1 Timothy (CCL)/Week 1

Welcome to the first week of the first course in the Pastoral Epistles. Over the next ten weeks we will delve into the biblical foundations of 1st Timothy that are necessary to serve as a leader in the church.

This week, we focus on the portion of 1st Timothy referred to as the Salutation (1:1-2). We will also focus on the background and context of the Epistle, to enable us to understand the author's intent more fully and why it is still relevant to leaders today.

Assignments

 * Read 1 Timothy 1:1-2
 * Write a well developed response to the Salutation, addressing the background, context, and intended audience for this Epistle. Also, what insights can you glean about the purpose of this letter?
 * Answer the questions for this week

Discussion
Check back here when this course launches for date, time, and location of weekly discussion of course material.

Lesson
We are studying the section of 1st Timothy known as the Salutation. Before we go into the Salutation, let's take a few minutes to back track and consider the structure of New Testament. Some books, the Gospels, are records of the ministry of Jesus Christ. However, most of the New Testament consists of divinely inspired letters written by apostles to leaders of the early churches. Called Epistles, these letters were often written when a church had gone astray or was facing a situation requiring specialized guidance.

The author of most of these letters is believed to be a man known today as the Apostle Paul. 14 epistles in the New Testament are believed by most Biblical scholars to have authored by this man, and are collectively referred to as the Pauline Epistles. Three of these Epistles; 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, dealt specifically with church governance and leadership. This course and the next two courses of the Christian Leadership Program are specifically devoted to these Pastoral Epistles. In this course, the first in the series, we will study the 1st Epistle to Timothy.

Most epistles begin with a salutation, or greeting to the intended recipient of the epistle. In this case, we see from the Salutation that it is directed to Paul's associate Timothy, a leader in the early church.

Questions
Please answer the following questions in complete sentences.
 * 1) Who wrote the Epistle?
 * 2) Who was it written to?
 * 3) Why was it written?
 * 4) What was happening around the time when it was written?
 * 5) What is the context of the Epistle?

Resources/Source Documents

 * Henry, Matthew. 1 Timothy 1