When were the Pastoral Epistles composed? There is actually no record in the Book of Acts of Timothy in Ephesus and Titus on the island of Crete, serving as Paul’s authorized representatives without him present. This leads many to conclude that the scene witnessed in these letters follows a release of Paul from Roman imprisonment at the end of Acts 28, and involves a period of ministry anticipated by his desire to return to the East to visit friends (Philippians 1:19, 25; 2:24; Philemon 22). Paul had probably visited Crete first, leaving Titus, and then continued on to Ephesus, leaving Timothy. When Paul first writes Timothy he has departed for Macedonia (1 Timothy 1:3), and he asks Titus to join him in Nicopolis (Titus 3:12), as he steadily moves back toward the West. By the time 2 Timothy is composed, Paul has been arrested (2 Timothy 1:16; 2:9) and is in Rome, with the historical record being that both Peter and Paul were executed during the reign of Nero (Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 2.25.5). The time that the Pastoral Epistles would have been written is analogous to 63-67 C.E. The specific mention of Luke present with Paul in his final days (2 Timothy 4:11) is a good clue that he may have played a role as his secretary in transcribing them.

One of the ongoing discussions about the Pastoral Epistles is whether to even call them “the Pastoral Epistles.” In past history of interpretation, the letters of 1&2 Timothy and Titus were often approached as being a kind of “church manual,” giving various formulae regarding how a proper assembly of Believers was to organize itself. While there are themes of congregational structure and order present in these three letters, it cannot be dismissed that they were primarily written to Timothy and Titus, who had to stop some false teaching and errors that had manifested in Ephesus and Crete. In the case of the Ephesian assembly, the false teaching had disrupted the leadership and some distinct fixes had to be enacted. Much of the present debate over these letters is whether they present the qualifications for congregational leadership in universal terms for all groups of Messiah followers at all times, or in situation-specific terms, as they were principally given to Timothy and Titus. If the latter is the case, this would then mean that the Pastoral Epistles surely include guidelines that modern Believers are to be informed by and are to heed, but they may include some instructions that were mainly given to confront First Century problems.

J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic apologist. He is a 2009 recipient of the Zondervan Biblical Languages Award for Greek. He is author of numerous books, dealing with a wide range of topics that are important for today’s Messianic Believers. He has also written many articles on theological issues, and is presently focusing his attention on Messianic commentaries of various books of the Bible.

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