations given to Timothy for the right ordering of God's house on earth, Paul describes himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Saviour, and Christ Jesus our hope. Furnished with such credentials, he was fully competent to give directions for matters concerning the assemblies of God. In the second epistle to Timothy, which enjoins individual faithfulness to the Lord at all cost, Paul writes of himself as "an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus." And in that to Titus, which dwells on practical piety in every condition of life, he reminds his own child after the common faith of his apostleship "according to the faith of God's elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to piety."

Timothy, this young and slightly timid brother, was one of the few ones to remain faithful to the apostle when he was imprisoned and when many had departed from him. When Paul, following his release, visited some of the places he had worked in, he could confidently leave Timothy behind in Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3). He transmitted him in his first epistle the God-given instructions on the house of God, the church of the living God (1 Tim. 3:15). Although he hoped to go to Timothy shortly he probably felt that the Lord had another way for him (1 Tim. 3:14). These facts as well as the missing hint of an imprisonment prove that the apostle was at liberty.