Who wrote the book of 1 Timothy? Who was the author of 1 Timothy?

The epistle was written by the apostle Paul to Timothy, "My true child in faith." The inference being that the untrue was active in the profession of the faith. Responsible ministry and living are in view, hence "apostle … by commandment of God our Saviour." These words "commandment" and "Saviour" are not at first sight apposite words, yet solemn responsibility to which saving grace introduces, and for which saving grace empowers, is everywhere in this epistle laid upon the servants of God — whether Timothy (an apostolic delegate), or bishops and deacons, or all saints — in every department of life.

The two Epistles to Timothy and the one to Titus are generally called the pastoral Epistles, because they were addressed to these servants of the Lord who had been put in charge of important churches. Timothy ministered in Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3) and Titus in Crete (Titus 1:5). There never was a doubt expressed in the early Church that these epistles were written by the Apostle Paul. Quotations from them are found in the writings of Clement of Rome (96 A.D.); Polycarp of Smyrna (110 A.D.); Ignatius of Antioch (110 A.D.); Irenaeus (175 A.D.); Theophilus of Antioch (168 A.D.); Justin Martyr and others. The Syriac version, known by the name Peshito, made about 135 A.D., contains these Epistles, as well as other ancient versions. The greatest scholars of the early Church attested them as genuine. Some of the heretics, like the Gnostic Marcion, and Tatian, rejected them, and so do the destructive critics of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is hardly necessary to say that the style and internal evidences establish fully the Pauline authorship.

The character of the Epistle accounts for the opening expression. Paul here is not a "called" apostle, as to the Romans; nor this "by the will of God" as in 1 Cor.; nor as in the varying forms of his other letters; but he is apostle "according to command of God." The holy propriety of the language is plain when we remember that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write in words taught of Him. That the Epistle was written for others rather than for Timothy is a remark unworthy of a Reformer; Calvin is sometimes too bold.

Accordingly, Paul introduces himself as the "apostle of Jesus Christ by commandment of God." Authority has a large place in these epistles; thence the apostle shows it was not his writing to his child Timothy in this respect without the Lord. It was not merely love, it was not simply that the Spirit of God empowered him to meet need, but he styles himself in it the "apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Christ Jesus, our hope; to Timothy, my true child in faith: grace, mercy, and peace," etc.

Paul writes as an apostle and mentions the fact that it is "by the commandment of God our Saviour." Necessity was laid upon him to act and write as an apostle through the energy of the Spirit of God, and therefore all he writes is of great importance, for it is not merely loving advice to his son Timothy, but by commandment of God. The expression "God our Saviour" is peculiar to the First Epistle to Timothy and to the Epistle addressed to Titus. (See 2:3; 4:10; Tit. 1:3; 2:10; 3:4.) It shows that God's character towards the world is that of a Saviour through the work of His Son. His grace, bringing salvation, has appeared unto all men, a different thing from what was under the law-dispensation. All men are now the objects of God's dealing in grace, and therefore we read in the second chapter that supplications, prayers and intercessions be made for all men (not believers only), "for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." We learn from this the meaning of "God our Saviour"; it expresses His love towards the world.

The apostleship of Paul is shown here to be no light matter. His was a call totally independent of the other apostles, but "according to the command of God." We have, therefore, no liberty to regard his epistles as merely his personal convictions, but must recognize them as being that which God required him to write, having in them the supreme authority of God. Yet God is here called "our Savior." Titus also uses this expression, both in regard to God and in regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. This certainly involved the revelation of God's saving grace in the person of the Lord Jesus and in His atoning sacrifice. But if His authority is first affirmed, yet it is not merely authority, but that of Him who is Savior, in matchless goodness, grace, and compassion. Similarly, Christ Jesus, though risen, exalted, and supreme in glory, is "our Hope": we shall not always be in the place of lowly humiliation: in His person is all that the heart of the believer longs for, so that it is but a little while that we are called to endure.

1 Timothy 1. "Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus according to command of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timotheus, genuine child in faith; grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." The prefatory words, as usual, give a clear insight into the scope of what follows. The apostolic title is as important for authority here as for the truths of the gospel and of the church to the Roman and to the Corinthian saints, to the Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians. "According to command" assimilates this letter and that to Titus, while it differentiates both from the second Epistle to Timothy. "God our Saviour" is also very notable here and to Titus, bespeaking the universal testimony of God's grace in the gospel, and its strong contrast with Judaism. God in love goes out actively to man in the death of the Mediator. Christ is the hope, and is unfailing if cherished. The exhortatory injunction to Timothy was first and foremost to guard the truth from all alien teaching, and specially from fables and interminable genealogies which are such as yield questionings rather than God's dispensation that is in faith (vers. 3-7), the end of it being love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith. It is inseparable from Christ.

1 Timothy 1. "Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus according to command of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timotheus, genuine child in faith; grace, mercy, peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." The prefatory words, as usual, give a clear insight into the scope of what follows. The apostolic title is as important for authority here as for the truths of the gospel and of the church to the Roman and to the Corinthian saints, to the Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians. "According to command" assimilates this letter and that to Titus, while it differentiates both from the second Epistle to Timothy. "God our Saviour" is also very notable here and to Titus, bespeaking the universal testimony of God's grace in the gospel, and strongly contrasted with Judaism. God in love goes out actively to man in the death of the Mediator. Christ is the hope, and unfailing if cherished. The exhortatory injunction to Timothy was first and foremost to guard the truth from all alien teaching, and specially fables and interminable genealogies which are such as yield questionings rather than God's dispensation that is in faith (3-7), the end of it being love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith. It is inseparable from Christ.

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."

"Paul, apostle of Christ* Jesus according to command† of God our Saviour and Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, genuine child in faith: grace, mercy, peace from ‡God [the] Father and Christ Jesus our Lord" (vers. 1, 2).