TRAINING NEW LEADERS
The emphasis which the Pastoral Epistles lay upon sound instruction and upon orderly government is sometimes looked upon with distaste. Orthodoxy and organization are thought to be destructive of religious fervor. In the New Testament, however, the two aspects of the Church's life appear side by side. In the New Testament, enthusiasm and sanity are united. And the New Testament is right. Religion is a concern of every individual soul—the final decision must be made by every man in the immediate presence of his God—but normally no man can do without association with his fellows. The Church is a great permanent community. It is not merely an aggregation, but an institution. To break away from its restraints may be attractive, it may produce a certain temporary impression of zeal and new life; but in the long run the old way is usually best.
The Pastoral Epistles, however, are sometimes thought to indicate an unfortunate change in Paul himself as well as in the Church. Some students would prefer to know only the Paul of Galatians and Corinthians and Romans. This judgment is one-sided. The Pastorals do not contradict, but supplement, the earlier letters. The earlier period, no doubt, is the more inspiring; there is nothing in the Pastoral Epistles like the first few chapters of First Corinthians, or the fifth chapter of Second Corinthians, or the eighth chapter of Romans. These passages are overpowering in the intensity of their eloquence; the later letters are soberer, graver, more matter-of-fact. These latter qualities, however, are much needed in the Church. The Church needs enthusiasm; but she also needs gravity and sanity. Her function is not merely evangelistic; it is also conservative and educational. In both functions Paul was a leader. The quiet gravity of the Pastoral Epistles supplements the glories of Galatians and Romans. Only when these last epistles are added to the others can the many-sided greatness of Paul be fully appreciated. Exaggerations, moreover, should be avoided. The soberness of the Pastorals is not commonplace. Back of the details of organization, back of the concern for sound instruction, there can be detected throughout the glow of the Pauline gospel. The Pastoral Epistles, like the other letters of Paul, are a perennial fountain of Christian life.
The Second Epistle to Timothy was clearly the last of the extant epistles of Paul; but the order of First Timothy and Titus cannot be certainly determined. The difficulty of reconstructing the history implied by the Pastoral Epistles reveals anew the supreme value of The Acts. After the conclusion of the Lucan narrative the historian is almost helpless. From about A. D. 63 on into the second century, the history of the Church is shrouded in profound darkness, with gleams of light only here and there.
1. THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY
At the time when First Timothy was written, Paul had recently made a journey to Macedonia. I Tim. 1:3. Perhaps he had gone thither from Ephesus, though the words do not make that perfectly clear. At any rate, he had directed Timothy to remain in Ephesus, where he hoped to join him before long. In case of delay, however, he writes the epistle. Chs. 3:14,15; 4:13.
On a previous occasion, perhaps by word of mouth when he had been in Ephesus, he had warned Timothy to put a stop to certain false teaching in the Church, and the warning is now reiterated in the epistle. The exact nature of this teaching is somewhat difficult to determine. Apparently it had been concerned with the Jewish law. Ch. 1:7-11. Compare Titus 1:10,14. Like the false teaching at Colossæ, it seems not to have been directly subversive of the truth of the gospel. At least, however, it diverted attention from the great things of the faith to useless questionings. I Tim. 6:4. The myths and endless genealogies, ch. 1:4, compare 4:7, were perhaps elaborations of the Old Testament history. Whether the ascetic tendency which is combated in ch. 4:3,8, is connected with this same teaching, is not certain, but is on the whole perhaps probable.
The first reference to the false teaching, ch. 1:3-10, leads Paul to speak of the norm by which it could be combated. Vs. 11-20. That norm was the gospel with which he had been intrusted. The bestowal of the gospel had changed him from a blasphemer and persecutor into an apostle. The gospel had been bestowed purely by the free grace of Christ, and its content was the salvation which Christ offers. A doxology to God, v. 17, is natural whenever that gospel is mentioned. That gospel will overcome all error, and if attended to diligently will prevent disasters like that which has befallen Hymenæus and Alexander.
In the second chapter, Paul insists upon gravity and order in the public worship of the Church. In the prayers which are to be offered, the civil authority is not to be forgotten, even though it be non-Christian. The sympathies of the Christian must be broad. God desires all men to come to a knowledge of the truth.
The highest regular officers of the Church are in the third chapter called "bishops." It is abundantly evident, however—especially from Titus 1:5,7—that "bishop" is only another name for "presbyter" or "elder." At a later time the term "bishop" was applied to an officer who had the supreme oversight over a church and to whom the elders were subject. These conditions did not prevail at the time of the Pastoral Epistles. At first sight, indeed, it might seem as though Timothy and Titus themselves were "bishops" in the later sense of the word. But this also is false. Timothy and Titus do not appear at all as officers of individual congregations. They had oversight over a plurality of churches, and evidently their authority was special and temporary. They did not fill an office which was intended to become permanent in the Church, but were simply special representatives of the apostle. As the apostles had no successors, so no man after the apostolic age had a right to assume the functions of Timothy and Titus.
The fourth chapter calls attention to the revelation of the Holy Spirit, probably through the lips of Christian prophets, that in the future there would appear apostates from the faith. The errorists who are combated in vs. 7-10 are apparently to be regarded as forerunners, still within the Church, of the more open apostasy which is one day to follow.
The institution of the "widows," which is discussed in the fifth chapter, is to us somewhat obscure. Evidently those who were accounted "widows," being helpless, were entitled to support by the church. The necessity of sound teaching, with emphasis upon the really fundamental things of the faith, is again insisted upon; and certain false teachers are accused of practicing or inculcating piety as a means of worldly gain. Ch. 6:3-10. The last warning of the epistle characteristically concerns vain babblings and oppositions of a so-called knowledge. Probably these errors are connected in some way with those which are combated in the first section of the epistle. In the final words, "Grace be with you," the "you" in the Greek, according to the best attestation, is plural; and in the corresponding passages at the end of Titus and of Second Timothy, it is certainly plural. This may furnish an indication—to be added to more general considerations—that the Pastoral Epistles were intended not merely for those to whom they are formally addressed, but also to the churches under their care.
2. THE EPISTLE TO TITUS
The address of the Epistle to Titus is noteworthy for the long addition to the title of the author, which is to be compared with the similar addition in Romans.
At the time when the epistle was written, Paul had recently been with Titus in Crete. Paul had not labored on that island before the first Roman imprisonment. His journeys in the east between the two imprisonments therefore involved something more than the revisitation of former fields. The reason why Titus was left behind in Crete was somewhat similar to the reason why Timothy, according to First Timothy, was told to remain in Ephesus. Titus was to give attention to organization, and to the maintenance of sound instruction.
Like Timothy, Titus is given the power of establishing presbyters, and of establishing them not merely in one church but in various churches. The function of the presbyter was that of "bishop" or "overseer." Titus 1:5-7. In vs. 9-16, the close connection of organization with sound doctrine becomes particularly apparent. One important function of the presbyters was to counteract the errors which were springing up. The account of the errorists in Crete is perhaps in some respects clearer than that which is given of the related phenomenon in Ephesus. The false teachers were animated by a love of gain. V. 11. Some of them were Jews or proselytes. V. 10. They had a fondness for Jewish fables. Apparently, also, they tried to atone for a lack of real inward purity by an outward asceticism. Vs. 15, 16. They were concerned with vain questionings and genealogies and legal disputes. These last are perhaps to be regarded as casuistic discussions like those which play such a large part in Jewish tradition.
The Epistle to Titus is somewhat richer than First Timothy in personal details. After Titus has been relieved in Crete by Artemas or Tychicus, who may soon be sent, he is to join Paul in Nicopolis. Tychicus, it will be remembered, had served as Paul's messenger during the first imprisonment. He was the bearer of Colossians and Ephesians. The Nicopolis where Paul is intending to pass the approaching winter, is probably the chief of the many cities of that name, the Nicopolis in Epirus. Zenas, a lawyer otherwise unknown, and the well-known Apollos, who appears so prominently in The Acts and in First Corinthians, are to be furnished in Crete with everything that they need for their further journey.
3. THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY
The First Epistle to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus are in many respects strikingly similar. A certain strong family resemblance extends also to Second Timothy. Evidently all three of the Pastoral Epistles belong to the same general period of Paul's life, and were intended to subserve similar purposes. Second Timothy, however, as compared with the other two, exhibits some marked peculiarities.
The personal element, in particular, is in this letter much more prominent. Second Timothy contains a wealth of interesting biographical details about Timothy, about Paul, and about a very considerable number of other persons. Some of these last are known only from this epistle; others have been brought to our attention again and again.
In Second Timothy Paul appears as a prisoner, no doubt at Rome. This time there seems to be little hope of his release. Apparently his imprisonment is not of long standing. Only recently he has been at Corinth and at Miletus. II Tim. 4:20. He speaks in one place of his first defense. V. 16. Some suppose that this is a reminiscence of the trial which had taken place years before, during the first imprisonment. More probably it refers to some preliminary hearing which had only recently been held. Paul is oppressed with a sense of loneliness, even more than during the first imprisonment. There was no one to stand by him at his first hearing. For one reason or another, his intimate associates have been scattered—some of them, no doubt, for good and sufficient reasons, but Demas, at any rate, out of an unworthy love of the world. Luke, fortunately, is still with him; and Timothy, with Mark, is urged to come before the winter. Vs. 11, 21. Mark seems to have changed since he turned back from the work at Perga. At the beginning he was rebuked for desertion; but now at the end he is one of the few faithful ones.
It is not quite clear where Timothy was when the letter was addressed to him. The greeting to Priscilla and Aquila might seem to point to Ephesus. They had lived there before; perhaps they returned thither after a residence in Rome. Rom. 16:3. If Timothy was in Ephesus, then Tychicus, who was sent thither, II Tim. 4:12, was probably expected to linger by the way; otherwise his sending would be no news to the reader of the letter. Something is to be said, perhaps, for the view that Timothy was not at Ephesus, but perhaps at Lystra, his original home.
The Second Epistle to Timothy contains warnings against false teaching similar to those which appear in First Timothy and Titus. But the characteristic feature of the letter is to be found in the references to the apostle's own life. Even the warnings and admonitions are brought into relation to these. Paul does not hesitate to point to himself as an example for his beloved followers. He does so, without a touch of vain glory, in the simple consciousness of a divine commission. Second Timothy is a letter of farewell, in which reminiscence and exhortation are characteristically blended. It is a farewell from the apostle, primarily for Timothy, though he is expecting to see Timothy again, but also for all of the Pauline churches. The letter has taken deep hold of every generation in the history of the Church. The fitting end of a life of true service, the calm facing of death, the certainty of heavenly communion with the Lord—these are the things above all others that have been learned from the last of the epistles of Paul.
In the Library.—Purves, "Christianity in the Apostolic Age," pp. 252-261. Davis, "Dictionary of the Bible": Purves, articles on "Timothy" and "Titus." M'Clymont, "The New Testament and Its Writers," pp. 104-115. Lewin, "The Life and Epistles of St. Paul," vol. ii, chs. vii, viii, ix, x and xi. Conybeare and Howson, "The Life and Epistles of St. Paul," ch. xxvii. Stalker, "The Life of St. Paul," pp. 133-136. Warfield, "Acts, Timothy, Titus and Philemon," in "The Temple Bible," pp. xxvii-xliii. Ellicott, "A New Testament Commentary for English Readers," vol. iii, pp. 171-264: Spence, "The Pastoral Epistles of St. Paul." "The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges": Humphreys, "The Epistles to Timothy and Titus." Zahn, "Introduction to the New Testament," vol. ii, pp. 1-133. The last named work is intended primarily for those who have some knowledge of Greek, but can also be used by others.