I & II Timothy and Titus (2002)

A Commentary

Raymond F. Collins

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781611644951
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

The Pastoral Epistles present difficult questions for the modern interpreter, including such matters as their authorship, literary characteristics, and social orientations. Raymond Collins carefully leads the reader through the texts of these three documents, attending to the flow of the Pastor's thought and locating it within the Jewish and Hellenistic culture of his day.

The New Testament Library offers authoritative commentary on every book and major aspect of the New Testament, as well as classic volumes of scholarship. The commentaries in this series provide fresh translations based on the best available ancient manuscripts, offer critical portrayals of the historical world in which the books were created, pay careful attention to their literary design, and present a theologically perceptive exposition of the text.

1 TIMOTHY

INTRODUCTION

The First Epistle to Timothy, much longer than either of the other two Pastoral Epistles, is ostensibly a letter addressed by Paul, whose apostolate stems from the authority of God and Christ Jesus, to Timothy, his true son in the faith. Immediately after the epistolary greeting, Timothy is described as having been left behind in Ephesus as Paul’s delegate to the capital of the Roman province of Asia, where he is to give the word to unidentified persons who are teaching falsely. This verse (1:3) is an implicit statement of purpose, suggesting that the epistle has been written to give Timothy guidance in what and how he should confront those false teachers.

Apart from the epistolary greeting and an apparently misplaced thanksgiving period (1:12–17), 1 Timothy is innocent of typical epistolary conventions. It comes to an abrupt close with an exceptionally terse farewell, a simple “Grace be with you” (6:21b). The epistle lacks the sort of greetings typically found at the end of a Hellenistic letter, greetings such as Paul regularly includes in his letters. This is particularly puzzling insofar as Paul spent a substantial part of his apostolic career in Ephesus—more than two years according to Luke’s computation (see Acts 19:8–10; 20:31). True, the epistle is ostensibly addressed only to Timothy (1:2), and Timothy is directly addressed in 1:18 and 6:20¹ (see 6:11), but the final greeting, “Grace be with you,” is in the plural. Coupled with the formality of Paul’s description of himself in 1:1 in a letter to his true “son,” these features render the epistolary character of the text somewhat suspect.

As is the case with many of the New Testament’s epistolary texts, a number of different scribal “postscripts” have been added to the text at various points in time. Two of the oldest manuscripts (ℵ and A) identify the epistle as “To Timothy A,” distinguishing it from 2 Timothy and suggesting that its text was longer than that of 2 Timothy. Several manuscripts identify the epistle as having been written in Laodicea, a city in Asia Minor’s Lycus Valley. Others identify its place of origin as Nicopolis, Macedonia, or Athens. These appended notes indicate that, although the church’s tradition from the time of Polycarp of Smyrna was unanimous in accepting the Pauline authorship of the epistle, uncertainty reigned over the precise circumstances of its composition.

According to the epistle, Timothy has been mandated by Paul to remain in Ephesus in order to confront false teachers with heartfelt love, a good conscience, and an authentic faith (1:3–5). These troublesome people purported to be teachers of the law but did not understand what they were talking about (1:6), with the result that they were expositing myth and idle speculation rather than God’s plan of salvation known in faith (1:4–6). Correcting their erroneous view of the law, the Pastor affirms the utility of the law, specifying that it identifies forms of behavior that must be avoided (see Rom. 7:7). Avoiding the nonsense that comes from these false teachers, Timothy is urged to propose the authentic faith, namely, God’s plan of salvation (1:4), sound teaching (1:10), and the glorious gospel entrusted to Paul (1:11).

In 4:1–5 the Pastor returns to the subject of false teachers. His epistle shows no sign of eschatological urgency; nevertheless, it uses an apocalyptic scheme of history that projects the error that Timothy is to confront as a manifestation of an expected onslaught of penultimate evil. This pernicious and widespread error is attributed to demonic influence. False teachers are said to be led astray by deceitful spirits and demonic teaching (4:1). Their error is particularly manifest in an undue asceticism. They forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from certain foods. By doing so, they denigrate God, who has created all things as good. The practice of this kind of asceticism denies the goodness of God. Timothy’s teaching stands in sharp contrast with the erroneous opinions of these false teachers. His teaching is good; it is the message of faith. Their teaching is relegated to the level of “old wives’ tales” and impious speech (4:7).

In 1 Timothy 6 the Pastor comes back yet again to the issue of false teaching. That teaching is opposed to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and teaching that leads to godliness (6:3–10). The Pastor treats false teachers with utter disdain (6:4–5), saying that they are deprived of the truth, are puffed up, have corrupt minds, understand nothing, and are prone to useless disputes. In this final exposition on false teachers, the Pastor says that their error is surely one that will cause them trouble. In one of his polemical broadsides he describes their deviance as manifest in a false understanding of godliness that places undue emphasis on money. Saying that “money is a root of all kinds of evil” (6:10) and that it leads people into the snare of temptation and utter destruction, the Pastor rejects their error out of hand.

Just as false teaching leads to the perversion and the destruction of moral values, the sound teaching offered by Timothy leads to ethically correct behavior. To an undue desire for wealth is opposed the Pastor’s version of the Stoic virtue of self-sufficiency. His reference to people having nothing when they come into this world and again having nothing when they leave this world (6:7) reminds the audience that the Pastor’s moral vision is rooted in a “theology of creation.” The idea that God is the creator of sex and food enables the Pastor to reject an asceticism that denigrates the goods of creation (4:4–5). Earlier in the epistle, the Pastor’s respect for the order of creation allowed him to recall the biblical story of Adam and Eve as he urged women to be open to childbearing (2:13–15).

Although generally rooted in an understanding of creation, the description of the ethical life provided by the Pastor has a decidedly Hellenistic tone. He insists on the virtues of godliness, self-sufficiency, and moderation. He uses lists of virtues and catalogs of vices and household codes in promoting the kind of behavior that he considers to be appropriate for a person of faith.

His use of household codes suggests that the Pastor is keen on order within the community: those in authority enabling people to live quietly, slaves obeying masters, wives not lording over their husbands, and Christian family members assuming their family responsibilities. The Pastor’s plea for social order evokes comparison with the Stoics’ “logical ethic,” behavior according to logos, the reasoned order of the universe. The Pastor’s concern for order within the community inspires his various statements on church order, the second major concern of this epistle.

One expression of his concern for church order is the way that he describes the community as it comes together for worship, a topic briefly addressed in 2:8–10. In 5:20–25 he has something to say about the penitential discipline of the church. What he has to say about widows in 5:3–16 is yet another indication of his concern for the good order of the community. Instead of grouping all widows into a single category, the Pastor identifies three groups of widows. He distinguishes “real widows,” who have no one to provide for them, from widows who have living descendants who should be able to provide for their care. Both groups are distinguished in turn from young widows, who are urged to remarry and attend to their family responsibilities.

The most striking feature of the Pastor’s desire for order within the Christian community is his use of the image of the house of God to describe the church. The model enables him to distinguish the overseer from servers and to spell out the personal characteristics expected of both an overseer and of those who serve (3:1–13). The Pastor suggests that household management is the task of the overseer, but he does not spell out the responsibilities of servers, including women servers (see 3:11). Finally, the Pastor says a few words about elders, especially those who have a ministry of word and teaching (5:17–19).

A cursory reading of 1 Timothy gives the reader the impression that the Pastor flits from one topic to another without any order or overarching concerns. This would be a false impression. The epistle should be viewed as a mosaic in which the motifs of sound teaching and church order are set before the reader’s eyes. These are highlighted in chiaroscuro fashion. The dark side with which they contrast is false teaching and socially disruptive behavior. The highlighted areas and the dark areas are internally coherent. The church is the bulwark of the truth; false teaching leads to immoral and socially disruptive behavior. By its attribution to Paul, the entire mosaic is brought under the aegis of Paul’s apostolic authority. The enforcement of its provisions is left to Timothy, Paul’s plenipotentiary delegate.

Outline

1:1–2	The Salutation
3–11	The Law
12–17	The Thanksgiving
18–20	Prior Examples
2:1–7	Instruction on Prayer
8–3:1a	Men and Women at Prayer
3:1b–7	Overseers
8–13	Servers
14–16	The Church’s Great Confession
4:1–5	Latter Times
6–16	A Charge to Timothy
5:1–2	Responsibilities to Men and Women
3–16	“Real Widows” and Other Widows
17–19	The Rights of Elders
20–25	Pastoral Care of Sinners
6:1–2	Slaves and Masters
3–10	False Teaching
11–16	Final Exhortation to Timothy
17–19	Exhortation for the Wealthy
20–21	Epistolary Closing

The Salutation
1 Timothy 1:1–2

Hellenistic letters began in a stylized fashion so that the reader who unrolled the scroll would immediately become aware of the identity of the sender as well as of the identity of the intended recipient. The function of the traditional Hellenistic salutation, following an “X to Y” pattern, was the same as that of the envelope and formal opening that are part of our contemporary epistolary style. Contemporary English language usage dictates that a letter should begin “Dear Z.” Hellenistic letters began not with an expression of endearment—often a mere formality in modern usage—but with a greeting.

The Pauline epistolary tradition witnesses to an expansion of all three elements—the designation of the sender, the designation of the recipient, and the greeting—in the Hellenistic epistolary scheme for greetings. In his first letter, 1 Thessalonians, Paul identified the senders and the recipients in simple fashion. Thereafter he added an intitulatio to his self-designation as well as to the designation of his recipients. The intitulatio is the “title” appended to the author’s name in Hellenistic letters. In a fashion analogous to the signature block of a contemporary letter, the epistolary title justifies the claim that the letter-writer is about to make on the recipients of the letter. Rhetorically, the title of a Hellenistic letter is an important element in the author’s ethos appeal, that is, the attempt to persuade not on the inherent basis of the argument itself (logos) or on the advantage to the audience (pathos) but rather on the authority of the person from whom it comes.

The greeting in 1 Thess. 1:1 echoes the greeting exchanged in Christian assemblies in much the same fashion as the Hebrew epistolary “shalom” echoed the traditional greeting exchanged between people as they met. After his first letter, Paul expanded his epistolary greeting so that “grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” became the standard greeting in Paul’s later correspondence. In 1:2 the Pastor further expands the apostle’s epistolary greeting.

1:1 Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus according to the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 to Timothy, true son in faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

[1:1] Each of the Pastoral Epistles opens with an epistolary greeting within the Pauline tradition. In each of them Paul is alone presented as the sender of the letter (cf. 1 Cor. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:1; Phlm. 1). In each of the two missives to Timothy, Paul is designated as “apostle² of Christ Jesus” (Paulos apostolos Christou Iēsou). Within the Pastor’s circles, the apostle Paul is not simply an apostle; he is the apostle of Christ Jesus.

The Pastor considers that Paul has been designated apostle according to the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope. The parallel construction of the nomina sacra indicates that both “God” and “Christ Jesus” have the force of a proper name. In 1 Timothy as in 2 Timothy, “Christ” normally precedes “Jesus.”³ The epithet “Christ” is nominal, part of a name, rather than titulary, as if the Pastor were highlighting the messianic character of Jesus. A single command comes from God and Christ Jesus, as if the two were acting in consort. The identity of both God and Christ Jesus is specified by means of an appositive that highlights the respective relationships between God and Christ Jesus and the community for which the epistle is intended. These appositives may be taken in a still broader sense as indicative of the relationships between God and Christ Jesus and the broader community of Pauline Christians. First Timothy 4:10 designates the living God as the savior of all people, especially of those who believe. The Pastor’s use of these appositives serves not only to designate the relationship of God and of Christ Jesus with the community; it also implies that the command addressed to Paul was for the purpose of our salvation and our hope. As a divine functionary, the apostle himself is involved in the realization of our salvation and our hope.

God is designated as Savior three times in this epistle (1:1; 2:3; 4:10). The author of 1 Timothy does not use the term “Savior” of Christ Jesus. In the complex epistolary title provided for the apostle, the Pastor attributes the epithet “our hope” to Christ Jesus. The identification of the living God as “Savior” (sōtēr) in 1:1 speaks of the God of the Jewish tradition in terms that would be readily understood in the Hellenistic world. Hel...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Bibliography
• Introduction to the Pastoral Epistles
• 1 Timothy
• 2 Timothy
• Titus
• Index of Ancient Sources
• Index of Subjects