Background and Context of the Pastoral Epistles

General Overview

 These three books (I and II Timothy and Titus) have been referred to as the “Pastoral” Epistles since the seventeenth century, and have been considered to be a group for much longer than that.  There is a great deal of thematic and structural similarity between the books, and they share a common vocabulary that is slightly different from the other Pauline Epistles. This has led some (starting in the nineteenth century) to question the Pauline authorship of the epistles, regardless of the fact that until then they were universally considered to be of Pauline authorship, being first quoted and referred to by both Clement and Polycarp, as well as being included in the Muratonian Canon.  These arguments (which dwell on style, vocabulary, and the absence of these epistles in the canon proposed by the heretic Marcion and in one particular early manuscript fragment which is acknowledged to be incomplete) try to prove by absence of something more than by any other argument, and can be considered, and then dismissed.

Who was Timothy?

 Background: We first encounter Timothy in the NT in the context of Paul’s second missionary journey (beginning with Acts 15:36-41, where Paul begins his journey).

Read Acts: 16-1-4,  2 Timothy 1: 5

• From these verses, what can you conclude about the kind of person Timothy was?
• What influences had worked in his life and made him into who he was?

Read Acts 18:1-5, 1 Thessalonians 1:1, 2 Thessalonians 1:1

• What do these verses show about how Paul has come to consider Timothy?
• What do they show about how others consider Timothy?

Ephesus

Ephesus was a major port city in Asia Minor. The site of Ephesus had been occupied since at least the Mycenaean Age (1500 BC).  It first came into prominence as part of the Ionian league around 1000 BC. At this point it is first noted (by Pausinus) that a Temple to Artemis was present in Ephesus.  It was an independent Greek city until it was ceded to Persia after the Peloponnesian wars (around 400 BC).  Alexander the Great liberated it in 334 BC. After Alexander’s death, it became part of the Seleucid Empire and in 133 BC it came under the rule of the Roman republic.

In 27 BC Augustus made Ephesus the capital of proconsular Asia (Western Asia Minor). The city became a major political and commercial center and experienced a boom of growth, with a population of over 100,000 by the time Paul visited it, and reaching a maximum of between 400,000 and 500,000 by AD 100.

The Temple of Diana of the Ephesians

From the first recorded temple to Cybele (or Artemis [Diana in Latin]) there were a succession of temples at the site of Ephesus.  The most famous (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) was first begun around 550 BC under the direction of the Cretan architect Charisphron and at the expense of King Croesus of Lydia. That temple took (according to tradition) 120 years to complete.  It was destroyed by arson by Herostatus in 356 BC.

The temple was rebuilt sometime after the death of Alexander (323 BC) (Alexander himself offered to finance the temple if his name was added to Artemis’s, but the Ephesians rejected his offer).    This reconstructed temple was the one that Paul would have seen in Acts.  The Goths destroyed this version in 262 AD, and the final version of the temple was destroyed in 401 AD by a mob led by St. John Chrystotum.

For scale – Pliny gives the temple a size of 377 feet by 180 feet, with 127 Ionic columns each 60 feet high.  The temple contained a large bejeweled statue of Artemis, along with many other temple treasures.

The Church at Ephesus

Read Acts 18:24-19:10

• Paul was not accompanied by Silas and Timothy on his trip to Ephesus (see 18:18)
• What can we learn about the Church at Ephesus from this passage?

Read Acts 19:23-41

• What influences would have been working on the members of the Church at Ephesus?

Read Acts 20:17-31

• What did Paul prophesy about what would happen to the Ephesians?

Read Ephesians 3:4-6, 4:1-6, 4:25-29

• What were some of the issues in the Ephesian church that Paul addressed?

Getting Acquainted with I Timothy

Read I Timothy 1:1-2

• Paul does not refer to himself as a prisoner in Christ (Compare with 2 Timothy 1:1). 
• This gives a hint as to an early date for this book
• The book might have been written as early as between Acts 20:2 and 20:17.
• It may also date to his time of freedom between the end of Acts and his second imprisonment (leading to his martyrdom) in Rome.
• Who does Paul refer to himself as? What is significant about this greeting?

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