In the canonical New Testament (NT), First Timothy is the first of three letters known as the “pastoral letters/epistles” of St. Paul. The other two are Second Timothy and Titus. They are called “pastoral” in part because they are addressed to two early Christian pastors, namely Timothy and Titus. Pastor did not yet refer to an official institutional role, but had its ancient meaning of shepherd, leader of the flock. Their themes are also pastoral, providing practical advice for ordering the community’s life.

According to the seven genuine letters of Paul, Timothy and Titus were his associates, perhaps his most important ones. Timothy is mentioned in five of the letters (1 and 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Philemon,
1 Thessalonians Colossians and 2 Thessalonians), and Titus, in two (Galatians and 2 Corinthians).

Though all three letters claim to be written by Paul, most modern scholars see them as written long after his death in the first decades of the second century. There is a consensus that they were all written by the same person. But was that person Paul? For more than one reason, authorship by Paul has been rejected: (1) the vocabulary and style are very different from those in the seven letters we are sure that Paul wrote; (2) the tone is very different. The passion that marks Paul’s genuine letters is absent. Not just the passion of conflict, but the passion of insight, brilliance and radiance. There are echoes of Paul’s language in the pastorals, but they are just echoes; and (3) the issues addressed in the pastorals seem to belong to a later generation of early Christianity, the beginning of the process of organization institutionalization.

Institutionalization was greatly to increase over the centuries, so we see it here in nascent form. This includes the delineation of leadership roles (such as the qualifications for bishops and deacons), and emphasis on official teacher (what 2 Timothy 4:3 calls sound doctrine), and even directives for discerning which widows deserved the financial support of the community. All of this suggests a later period of time.

There is yet another reason for thinking the pastorals are later than Paul – the role of women is very different from that in the genuine letter of Paul. There Paul pronounces the equality of male and female in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28), refers to Junia as a prominent apostle, and speaks of other women as early Christian leaders. Think about this in light of our modern experience!