Given the private correspondent nature of 1 Timothy and the intensified personal appeal of 2 Timothy, in addition to the familial relationship enjoyed by the apostle and protégé, the salutatory greeting of Paul to Timothy assumes a peculiar
rhetorical stance. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord” (1 Tim 1:1-2).
31Philip H. Towner, The Goal of Our Instruction: The Structure of Theology and Ethics in the Pastoral Epistles, Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement 34 (Sheffield: JSNT, 1989), 157.
32“Kardia refers to the inner person, the seat of understanding, knowledge, and will, and takes on as well the meaning conscience.” Horst Balz and Gerhard Schneider, eds., Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 2:250.
33Eva Maria Lassen, “The Use of the Father Image in Imperial Propaganda and 1 Corinthians 4:14-21,” Tyndale Bulletin 42, no. 1 (1991): 127-36.
34Raymond F. Collins, The Power of Images in Paul (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2008), 13.
“Paul also used kinship language to evoke the bonds that linked him and his fellow missionaries.”
Why does Paul state his position of authority to Timothy? Why the formality of an apostolic resume? The collective answer is that this is Paul’s common practice. The apostle understood his letter(s) was an official document and would be read before the church, even though both letters appear to be private correspondence to an individual.35 Certainly some scholars are convinced that 1 and 2 Timothy are personal letters, or at least letters directed to Timothy36 with the church as secondary recipients who “implicitly overheard”37 the apostles’ personal appeal. So perhaps Paul’s words of affection coupled with his apostolic authority would supply Timothy with additional needed clout in the household of God to move forward in correcting false teachers as well as errant behavior in the household of God. Armed with such added power, Timothy will be better
positioned to lead. No doubt given the problems to be addressed, Paul’s younger follower needed the authority (in the eyes of the church) that Paul’s honored position granted him.
However, perhaps Timothy’s greater personal need was a reminder of Paul’s position and authority. As Paul’s true child in the faith, Timothy may have had such a strong affinity with Paul as “father” that he was motivated more by his relationship with Paul than he was Paul’s apostolic authority.38 In short, Timothy may have developed such an intimacy of relationship with Paul that he lost sight of Paul’s position of authority. Conceivably the follower became too relationally intimate with the leader.
Paul, the father-figure who has nurtured Timothy as a son, must also reinforce his authority as an apostolic God-ordained authority. In a LL Paul speaks in an authority-
35The letter to Philemon in addition to the PE, are the only Pauline documents not addressed to a specific church.
36For example, see Mounce, The Pastoral Epistles; Thomas Schreiner, Interpreting the Pauline Epistles: Guide to New Testament Exegesis (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990); Fee, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus; and Witherington, Letters and Homilies.
37Marshall, The Pastoral Epistles, 12.
38It is helpful to remember that Timothy’s father was not a believer (Acts 16:1) and it appears Paul had become a surrogate father in an emotional sense, as well as a spiritual father.
compliance mode, as well as with a paternalistic attitude. Patrick Gray insists 1 Timothy should be rhetorically classified as the mandata principis, a “commandment of the ruler.”39Perhaps this perspective might be slightly modified in light of Paul’s continual personal appeal to Timothy. The apostle employs passionate words that evoke emotions.
He also utilizes familial words as well as power words in his greeting to move Timothy to responsive action.40
Paul could have addressed Timothy with words of command.41 If Paul had used in the disposition42 of his leader-speak an insensitive and demanding approach, he could have potentially been disqualified in reference to his own teaching. Thus loving persuasion is in order. In outlining the virtues of leaders in God’s house, Paul states that a leader must “be one who manages43 his own household well,44 keeping his children under
39Patrick Gray, Opening Paul’s Letters: A Reader’s Guide to Genre and Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012), 61.
40Evidence does not exist to suggest Timothy was non-responsive to Paul’s instructions; yet the problems evidently were not solved by Paul’s first communiqué. Paul wrote a second letter of similar concern. It is also interesting that the second letter was more personal (seemingly less authoritative) than the first. To add to the confusion, Jesus’ words (Rev 2) indicate that in many ways the Ephesian church had indeed been correctly orthodox in matters of doctrine and practice and yet other serious issues remained.
41Of course, this is not to ignore the multiple instances of imperatival command issued by Paul to Timothy.
42It is clear that Paul desired to produce an atmosphere of familial love and cooperation, especially given the difficulties Timothy was facing. Therefore, there is no heavy-handedness about the assignment ahead. While Paul does not misrepresent the difficulties of setting the church in order, he is first committed to building up his son for the task ahead.
43Ron Clark, “Family Management or Involvement? Paul’s Use of προἴστημι in 1 Timothy 3 as a Requirement for Church Leadership,” Stone Campbell Journal 9 (Fall 2006): 244. “Traditionally
προἴστημι has been translated ‘manage’ or ‘rule,’ but the range of meanings of this word suggests
involvement, protection, and engagement in the lives of others. Those who led in this way used persuasion rather than force. Persuasion was a necessary quality of leadership rather than coercion, manipulation, and control.” Marshall, The Pastoral Epistles, 480, concurs that προἴστημι could be understood as “of attention:
‘to be concerned for,’ ‘to apply oneself to’ (Titus 3:8, 14).” Fee, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, 82, expands the scope of the word: “The clue to its meaning here lies with understanding the companion verb about the church in verse 5, to take care of, which carries the full force of that idiom in English. That is, to take care of implies both leadership (guidance) and caring concern. In the home and church neither has validity without the other.”
44Balz and Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, 246. Καλῶς is used four
control with all dignity” (1 Tim 3:4-5). This requirement speaks to the consistency of a man’s domestic leadership, as well his leadership in the church of God.45 Nonetheless, it must not escape observation that just as Paul has required a father or church leader to manage their homes, including their children, Paul is “managing his child” Timothy in a dignified manner through his gracious leader-speak, much of which is persuasive in attitude.
Certainly behavior is in mind here, but not exclusively. Part of the dignified administration of God’s household is the management of one’s tongue and attitude. The emphasis of these verses stands on two fronts: the responsibility of the children to be submissive to the parents, and the responsibility of the parent-leader to “maintain his personal dignity in the process” of family management.46 The same concept of dignity and respect on the part of the household manager is seen in 1 Timothy 5 where there is an expected gracious and compassionate protocol for caring and relating to one’s parents, widows, and the elderly in God’s house. As has been demonstrated, Paul’s conceptual idea of appropriate leader-speak is grounded in his understanding that the church is the household of God.47 This is the logical conclusion of one with vested interest in the
times in the PE to describe excellence in service and/or accomplishing a desired task: “In 1 Tim 3:13; 5:17 καλῶς links appropriate and exemplary leadership with ‘caring well for one’s own house’ (3:4, 12).” BGD, 401, defines καλῶς as “1. fitly, appropriately, in the right way, splendidly 2. in a moral sense
commendably, in a manner free from objection 3. beneficially, acceptably 4. rightly, correctly, do what is right, act rightly.”
45It is necessary to remember that the church met in the home and, in many if not most cases, the owner of the house would also exercise some measure of leadership responsibility in the household of God.
46Mounce, The Pastoral Epistles, 177.
47It is recognized that the household schema and leadership considerations are not consistent throughout the Pastorals. Paul diverges from the path. Yet, Towner, The Goal of Our Instruction, 170, states, “If the inclusion of bishops, deacons, widows, and presbyters among the standard social groups (husband/wife, man/woman, parent/child, master/slave) marks a divergence from the traditional form (Colossians, Ephesians, 1 Peter), it may be . . . the concept of the church as ‘the household of God’ (3.15;
cf. 3.5) . . . accounts for the development. In any case, the influence of the house code within the Pastoral is evident.”
household of God. A commitment to the Lord means that one has joined the ranks of God’s household and is interested in and committed to her favorable welfare. For Paul, the gospel linked believers as family members to one another,48 as well as to God the Father (1 Tim 1:1-2; 2 Tim 1:1-2). Likewise, the gospel and the pursuit of godliness act as a governor on the words spoken within the family.
Furthermore, it could be effectively argued that the balance of requirements of leadership (1 Tim 3:1-13), and most obviously the injunctions “able to teach” (1:2), “not double-tongued” (1:8), and “not malicious gossips” (1:11), speak to the godly use of the tongue “faithfully exercising control of speech
. . .
in line with apostolic tradition.”49 As a leader, Paul must esteem his spiritual children with a dignified tongue and gracious attitude because ultimately he is a steward (1 Tim 1:12, 2-3, 5:9-24; 2 Tim 1:11-14, 4:7- 8) of God the Father who lives and functions as Overseer of His household. Paul’s LL toward Timothy flows from a gentle and loving tongue and expresses appropriate leader- speak in the household of God. Wayne McCready crystalizes the concept of thehousehold of God as a family to be esteemed in Pauline writings when he states,
The amount of language emphasizing close personal ties, brotherly and sisterly love, greetings with a holy kiss, concern for the well-being of community members, and so on, not only reinforced a sense of community, but it underscored the internal cohesion that distinguished the assemblies of early Christians.50
To that point, Patrick Nullens states, “The Pastoral Epistles are completely immersed in the concept of caring love.”51
48This connection may be more clearly realized in the body of Christ metaphor. Thomas Schreiner, Paul: Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ—A Pauline Theology (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2001), 336, states, “The body is one and yet it has many different members, but the variety of members does not nullify the fact that there is one body.”
49Jack Barentsen, Emerging Leadership in the Pauline Mission: A Social Identity Perspective on Local Leadership Development in Corinth and Ephesus, ed. K. C. Hanson and Charles M. Charles, Princeton Theological Monograph Series 168 (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2011), 233.
50Wayne O. McCready, “Ekklesia and Voluntary Associations,” in Voluntary Association in the Graeco-Roman World, ed. John Kloppenborg and Stephen G. Wilson (London: Routledge, 1996), 63.
51Patrick Nullens, “Theologia Caritatis and the Moral Authority of Scripture: Approaching 2
It is the language of a “father” that Paul invests in Timothy. Yet it is often needful for a father to speak in diverse tongues that assume an altered leadership tone.
Thus Paul speaks to Timothy as his “son,” a child. However, the son is also a man, and man requires a different quality of rhetoric and tone. Likewise, the son who understands the urgency of the moment may be admonished to follow the voice of his father. Such an urgent appeal came to Timothy through the apostolic authority of his mission-leader.