who wrote 1 timothy

The traditional and most widely held view is that the Apostle Paul wrote 1 Timothy. This letter is one of the Pastoral Epistles, which are addressed to Timothy, a younger colleague of Paul. The text itself identifies Paul as the author (1 Timothy 1:1). Paul is believed to have written it likely around AD 63-65 after being released from his first Roman imprisonment, intending to advise Timothy on church leadership and pastoral care. However, modern scholarship debates this attribution. Many scholars argue that 1 Timothy was written by someone else, possibly a follower of Paul, sometime later in the late first or early second century. They base this on differences in vocabulary, style, church organization descriptions, and historical context not fully aligning with Paul's lifetime. Early church figures like Polycarp, writing around AD 110-120, supported the view that Paul was the author, which is one of the earliest attestations to Pauline authorship. Despite scholarly debate, the traditional view that Paul wrote 1 Timothy remains prominent in many Christian traditions. In summary: 1 Timothy was traditionally written by the Apostle Paul, but some modern scholars contest this, suggesting a later author close to Paul might have penned it.