Introductory Remarks (1 Timothy 1)

Here we find that Paul writes to Timothy.  Timothy assisted Paul and traveled with him for a significant portion of Paul's missions.

In the letter, Paul refers to telling Timothy to stay behind in Ephesus.  This could be the situation of the letter.   It seems that Timothy, as Paul's right hand man, leads the church of Ephesus.  We are not sure when Paul writes.

Another thing that stands out to me is that "slave traders" is mentioned in the laundry list of bad people.  (v. 10).  It stands out to me because it makes an interesting counter-weight to where Paul tells slaves to "obey their masters".  (Colossians 3:22)  That verse is interesting because Colossians was likely hand-delivered by the escaped slave Philemon.

What is Paul's view on slavery?  I am not sure.  Returning to Colossians 4, a few verses down from "slaves, obey your masters", slave owners are told to not mistreat slaves.  (v. 1).  Here in 1 Timothy, Paul goes even further and says that slave traders are unrighteous.

From what I know about Roman history, slaves frequently fought and died in the gladiator combat games.

In fairness and balancing the contexts, we could reasonably infer that slave traders probably mistreated their slaves or had no qualms about selling slaves to owners who would mistreat them.