Pastoral epistles
Part of New Testament papyri , showing 2 Cor 11:33–12:9 |
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The pastoral epistles are a group of three books of the
1 Timothy
1 Timothy consists mainly of counsels to Timothy regarding the forms of worship and organization of the church, and the responsibilities resting on its several members, including epískopoi (
2 Timothy
The author (who identifies himself as Paul the Apostle) entreats Timothy to come to him before winter, and to bring Mark with him (cf. Phil. 2:22). He was anticipating that "the time of his departure was at hand" (4:6), and he exhorts his "son Timothy" to all diligence and steadfastness in the face of false teachings, with advice about combating them with reference to the teachings of the past, and to patience under persecution (1:6–15), and to a faithful discharge of all the duties of his office (4:1–5), with all the solemnity of one who was about to appear before the Judge of the living and the dead.
Titus
This short letter is addressed to Titus, a Christian worker in Crete, and is traditionally divided into three chapters. It includes advice on the character and conduct required of Church leaders (chapter 1), a structure and hierarchy for Christian teaching within the church (chapter 2), and the kind of godly conduct and moral action required of Christians in response to God's grace and gift of the Holy Spirit (chapter 3). It includes the line quoted by the author from a Cretan source: "Cretans are always liars, wicked beasts, and lazy gluttons" (Titus 1:12).
Text
Two papyri contain parts of the Pastoral Epistles: 𝔓32 and 𝔓61.[6] Pao considers Codex Sinaiticus to be “one of the most reliable witnesses for the [Pastoral Epistles], though it contains a series of unintentional omissions (1 Tim 2:6 [τό]; 3:8 [σεμνούς]; 4:8 [πρός]; Titus 1:13 [ἐν]).”[7]
Authorship
The letters are written in Paul's name and have traditionally been accepted as authentic.[8] Since the 1700s, however, scholars have increasingly come to see them as the work of someone writing after Paul's death.[8]
Critical view: rejecting Pauline authorship
On the basis of their language, content, and other factors, the pastoral epistles are considered by skeptical scholars[9] as having been not written by Paul, but written after his death.[10] (The Second Epistle to Timothy, however, is sometimes thought to be more likely than the other two to have been written by Paul.[11]) Beginning with Friedrich Schleiermacher in a letter published in 1807, biblical textual critics and scholars examining the texts fail to find their vocabulary and literary style similar to Paul's unquestionably authentic letters, fail to fit the life situation of Paul in the epistles into Paul's reconstructed biography, and identify principles of the emerged Christian church rather than those of the apostolic generation.[12]
As an example of qualitative style arguments, in the First Epistle to Timothy the task of preserving the tradition is entrusted to ordained
A second example would be
Similarly, biblical scholars since Schleiermacher in 1807 have noted that the pastoral epistles seem to argue against a version of Gnosticism that is more developed than would be compatible with Paul's time.[12]
The pastoral epistles are omitted in some early bible manuscripts, including the fourth century Codex Vaticanus (one of the oldest mostly complete bible manuscripts in existence) and the second or third century Chester Beatty Papyrus 46 (the oldest mostly complete copy of the Pauline epistles).
Luke Timothy Johnson[14] asserts the impossibility of demonstrating the authenticity of the Pastoral Letters.
So some scholars refer to the anonymous author as "the Pastor".[8]
Traditional view: Saint Paul
Among the Apostolic Fathers, "a strong case can be made for Ignatius' use of ... 1 and 2 Timothy".[15] Similarly for Polycarp.[16] The unidentified author of the Muratorian fragment (c. 170) lists the Pastorals as Pauline, while excluding others e.g. to the Laodiceans. Origen[17] refers to the "fourteen epistles of Paul" without specifically naming Titus or Timothy.[18] However it is believed that Origen wrote a commentary on at least the epistle to Titus.[19]
Biblical scholars such as
Date
It is highly probable that 1 and 2 Timothy were known and used by Polycarp in his epistle to the Philippians.[21] Polycarp is known to have died around 155–167, so this would seem to set an upper limit for the dating of the pastoral epistles. Irenaeus explicitly references the epistles to Timothy in his anti-Gnostic treatise Against Heresies, written c. 180.[22] Proposals by scholars for the date of their composition have ranged from the 1st century to well into the second.
The later dates are usually based on the hypothesis that the Pastorals are responding to specific 2nd-century developments, such as
On the other hand, according to Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament, 1997), the majority of scholars who accept a post-Pauline date of composition for the Pastorals favour the period 80–100. Scholars supporting a date in this mid range can draw on the description in 2 Timothy 1:5 of Timothy's Christian mother and grandmother who passed on their faith, as alluding to the original audience being third generation Christians.
See also
Notes
- ISBN 978-0-8308-4244-5, p. 19; Guthrie is referring to David Nicolaus Berdot, Exercitatio theologica-exegetica in epistulam S. Pauli ad Titum (Halle, 1703), and Paul Anton, Exegetische Abhandlung der Pastoral-briefe Pauli an Timotheum und Titum, im Jahr 1725. und 1726. öffentlich vorgetragen(ed. Johann August Majer; 2 vols.; Halle: Wäysenhaus, 1753–55).
- ^ This nomenclature appears to have been first proposed by Peter Trummer, “Corpus Paulinum—Corpus Pastorale: Zur Ortung der Paulustradition in den Pastoralbriefen,” in Paulus in den neutestamentlichen Spätschriften: Zur Paulusrezeption im Neuen Testament (ed. K. Kertelge; Quaestiones Disputatae 89; Freiburg: Herder, 1981), 122–45.
- ^ Influential in this regard is Philip H. Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus (New International Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), esp. 88.
- ^ "Thus ii. 11-15 seems almost like a gloss (Hesse, Knoke), iv. 1-8 parts easily from its context, and the οὖν of ii. 1 indicates a very loose relationship to the preceding paragraphs." cited in Moffatt, James (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). pp. 991–993. .
- ^ Epistles 6:20–21
- ISBN 978-90-04-68154-5.
- ISBN 978-90-04-68154-5.
- ^ Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. “The Pastoral Epistles“ p. 340–345
- ^ While seven of, 1972), 124-28. the letters traditionally attributed to Paul (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon) are routinely accepted as authentic in modern scholarship, Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, and Titus remain disputed. For a relatively recent overview, see MacDonald, Margaret T. "The Deutero-Pauline Letters in Contemporary Research," in The Oxford Handbook of Pauline Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 258-279.
- ^ See I.H. Marshall, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles (International Critical Commentary; Edinburgh 1999), pp. 58 and 79. Notable exceptions to this majority position are Joachim Jeremias, Die Briefe an Timotheus und Titus (Das NT Deutsch; Göttingen, 1934, 8th edition 1963) and Ceslas Spicq, Les Epîtres Pastorales (Études bibliques; Paris, 1948, 4th edition 1969). See too Dennis MacDonald, The Legend and the Apostle (Philadelphia 1983), especially chapters 3 and 4.
- ^ Matthijs den Dulk, (2012), "I Permit No Woman to Teach Except for Thecla: The Curious Case of the Pastoral Epistles and the Acts of Paul Reconsidered", Novum Testamentum 54 (2012), pp. 176–203
- ^ ISBN 978-006-201262-3.
- ^ New Jerome Biblical Commentary, ed. Raymond E. Brown, S.S., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J, and Roland E. Murphy, O.Carm., Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990, pp. 811–812
- ISBN 0-385-48422-4, p.91
- ^ Paul Foster, "Ignatius of Antioch," in Gregory and Tuckett (eds), (2005), The Reception of the NT in the Apostolic Fathers, OUP, p.185
- ^ Michael W. Holmes, in Gregory and Tuckett (eds), (2005), The Reception of the NT in the Apostolic Fathers, OUP, p.226
- ^ "Origen on the Canon".
- ^ See the writings of Eusebius, Apostolic Constitutions, etc.
- ^ R.E. Heine, (2000), "In Search of Origen's Commentary on Philemon", Harvard Theological Review 93 (2000), pp. 117–133
- ISBN 978-1-4934-3688-0.
- ISBN 0-567-08661-5
- ^ Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.3
- S2CID 171058612.
- ISBN 978-0404161835.
- ISBN 0-89130-638-2.
- ^ BeDuhn, Jason. "The New Marcion" (PDF). Forum. 3 (Fall 2015): 165 n. 3.
- ISBN 978-1-55635-703-9.
- ^ See, e.g., J. J. Clabeaux, A Lost Edition of the Letters of Paul: A Reassessment of the Text of the Pauline Corpus Attested by Marcion (Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 21; Washington, D.C.: Catholic Biblical Association, 1989
External links
- Texts on Wikisource:
- "Epistles to Timothy and Titus (The Pastorals)". Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 16. 1913.
- Moffatt, James (1911). "Timothy, Second Epistle to". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). pp. 993–994.
- Calvin, John (1556 [1-2 Tim]; 1549 [Titus]). Commentary on 1-2 Timothy and Titus.
- PastoralEpistles.com, an academic blog devoted to current research in the letters:
- Bumgardner, Charles (2016). "Paul's Letters to Timothy and Titus: A Literature Review (2009-2015)"
- Klinker-De Klerck, Myriam (2008). "The Pastoral Epistles: Authentic Pauline Writings"
- Early Christian Writings:
- Pastoral Epistles: