First Timothy Introduction “’Letters to Young Preachers’ would be a good way to designate the New Testament writings known as 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus. The churches where these young preachers were ministering were of different ages (the church at Ephesus was about a dozen years old, while those on the island of Crete were more recently planted), but both faced certain similar needs if they were to continue to grow. In these letters are timeless instructions to young preachers about what to emphasize in their ministry to the churches they serve and to whom they preach will be what Christ wants them to be” (The New Testament Epistles, Timothy and Titus, Gareth L. Reese, preface). In the denominational world, 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus are often called “Pastoral Epistles”, because of what the denominational world considers to be a “pastor” and “pastoral duties”, yet neither Timothy nor Titus were “pastors”, that is elders (Acts 20:28), rather they were evangelists (2 Timothy 4:5). It has only been a little over 250 years that they have been known as such. P. Anton, at Halle, in his work Exegetische Abhandlung der Pastoralbriefe, first suggested the term in 1726 A.D.
Authorship 1