776 TIMOTHY, SECOI\D EPISTLE TO
TBIOTHY, SECOKD EPISTLE TO
One 'faitliful saying' is quoted in 2"'", possiblj B. fragment of a Cliristian hymn based on lio6' 8'', Mt W-", Lk 12» (cf. CGT, ad luc. ) : the ' seals ' in 2", wliile based on the OT, were probably already stereo- typed as Christian watchwords : 2" reads like a reminiscence of some early form of creed (cf. Burn, Introduction to the Creeds, pp. 27-30) : 4''' is perhaps a quotation from some Christian pro- phet (cf. Jude ") : 4" from some iyp!i<poy of the Lord (cf. Resch, Agrapha, p. 253) : 4'* recalls the end of the Lord's Prayer.
Tliere are many parallelisms with the earlier Pauline Epistles.
isf- cf
Ro 18«r..
1' ,.
Ro 81».
1" „
Ro l", Eph 41.
1" .,
Ro 1625, Eph 14
1" .,
1 Ti 2'.
1'* ..
RoS".
s-"-' ..
1 Co 9'»-
211-13
C.t
Ro 68 ei.
216
Tit3«.
j»g
1 Ti 611.
35
Tit 116.
»'
Tit 116 31.
46
Ph 121 2"
Of all these passages Ph l^" 2", 1 Ti 2' 6" alone suggest a conscious literary imitation ; and they are equally consistent, if not more consistent, with the hypothesis tliat thej- are the entirely independent utterances of the same writer. The correspond- ences w ith the Acts are mainly with the speeches of St. Paul there (P, cf. Ac 23' 24" ; 4', cf. Ac 20-^), but they are not close enougli to be extracts ; and if they need any explanation, it is very possible that St. Luke was preparing the Acts at this time.
iv. Situation implied at Ephesus(?). — (a) False Teachers. — The warning against false teachers is less prominent than in 1 Tim. or Titus : they are in tlie background, and their features are seen with less distinctness ; yet, so far as they can be descried, they may be identified as the same as there. Their chief characteristic is to ' strive about words' (2"), to indulge in 'profane bab- blings' (2'*), in ' foolish and ignorant questionings' (2^), in ' fables ' (4*) : they are ' corrupted in mind ' (3'), unspiritual (2""), tending to a low standard of morality (2'") : attracting sSly women by profes- sions of knowledge, yet unable to satisfy their desire for it (3'- '). These tendencies will increase hereafter (3' iv iaxiToj.'s r)ijUpai^, perhaps an applica- tion of some previous prophecy ; perhaps little more than ' hereafter,' cf. Pr SI'"), but within Timothy's own lifetime (3" AiroTpiTrov, 4^''). In all these points they resemble the teachers of 1 Tim. and Titus. There are, however, two distinctive traits. (1) They are ybrjTn (3'*), i.e. either, loosely, 'se- ducers' (AV), 'impostors' (RV) : or, more exactly, ' magicians,' ' jugglers,' carrying on, even in their professed Christianity, the old Jewish sorcery or the magical formulae of the ' Ephesian letters,' akin to Simon Ma^s, Elymas, the sons of Sceva, or those who practised ' curious arts ' at Ephesus. The analogy of Jannes and Jainbres (3*) makes it probable that the more exact sense is riglit.
(2) Two of them, Hymena?us and Philetus, taught definitely that ' the resurrection is already past.' Such an assertion must have sprung from a low view of matter, shrinking from belief in a literal resurrection of the body, and either (a) as.serting that the only resurrection is the resurrec- tion of the spirit to newness of life in baptism — a view which springs from the same source as the difficulties about the resurrection in 1 Co 15, and may have been based on a misrepresentation of St. Paul's own teaching (Ro 6'), and which was a common tenet in Gnostic teaching (cf. Iren. i. 23, ii. 31 ; Tert. de Resurr. 19, de Priescript. 3; Justin, Dial. 80 ; Polyc. c. 7 ; 2 Clem. Rom. 9), but would also find sympathy in Jewish thought ; or (h) asserting that a man only rose and lived again in his posterity, an explanation which is found in Acta Theclce 14, i^/iwit at SiSd^o^uy ^v X/7<i offros di'di'"aaiif yiyvfffOcu in IjS^ yiyovtp, 4^ oXi txofiev
T^Kvois — a view which would be akin to earlieJ Jewish thought, but is a less nat\iial perversion oi any Christian theory (see Zahn, Einl. i. p. 486).
There is, then, nothing to dissociate the teachers of this Epistle from tho.se of 1 Tim. and Tit.; and the importance laid on the true spiritual purposes of the OT, as well as the ad hominei/i appeal tc the Jewish Haggada (3*- "), make it probable that they were perverting the spiritual value of the OT by the introduction of worthless Kabbinia legends and speculations.
(b) Church Organization. — On this there is little stress and few details of it. Timothy represents St. Paul ; he is to uphold the deposit, the teaching received from Paul, Paul's gospel (1'-- " 2'- * S'"- ") ; he is to guide the teaching of others (2'"'-), to exercise discipline (4'). He has received a spiritual qualification for his task conferred by the imposi- tion of St. Paul's hands (1», but see 1 Timothy) : his task is described as a SiaKovia, he himself as an eiayyeXta-TTis : he is being summoned away for a special visit to St. Paul, but it seems to be assumed that he will return (3'"^ 4'"'). Meanwhile he is to secure a sure succession for St. Paul's teaching by entrusting it to others, who will be able to hand it on in tlieir turn to others (2-). The suggestion of this Epistle, in contrast to that of 1 Tim., is distinctly against the idea that Timothy was a temporary delegate, and favours the theory that he held a permanent office and a permanent localisation of the office.