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Bible chapter guide
1 Timothy 3
The qualifications for overseers and for deacons: above reproach, faithful in marriage, sober, hospitable, able to teach, managing their households well. The church is the household of God, the pillar and support of the truth, and great is the mystery of godliness.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
See it in the Labs
Also in this chapter
The letter: who wrote it, where and when
These questions are debated; the views are shown side by side with how sure each is, as in Paul's Roads.
- Plausible
Paul's authorship of 1 Timothy is debated.
Many scholars think this letter was written after Paul's death in his name; others hold that Paul wrote it. The lab shows the setting the letter itself gives and takes no side.
- Speculative
1 Timothy written from Macedonia
1:3 says Paul was going into Macedonia when he left Timothy at Ephesus. This journey does not fit Acts, so it is placed in the debated later travels.
- Speculative
The Pastoral Letters reliably record Paul's last journeys.
They name Paul as author and give personal details. Many scholars judge their vocabulary, church order and setting to be later than Paul and read the details as literary; others defend Paul's authorship, perhaps with a secretary.