Paul"s geographical movements, to which he referred here, probably took place between his first Roman imprisonment and the writing of this epistle. We cannot fit them into the chronology of Acts. Acts concludes with Paul"s first Roman imprisonment. The apostle had left Timothy in Ephesus for the general purpose of acting as his special representative. He was under Paul but over the elders of the church in his authority. [1] As such Timothy occupied a position unique to the apostolic period of church history. The earliest instance of only one elder (bishop, presbyter) being in charge of one local church appears in the middle of the second century. Before then the testimony of the New Testament writers and the early church fathers is that local churches typically had more than one elder. [2][source]
"Paul repeats in writing what he had outlined orally for Timothy in order that Timothy might have it black on white and that he might present it as written evidence to those who objected to Timothy"s activities ..." [3][source]
The error of the objects of Paul"s criticism seems to have been more in their emphasis than in their content. "Strange doctrines" (Gr. heterodidaskalein) is a general term that contrasts their novel teaching with what is edifying. It also suggests that a recognized standard of Christian doctrine existed when Paul wrote. [source][source][source]
"Some see in this [4] teaching the influence of Gentile gnostic philosophy with its speculative views of religious beliefs and practices. Such incipient gnostic elements did circulate in Asia during the latter half of the first century and may have been present here. But that the false teaching combatted [5] in the Pastorals had already become Gnostic in character is doubtful. The Jewish character of the teaching here denounced is obvious." [6][source]
In particular, these teachers seem to have been emphasizing extra-biblical stories that had become part of the traditions of Judaism that grew out of the genealogies of the Old Testament (cf. 1 Timothy 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:4; Titus 1:14; Titus 3:9). "Myths" and "endless genealogies" evidently describe two aspects of one aberration rather than two separate problems. Certain myths about what Jesus did are an example of this ear-tickling entertainment, though these specific myths were not the subject of these false teachers. One of these was that when Jesus was a child he formed a bird out of clay, blew on it, it came to life and flew away. This myth appears in the Koran, which was written several centuries after this epistle. [source][source][source]
"The lists of bare names in Old Testament genealogies were easily expanded into fictitious histories, supposed to illustrate God"s dealings with His people and an example is still preserved to us in the apocalyptic Book of Jubilees. The practice, indeed, was so common that the word "genealogy" was often used in the sense of mythical history, and this would seem to be its meaning in the present verse." [7][source]
This kind of emphasis, Paul warned, simply generated questions for which there are no real answers rather than contributing to the spiritual maturation of believers (cf. Ephesians 4:11-16). John Bunyan reportedly said, "Some love the meat; some love to pick the bones." [8] Growth is God"s goal for Christians, and it involves the exercise of our "faith" (cf. Romans 1:17). [source][source][source]
Examples of similar errors in teaching today would be overemphasis on typology, numerology, or the details of exegesis along with a failure to emphasize the point of the passage being expounded. This failure to emphasize what the writer of Scripture emphasized and to emphasize something else seems to be at the heart of the problem Paul addressed here. [9][source]
"I am personally of the opinion that one of the causes of weakness in the churches today is the virtual disappearance from our pulpits of sound, steady, Scriptural, expository teaching, and that a widespread return to that desirable practice is essential to the solid building-up of our members in the faith." [8]6 [source]