The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (148 page)

Timothy occupied a special place in Paul's heart and mission (1 Cor 4:17; Phil 2:20, 22; 1 Tim 1:2; 2 Tim 1:2). Paul first met him in Lystra, which at that time was part of the Roman province of Galatia (modern Turkey). It is possible, but not certain, that their paths crossed during Paul's previous visit to Lystra (Acts 14:8—20; see 2 Tim 3:10—11). Timothy was the product of a mixed marriage of a Gentile father and a Jewish mother. He was a “believer” (Acts 16:1—2), having been taught the Scriptures from his youth (2 Tim 1:5; 3:15). Recommended by his local church, Timothy joined Paul on his second missionary journey and shared in the evangelization of Macedonia and Achaia (Acts 16:2; 17:14—15; 18:5). He was associated with Paul during much of his extended ministry in Ephesus (Acts 19:22), traveled with him from Ephesus to Macedonia, to Corinth, back to Macedonia, and to Asia Minor (Acts 20:1—6), and was with Paul during his first Roman imprisonment (Phil 1:1; Col 1:1; Phlm 1).

Timothy also served as Paul's emissary on at least three occasions prior to his current assignment in Ephesus: to Thessalonica (c. 50), Corinth (c. 53—54), and Philippi
c. 60-62). Paul frequently called him “co-worker” (Rom 16:21; 1 Cor 16:10; Phil 2:22; 1 Thess 3:2) and referred to him as coauthor of six of his apostolic letters (1 and 2 Thessalonians, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon; see esp. Phil 2:19—22; cf. 1 Cor 16:10). The author of Hebrews mentioned Timothy's release from an otherwise unknown imprisonment (Heb 13:23). Due to his mixed Jewish-Gentile heritage (Acts 16:1), Timothy was an ideal choice for ministering in a Hellenistic-Jewish environment and for dealing with a Jewish proto-gnostic heresy. Even at the time 1 Timothy was written, Timothy was still fairly young (1 Tim 4:12), though he had met Paul more than 10 years earlier (Acts 16:1; c. AD 49), if not earlier. Timothy was therefore probably in his late thirties when he received 1 and 2 Timothy.

Titus
As Paul's letter to Titus indicates, Titus had been left in Crete, a Mediterranean island Paul had previously passed on his sea voyage to Rome (Titus 1:5; see Acts 27:7—13). Paul indicated that the inhabitants of Crete were proverbial in that day for their dishonesty, immorality, and laziness (Titus 1:12). Paul's statement that he left Titus in Crete seems to imply that Paul had been there with him, presumably subsequent to the events in Acts. Titus had been directed by Paul to straighten out unfinished business and to appoint elders in every town (Paul's pattern—see Acts 14:21—23). Compared with Timothy's task, Titus's may have been a bit easier since Crete was no Ephesus—though it had been known for its many cities ever since Homer (
Iliad
2.649). And, since Timothy found himself in a situation where there were already elders (some of whom at least seem to have been in need of rebuke, 1 Tim 5:19—20), Titus was charged with the fresh appointment of elders in every town. Thus it is possible that Paul and Titus planted these churches subsequent to Paul's first Roman imprisonment, with no time left to establish leadership before Paul decided to leave. Nevertheless Titus, like Timothy, faced the challenge of false teachers, “especially those from Judaism” (Titus 1:10).

While Titus was not as close to Paul as Timothy was, Titus was also a trusted associate. When Paul went to discuss his gospel with the leaders of the Jerusalem church, he took Titus with him (Gal 2:1—3). Titus, a Gentile, was not compelled to be circumcised upon his conversion to Christianity, which served to illustrate the nature of Paul's gospel (Gal 2:3—5). While not mentioned in Acts, Titus surfaces repeatedly in Paul's letters as a member of the Pauline circle.
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His commission by Paul found him on the island of Crete, where he was to take care of “what was left undone” (Titus 1:5). Cretan culture was known for its moral decay; hence Titus's task was not an easy one. Similar to 1 Timothy, Paul's letter to Titus is to encourage his delegate to complete the assignment given to him in Crete by his apostolic mentor. Later Titus was to meet Paul in Nicopolis (Titus 3:12), and after being with Paul for what was likely the last time Titus departed for Dalmatia (2 Tim 4:10).

Date and Provenance

It may be assumed that Paul was released from his first Roman imprisonment (Acts 28) and that he engaged in a subsequent second Aegean ministry that provides the proper framework for 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus.
³⁰
If so, Paul probably wrote his first letter to Timothy some time after the year 60 (the most likely date of Paul's release from his first Roman imprisonment), but before
66
, the likely date for Paul's second Roman imprisonment that was followed by his martyrdom under Nero, who died in AD 68. The most natural reading of 1 Tim 1:3 is that Paul wrote from Macedonia. Timothy, who was at that time stationed in Ephesus, needed counsel on how to deal with the false teachers in the Ephesian church. To this end Paul interwove personal instructions with those on community life, so that Timothy received public apostolic support while it was acknowledged that he also had certain standards to meet.
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Paul probably wrote 2 Timothy from Rome in the year
66.
Titus was likely written in the interim between 1 and 2 Timothy (or possibly prior to 1 Timothy) from an unknown location.

It is often alleged that the church structure in the Pastoral Epistles reflects the church in the early second century instead of the first. This pattern can most clearly be seen in Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35—110), who advocated a monarchical episcopate and a three-tiered ecclesiastical hierarchy (see
Eph.
2.2;
Magn.
3.1;
Trall.
2.2; 3.1).
³²
But this is markedly different from the Pastoral Epistles, where the terms “overseer”
(episkopos)
and “elder”
(presbyteros)
refer to one and the same office (Titus 1:5,7; see Acts 20:17,28).
³³
As far as an interest in proper congregational leadership is concerned, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in the churches they had established prior to the year 50 (Acts 14:23; see 11:30; 15:2; 20:28—31; 21:18), so there is nothing novel in Paul's instruction to Titus to “appoint elders in every town” (Titus 1:5). Subsequent to the reference in Acts 14:23, in a letter only slightly earlier than the Pastorals, Paul addressed one of his Prison Epistles to the “overseers and deacons” at Philippi (Phil 1:1). This coheres precisely with the two-tiered structure presupposed in the Pastorals (see 1 Timothy 3). In fact, the emphasis on qualifications for overseers and deacons in the Pastorals supports a first-century date because a second-century writer would have expected his readers already to be familiar with this kind of information.
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Also, the hierarchy is different from the first century to the second century, and one detects development from 1 Timothy to Ignatius.

Occasion

Paul's primary concern was not to describe the respective heresy in question but to refute it.
³⁵
The nature of the false teachings combated in the Pastoral Epistles must therefore be deduced from the apostle's response. Moreover, while there are doubtless similarities between the heresies confronted in the Pastorals, one must not assume that the opponents are precisely the same in each case.
³⁶
The teaching seems to have arisen from within the churches rather than having invaded from the outside (1 Tim 1:3; 6:2; 2 Tim 2:14; 4:2; Titus 1:13; 3:10; cf. 1 Tim 1:20; 2 Tim 2:17-18), which was in keeping with Paul's prediction (Acts 20:28—31). Some even suggest that the heretics were elders in the church, but this is uncertain.
³⁷
There may be a connection with problems in Corinth (see 1 Cor 15:12,34) and especially in the Lycus Valley (compare 1 Tim 4:3 with Col 2:8,16—23).

Materially, the heresy involves an interest in myths and genealogies (1 Tim 1:4; 4:7; 2 Tim 4:4; Titus 1:14; 3:9) and a concern with the law (1 Tim 1:7; Titus 1:10,14; 3:9; see Col 2:16—17), which suggests that the false teachers were (Hellenistic) Jews.
³⁸
In Ephesus at least, one finds ascetic elements such as the prohibition of marriage or the eating of certain foods (1 Tim 4:1—5; see Titus 1:15; Col 2:18—23) and the teaching that the resurrection had already taken place (2 Tim 2:17-18; see 1 Tim 1:19-20; 1 Cor 15:12),
³⁹
which may point to a Greek-style dualism that prized spirituality over the natural order. As is the case with many forms of false teaching, the heretics displayed a tendency toward acrimony and speculation (1 Tim 1:4,6; 6:4,20; 2 Tim 2:14,16,23; Titus 1:10; 3:9), deceptiveness (1 Tim 4:1-3; 2 Tim 3:6-9,13; Titus 1:10-13; see Col 2:8), immorality (1 Tim 1:19-20; 2 Tim 2:22; 3:3-4; Titus 1:15), and greed (1 Tim 6:5; 2 Tim 3:2,4; Titus 1:11; contrast 1 Tim 3:3).

The practice of forbidding marriage was evident both in Judaism (especially among the Essenes; see Philo,
Apology
380) and later Gnosticism (Irenaeus,
Against Heresies
1.24.2). Even Paul himself at times extolled the advantages of celibacy (1 Cor 7:1—7).
⁴⁰
Fee said that the problem may have been “the reflection of the influence of Hellenistic-Jewish speculation on Christian thought.”
⁴¹
Knight called it a “Gnosticizing form of Jewish Christianity” (see 1 Tim 6:20); others term it “a form of aberrant Judaism with Hellenistic/Gnostic
tendencies,” “Jewish proto-Gnosticism,” or “Judaism crossed with Gnosticism.”
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Perhaps there was a “growing suspicion that marriage belonged to the old order which had passed away, or that the model for living in the resurrection age was to be found in descriptions of life before the fall into sin.”
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In any case, what Paul apparently opposed here was an appeal to the Mosaic law in support of ascetic practices that at the root were motivated by gnostic thinking.
⁴⁴

Paul denounced the various permutations of heresy in strong language as “fruitless discussion” (1 Tim 1:6), “godless myths and old wives' tales” (1 Tim 4:7 NIV), “irreverent, empty speech” (1 Tim 6:20), “foolish and stupid arguments” (2 Tim 2:23 NIV), and “foolish debates” (Titus 3:9). This would have created a stereotype in believers' minds cautioning them against associating with these false teachers.
⁴⁵
To some extent, Paul may have viewed the heresy as more irrelevant than false (“myths,” “quarrels about words”), indicating that the “main stock-in-trade of these teachers was empty platitudes which Paul did not even consider it worthwhile to refute.”
⁴⁶

Purpose

1
Timothy
Paul stated the occasion for 1 Timothy as follows: “As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach other doctrine” (1 Tim 1:3—4; see vv. 18—20). The question is whether this occasion constituted the purpose for 1 Timothy in its entirety or whether Paul had other purposes besides instructing Timothy on how to deal with these false teachers. Contrary to those who emphasize the
ad hoc
(Lat. “to this,” i.e., addressed to a given circumstance only) nature of the Pastorals, it is likely that Paul's purpose was broader than merely dealing with false teachers.
⁴⁷

Specifically, 1 Timothy 1;
4—6
are concerned primarily with the challenge of the false teachers, while chaps. 2—3 focus more constructively on general organizational matters. This is suggested, first, by the phrase “First of all, then” (1 Tim 2:1) that introduces 2:1—3:16, which suggests the beginning of a new section;
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and, second, the closing words of
the same section in 3:15: “But if I should be delayed,
I have written so that you will know how people ought to act in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth”
(emphasis added). This solemn affirmation, plus the following hymn in 1 Tim 3:16, indicates that Paul conceived of 1 Timothy not merely as occasional (i.e., as limited to this specific occasion) but as applicable to the church more broadly.

Third, in keeping with the genre of “Pastoral Epistle,” Paul's office of the apostle (1 Tim 1:1; 2 Tim 1:1; Titus 1:1) would mean that his letters transcend the scope of any one local congregation. As Paul wrote elsewhere, the church is “God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone” (Eph 2:19—20). Hence the Pastoral Epistles are foundational documents for the church, not just
ad hoc
instructions dealing with merely local circumstances that had no lasting implications for the church overall.
⁴⁹

In 1 Tim 4:1, Paul returned to the matter of false teachers. What is more, even if the apostle addressed local circumstances requiring resolution, such as principles for the care of needy widows (1 Tim 5:3—16) or sinning elders (1 Tim 5:17—25), the truths and principles Paul enunciated as an apostle are true and therefore binding—not merely for Timothy and the church of Ephesus at the time of writing—but also for every church, “the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15).
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Hence Paul's purpose for writing 1 Timothy was both to instruct Timothy on how to deal with false teachers and to provide guidelines on a variety of matters of perennial significance for the church.
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2
Timothy
The most personal of Paul's letters is clearly 2 Timothy. With Paul in prison again (2 Tim 1:8) and nearing the end of his life (2 Tim 4:6—8), this book contains his final charge to Timothy to “proclaim the message” of the Christian gospel (2 Tim 4:1—2) as he passed on his mantle to his foremost disciple. In terms of salvation history this book marks the transition from the apostolic to the subapostolic period, during which believers were charged to build on the foundation of the apostles and to guard the “good deposit” made by them (2 Tim 1:12,14 NIV). But the apostle touched on many topics of perennial significance in this letter that are not limited to the original circumstance to which they were addressed.
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