Posted by Peter Kirby at 8:26 AM | Permalink

This is the fifth section of the Notes on the Pastoral Epistles. This brings the first chapter to a close. Please comment!

Timothy's Responsibility

1:18 These instructions I give to you, my child Timothy, in accordance with the words once spoken over you by the prophets, so that by them you might fight the good fight, 1:19 wielding faithfulness and a good conscience, which some having thrust from them have made a shipwreck of their faith, 1:20 such as Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I delivered unto Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme.

Notes
L. T. Johnson writes: "The phrase 'this commandment' (ταύτην τὴν παραγγελίαν) refers explicitly to the commandment stated in 1:5, and forms an inclusio with it as well as with 'that you command' in 1:3. Thus the contrast between false teaching and right understanding in 1:4-10 and 1:18-20 brackets Paul's presentation of himself as a model of the sinner saved by Jesus Christ (1:12-17). Similarly, the verb paratithemi, here in its meaning of 'entrust,' picks up from the participle θέμενος for Paul's commission for service in 1:12: Paul entrusts to Timothy just as he was entrusted by Christ Jesus. The phrase 'My child Timothy' simply gives added weight to the exhortation, as does the use of the vocative in the similar charge at the end of the letter (6:20)." (2001: 184)

Jouette M. Bassler comments, "The prophecies about Timothy were Christian prophecies (see 1 Cor 12:10), either spoken at an earlier time to identify Timothy as God's choice, or pronounced during the ordination ceremony to confirm it (see 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6; also Acts 13:1-3). The reference to them here confirms Timothy's appointed role as an instrument in God's plan (see comments on 1:4) and, more specifically, his role as Paul's legitimate successor. Singled out by prophecy, named as Paul's 'child' (see also 1:2), and possessing the faith and good conscience that are signs both of grace (1:14; 2 Tim 1:3) and of the fulfillment of God's plan (1:5), Timothy is presented as Paul's worthy heir and his designated lieutenant in the fight for truth and virtue." (1996: 46)

A. T. Hanson writes, "We have no record in Acts or Paul's letters of any particular prophecy connected with Paul's choice of Timothy. The Greek is literally 'went before on you', so the phrase could refer, not to Paul's first choice of Timothy, but to Timothy's ordination by Paul. On the whole it seems more likely to have this meaning in view of 4:14, 'the spiritual endowment you possess, which was given you, under the guidance of prophecy, through the laying on of ... hands'. It is probable that in the author's time prophecy accompanied ordination. Christian prophets were very important people in the early Church. In the Didache, a Christian work which may not be very much later than the Pastorals, the Christian congregations have to be reminded that bishops and deacons are as important as prophets." (1966: 29-30)

Raymond F. Collins states, "The purpose of the mandate given to Timothy is that he might fight the good fight (see 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7, where the image ppears with the agon- root). The military metaphor, using the strat- root, 'to fight as a soldier,' is an expression of the agon motif used by Paul and his disciples in reference to the gospel (1 Cor 9:7; 2 Cor. 10:3-4; Phlm. 2; 2 Tim. 2:4). Paul himself tended to use this military metaphor in reference to conflictual situations. As athletes who must strive to attain victory in games and as soldiers who must strive to attain victory in warfare, so the evangelist must strive to proclaim the gospel, notwithstanding the cost or the difficulty. Timothy is to carry the aforementioned prophecies as his weaponry (see 2 Cor. 10:4) or armor (Williams 243 n143; see 1 Thess. 5:8)." (2002: 48)

Dibeliuis and Conzelmann write: "This imagery [of the military service of the pious] was very common and widely used in antiquity. In the immediate environment of primitive Christianity it is found in the texts of the Qumran sect. The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness gives a detailed account. In view of such evidence and considering the widespread usage of the imagery, it is not likely that the image arose spontaneously in primitive Christianity. To be sure, in the passage in 1 Tim the widespread mythical image of armor of faith does not occur. The expression 'the good fight' is clearly a common one in the church and was understood not mythically but parenetically. The closest analogies to this usage are offered, not by the mysteries, but by philosophical diatribe. In order to characterize the seriousness of the ethical task, the philosophers liked to compare life to military service. The image of God as the commander-in-chief was frequently used. Thus Epictetus can assume that the concept is familiar. And it is precisely the widespread distribution of this concept in the diatribe which makes it probable that the early Christian use of the image is influenced by popular philosophy, at least in those passages where the image appears in an almost proverbial way (as here and in 1 Cor 9:7; 2 Tim 2:3f) or where it is argued in the style of the diatribe (as in 1 Clem. 37)." (1972: 32-33)

George W. Knight writes, "To these objective and external calls from God and his apostle, Paul adds the personal activity of 'holding' or 'keeping' faith and a good conscience (ecwn, a circumstantial participlate indicating how the 'fight' is to be carried out). Here it seems that faith as belief, the activity of trusting in God and his revelation, is in view, rather than as the faith, the body of truth, through elsewhere Paul relates these two aspects to one another. Faith is directed to a person of the Godhead on the basis of the teaching one has received about that person (cf. Rom. 10:14; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 2 Tim. 2:18). Faith as believing has been the dominant them of this chapter and is the setting for the appeal Paul now makes (see vv. 2, 4, 5, 14; cf. pisteuein in v. 16). Its correlation here with ἀγαθήν συνείδησιν, one's self-conscious moral evaluation, would also seem to demand that pistin is also related to one's activity, i.e., faith. Furthermore, the phrase ἔχων πίστιν is used elsehwere with this meaning (Mt. 17:20; 21:21; Acts 14:9; Rom. 14:22; 1 Cor. 13:2; cf. 1 Tim. 3:9; cf. also 1 Cor. 15:2, where λόγῳ . . . κατέχετε is explained by and virtually equated with ἐπιστεύσατε)." (1992: 109)

As with the phrase "the law is good," it is only possible to see "a shipwreck" an allusion to Marcion, a shipbuilder, if other reasons point us to the conclusion that the Pastorals have been affected by the Marcionite controversy.

Given the pseudonymous character of these epistles, it is difficult to say whether Hymenaeus and Alexander were historical persons; and, if they were, whether they were regarded as persons of the time of Paul or drawn from the name of actual opponents in the time of the composition of the Pastoral Epistles. I would exclude this last possibility on the grounds that the Pastoral Epistles make an attempt to avoid any too exact a reference that would show the work to be an obvious fake. They may be names of characters portrayed as living in the time of Paul, or even, perhaps, the name of historical people in Paul's era, selected for condemnation in this letter.

Craig S. Keener writes, "Official synagogue excommunication seems to have included a curse or execration against the person being banned from the community; it was meant to be equivalent to capital punishment under the Old Testament law. By handing these blasphemers over to Satan, Paul is simply acknowledging the sphere they had already chosen to enter (5:15). Paul’s purpose here is restorative, however, “so that they might be taught not to blaspheme” (NASB), as God had taught Paul (1:13)." (1993)