Introduction to I Timothy

 Dr. Gail E. Terrell
Pastor, Grace Baptist Church , Hamilton , Ohio 

1. Author.   Paul wrote I Timothy (1:1) from Macedonia possibly in about 67 A.D. after he had been freed from his first Roman imprisonment.
    
2. Recipients.   I Timothy is written to Timothy (1:2), the young ( 4:12 , probably about 33 years old) pastor (3:1, 15) of the church at Ephesus.
    
3. Theme.   Proper order and behavior in the church ( 3:15 ).
    
4. Key verses.   3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
    
5. Key words used in I Timothy:   doctrine – 9 times; godliness – 9 times; teach, teacher – 8 times; widow – 8 times.
    
6. References to the Lord’s church in I Timothy.   The word church appears 3 times in I Timothy:
   1. Paul clearly expects churches to be orderly.   Paul describes each church as a place where God specifically dwells to bless His faithful.   Individually and as an institution, the church is the pillar and ground of the truth, a preserver of the precious revealed Word of God!
      1. 3:5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
      2. 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
   2. Each church is to provide care for its membership.   Members of the church body are to provide special care for widows.
      1. 5:16 If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
7. I Timothy has 6 chapters, 113 verses, and about 2,269 words.

Notes