Paul’s epistles to Timothy are considered pastoral epistles. This particular classification is given to these books because they contain instructions for church government and an orderly execution of the Lord’s work. First Timothy is not considered one of Paul’s prison epistles because there is no indication found within the epistle that Paul was in prison or under legal restraint by the Roman government. It is believed that Paul was released from prison in 63 A.D. and that he returned to Macedonia and Asia Minor revisiting the churches of Philippi, Ephesus, Galatia, and possibly even returning to Jerusalem. Paul was once again arrested in 67 A.D., and it was after his second imprisonment that he wrote his second letter to Timothy.
The epistles of Paul to Timothy are important to Christian faith and service because they contain important guidelines, which when adhered to, will keep the churches on the missionary road God intended: the preaching of the gospel for the salvation of souls. When churches depart from these guidelines, they then fall prey to satanic infiltration and are bent by the winds of false doctrine. The reason churches are in the apostate and materialistic condition they are today is because they have not remained faithful to the ordinances for church government contained in the pastoral epistles.
