{"schemaVersion":"1.0.0","resourceType":"pauline-resource","id":"evidence-1-timothy","locale":"en","category":"history","title":"1 Timothy","description":"First Timothy gives Timothy instruction for confronting false teaching and ordering worship, leadership, care, wealth, and the guarding of the entrusted message.","canonicalUrl":"https://paulineletters.com/explore/resources/evidence-1-timothy","version":"2026-09-21","capabilities":{"static":true,"interactive":false,"offline":false,"embed":true,"print":true},"usage":"Choose SVG for a scalable graphic, PNG for slides or messages, PDF for printing, or HTML for an interactive experience.","assets":[{"id":"1-timothy:en:slide","url":"https://paulineletters.com/evidence/media/en/1-timothy/slide-4410ec4b64559de0.png","format":"png","contentType":"image/png","width":1600,"height":900,"bytes":231159,"sha256":"7194129d39ba6c3c151b4ce7c49b91ea306d4ff3691b655b6428aeae2c57d3f2"},{"id":"1-timothy:en:chronology","url":"https://paulineletters.com/evidence/media/en/1-timothy/chronology-4410ec4b64559de0.svg","format":"svg","contentType":"image/svg+xml","width":1200,"height":840,"bytes":7791,"sha256":"1ff29c66481ce3acaf0aaad6f45c1b503fd882271ae097d1f6317f16e55c0dcf"},{"id":"1-timothy:en:map","url":"https://paulineletters.com/evidence/media/en/1-timothy/map-4410ec4b64559de0.svg","format":"svg","contentType":"image/svg+xml","width":1200,"height":900,"bytes":10690,"sha256":"98e817faf9114bb5a04b80f89044500cb876baa98bd7c942dd24afba4d36c68a"},{"id":"1-timothy:en:teaching","url":"https://paulineletters.com/downloads/evidence/1-timothy-teaching-4410ec4b64559de0.pdf","format":"pdf","contentType":"application/pdf","bytes":746388,"sha256":"42eb4db97f1cb727d04ec157480825445a6e205ee5d7d1568d40e257333192b4"}],"accessibility":{"alt":"1 Timothy: chronology diagram showing the sequence of events, dates, and distinctions between established, inferred, and uncertain details.","explanation":"The letter’s location within Paul’s life depends on the disputed question of direct Pauline authorship."},"question":"What situation does 1 Timothy address, and what is debated about its setting or authorship?","answer":"The letter’s location within Paul’s life depends on the disputed question of direct Pauline authorship.","references":["Col 4:7-18; Philemon 10-24","Eph 1-6; 3:1; 6:20-21","Phil 1:12-26; 2:5-30; 4:10-20","1 Tim 1:3; Titus 1:5; 3:12","1 Timothy 1-6","Titus 1-3"],"sources":[{"id":"new-testament-introduction","title":"An Introduction to the New Testament","citation":"Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (Doubleday, 1997). Chapter 30, “Pastoral Letter: The First to Timothy,” “General Analysis of the Message”; Chapter 30, “Pastoral Letter: The First to Timothy,” “Who Wrote Titus and I Timothy?”"},{"id":"letters","title":"The Pauline letters","citation":"Romans through Philemon, World English Bible (public domain). ","url":"https://ebible.org/web/"},{"id":"acts","title":"The Acts of the Apostles","citation":"Acts 7–28, World English Bible (public domain). ","url":"https://ebible.org/web/ACT.htm"},{"id":"chronology","title":"Pauline Letters chronology","citation":"The project’s 67-row chronology, cross-referencing Acts and the letters and labeling debated dates. "},{"id":"paul-critical-life","title":"Paul: A Critical Life","citation":"Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, Paul: A Critical Life (Oxford University Press, 1996). Chapter 1, “The Chronological Framework,” “The Evidence from the Pauline Letters” and “The Evidence from the Acts of the Apostles”"}],"sessions":[],"qualifications":[{"heading":"What remains uncertain","paragraphs":["The letter presents Paul going into Macedonia after leaving Timothy in Ephesus. The traditional post-Acts reconstruction shown here places it around AD 62–64.","The letter does not identify the city from which it was written, Acts does not narrate the proposed release or later itinerary, and other direct-Pauline chronologies place it nearer AD 65.","1 Timothy belongs to the traditional Pauline corpus, but most critical scholarship disputes direct Pauline authorship because of vocabulary, church order, and the difficulty of fitting its letter setting inside Acts. On a direct-Pauline reading, a post-Acts release and later ministry are proposed; Acts does not narrate either.","A later work in Pauline tradition: Most critical scholarship sees First Timothy as written after Paul’s lifetime by an author working in Pauline tradition, often citing vocabulary, church order, and itinerary. The Macedonian and Ephesian setting is read as the letter’s literary frame rather than a securely recoverable post-Acts journey."],"references":[],"sourceIds":["new-testament-introduction","letters","acts","chronology","paul-critical-life"]}],"license":{"content":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","exclusions":"Original resource content and artwork: CC BY 4.0. Bible text and third-party materials are excluded.","attribution":"PaulineLetters.com"},"citation":{"text":"Pauline Letters. “1 Timothy.” Updated 2026-09-21. https://paulineletters.com/explore/resources/evidence-1-timothy","markdown":"[1 Timothy](https://paulineletters.com/explore/resources/evidence-1-timothy) — Pauline Letters (2026-09-21).","html":"1 Timothy — Pauline Letters (2026-09-21).","bibtex":"@online{paulineletters-evidence-1-timothy,\n author = {{Pauline Letters}},\n title = {1 Timothy},\n date = {2026-09-21},\n url = {https://paulineletters.com/explore/resources/evidence-1-timothy}\n}\n","ris":"TY - ELEC\nTI - 1 Timothy\nAU - Pauline Letters\nDA - 2026/09/21\nUR - https://paulineletters.com/explore/resources/evidence-1-timothy\nER -\n"},"embed":"
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1 Timothy — Pauline Letters · CC BY 4.0
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