1:1 Silvanus. The Latin name of Silas, a prophet of the Jerusalem church delegated to accompany Paul and Barnabas to Antioch to deliver the decision of the Jerusalem council (Acts 15:22, 27, 32, 40). Silas was chosen by Paul to be his associate on this second missionary journey.

Timothy. The son of a Greek father and a devout Jewish mother, he was at the time of writing a relative newcomer to the Christian mission. Paul and Silas had drafted this young but highly regarded disciple to join in their ministry roughly a year earlier in Lystra (Acts 16:1).

in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This points to the unique intimacy between the Father and the Son, because the church is said to be “in” both (Introduction: Characteristics and Themes).