Lectionary Year C
September 23, 2001
1 Timothy 6:6-19

Composition

Step III - Composition

A. Immediate Context

(JFC) Pre - The two five verses of I Timothy 6 tell servants to respect their masters, especially if their masters are believers. Then verses 3-5 highlight what the author seems to think are urgent teachings to people he accuses of being cantankerous if they disobey such teachings.

Post - There are only two more verses in I Timothy after our text. They obviously convey a signing off. They accentuate previously stated terms, e.g., that the recipient remain vigilant against conflicts and false teachings by guarding the orthodoxy with which he has been entrusted. More of the consequences of the wrong doers are catalogued, as well. Then the "Grace be with you" ends the epistle.

B. Organization of the Compositional Whole

(JFC) As has been noted in previous weeks, I Timothy's author intends to exhort (Lewis Donelson's term), instruct and encourage the recipient, especially in the subjects of teaching the orthodoxy of the faith that differs from the false teachings currently going on in the recipient's environs. "The Pastorals view the impingement of this movement (Gnosticism) on the church as a severe threat to Christianity", says Eric Lane Titus' introductory article on I Timothy in The Interpreter's One Volume Commentary on the Bible. The writer wants to preserve the purity of the church there and, so, enumerates the qualifications of the officers to lead them. We might identify an outline of I Timothy as beginning with an accustomed greeting, 1:1f, followed by an explanation of the situation leading to declaring the purpose of writing, 1:3-11. Next, we find a self admitted need to confess naming the writer's wrongs committed and his profession of Christ's having saved and chosen him for service, 1:12-17. Then, in chapter 2, we read generally of proper orders for prayer and rules for women's remaining reserved, etc. Donelson calls 2:5 and 6a a "brief hymn . . . the origin of which is unknown." Chapter 3 lists mostly the required qualities for bishops and deacons and how they are to manage the church. Chapter 4 addresses the urgent (Thomas Oden's term) dispute false teachers present. Chapter 5 gives guidance to the church's pastors and describes those they are to pastor. The final chapter of I Timothy offers several directions for proper ecclesiastical conduct.

C. Issues of Authorship

(JFC) As previously noted, much of I Timothy's vocabulary is foreign to authentically Pauline compositions as are many of the standards and several structures the author mentions. The style(s) of I Timothy differ(s) from genuine Paulinistic expressions in earlier recorded letters, too. Those who maintain Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles have to imagine further travels for Paul after his trip to Rome which ended in Acts and another imprisonment of which the New Testament knows nothing. Many commentaries accept as Pauline most of the thoughts, theology and morals expressed in I Timothy, and/or can readily suggest that the unknown author/compiler must have been of the Pauline school. Some propose that much of this letter is of fragments from Paul's pen and/or one of his followers', rather roughly joined together. Another theory proposes Paul's dictating an outline to a scribe and letting the scribe fill in the outline with his own vocabulary and style (Ralph P. Martin in Harper's Bible Commentary). The situation addressed in I Timothy is Gnostic judgmentalism and ascetic tendencies, heresies the Pauline tradition opposed. Without any references to imprisonment and/or persecution, some see this letter being written before 64 CE, according to James L. Price's Interpreting the New Testament. Others, however, propose dates well into the second century, at least into the first half of it.

| Return to gospel text listings | Return to epistle text listings |
| Return to Old Testament listings | Return to Psalm listings |
| User response form |