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Καλός/καλῶς in the Pastorals

October 29, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

“Good is a major theme in the PE.” (Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, 33.)

Without considering ἀγαθός for the moment, note that καλός/καλῶς are found in 1 Tim 16x/4x; 2 Tim 3x/0x; Titus 4x/0x (note also καλοδιδάσκαλος, Titus 2:3).

See focused discussion of καλός and/or καλῶς in the Pastorals in Roberto Amici, “Principi e norme di non estraneità al mondo nelle lettere a Timoteo e a Tito,” EstBib 67.3 (2009): 447–56; Rüdiger Fuchs, “Bisher unbeachtet—zum unterschiedlichen Gebrauch von ἀγαθός, καλός, und καλῶς in den Schreiben an Timotheus und Titus,” EuroJTh 15 (2006): 15–33; W. Grundmann, “καλός,” TDNT 3:549–50; Lock, Pastoral Epistles, 22–23; Marcheselli-Casale, Le Lettere Pastorali, 393–95; Marshall, Pastoral Epistles, 227–29; Jerome D. Quinn, The Letter to Titus, AB 35 (New York: Doubleday, 1990), 175–76; Pietro Rossano, “L’ideale del bello (Καλός) nell’etica di S. Paolo,” in Studiorum Paulinorum Congressus internationalis catholicus 1961, AnBib 18 (Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1963), esp. 377–81; M. Silva, “καλός, κτλ.,” NIDNTTE 2:610; Spicq, Les épîtres pastorales, 676–84; J. Wanke, “καλός,” EDNT 2:245.

Padilla, The Pastoral Epistles (TNTC)

October 27, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

The well-known TNTC series — Tyndale New Testament Commentaries — is releasing a new commentary on the Pastoral Epistles by Osvaldo Padilla.

The new volume replaces a former treatment of the letters by Donald Guthrie (1916–1992), who mounted a robust defense of Pauline authorship in his 1957 TNTC volume (2nd ed., 1990), one of the first in the series. Guthrie was not a prolific author of Pastorals literature, but well-known for what he did write in that vein. Pertinent works included The Pastorals and the Mind of Paul (London: Tyndale, 1955); “The Development of the Idea of Canonical Pseudepigrapha in New Testament Criticism,” Vox Evangelica 1 (1962): 43–59; and his treatment of the letters in his well-known New Testament Introduction, published and revised in various editions from the 1960s to the final 4th edition in 1990. He also contributed articles on the Pastorals to the New Bible Dictionary. His New Testament Theology thoroughly incorporates the Pastorals as Pauline, but is structured such that there is little in the way of distinct treatment of the letters.

I will formally review Padilla’s volume in the future, but will simply note here its release. Osvaldo Padilla is professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School. The Pastoral Epistles is “the first time I have written in the ‘genre’ of the commentary” (ix), although he has published The Acts of the Apostles: Interpretation, History and Theology (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016). From my initial glance through the volume, he writes as a defender of the letters’ authenticity, as would be expected in the TNTC series (1–16), and as an egalitarian (cf. 97–98). Highlighting these points is not meant to minimize other aspects of the volume, simply to to note two areas that are often of significant interest in a Pastorals commentary. I am grateful to IVP for providing a review copy.

The Pastorals at SBL 2022

October 26, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

The 2022 SBL/AAR Annual Meeting program lists the following sessions which may be of interest to Pastorals researchers:

Margaret MacDonald, “Flexible Arrangements: Uncovering the Relationship between Space and Education in the Pastoral Epistles”

Victoria Perez Rivera, “Scripturalizing the Pastorals: Exegesis and Power”

Marion Ann Taylor, “Should Women Speak/Preach? Marie Dentière, Calvin, and Farel”

Anna C. Miller and Katherine A. Shaner, “Ensouled Tools and Social Death: Resisting Re-inscription of Aristotelian Natural Slavery in 1 Timothy”

Oluwarotimi Paul Adebayo, “A Socio-rhetorical Understanding of θεόπνευστος in 2 Timothy 3:16–17 in Its Contribution to Scripture Authority”

Judy Kim, “Who is the “Heretic” (Αἱρετικός) to be Shunned?: Origen’s Understanding of the Apostolic Injunction in Titus 3:10–11”

The Pastorals at ETS 2022

October 24, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

In the ETS Annual Meeting program, the Pastoral Epistles study group is absent for the first time in 11 years. However, several sessions at the annual meeting engage the Pastorals:

Courtney Veasey, “The Function of Καταστολή in 1 Tim 2:9 in the Identification of the Church as a Holy Community.”

David H. Warren, “Negation and Ellipsis in the Pastorals”

Hershel Wayne House, “Why Did Paul Forbid Women to Teach Men in the Church? (1 Timothy 2:11–15)”

Kidson, “Real Widows, Young Widows, and the Limits of Benefaction in 1 Timothy 5:3–16”

October 18, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

Lyn Kidson has produced another contribution to the discussion of widows in 1 Timothy 5. (See also her “Fasting, Bodily Care, and the Widows of 1 Timothy 5:3–15,” Early Christianity 11.2 (2020): 191–205 [DOI: 10.1628/ec-2020-0016])

Lyn Kidson, “Real Widows, Young Widows, and the Limits of Benefaction in 1 Timothy 5:3–16.” Australian Biblical Review 70 (2022): 83–100.

Abstract: John Barclay, in his 2020 article, “Household Networks and Early Christian Economics,” outlines the puzzles that “abound” in 1 Timothy 5:3–16. Among his list of puzzles, he asks, “Is it inconsistent to say that a χήρα can be registered only if she has brought up children (5.10), but to deny her support in 5:4–8 if she has children to look after? Who are the younger χῆραι that the Pastor is evidently so anxious about (5:11–15) …?” Barclay’s article has gone a long way to resolving these puzzles. The “younger χῆραι” he identifies as “virgins.” This was an anomaly in the social world of the early Christians, which forced them to adapt terms for the woman beyond puberty but was without a man. This was a χήρα. While in agreement with Barclay, this article probes a little more deeply into the problem of the younger χήρα and her dowry. It makes the proposal that if the younger χήρα is a virgin, then the issue in 1 Timothy 5 is not her ongoing support, which seems manageable for the “real widow,” but the support for the virgin who wishes to marry after she has been assigned as a qualifying χήρα.

Baum, “Saving Wealthy Ephesian Women from a Self-Centered Way of Life (1 Tim 2:15)”

October 1, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

A essay on the crux of 1 Tim 2:15 in a festschrift honoring Rob van Houwelingen on the occasion of his retirement:

Armin Baum, “Saving Wealthy Ephesian Women from a Self-Centered Way of Life (1 Tim 2:15): Salvation by Childbearing in the Context of Ancient Arguments against Sexual Intercourse, Pregnancy, and Child-rearing,” in Troubling Texts in the New Testament: Essays in Honour of Rob van Houwelingen, Contributions to Exegesis and Theology (Leuven: Peeters, 2022), 257–83.

Abstract: “Many Bible readers regard the statement in 1 Timothy 2: 15 (“She will be saved through childbearing … “) as very unfair. Why did Paul (or one of his disciples) lose sight of gender equality? And is this passage not irreconcilable with passages such as Galatians 3:28, where Paul advocated the soteriological equality of the sexes, and with 1 Corinthians 7:8, where Paul encouraged unmarried women and widows to remain single? 1 Timothy 2: 15 confronts us with two exegetical challenges. First, its telegraphic style was probably quite comprehensible for Paul’s protege Timothy; but for us who are much less familiar with Paul’s thoughts, it.is much more difficult to decipher. Secondly, while for Paul, Timothy and the women concerned the concrete situation in the church of Ephesus was crystal clear, for us who are not involved and look at it from a distance of 2000 years it is anything but easy to figure out what exactly Paul was talking about. But read against its literary and historical context, l Timothy 2:15 is not a misogynistic text but rather a statement against luxury-oriented selfishness which is in conflict with the law of love.”

Helpful in this essay is a taxonomy of views regarding τεκνογονία in 2:15 (p. 260):

Baum’s final interpretive translation reveals his take on the passage: “(The luxury-minded) women (in the church of Ephesus) will be saved (from their spiritually dangerous self-centered lifestyle) by bearing children (and thereby accepting the maternal role) and by holding fast to (the basic Christian virtues of) faith, love, holiness and (particularly) chastity” (p. 280).

Smit, “Gender Trouble in 1 Tim 2:8–15”

September 29, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

A new essay on 1 Timothy 2:8–15 in a festschrift honoring Rob van Houwelingen on the occasion of his retirement:

Peter-Ben Smit, “Gender Trouble in 1 Tim 2:8–15,” in Troubling Texts in the New Testament: Essays in Honour of Rob van Houwelingen, Contributions to Exegesis and Theology (Leuven: Peeters, 2022), 237–56.

Abstract: “This contribution takes as its point of departure the virtues as they are mentioned in 1 Timothy 2:8–15, in particular in verse 15. Analyzing how gender is constructed through the performance of virtues, and noting that certain virtues when performed by women contribute to their autonomy, the proposal is made that, however ‘conservatively’ the author of 1 Timothy may have intended his discourse on gender in these verses, the stress on female virtue may well foster greater autonomy for these women than would have been intended by the author. The question is asked whether this text does not cause its own kind of gender trouble and, in a way, give birth to women like Thecla.”

Church, “Separation from the Evil World”

September 19, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

An excursion into the theology of Darby which may be of interest to students of 2 Timothy:

Phillip Church, “Separation from the (Evil) World: 2 Timothy 2.19-21 and the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.” The Bible Translator 73.2 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1177/20516770221097930

Abstract: Separation from the (evil) world based on 2 Tim 2.19-21 is a defining characteristic of exclusive brethrenism, both in its most extreme form, the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, and in other exclusive brethren groups. I examine this text in its context and then critically assess John Nelson Darby’s reading of it, working from his translation and his comments elsewhere in his writings. Darby misread the text as separation from “evil people” rather than avoidance of wrongdoing, with disastrous consequences. I conclude with some reflections on how his reading of v. 19 arose and on the dangers associated with translation work undertaken by influential individuals working in isolation from other scholars.

Goswell, “The Bookends of the Pauline Corpus”

September 16, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

A new article of interest for Pastorals researchers:

Gregory Goswell, “The Bookends of the Pauline Corpus.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 65.1 (2022): 111–26.

Abstract: Romans at the head of the Pauline corpus and the Pastoral Epistles at or near the end act as bookends and provide a missional frame around the epistolary collection. Though the order of the letters appears to be due to the mechanical principle of decreasing length (Romans is the longest letter) and the (somewhat) arbitrary division made between letters to churches and to individuals, the position of Romans and the Pastoral Epistles at either end of the collection of Paul’s letters makes sense, given the general and comprehensive character of Romans and the probable setting of the Pastoral Epistles late in Paul’s missionary career as he contemplates his removal from the scene. Influenced by Romans, the reader of the letters that follow is alerted to when and how Paul sets his doctrinal and ethical instructions in a missional frame. Similarly, the Pastoral Epistles suggest a missional reading of the earlier letters. The letter to the Philippians is used as a test case for the influence that Romans and the Pastorals bring to bear on the reading of the intervening letters.

Edwards, “‘Taken Up in Glory’”

August 23, 2022 / Chuck Bumgardner

Another article engaging 1 Timothy 3:16 is now available:

David R. Edwards, “‘Taken Up in Glory’: Early Christian Traditions of the Ascension in Light of 1 Timothy 3:16.” Journal of Early Christian History 12.2 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582X.2022.2109052

This article is the publication of an earlier conference presentation: “‘Taken Up in Glory’: Early Christian Traditions of the Ascension of Jesus in Light of 1 Tim. 3:16.” Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the SBL, San Antonio, 21 November 2021.

Abstract: I revive a chronological approach to the hymn in 1 Timothy 3:16, a reading which has frequently been dismissed on the basis of the alleged misplacement of the ascension after the Gentile missionary movement. Behind the rejection of a chronological reading has been the normativity of the narrative of Luke- Acts—or at least a conventional reading of it. This study argues that the peculiar chronology of the hymn arose from attempts to harmonise the multiple ascension reports in Luke 24 and Acts 1 along with the tradition reported by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. Lying behind the hymn is an interpretation of Luke- Acts as implying multiple and ongoing post-resurrection appearances and ascensions which culminate in a final ascension after the appearance to Paul, which occurs in the narrative of Luke-Acts just after the Christian proclamation expands to Gentiles through the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch.

See this previous post for earlier bibliography on 1 Timothy 3:16.

Pastoral Epistles