According to Pagan Christianity (Frank Viola) it would be important to look at the historical context of the books of the Bible
Viola asks, for example
Who were the (Galatians)?
What were their issues?
When and why did Paul write to them?
What happened just before Paul penned his (Galatian) treatise?
Where was he when he wrote it?
What provoked him to write the letter?
And where (in Acts) do you find the historical context for this letter.
He says
“All of these background matters are indepensable for understanding what our New Testament is about. Without them, we simply cannot understand the Bible clearly or properly”
so what do we know about Paul’s second letter to Timothy?
According to Gundry’s Survey of the New Testament Paul wrote 1 Timothy and Titus before he was imprisoned but the second letter to Timothy was written during his second imprisonment, and just before his martyrdom. These pastoral letters were written to instruct Timothy and Titus on the administration of the church life and deal with matters of orthodoxy (right teaching) and orthopraxy (right practices).
The Message also has some additional information about Timothy and the date of writing (AD 62-64) and the era of Nero (emperor of Rome)
What I did find interesting was that Timothy was from Galatia and an outsider to both Greeks and Jews in that area because of his mixed lineage. He was raised with his Jewish mother’s religion but not circumsized ‘in deference to his Greek father’ … this was later done (see Acts 16:1-3). It is also clear from Acts that Timothy’s role was as an itinerant church planter – following in the steps of his mentor Paul.
