Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction**

This first letter to Timothy was not written after 2 Thessalonians - 1 Corinthians was.

1 Corinthians was.

Nor was the 2nd letter to Timothy written after the first.

The letter to Titus was written in between.

As I have explained before, the order of the books in the New Testament are not arranged by the date written.

They are also not in alphabetical order.

They are also not OUT OF ORDER.

I believe that God has arranged the books of the NT just as He intends for them to be.

They are in the logical order of salvation followed by good works that come out of salvation.

The 4 Gospels deal with God’s provision of the Messiah, Jesus and the salvation of the sinner.

The Gospels are followed by the Acts of the Apostles, which deals with what the Apostles did with the gospel.

But God doesn’t save us and send us without preparing us.

And so every book of the New Testament holds something very important for our continued growth in Christ:

Romans - Being built up in knowledge and faith.

1 Corinthians - Wrong attitudes and conduct.

2 Corinthians - The need for discipleship.

Galatians - Standing fast without compromising freedom.

Ephesians - Maturing in Christ.

Philippians - Follow Jesus.

Colossians - The sufficiency of Christ in all things.

1 Thessalonians - Comfort through the sanctification process.

2 Thessalonians - Looking up rather than out.

1 Timothy - Living as examples.

2 Timothy - Endurance in ministry

Titus - Maintaining

Philemon - From bondage to brotherhood

Hebrews - Christ alone without adding anything.

James - The characteristics of true faith.

1 Peter - Dealing with suffering.

2 Peter - Sticking with the truth.

1 John - Keeping in fellowship with God.

2 John - Not straying from the gospel.

3 John - Fellowship with one another.

Jude - Stand firm and contend for the faith.

Revelation - What is to come.

They serve their purpose very well in the order that they are in.

Now, how did they get in the order they are in?

The manner in which the books were conglomerated into the New Testament after the Gospels was according to author, then according to length.

Of course, not every book in the NT was written by Paul, but many of them were.

Of the 27 books of the New Testament, Paul wrote 13 (possibly 14).

The others were written by Matthew, Mark (Possibly Peter’s account with John Mark writing as scribe), Luke, John, Peter, James, and Jude.

The earliest letter of the New Testament was James, written in 44 AD and the latest is The Revelation of Jesus Christ, written in 94 AD.

This is followed by The Acts of the Apostles.

And then we have Paul’s letters, with Romans, the longest letter, through to Philemon, the shortest of Paul’s letters.

The letter to the Hebrews is a bit of a strange bird as the authorship is not certain, but might be Paul or maybe even Barnabas.

Then after Hebrews the rest of the letters, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, and Jude follow that same pattern ... Author then longest to shortest … except for Revelation, the last letter of the New Testament.

So, that’s the order of the New Testament, but the earliest letter of the New Testament was James, written in 44 AD and the latest is The Revelation of Jesus Christ, written in 94 AD.

But right now we are interested in the letters which were written by Paul.

If we were going to order Paul’s letters sequentially, it would look like this:

WRITTEN DURING ACTS

Galatians: 50AD ()

1 Thessalonians: 51AD ()

2 Thessalonians: 52 AD ()

1 Corinthians: 57AD ()

2 Corinthians: 57AD ()

Romans: 58AD ()

THEN ACTS ENDS

Colossians: 63AD

Ephesians: 63AD

Philemon: 63AD

Philippians: 63AD

1 Timothy: 65AD

Titus: 65AD

2 Timothy: 67AD

Of course, this is a very different order than we find in the New Testament of our Bible.

And that is because of the reasons I just explained.

Understanding this “out of order-ness” helps us in our study of each individual letter, because each one was written at a particular point in time and into a certain context.

So, as I always like us to do, let’s look at what was going on in Israel and the Roman Empire when this letter was written.

(We’ll talk even more about what was going on in the Ephesian church, and with Timothy as we actually get into the letter.)

Great Fire of Rome Slide

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1 Timothy was written in 65 AD.

Great Fire of Rome Slide

As the name implies, it was written to Timothy, Paul’s faithful companion in ministering the Gospel.

In 65 AD, Jewish Christians were leaving Israel, knowing that the Romans would soon go from repressing Israel to crushing the nation because of uprisings.

Many of those refugees were joining Gentile churches raised by Paul.

A great fire devastated Rome in 64 AD but suspiciously left the estates of Nero and his friend Tigellinus unburned.

Many of the residents of Rome suspected Nero was the source of the fire and began to point fingers at him.

The fire had destroyed many of the districts, where, perhaps not so coincidentally, Nero wanted to build a huge palace and park.

A huge fire had destroyed many of the districts, where, perhaps not so coincidentally, Nero wanted to build a huge palace and park.

The senators of Rome were at odds with the Emperor, Nero.

At the same time, financially, Rome was stressed.

So, Nero needed a scapegoat.

So, Nero needed a scapegoat.

Because the fire had not burned a district of Rome that was populated with Christians, adherents to this seemingly strange new belief in a crucified and resurrected Savior fit the bill perfectly.

And persecution against Christians began to ramp up.

Certain charges became so common that they were stereotypical by the second century: Romans viewed Christians as “atheists” (like some philosophers, for rejecting the gods), “cannibals” (for claiming to eat Jesus’ “body” and drink his “blood”), and incestuous (for statements like “I love you, brother,” or “I love you, sister”).

Judaism was a poor target for outright persecution, because its adherents were numerous and it was popular in some circles; further, Nero’s mistress, Poppaea Sabina, was a patron of Jewish causes.

By contrast, Christianity was viewed as a form of Judaism whose support was tenuous even in Jewish circles, and therefore it was an appropriate political scapegoat.

According to Tacitus, an early-second-century historian, Nero burned believers alive as torches to light his gardens at night.

He killed other Christians by feeding them to wild animals as the half-time show in the Arena.

In all, he murdered thousands of Rome’s Christians.

And Christians saw Nero as a prototype of the antichrist.

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So, having cleared out the land he needed for his humongous new palace and grounds, Nero had started bringing workers, soldiers, and slaves into the city.

The people of Rome were growing more and more upset at Nero.

And he was acting more and more crazy.

In a fit of rage, he stomped his wife and her unborn child to death.

At the same time a plot to assassinate Nero was discovered and Nero became even more paranoid.

Nineteen executions and suicides followed, and thirteen banishments.

nineteen executions and suicides followed, and thirteen banishments.