The First Letter to Timothy

Timothy. He came from Lystra, in today's Turkey, the son of a believing Jewish mother and a Greek father (Acts 16:1). Second Timothy names his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois (2 Tim 1:5). Paul took him on his second journey (Acts 16:2 to 3). He went on with Paul through Asia Minor and Macedonia, was sent to strengthen the young Church at Thessalonica (1 Thess 3:1 to 2), and to Corinth (1 Cor 4:17; 16:10 to 11). Paul says that he has no one like him (Phil 2:20). Benedict XVI notes that Luke mentions Timothy six times in Acts and that Paul names him at least seventeen times.

Ephesus. This was a great port city of the Roman province of Asia, on the west coast of today's Turkey, known for its temple of Artemis. Paul had worked there for a long time, and a riot had broken out over the trade around the goddess (Acts 19). Christians there were few among many, and their conduct was watched. That explains why the letter so often asks what outsiders will think (3:7; 6:1).

The trouble. Some were teaching "myths and endless genealogies" (1:4). They wished to be teachers of the law without understanding it (1:7). They forbade marriage and certain foods (4:3), against which Paul answers that everything God created is good (4:4). They spoke of "what is falsely called knowledge" (6:20). Benedict XVI sees here an early form of the Gnostic error. Two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, are named as having wrecked their faith (1:19 to 20). Some teachers were also out for money (6:5).

A word on "the law". The quarrel is with Christians who misused the law, and not with the Jewish people. Paul was a Jew, as was Timothy's mother. The letter itself says that "the law is good" (1:8). Nostra Aetate 4 teaches the Church's lasting bond with the people of Israel.

The Church's tradition. The letter opens with Paul's name. The Church has always received it as canonical Scripture. The Catholic Encyclopedia finds signs of it in St Clement of Rome and St Ignatius of Antioch, and clear use in St Polycarp. St Irenaeus quotes it as Paul's, and Tertullian says that Paul wrote it. The Muratorian list names it, and Eusebius counts it among the books received by all. Marcion left it out of his canon, and Tertullian expressed surprise at this. In 1913 the Pontifical Biblical Commission answered that these letters are by Paul and were written between his release and his death.

A scholarly note. Traditionally the letter is by Paul; some scholars think a later disciple wrote it in his name. Together with 2 Timothy and Titus it has its own vocabulary and a more settled picture of Church order, and these are the reasons given. Benedict XVI, in his audience of 28 January 2009, reports that most exegetes today think these letters come from the "Pauline school", with some parts, above all in 2 Timothy, perhaps going back to the Apostle. Others still defend Paul's authorship, perhaps with a secretary. The question of the human hand does not touch inspiration: God is the author of Scripture, working through true human authors (Dei Verbum 11; Catechism 105 to 106). Dei Verbum 18 to 19 speaks of the apostolic origin and the faithfulness of what the Church received.

Why "Pastoral"? First and Second Timothy and Titus are together called the Pastoral Letters, because they are written to pastors about the care of a flock. The name came into common use long after they were written.

Timothy afterwards. Eusebius names him the first bishop of Ephesus (Church History 3.4). A later life, attributed to Polycrates, says that he was beaten to death by pagans in old age, as the picture above shows. This is a tradition and not firm history. Benedict XVI records that some relics of his, brought from Constantinople, were found in 1239 in the cathedral of Termoli in Italy.

• God desires all to be saved. This is the letter's great line (2:3 to 4). The Catechism returns to it often (74, 851, 1058, 2822). Christ gave himself "a ransom for all" (2:6). No one is outside God's desire.
• One mediator. There is one God and one mediator, the man Christ Jesus (2:5; Catechism 480, 618, 1544). The prayers of the saints and of one another do not compete with this: the same passage asks us to intercede for all (2:1).
• Prayer for everyone, rulers included. The Church prays for all people, even for kings at a time when kings were no friends of hers (2:1 to 2; Catechism 1349, 1900, 2636). This is the root of the intercessions at the liturgy.
• Mercy to the worst. Christ came to save sinners, and Paul counts himself foremost among them, so that no one need despair (1:15 to 16).
• The Church. The household of God, pillar and bulwark of the truth (3:15; Catechism 171, 2032). Benedict XVI sees the Church here as a family, with the bishop as its father.
• Ministry and the laying on of hands. Bishops (3:1 to 7), deacons (3:8 to 13) and elders (5:17 to 22) appear here. Timothy received his gift through the laying on of hands (4:14). Benedict XVI calls this the first sign of apostolic succession and of the sacramental nature of ministry. See Catechism 1590. The words "married only once" (3:2) describe the fidelity expected in that age, and do not settle today's discipline: the Latin Church normally ordains celibate men, and the Eastern Churches ordain married men as deacons and priests but choose bishops from among celibates (Catechism 1579 to 1580).
• The deposit of faith. "Guard what has been entrusted to you" (6:20). The Catechism speaks of this sacred deposit, held by the whole Church (84).
• Creation is good. Marriage and food are gifts of God, received with thanks (4:3 to 5). Self-denial is good when it serves love, and false when it despises what God has made. The letter itself tells Timothy to take a little wine for his health (5:23).
• A good conscience. The goal of teaching is love from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith (1:5; Catechism 1794).
• Care inside the family of faith. Whoever does not provide for his own has denied the faith (5:8). Widows without support are to be honoured and helped (5:3 to 16). Those who work in preaching and teaching deserve their keep (5:17 to 18; see Catechism 2122).
• Money. The love of money is "a root of all kinds of evil" (6:10). The rich must be rich in good works and generous (6:17 to 19; see Catechism 2536, 2445). The letter does not condemn having goods; it warns against being owned by them.

What the text says. Women are to dress modestly and adorn themselves with good works. They are to learn in silence, and Paul does not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. He recalls Adam and Eve, and adds that she "will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty" (2:15). These words have hurt people, and they have been misused. They need to be read with the Church.

• Equal dignity is firm teaching. Man and woman are created in perfect equality as human persons, and each has an inalienable dignity from God (Catechism 369, 2334). In Christ there is no longer male and female (Gal 3:28). No reading of this passage may contradict this. To treat women as lesser persons is sin (see Catechism 1938).
• What is being forbidden. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in Inter Insigniores (1976), section 4, says that the customs of the time, such as veils, no longer bind. It treats 1 Tim 2:12 and 1 Cor 14:34 to 35 as different: Paul does not oppose women's prophesying in the assembly, for he assumes it (1 Cor 11:5), and the prohibition "solely concerns the official function of teaching in the Christian assembly". So this is not a rule that women must not speak or teach the faith.
• Women who did teach. Timothy's own faith came first through his grandmother and mother (2 Tim 1:5), and he knew the Scriptures from childhood (2 Tim 3:15). Older women are to "teach what is good" (Titus 2:3). Priscilla, with her husband, explained the way of God to Apollos (Acts 18:26). John Paul II lists Paul's women co-workers (Mulieris Dignitatem 27), and the Church has named women as Doctors of the Church: Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, Thérèse of Lisieux and Hildegard of Bingen.
• The situation at Ephesus. False teachers there were forbidding marriage (4:3) and finding a hearing in households (2 Tim 3:6; 1 Tim 5:13). Many scholars read chapter 2 against that background, which may explain the stress on marriage and motherhood. This is a likely reading and not a certainty.
• Eve and Adam. The letter recalls Genesis (2:13 to 14). Mulieris Dignitatem 9 cites this verse and teaches that, apart from the roles described in Genesis, the first sin is the sin of the first parents, both man and woman. Paul elsewhere says that sin came into the world "through one man" (Rom 5:12). No blame on women as such may be drawn from these lines.
• "Saved through childbearing." This is among the most debated verses in the New Testament. It cannot mean that motherhood earns salvation, or that the single or childless are shut out: the same chapter says that Christ is the one mediator and that God desires all to be saved. The condition named is faith, love and holiness. St John Chrysostom, in his ninth homily on this letter, himself raises the question of virgins, the childless and widows. The Church honours consecrated virginity from apostolic times (Catechism 922).
• The Fathers and their age. Chrysostom, in that same homily, speaks of women in ways that belong to the assumptions of his time. We honour him without being bound to every such remark. The Church's own teaching is found in the documents named here.
• "Mutual subjection". John Paul II lists this passage among those that reflect the customs of the age, and he says that the Gospel's real innovation, the mutual subjection of husband and wife out of reverence for Christ, must slowly establish itself in hearts and customs (Mulieris Dignitatem 24 and its note).
• Holy Orders. Priestly ordination is reserved to men (Catechism 1577). The reason the Church gives is Christ's own choice, by which she knows herself to be bound, and John Paul II taught that the Church has no authority to do otherwise (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis 4). He adds that this cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity, nor can it be construed as discrimination (no. 3), and that the presence and role of women in the Church are "absolutely necessary and irreplaceable". In 2021 Pope Francis opened the stable ministries of lector and acolyte to women (Spiritus Domini).
• The women of 3:11. "Women likewise must be serious" stands within the passage on deacons. Scholars debate whether these are deacons' wives or women serving as deacons. Paul calls Phoebe a deacon of the Church at Cenchreae (Rom 16:1, in the NRSV). Popes have had the history studied: a synthesis of the commission set up in 2020, published on 4 December 2025 at Pope Leo XIV's wish, reported that the present state of research rules out moving towards admitting women to the diaconate as a degree of Holy Orders, while not allowing a definitive judgment. It also backed new ministries, and wider access for women to the ministries instituted for the service of the community.

What the text says. Slaves are told to honour their masters, "so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed" (6:1), and believing masters are not to be despised because they are brothers (6:2). Earlier the letter lists "slave traders" among those who act against sound teaching (1:10).

• The world as it was. Slavery was everywhere in the Roman Empire and protected by law, and the Christians were a tiny and suspected group. The letter speaks to baptised slaves about how to live their faith where they stood. It gives counsel in a situation, and it does not teach that one human being may own another.
• What was already new. Slave and master are called brothers in the same Church and "beloved" (6:2), and the man who trades in people stands condemned (1:10). Benedict XVI, in Spe Salvi 4, says that people of different standing, joined by Baptism and the Eucharist, changed society from within, even where outward structures stayed the same.
• The Church's teaching now. The Second Vatican Council lists slavery among the infamies that insult human dignity (Gaudium et Spes 27), and Veritatis Splendor 80 repeats this. The Catechism says that it is a sin against the dignity of persons to enslave them and to buy and sell them as merchandise (2414). No one may use this passage to justify slavery or forced labour in any form. John Paul II observes how many generations it took for the Gospel's principle to bring about the abolition of slavery (Mulieris Dignitatem 24). Pope Francis, in his 2015 Peace Message "No Longer Slaves, but Brothers and Sisters", calls on all to oppose the slavery that still exists today.

• The Saviour of sinners. He came into the world for this (1:15), and he shows his patience in Paul (1:16).
• The one mediator. Truly human, he gave himself as a ransom for all (2:5 to 6). Because he is the divine Son made man, he alone can stand between God and us (Catechism 480).
• The mystery of our religion. The six short lines of 3:16 are thought to come from an early hymn: revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed, believed, taken up in glory. The Catechism sees the Incarnation sung here (463) and places evil itself in the light of this mystery (385).
• The faithful witness. He made the good confession before Pontius Pilate (6:13), and he is the model for Timothy's own confession (6:12).
• The coming King. He will appear at the right time, the King of kings and Lord of lords: "It is he alone who has immortality" (6:14 to 16).

The Catechism uses this letter for God's saving will (74, 851, 1058, 2822), the one mediator (618, 1544), the prayers of the liturgy (1349), the Church as pillar of truth (171, 2032), the mystery of faith (463) and the office of bishop (1590).

The Fathers, in substance. St John Chrysostom, in the Argument to his eighteen homilies on this letter, says that Timothy's goodness was so great that his youth did not stand in the way, and that the letter addresses a teacher and not a beginner. He also reads "husband of one wife" as forbidding more than one wife, and not as a rule that every bishop must be married (Homily 10).

Benedict XVI. He speaks of Timothy and Titus in his audience of 13 December 2006, and of these letters in his audience of 28 January 2009, where he draws out the deposit of faith, the prayer for all, the threefold ministry and the Church as God's household.

In the liturgy.

• Syro-Malabar. In the 2025 to 2026 calendar we examined, the Holy Qurbana has 1 Tim 6:3 to 10 on the Second Sunday of the Great Fast, 1 Tim 1:12 to 19 on the Second Sunday of the Apostles, and 1 Tim 6:11 to 16 for Saints Timothy and Titus on 26 January. Weekday passages include 1 Tim 4:12 to 16 in Kaitha.
• Latin. In Year C of the Sunday cycle, the Twenty-fourth to Twenty-sixth Sundays in Ordinary Time read 1 Tim 1:12 to 17, 2:1 to 8 and 6:11 to 16. On weekdays the letter is read in Weeks 23 and 24 of Year I. The memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus is on 26 January.
• Syro-Malankara. In the lectionary we examined, 1 Tim 2:4 to 10 belongs to the Sunday of the Visitation, and 1 Tim 6:11 to 16 with Mt 5:17 to 20 to Mar Timotheos. Other passages come on weekdays at the Holy Qurbono.

The whole letter takes about twenty minutes. Read it in one sitting, as a letter from a father to a son. Then take a week:

• Day 1: chapter 1. Stay with Paul's own story (1:12 to 17).
• Day 2: 2:1 to 7. Make a prayer for someone you find it hard to pray for.
• Day 3: 2:8 to 15, with the section above on the hard passage, and then Gal 3:28.
• Day 4: chapter 3. Pray for your bishop, your priests and your deacons, and say the hymn of 3:16 slowly.
• Day 5: chapter 4. Give thanks for ordinary good things.
• Day 6: 5:1 to 6:2. Who in my own household or parish is being overlooked?
• Day 7: 6:3 to 21. Look honestly at your money.