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.
must have taken place”53 since “education tended to be for the elite”54 and “virtually all of them aristocratic young men.”55 Without comment on Timothy’s social status during his formative years, it appears Timothy was familiar with home-schooling56 (2 Tim 1:5), with the result that from his childhood he had “known the sacred writings”57 (2 Tim 3:15).
Similarly, the household of God is a classroom for instruction of the underprivileged as well as affluent. Early Christian groups, and principally those of Pauline origin, have been likened to the school.58 Such “schools” of Paul’s day mirrored the philosophical thought that championed the belief and teaching of its central figure.59 To the extent that this may or may not be the case in the Ephesian church, Paul nevertheless appears to enjoy great leadership influence and exercises such leadership as the primary teacher, albeit through Timothy.
The LL is the language of the teacher. Bredfeldt rightly states, “The greatest leaders among us are the great teachers among us.”60 Certainly Paul’s “greatness” was his
53Young, The Theology of the Pastoral Letters, 82.
54Ibid., 80.
55Ronald F. Hock, “Paul and Greco—Roman Education,” in Paul in the Greco-Roman World:
A Handbook, ed. J. Paul Sampley (London: Trinity Press International, 2003), 204.
56David C. Verner, The Household of God: The Social World of the Pastoral Epistles, Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series 71 (Chico, CA: SBL, 1983), 31, states, “The nurture and
education of children actually fell to their mother and her servants through the sixth year of life.”
57H. Hubner, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 749-61. “‘Writings’ grammata; also γραφη(2 Tim 3:16). Γραφη generally refers to ‘writing.’”
58Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christian: The Social World of Paul, 2nd ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), 81.
59Hans Conzelmann, “Luke’s Place in the Development of Early Christianity,” in Studies in Luke-Acts: Essays Presented in Honor of Paul Schubert, ed. Leander E. Keck and J. Louis Martin (New York: Abingdon, 1966), 298-316. Conzelmann proposed that there was a “school of Paul,” which
“methodically pursued ‘Wisdom.’” Ibid.
60Gary Bredfeldt, Great Leader, Great Teacher: Recovering the Biblical Vision for Leadership (Chicago: Moody, 2006), 13.
stewardship as a servant of the household of God. It was his stewardship that compelled him to proclaim Christ, “admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ” (Col 1:28). The concept of
completeness in this passage renders the sense of “maturity.” The goal of Timothy’s ministry in Ephesus, then, is in part to bring the church to some level of Christian
maturity, thus “the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim 1:5).61 Nonetheless such a noble goal will not be realized as long as false doctrine is promoted and ungodly practices are pursued. Consequently Timothy is charged with confronting those who desire to be teachers of the law and to admonish them to cease the charade of pretending competence in handling the Word of God. They have promoted confusion rather than established love (1 Tim 1:5).
How does Paul utilize the LL of a teacher in leading Timothy? This division examines Paul’s leadership-speak as a teacher from three perspectives: rhetorical
strategies, metaphorical illustrations, and preformed materials. The whole of 1 Timothy, and particularly chapters 2 and 3, may be seen as an instructive document organized in such a way as to promote the institutional health and mission of the family of God. While the purpose statement is found in the middle of the letter (1 Tim 3:14), the letter itself exhibits a reasoned and structured argument62 that may more effectively allow Timothy to interpret Paul’s words within the mental model he has already constructed.63 It is the
61Surely agape love is the pinnacle of a mature, godly faith (1 Cor 12-13).
62In contrast, the balance of twentieth-century scholarship strongly promoted a rather disappointing evaluation of the Pastorals. Typical of such assessment are the words of David Miller, The Pastoral Letters as Composite Documents, SNTSM 93 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 139: “Organization and development of thought are expected from an author, but the Pastorals are
characterized by a remarkable lack of both.” Yet, P. H. Towner, “Pauline Theology or Pauline Tradition in the Pastoral Epistles: The Question of Method,” Tyndale Bulletin 46 (1995): 288, writes, “The PE are recognized as presenting a coherent theological and ethical argument to a real church or churches somewhere in time.”
63Ken Bain, What the Best College Teachers Do (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004), 27.
language of the teacher-leader. Likewise, according to Witherington, 2 Timothy may be understood through the instrument of a rhetorical outline, which reveals the
argumentative and persuasive character of the letter.64