Shortly before his death, Paul wrote three letters on the subject of the church—specifically on pastoral responsibilities in the church. These letters are known as 1 Timothy (written in AD 63), Titus (AD 63), and 2 Timothy (AD 67). The “pastoral epistles,” as they are commonly called, provide the church with the earliest and most reliable guidelines for the way things in the church should be viewed, the philosophy that should be embraced within the church, and the manner in which the local church should be led. Over the centuries, tradition has often outshouted biblical principles and caused the church to get off course, which has resulted in every conceivable extreme in teaching and doctrine, including heresy. In this expositional study of 1 Timothy, we return to the source—the Bible—and discover afresh how God planned the church to function.