100 Fun Facts About 1 Timothy

Paul asked Timothy to stay in which city and silence false teachers while Paul went on to Macedonia?

Ephesus was the post Timothy was told to hold while Paul travelled on, and the letter never says whether Paul came back, though 3:14 has him 'hoping to come unto thee shortly'.

Which group does 1 Timothy's 'faithful saying' say Christ came into the world to save, 'of whom I am chief'?

Sinners is the word, and Paul calls himself their chief because he had been 'a blasphemer, and a persecutor' before he obtained mercy.

Which two men does 1 Timothy 1:20 say Paul 'delivered unto Satan' so that they might learn not to blaspheme?

Hymenaeus and Alexander are the only false teachers the letter names, and 2 Timothy adds that Hymenaeus taught that the resurrection 'is past already'.

For what ailment does 1 Timothy 5:23 tell Timothy to 'drink no longer water' but take a little wine?

His stomach and his 'often infirmities' are the reasons given, a rare glimpse of Timothy's health in a letter otherwise about running a church.

Which Roman governor does 1 Timothy 6:13 name as the one before whom Christ 'witnessed a good confession'?

Pontius Pilate is the only person from the Gospel narratives, apart from Jesus himself, named anywhere in the letter, and the verse uses that trial to charge Timothy to keep his own confession.

Which hymn by Walter Chalmers Smith takes its opening words from 1 Timothy 1:17?

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise lifts 'immortal, invisible, the only wise God' from the letter's first doxology, and its tune, St Denio, began life as a Welsh folk ballad before a hymnal borrowed it.

The Catholic Church cites 1 Timothy 2:12 to help justify which stance?

Rejecting female ordination is the stance, though the Vatican's 1976 declaration Inter Insigniores reads the verse narrowly, as a ban that 'solely concerns the official function of teaching in the Christian assembly'.

To which period do modern scholars generally assign the composition of 1 Timothy?

Late 1st to mid-2nd century is the usual bracket, partly because the letter's church offices and vocabulary look later than Paul's undisputed letters, and the word gnosis turns up in 6:20.

Which kind of fables does 1 Timothy 4:7 tell Timothy to refuse as 'profane'?

Old wives' fables is the King James wording, an early cousin of the idiom 'old wives' tale', and the 'Jewish fables' are real too: Titus 1:14 warns against them.

After urging Timothy to 'fight the good fight', 1 Timothy 6:12 tells him to 'lay hold on' what?

Eternal life is the thing to seize, and the same verse recalls that Timothy had 'professed a good profession before many witnesses'.

What does 1 Timothy 4:12 tell Timothy to 'let no man despise', before calling him 'an example of the believers'?

His youth is the thing no one may despise, because the verse before has just told the young man to 'command and teach' a church that included his elders.

To be enrolled at sixty for church support, a widow in 1 Timothy 5:10 must have washed the saints' what?

Feet come in a list that also asks whether she 'lodged strangers' and 'relieved the afflicted', and 5:16 tells believers to keep their own widows so that the church need not 'be charged' with them.

1 Timothy 3:2 says a bishop must be blameless, vigilant, 'apt to teach' and 'the husband of' what?

One wife is the phrase, repeated in 3:12 for the church's other office and flipped in 5:9, where an enrolled widow must have been 'the wife of one man'.

For whom does 1 Timothy 2:2 ask that prayers be made, so believers 'may lead a quiet and peaceable life'?

Kings and all in authority are singled out within a call to pray 'for all men', and the reason given is that God 'will have all men to be saved'.

What reason does 1 Timothy 2:13 give for not permitting a woman to teach?

Adam was formed before Eve is the argument, and the next verse adds a second: it was the woman, not Adam, who was deceived and fell into transgression.

What does 1 Timothy 4:8 say is 'profitable unto all things', in contrast to bodily exercise, which 'profiteth little'?

Godliness wins the comparison because it holds 'promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come', while the body's training pays off only now.

Which animal's treatment under the Law does 1 Timothy 5:18 cite to argue that church elders deserve their pay?

The ox 'that treadeth out the corn' must not be muzzled, a rule from Deuteronomy that the letter pairs with 'the labourer is worthy of his reward' and calls scripture.

What image does 1 Timothy 1:19 use for people who 'put away' a good conscience and ruined their faith?

A shipwreck is the picture, and the next verse names two men it had happened to, whom Paul handed over to be taught not to blaspheme.

P133, a single papyrus leaf carrying part of 1 Timothy 3 and 4, comes from which famous find?

Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 5259, labelled P133, belongs to the hoard dug from an Egyptian town's ancient rubbish mounds from 1896, yet it reached print only in the twenty-first century.

1 Timothy 4:3 warns of 'latter times' teachers who forbid marriage and command abstaining from what?

Meats are named, and the passage brands such teaching the work of 'seducing spirits', insisting that 'every creature of God is good'.

Which church office does 1 Timothy 3:8 require to be 'grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine'?

Deacons get that list, and 3:13 promises that those who serve well 'purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith'.

1 Timothy 3:15 calls the church of the living God 'the pillar and ground of' what?

The truth is what the church holds up, in a sentence Paul writes in case he should 'tarry long' before he can reach Timothy in person.

What does 1 Timothy 5:17 say elders who rule well deserve, 'especially they who labour in the word'?

Double honour is the phrase, and the following verse makes clear that pay is part of it by quoting 'the labourer is worthy of his reward'.

1 Timothy 2:6 says the 'one mediator between God and men' gave himself as what 'for all'?

A ransom is the word, offered 'for all', and the next verse says this is the message for which Paul was made 'a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity'.

1 Timothy 5:1 tells Timothy not to rebuke an older man but to 'intreat him' as what?

As a father is the rule, and the verse goes on to make the church a family: younger men 'as brethren', older women 'as mothers' and younger women 'as sisters, with all purity'.

How many people must back an accusation against an elder before 1 Timothy 5:19 allows it to be received?

Two or three witnesses are required, a standard borrowed from the Law of Moses, while the next verse says those who do sin should be rebuked 'before all'.

1 Timothy 3:5 asks how a man can take care of the church of God if he cannot rule what?

His own house is the proving ground, and the previous verse spells it out: a leader should have 'his children in subjection with all gravity'.

What does 1 Timothy 5:13 warn that idle younger widows may become, 'speaking things which they ought not'?

Tattlers and busybodies is the charge, which is why the letter tells the younger widows to marry and 'give none occasion to the adversary'.

Whoever will not provide for his own family 'hath denied the faith', says 1 Timothy 5:8, and is worse than what?

An infidel, meaning an unbeliever, is the comparison, and the verse sits inside the rules for widows, where children are told to 'requite their parents' first.

How does the apocryphal Acts of Timothy say Timothy met his death?

Killed by a festival mob: the Acts has Timothy try to halt a violent pagan festival, the Katagogia, and the revellers kill him with their clubs and stones.

1 Timothy 6:20 tells Timothy to avoid 'profane and vain babblings' and oppositions of what, 'falsely so called'?

Science is the King James rendering of gnosis, the word for knowledge, which is one reason some scholars read the letter as a reply to early Gnostic teaching.

Isaac Newton argued that a small change to early copies of 1 Timothy 3:16 propped up which doctrine he rejected?

The Trinity is the doctrine, and Newton's case appeared in An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture, printed only in 1754, long after he died.

Whose work Against Heresies, written about 180, quotes all three pastoral epistles and credits 1 Timothy to Paul?

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, quotes 1 Timothy in the opening sentence of his treatise, 'as the apostle says', and turns the letter on the Gnostic teachers he wrote to refute.

Whose letter to the Philippians echoes 1 Timothy closely enough to suggest the epistle was already in circulation?

Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, sets two sayings found in chapter 6 side by side, so if he was borrowing, as most scholars accept, 1 Timothy existed before he wrote.

1 Timothy 1:4 tells Timothy to stop teachers giving heed to myths and 'endless' what, which 'minister questions'?

Genealogies, 'endless' ones, are the problem, and Titus 3:9 repeats the warning, calling such disputes 'unprofitable and vain'.

What does the King James phrase 'filthy lucre', forbidden to church officers in 1 Timothy 3, mean?

Ill-gotten money is the sense, a greed barred to both church offices in chapter 3, and chapter 6 gives the reason, calling the love of money 'the root of all evil'.

By what act 'of the presbytery', done 'by prophecy', does 1 Timothy 4:14 say Timothy received his gift?

Laying on of hands is the act; 'the presbytery' means the council of elders, and 2 Timothy 1:6 tells the same story with Paul's own hands doing it.

Which hairstyle does 1 Timothy 2:9 list alongside gold, pearls and costly attire as adornment women should avoid?

Braided hair, 'broided hair' in the King James spelling, is the banned style, and the verse asks instead for 'modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety'.

1 Timothy 2:15 says a woman 'shall be saved in' what, 'if they continue in faith and charity and holiness'?

Childbearing is the word, and the sentence changes subject midway, from 'she shall be saved' to 'if they continue', which is one reason commentators give it several rival readings.

Which crime appears as 'menstealers' in the King James list of lawbreakers in 1 Timothy 1:10?

Slave trading is what 'menstealers' means, 'slave traders' in the NIV, and the Law made it a capital crime: Exodus 21:16 orders death for whoever 'stealeth a man, and selleth him'.

1 Timothy 3:6 bars a 'novice' from church leadership lest, 'lifted up with pride', he fall into whose condemnation?

The devil's condemnation is the danger, and the next verse adds a second 'snare of the devil' for the leader who lacks 'a good report of them which are without'.

On what condition does 1 Timothy 1:8 say 'the law is good'?

If a man use it lawfully is the condition, and the list that follows says the law is 'not made for a righteous man' but for the lawless, from murderers to perjurers.

Which German theologian's 1807 open letter argued that 1 Timothy was not written by Paul?

Friedrich Schleiermacher still accepted 2 Timothy and Titus as genuine, but later critics extended his case to all three letters, and most scholars now treat them as pseudepigrapha.

How does the opening greeting of 1 Timothy describe Timothy, before wishing him 'grace, mercy, and peace'?

My own son in the faith is the phrase, and the greeting adds 'mercy' to the 'grace and peace' with which Paul's earlier letters open.

1 Timothy 6:18 tells the wealthy to abound in what, 'ready to distribute, willing to communicate'?

Good works are the wealth that counts, 'laying up in store' what the next verse calls 'a good foundation against the time to come'.

1 Timothy 6:17 charges the wealthy of this world not to be 'highminded' nor to trust in what?

Uncertain riches are what not to trust, and the verse turns the phrase round by saying God 'giveth us richly all things to enjoy'.

Which word for a ruler does the King James text of 1 Timothy 6:15 use in 'the blessed and only ___'?

Potentate is the title of the one who 'in his times' will show Christ's appearing, so the doxology caps the charge to Timothy to keep the commandment until that day.

1 Timothy 5:6 says a widow who 'liveth in pleasure' is what, even 'while she liveth'?

Dead 'while she liveth' is the verdict, set against the 'widow indeed' who 'continueth in supplications and prayers night and day'.

Which First Great Awakening preacher said reading 1 Timothy 1:17's doxology gave him 'a new sense' of God's glory?

Jonathan Edwards wrote that as he read the words 'there came into my soul' a sense of the glory of the Divine Being, and he dated his new apprehension of Christ from that moment.

Which fragmentary list, usually dated to the late second century, ascribes all three pastoral epistles to Paul?

The Muratorian Canon includes what Marcion's canon of about 140 had left out: all three letters were missing from his list, to Tertullian's astonishment.

According to 1 Timothy 6:10, what is 'the root of all evil' that made some err from the faith?

The love of money is blamed, not money itself, and modern versions soften the claim: the Berean Standard Bible calls it the root of all kinds of evil.

1 Timothy 6:7 notes that we arrived in this world with no possessions, so will do what on leaving?

We carry nothing out, the verse says, echoing Job, who declared that he came into the world naked and would leave it the same way.

1 Timothy 4:2 says lying hypocrites of later times have a conscience seared with what?

A hot iron is the image the letter picks for hardened liars, in a warning that some believers will one day abandon the faith and follow them.

The six-line confession in 1 Timothy 3:16 says Christ appeared in the flesh and was seen by whom?

Angels come third of the six short lines, which run from his appearing in the flesh to his being taken up in glory and are set out as verse in the Berean Standard Bible.

In 1 Timothy 2:7, Paul swears he is not lying when he calls himself an apostle and teacher of whom?

The Gentiles, meaning the non-Jewish nations, were his field, and the verse breaks off mid-sentence for him to protest that he tells no lie.

Which short letter is grouped with 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy as the three 'pastoral epistles'?

Titus completes the trio, a three-chapter letter to a Christian worker on the island of Crete that, like the two to Timothy, is mostly advice on leading churches.

As what does 1 Timothy 5:2 tell Timothy to treat the younger women of the church?

Sisters is the word, and the same sentence asks him to see the younger men of the congregation as brothers.

1 Timothy 4:4 says every creature of God is good and need not be refused if received with what?

Thanksgiving makes it acceptable, the letter says, because whatever is received that way is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

What was the name of Timothy's mother, a Jewish believer whose sincere faith 2 Timothy 1:5 praises?

Eunice is named only once in the Bible; the book of Acts mentions her without a name, as a Jewish woman who had become a believer.

1 Timothy 2:4 says God our Saviour, who finds prayer for others pleasing, wants whom to be saved?

Everyone is the scope, or all men in the King James wording, and the very next verse grounds it in there being only one God.

1 Timothy 1:5 says Paul's instruction aims at love from a clear conscience, sincere faith and what?

A pure heart comes first of the three in the verse, which the King James Version renders with charity where modern Bibles say love.

What title does 1 Timothy 6:11 give Timothy as it urges him to pursue faith, love and gentleness?

Man of God was a title the Old Testament gave to prophets such as Moses and Elijah, and the letter uses it to set Timothy apart from teachers chasing gain.

1 Timothy 5:5 says a widow left truly alone trusts in God and continues in prayers at what times?

Night and day is the phrase, and it separates the truly destitute widow from widows whose own families ought to support them.

According to 1 Timothy 1:9, the law is not made for which kind of person, but for the lawless?

The righteous have no need of it, the letter argues, before listing those the law is meant for, from murderers to liars and perjurers.

In the opening verse of 1 Timothy, Paul calls God 'our Saviour' and Christ Jesus 'our' what?

Hope is the title, and the same verse says Paul became an apostle by the command of God.

What does 1 Timothy 5:14 advise younger widows to do, so the adversary has no occasion for slander?

Marry again and manage a household is the advice, in contrast to widows past sixty, whom the church could enrol for support.

1 Timothy 4:16 says that by watching his life and teaching, Timothy will save himself and whom?

His hearers are the ones at stake, which is why the verse tells Timothy to persevere in both his life and his teaching rather than one alone.

Which relative of Timothy was Lois, in whom 2 Timothy 1:5 says his sincere faith first lived?

His grandmother Lois heads the line: the verse traces the faith from her to Timothy's mother and then to Timothy himself.

Why does Paul say he was shown mercy in 1 Timothy 1:13, though once a blasphemer and persecutor?

He acted in ignorance and unbelief, he says, and adds that the grace of the Lord then overflowed to him with faith and love.

1 Timothy 1:16 says Christ showed all longsuffering in Paul first, as what for later believers?

A pattern is the King James word, an example in modern versions: if mercy could reach the man who calls himself the worst offender, it could reach anyone who believed after him.

1 Timothy 2:8 wants men in every place to pray 'without wrath and' what, in the King James wording?

Doubting is the King James word, but modern versions read the phrase differently: the Berean Standard Bible has without anger or dissension.

The King James text of 1 Timothy 3:3 says a bishop must be 'no striker', which means what?

Not violent is how modern versions put it, pairing the ban with its opposite: the church leader must be gentle and peaceable.

With which group does 1 Timothy 3:7 say a church leader must have a good reputation?

Outsiders, the people the King James Version calls them which are without, stand beyond the church, and their low opinion could drag a leader into disgrace.

1 Timothy 3:14 says Paul is writing his instructions down even though he expects to do what soon?

To come in person was the plan, but the letter covers the chance of a delay, so that Timothy will know how people ought to behave in God's household.

In 1 Timothy 4:1, who 'speaketh expressly' that some will abandon the faith in later times?

The Spirit is named as the source of the warning, which blames the falling away on the teachings of demons and the hypocrisy of liars.

The King James 1 Timothy 4:12 tells Timothy to be an example 'in conversation', meaning what?

Conduct is the modern rendering, and talk is covered separately: the King James list opens in word, in conversation, in charity.

The 'nephews' told to support a widow in the King James 1 Timothy 5:4 are what in modern versions?

Grandchildren is the modern rendering; the verse wants a widow's own descendants to repay their parents before the church steps in.

Which New Testament book has Jesus say a worker deserves his wages, a line quoted in 1 Timothy 5:18?

Luke has the saying where Jesus sends his followers out two by two, and 1 Timothy quotes it straight after a rule from Deuteronomy.

How does 1 Timothy 5:20 say those who persist in sin should be rebuked?

Publicly, or before all in the King James wording, is how persistent offenders are to be corrected, straight after a verse guarding elders against loose accusations.

1 Timothy 5:21 solemnly charges Timothy to keep these instructions while 'doing nothing by' what?

Partiality is ruled out in a verse about discipline: Timothy has just been told how to weigh accusations against elders and when to rebuke.

In 1 Timothy 4:6 (King James), reminding the brethren makes Timothy 'a good' what of Jesus Christ?

Minister is the King James word, where modern versions say servant; the good soldier of Jesus Christ belongs to the second letter to Timothy.

1 Timothy 5:24 says the sins of some people are obvious, 'going before' them to what?

Judgment is where open sins arrive early, the verse says, while the sins of other people trail behind them and surface only later.

1 Timothy 4:15 tells Timothy to be absorbed in his duties so that what will be evident to all?

His progress is the modern wording; the King James Version says his profiting should appear to all, after telling him to meditate on these things.

In which city of Asia Minor does Acts 16 say Paul found Timothy, a disciple with a Jewish mother?

Lystra is where the believers, like those in Iconium, spoke well of Timothy, and Paul wanted him as a travelling companion.

What did Paul do to Timothy before taking him on his travels, according to Acts 16:3?

Paul circumcised him because the Jews of the area knew Timothy had a Greek parent, even though a council had just ruled that non-Jewish believers need not undergo it.

Which companion was already travelling with Paul when Timothy joined the mission in Acts 16?

Silas had replaced Barnabas after a sharp quarrel over whether to take Mark, and the three men carried the mission on into Macedonia.

What does the Greek name Timotheos, borne by the recipient of 1 Timothy, mean?

Honouring God is one reading of the name, which can also be taken as honoured by God; it joins the Greek words for honour and for god.

The 'bishop' of 1 Timothy 3 translates the Greek word episkopos, which literally means what?

Overseer is the literal sense, and the Berean Standard Bible uses it throughout the chapter where the King James Version has bishop.

In the King James text of 1 Timothy 1:6, some who swerved from love 'turned aside unto vain' what?

Jangling is the King James word for what the Berean Standard Bible calls empty talk, and the next verse says such people want to be teachers of the law.

Which King James word joins 'sobriety' in 1 Timothy 2:9 to describe how women should dress?

Shamefacedness simply meant modesty, the word modern versions use, and the verse goes on to rule out gold, pearls and costly clothes.

The note printed after 1 Timothy in the King James Bible says the letter was written from where?

Laodicea, which the note calls the chiefest city of Phrygia Pacatiana, appears only in that postscript; the letter itself mentions only Paul's departure for Macedonia.

Whose list of sacred books from about 140, built on ten letters of Paul, left out 1 Timothy?

Marcion gave no surviving reason, so scholars are left to guess whether he rejected the pastorals as inauthentic or they were written after his time.

Which New Testament letter says near its end that 'our brother Timothy' has been released?

Hebrews adds that its writer plans to travel with him, a hint that Timothy had been jailed at least once.

Which 4th-century Greek Bible, among the oldest surviving, lacks 1 Timothy and the other pastorals?

Codex Vaticanus breaks off before the end of the New Testament, so the pastorals, Philemon and Revelation are all absent from its original pages.

Which Christian writer, about 330, counted 1 Timothy among the 'undisputed' letters of Paul?

Eusebius gave the same verdict on all the letters under Paul's name, although earlier figures such as Tatian and Basilides had not accepted 1 Timothy.

Which of Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrims takes a Latin version of 1 Timothy 6:10 as his sermon theme?

The Pardoner admits that he preaches against the very vice he practises, using dubious relics to part his listeners from their cash.

Which city received Timothy's relics in the 4th century, to rest in the Church of the Holy Apostles?

Constantinople kept them until the 13th century, when they seem to have been carried to Italy and buried in the cathedral at Termoli, where they were rediscovered in 1945.

Which New Testament letter names 'Timothy our brother' as co-sender in its opening verse?

Colossians is one of six letters that bear Timothy's name beside Paul's, and Paul told another church that he had no one else like him.

What does 1 Timothy 1:11 say was committed to Paul's trust by 'the blessed God'?

The glorious gospel is the phrase, and the letter ends by passing the duty on, telling Timothy to guard what has been committed to his own trust.

The King James 'novice' whom 1 Timothy 3:6 bars from church leadership is what in modern versions?

A recent convert is the modern rendering, and the worry the verse gives is conceit: sudden promotion might go to a newcomer's head.