New Testament · Letters of Paul · The Pastoral Letters · World English Bible
1 Timothy
"Who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth."
— 1 Timothy 2:4 
The Reading LensEvery verse pulled to the top of a book is chosen by three questions: Where is God’s heart here? Who is He protecting? Who is being saved by the action? It marks the place where those answers come into clearest focus — a “look at this, in this book.”
About the Letter
The first of the three Pastoral Letters — 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus — addressed to individuals rather than congregations, and concerned with how a community should be ordered and led.
Their authorship is the most disputed in the Pauline collection, on grounds of vocabulary, style and the church structure they assume. Much of the tradition reads them as Paul’s; much of modern scholarship reads them as later.
Timothy is left at Ephesus to deal with teachers producing speculation rather than anything useful. Much of the letter is qualifications — for overseers, for deacons — and they are almost entirely about character rather than ability.
6 Chapters
The Charge
Stop the teachers of other doctrines and their endless genealogies. The law is good if used lawfully. Then Paul on himself — the foremost of sinners, shown mercy as an example.
Prayers for Everyone
Prayers for all people, including kings, so a quiet life is possible — because God desires all people to be saved. Then the passage about women learning and teaching, among the most contested in the New Testament.
Overseers and Deacons
The qualifications, and how little of either list concerns competence: above reproach, temperate, not violent, not a lover of money, managing his own household, not a recent convert. Closes on a fragment of an early hymn.
Train Yourself
A warning about those forbidding marriage and certain foods. Bodily training is of some value, godliness of more. And: let no one despise your youth.
Widows, Elders, Households
Practical administration — how to treat older and younger members, which widows the community should support and which have families who should, and the requirement of two or three witnesses before an accusation against an elder is even heard.
Contentment, and Money
Godliness with contentment is great gain. The trap of wanting to be rich. Then a charge to those who already are: not to be arrogant, not to trust in uncertain riches, and to be rich in good works and generous.