The Pastoral Epistles by Donald Guthrie

Author:Donald Guthrie [Guthrie, Donald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780830894918
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2015-09-15T05:00:00+00:00

e. Final admonition to Timothy (6:20–21)

20. The Epistle closes with another exhortation urging Timothy to guard the faith as a fixed deposit (parathēkē), a word which occurs only here and in 2 Timothy 1:12, 14 in the New Testament. This deposit cannot be distinguished from the frequent objective use of such terms as ‘the faith’, or ‘the commandment’, but its particular significance is found in the preciousness of what is to be guarded. It is like treasure deposited in a bank for safe keeping. The metaphor must not, of course, be pressed too far, for the minister of the gospel does not keep the ‘deposit’ from others, but encourages them to come and share in its precious secrets.

Timothy is to guard the deposit by deliberately turning away (the same verb ektrepomai as is applied in 1:6 to the false teachers’ defection from truth) from the false teaching, here described as godless chatter and opposing ideas. The meaning of the first expression is clear from parallels in the Pastorals (e.g. 1 Tim. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:16), throughout which the futility of the false teachers’ jargon is frequently stressed. The second word (translated opposing ideas) has occasioned much discussion because of Marcion’s use of the same term antitheseis as a title for his gnostic speculations based on the alleged opposition between the Old Testament and the Christian gospel. Only scholars who date the Pastorals very late can claim that Marcion’s work is here specifically referred to, but there is no evidence to show that Marcion was the first to use the word in this sense, nor is there sufficient support in the scattered references in the Pastorals to prove that Marcion’s teaching is in mind. For further discussion of this see Introduction, pp. 45ff.).

The falsely called knowledge that Timothy must shun should be understood in the light of the empty and godless chatter of which the apostle has already spoken. The false teachers were claiming quite naturally that their teaching was the true knowledge (gnōsis), a characteristic certainty not confined to second-century Gnosticism. It is evident in all the modern cults which claim an exclusive grasp of true ‘knowledge’.

21. This parting shot at the false teachers significantly uses the same word (have wandered, astocheō) to describe their defection as was used at the beginning of the Epistle (1:6).

The concluding benediction is interesting because with you is in the plural. This may mean that the Epistle was designed for others besides Timothy, although examples in the papyri of the plural used for individuals are not uncommon1 Both 2 Timothy and Titus close with the same plural greeting, while the conclusion to the Epistle to the Colossians furnishes an exact parallel from Paul’s earlier letters.

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