Date
It is "highly probable that 1 and 2 Timothy were known and used by Polycarp". Irenaeus made extensive use of the two epistles to Timothy as the prime force of his anti-gnostic campaign, ca. 170 AD. Proposals by scholars for the date of their composition have ranged from the 1st century to well into the second.
The later dates are usually based on the hypothesis that the Pastorals are responding to specific 2nd-century developments (Marcionism, gnosticism). That Marcion (ca. 140) betrays knowledge of a collection of Paul's letters that lack the Pastoral Epistles is another piece of evidence for which any model must account. (This is a separate question to Marcion's "canon", which included only edited versions of Luke and the Pauline epistles; according to Tertullian, Marcion "omitted" the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Pastoral Epistles.)
According to Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament, 1997), the majority of scholars who accept a post-Pauline date of composition for the Pastorals favour the period 80-100. Scholars supporting a date in this mid range can draw on the description in 2 Timothy 1:5 of Timothy's Christian mother and grandmother who passed on their faith, as alluding to the original audience being third generation Christians.
More recently, earlier dates have been argued by scholars who have identified targets of the epistles' criticism among those also known to Ignatius and Polycarp, who died in the early 2nd century.
Within the New Testament, these letters are arranged in order of size, though this does not represent a chronological order.
Read more about this topic: Pastoral Epistles
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