Place Written: Macedonia

Writing Completed: c. 61–64 C.E.

² The difficulty of fitting the writing of Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus into the period covered by the book of Acts has led some Bible commentators to the conclusion that Paul was successful in his appeal to Caesar and was released about 61 C.E. Says The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible: “The closing verse of The Acts accords better with this view [that Paul was released after two years’ confinement] than with the supposition that the imprisonment which has been described ended in the apostle’s condemnation and death. Luke emphasizes the fact that no one hindered his work, thus certainly giving the impression that the end of his activity was not near.”a It is, then, to the period between his release from his first imprisonment in Rome and his final imprisonment there, or about 61-64 C.E., that the writing of First Timothy belongs.

⁴ From where did Paul write his first letter to Timothy? First Timothy 1:3 indicates that Paul arranged for Timothy to attend to certain congregation matters in Ephesus while he himself went his way to Macedonia. From here, it appears, he wrote the letter back to Timothy in Ephesus.