he picture the Cretans in such detail to Titus, who was in the midst of them, and who must have known their characteris- tics quite as well as himself ?
Vill. THe Herestes. — Before it can be decisively asserted that the heresies treated in these Epistles are later than Paul’s time, it must be settled what these heresies were, and this, with our present knowledge, is impossible. There are almost as many different views as there are critics. In the Epistles themselves the statements regarding heresies are general and sweeping, and, taken together, do not point to any particular system. It would seem that the writer was assailing, not a particular form of heresy, but a tendency, of which he does not discuss the details. Indeed, the allusions to heresies appear intended principally to point the exhorta- tions to hold fast sound teaching and the instructions con- cerning church polity, as safeguards against false teaching and immoral practice. The moral developments of the her- esies, rather than their doctrinal errors, are treated. Their representatives are wicked men and impostors: they are deceiving and deceived: they are of corrupt mind, destitute of truth, with their consciences seared: they lead captive silly women, laden with sins, led away by divers lusts: they are greedy of gain. At the root of the moral errors there seem to be indicated Gnostic tendencies and Jewish corrup- tions, and traits akin to those which appear in the Colossian heresy. All of the writer’s theology is anti-Gnostic. Indi- vidual features of Gnosticism can be recognised, but a con- sistent reference throughout to Gnosticism cannot be shown.* In any case, it is noticeable how the treatment of heresies and false teachers differs from that of Paul. The treatment in the Pastorals is general, sweeping, vague, and mainly denun- ciatory. No vital differences between the forms of error and between their teachers are defined, but all are indiscriminately denounced as concerned with foolish and ignorant question-
* See Pfleiderer, Urchristenthum, p. 801 ff., and Holtzmann, Die Pastoral- briefe, ch. TX.