The First Epistle Of Timothy

Who is the Author?

The Epistle of First Timothy is considered by most scholars as being authentically Pauline. It enjoyed attestation of Pauline authorship from the early church father Irenaeus and in the Muratorian canon. It encountered opposition to Pauline authorship in the first few centuries by some who were deemed heretics. Much of the objection to Pauline authorship came in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from those of the Baur school. These objections were based on several factors: historical situation, the engagement with Gnosticism, church organization, vocabulary and style, and theological views and themes presented. Based on these contentions, some argued for 1 Timothy to be considered either pseudepigraphical or written by some devoted disciples of Paul after his death. However, these arguments are invalidated because there is no historical proof for a school of devoted disciples or for it to be pseudepigraphical; the evidence used to bring about these conclusions did not account for the ancient practice of having a secretary write letters, and it also employed anachronistic standards to judge these writings by modern-day stipulations. Despite the objections, scholarship concludes that it is a Pauline letter.1