What does 1 Timothy 1:3 mean?

Paul abruptly jumps into the content of his letter. This begins by repeating some earlier command to Timothy to stay in Ephesus. Both Paul and Timothy traveled to Ephesus at some point following Paul's house arrest. This imprisonment occurred in Rome around AD 60—62. Timothy had been in Rome with Paul and likely traveled with him from Rome to various locations, ultimately leading to Ephesus. Paul later left Timothy in leadership at Ephesus while traveling to Macedonia. There, he wrote this letter and a separate message to Titus. Paul would later be imprisoned again in Rome, where he wrote 2 Timothy before his death.

Timothy's specific motivation for staying was to maintain correct teaching in the Ephesian church. Paul's mention of "certain persons" as false teachers suggests a small group of people. Small or not, this group was influential enough to be a concern. Their error was teaching or instructing Christians in Ephesus to follow false doctrines. Since the truth had already been proclaimed, other ideas were both different and wrong. In 1 Timothy 6:3, Paul will define "different"—false—teaching as anything that "does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness." Truth is exclusive, so anything "different" from the truth is inaccurate and ungodly.