Smyrna was unanimous in accepting the Pauline authorship of the epistle, uncertainty reigned over the precise circumstances of its composition. According to the epistle, Timothy has been mandated by Paul to remain in Ephesus in order to confront false teachers with heartfelt love, a good conscience, and an authentic faith (1:3–5). These troublesome people purported to be teachers of the law but did not understand what they were talking about (1:6), with the result that they were expositing myth and