The book of 1^st Timothy is a Pastoral Epistle (letter from Paul to a church leader). The author is Paul who wrote it approximately 62 A.D. The key personalities are the Apostle Paul and Timothy. It was written to give encouragement and leadership guidelines to a young pastor named Timothy at the church in Ephesus.

•    Chapter 1 begins with a greeting to Timothy, then quickly turns to a warning against false teachings, and an emphasis on correct beliefs. Paul encourages him to “fight the good fight” (vs. 18).

•    In chapters 2-4, Paul declares that God desires salvation for everyone, “Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2:4).

Paul then teaches that, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (2:5).

Next, Paul lays some important guidelines and principles for church leadership. He taught the controversial subject of women in the church and what the two offices of leadership in the church were to be, the Overseer and the Deacon. He even taught some of the practices that should be carried out in the church such as, “give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching” (4:13).

•    Chapter 5-6, Paul gives guidelines for relationships within the church as he explains how to deal with discipline and care for widows. He gives advice of how to minister and lays more guidelines for the wealthy instructing them to be generous. “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (6:17).

"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." (1:17)