12 Reasons Why Timothy Was Primarily an Apostolic Worker, Not a Pastor

The word "apostle" literally means "sent one."  Apostles in general were those sent out as traveling ministers (e.g. Luke 9:1-2).  Below I will proceed to make a high level case in bullet form for why the role of Timothy in the early church was more apostolic than it was pastoral (not that there isn't overlap between the two).  Some who have a strict criteria for who can be an apostle might get tripped up by me saying that Timothy was an apostle.  I don't want that to be the main stumbling block.  So, if it helps, consider my use of the term "apostle" in association with Timothy as "lower case a" apostle, not "upper case A" Apostle.  Or, if that's still a stumbling block, then just use the term "apostolic worker" rather than "apostle" to describe Timothy.  The main point is functional in that Timothy was primarily a traveling minister, not so much about an office Timothy filled.

1. Timothy traveled with Paul in many (most?) places that Paul went (2 Timothy 3:10-11).
2. Paul refers to Timothy as his "fellow worker" (Romans 16:21), which is to say, Timothy was engaged in the same kind of apostolic work that Paul was engaged in.
3. Timothy is mentioned in several letters: Romans 16:21; 1 Corinthians 4:17, 16:10; Philippians 1:1, 2:19; Colossians 1:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:1, 3:2, 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; Philemon 1; Hebrews 13:23. This means that Timothy's work wasn't bound to a single church as is the case with most pastors/bishops/elders. His work spanned across many different churches as is the case with apostles/apostolic workers, like Paul.
4. Paul co-writes 1 Thessalonians with Silvanus and Timothy (1 Thess. 1:1). And in 1 Thessalonians 2:6 he states that "we could have made demands as apostles of Christ." Who is the "we"? The same "we" that he opens the letter in 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2 with: Timothy and Silvanus. Which is to say, Timothy and Silvanus are apostles like Paul.
5. Timothy is never referred to as an elder in 1 & 2 Timothy but is instead instructed by Paul about the qualifications of an elder (1 Timothy 3:1-7) because he probably helped to "appoint" them just like Paul did as an apostle in Acts 14:23 and just like Paul tells Titus (who is most likely also an apostolic worker) to do in Crete (Titus 1:5).
6. We know that Ephesus has multiple pastors/elders/bishops (Acts 20:17) so if Timothy is one of them then Paul would have written to all of the elders at Ephesus rather than just one. Or are we saying that there was only one elder at Ephesus by the time 1 Timothy is written? By the way, this is one reason why the angel of the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:1) is almost certainly not the pastor of the church at Ephesus. Because Ephesus had multiple pastors/elders/bishops (Acts 20:17)!
7. On a similar note, Paul even refers to this "council of elders" (more than one pastor/bishop/elder) in 1 Timothy 4:14.
8. Paul's instructions in 2 Timothy 2:2 to entrust what he's heard from Paul to faithful men who will be able to teach seems to imply that Timothy's role (as an apostolic worker) is to train/raise up elders who will be able to teach, since we know that elders are specifically men who are able to teach (1 Tim. 3:2).
9. Even if Timothy was one of these elders/pastors/bishops, we know from 1 Peter 5:1 that Peter was both an apostle and an elder. So Timothy may very well be an elder/pastor/bishop in addition to being an apostle like Peter, but Paul's letters to Timothy would make most sense as written to him in his role as apostle since Paul would have no reason to address only one elder out of the group rather than the whole.
10. One of Timothy's roles is to do the work of an evangelist (2 Tim. 4:5). Why? Because evangelists are used by God to make converts and to birth a church where one doesn't yet exist (Paul demonstrates this aspect of apostolic work in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23). At the risk of oversimplification, an apostle is one whose work equally includes both evangelizing and teaching while an elder's work includes primarily if not exclusively teaching (1 Tim. 3, Titus 1). Which is why an apostle will often be an elder if/when he settles in a single location (like Peter, 1 Peter 5:1), because his gifting/work encompasses that of an elder and more!
11. It's unclear that Timothy is even still in Ephesus when 2 Timothy is written because of the way Paul speaks in 2 Timothy as though Ephesus is somewhere different than where the recipient(s) of 2 Timothy is/are when reading the letter (2 Tim. 1:18, 4:12).
12. Even if Timothy still is in Ephesus when 2 Timothy is written, it's clear that Paul expects him to leave Ephesus (2 Tim. 4:9, 13, 21). As an elder he probably wouldn't have left Ephesus. But apostolic workers by definition were itinerant.

All this to say, it's a misnomer to call 1 & 2 Timothy (and Titus too!) "pastoral epistles." While there are many things that all Christians, including pastors, can and should glean and apply from the three letters, the instructions to Timothy and Titus are not meant to be applied directly to pastors any more than they are meant to be directly applied to all Christians because Timothy and Titus aren't addressed by Paul as pastors. They are addressed by Paul as apostolic workers.