Saint Timothy (Nuremberg Chronicle)

1 Timothy

Paulc. 63
BibleModerateEpistleAncient GreekQuick · 9 pages

Read this if you…

  • want to read the Pauline letter on how to actually organize a church
  • curious about where "the love of money is the root of all evil" comes from
  • like the qualifications-for-bishops list and the practical, managerial Paul

Skip this if you…

  • don't want to read explicitly religious/Christian texts

Why It Matters

1 Timothy's instructions for organizing a church became the template for how Christians run churches. The qualifications it lists for bishops and deacons in chapter 3 have shaped church leadership across denominations for two thousand years.

Connections

Where to go next

What It Shapedwhat it set in motion1 TimothyThe Canterbury…

  • The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. 1 Timothy shaped it. - One line from *1 Timothy* — 6:10, 'the love of money is the root of all evil' — becomes the running theme of Chaucer's most damning character - The Pardoner preaches it as his Latin tag, *Radix malorum est cupiditas*, citing it again and again through his Prologue and Tale - The bite is that he preaches Paul's warning against greed while embodying that greed completely — Scripture turned into a con man's sales pitch
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Gallery

Depicted in Art

Headpiece vignette: a tablet inscribed with 'For there is one God and one mediator' rests on a pile of scrolls and a palm branch — the epistle's central confession set as a still life.

Philip James de Loutherbourg, 1800

Paul stands on a stone platform in Ephesus, arm raised, as listeners burn their books of magic at his feet — the dramatic moment of his Ephesian mission.

Eustache Le Sueur, 1649

Woodcut portrait: Timothy in episcopal dress, identified in the line of early bishops of Ephesus in Schedel's universal history.

Hartmann Schedel, 1493

Editions

Recommended Editions

#1Top Pick

King James Version

Cambridge University Press · 1611

The most influential and commonly quoted translation in English. The prose rhythm everyone else is responding to, even modern translations.

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Deep Dive

What It's About

Spoiler warning

This summary gives away plot details.

Notable Quotes

“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

— 1 Timothy 6:10 (KJV)

“But godliness with contentment is great gain.”

— 1 Timothy 6:6 (KJV)

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