<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Some of this section's listed sources may not be reliable . Please help this article by looking for better, more reliable sources . Unreliable citations may be challenged or deleted . (March 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The dating of 1 Timothy depends very much on the question of authorship . Those who accept the epistle's authenticity believe it was written soon after Paul left Ephesus, which he did twice according to the Acts of the Apostles . This dates the epistle to either about the year 58 or 59, or about the year 64 or 65 AD . Those who have maintained the former opinion, among others, are Theodoret, Benson, Zachariae, Michaelis, Schmidt . Koppe, Planck, Grotius Lightfoot, Witsius, Lardner, Hug, and Prof. Stuart . The latter opinion, that it was written after Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, is maintained by Paley, Pearson, L'Enfant, LeClerc, Cave, Mill, Whitby, Macknight, and others . </P> <P> Secular historians generally place its composition some time in the late 1st century or first half of the 2nd century AD, with a wide margin of uncertainty . The text seems to be contending against nascent Gnosticism (1 Tim 1: 4, 1 Tim 4: 3) (see Encratism), which would suggest a later date due to Gnosticism developing primarily in the latter 1st century . The term Gnosis ("knowledge") itself occurs in 1 Timothy 6: 20 . If the parallels between 1 Timothy and Polycarp's epistle are understood as a literary dependence by the latter on the former, as is generally accepted, this would constitute a terminus ante quem of AD 130--155 . However, Irenaeus (writing c.AD 180) is the earliest author to clearly and unequivocally describe the Pastorals . </P> <P> The earliest known writing of 1 Timothy has been found on Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 5258, designated P (\ displaystyle (\ mathfrak (P))), in 2017 . It comes from a leaf of a codex which is dated to the 3rd century </P>

When was the book of 1 timothy written