• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
DonateLOG IN(0)
Casual English Bible - Download and Own the World’s Largest Inventory of Digital Bible Maps

Casual English Bible

By Stephen M. Miller

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Easy-reading Casual English Bible
    • About Stephen M. Miller
  • Bible
    • Beginners
    • Tutorial Videos
    • Beginner's Bible Guide to all 66 Bible Books
    • Beginner's guide to Bible background
    • FAQ
  • Map Search
  • Store
    • The Comprehensive Bible Atlas
    • Single Bible Maps
    • Bible Atlases
    • Bible Book Atlases
    • License Bible Maps: How it works
  • Blog
  • Contact
Casual English Bible

Intro Notes for 1, 2 Timothy

Home » Bible Book Intros » Intro Notes for 1, 2 Timothy

Apostle Paul writingPaul had itchy feet when he wrote 1 Timothy. He didn’t seem to stick around towns very long. He usually seemed to stay just long enough to tell the story of Jesus, and to convince some folks that Jesus was the Messiah that prophets said God would send as a savior. In a few days or weeks, Paul moved on.

Not so in the town where he assigned his associate Timothy to stay: Ephesus. Paul lived there for three years, getting the church up and running. That was a huge investment of his time—twice as long as the year and a half that he spent in Corinth.

Fake religion greets Paul

Paul was not about to let fake Christians infiltrate and brainwash his congregation, which is what they were trying to do.

After Paul’s three-year stay in Ephesus, he and Timothy made a follow-up visit. They found a group of supposed Christian teachers spreading a warped brand of Christianity. Paul doesn’t say much about what the heretics taught. But it seems as though they tried to spread fake news that “the resurrection has already happened” (2 Timothy 2:18).

Paul couldn’t stay long enough to neutralize the theological poison, so he left Timothy there, perhaps as an apostle’s delegate. But for all practical purposes, Timothy may have served as the pastor or possibly as the bishop over several pastors in the region.

How to be a pastor

In the two letters Paul wrote to Timothy, he gave him advice about how to select pastors and how to be a good pastor. That’s why Bible experts call these letters, along with a similar letter Paul wrote to an associate named Titus, the Pastoral Epistles. Epistles is a two-dollar word for a one-nickel word: letter.

Two Timothy is a deeply personal letter. When Paul wrote that letter, he knew he was about to die. He asks Timothy to come to Rome as soon as possible because like most folks about to die, Paul wants the people he loves most to be with him when it happens.

The Bible never tells us if Timothy was able to make the 1,000-mile (1,000 km) trip in time.

Writer

“From: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:1; 2 Timothy 1:1).

Timeline

One popular theory: Paul wrote 1 Timothy along with Titus sometime after his trial in Rome (about AD 62) and 2 Timothy about five years later. The book of Acts ends with Paul waiting for his trial in the emperor’s supreme court. As the theory goes, Paul was found not guilty and released. He hit the road again, possibly taking the story of Jesus to Spain, on the Roman Empire’s western frontier. The theory says he was arrested again after Emperor Nero blamed Christians for starting the fire that destroyed much of Rome in AD 66. Paul may have written 2 Timothy in about AD 67, while waiting for the Romans to execute him after a second trial.

map of Route from Ephesus to RomePaul’s location

Paul doesn’t say where he was when he wrote 1 Timothy. Some scholars guess that he wrote it during his continuing mission trips that aren’t mentioned in the Bible—possibly on the trip he said he wanted to make to Spain (Romans 15:24). He wrote 2 Timothy from prison in Rome (2 Timothy 1:17).

Destination of letter

Paul wrote both letters to the man who was perhaps his best friend: Timothy, whom he called “my true son in spirit” (1 Timothy 1:2). Paul had assigned Timothy to stay in Ephesus, a bustling port city on what is now the west coast of Turkey. Timothy’s job: “Stay in Ephesus and keep telling those certain folks who are spreading warped teachings to stop it” (1 Timothy 1:3).

Back to 1 Timothy
Back to 2 Timothy
1, 2 Timothy atlas and leaders guide promo Casual English Bible

1-2 Timothy Leaders Guide & Atlas

$6.00 Original price was: $6.00.$5.00Current price is: $5.00.Select Options

Cover of 3d Bible Maps atlas for Casual English Bible

Comprehensive Bible Atlas

$75.00Select Options

Casual English Bible New Testament Atlas

Casual English Bible New Testament Atlas

$12.98 – $35.98Select Options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page

CROWD-FUNDING MAKES THE CASUAL ENGLISH BIBLE® POSSIBLE.

This is a Bible especially for Bible newcomers, non-Christians curious about the Bible, and Christians who have trouble understanding the Bible. It’s a mission funded by people like you who believe everyone deserves a Bible they can read and understand.

Patreon
Donate

Annual Licensing + Store Discount

Buy instant PDF download of ALL our maps, over 1,000, for $75. Get annual license, first year $15, to use them in broadcast sermons, public lectures, social media, and more.

Sign Up Now
Promo maps for The Casual English Bible
  • Copyrights, credits, permissions, links
  • Privacy Policy
  • About the Casual English Bible®
  • Other Bible Resources
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Copyright © 2025 · Casual English Bible · All Rights Reserved