READING I TIMOTHY 4

 

There are different ways of approaching any portion of Scripture, so what follows is only a rough guide using this particular portion of I Timothy as a typical example.

Genre

Perhaps the first step is to firmly keep in mind what sort of literature you might be reading – for example, is it in the Old Testament or New Testament? What is the basic genre of the book – poetry, historical narrative, personal letter, etc.? All such parameters will have a drastic effect on how you understand what you are reading. For example, if you approach Leviticus as if all the regulations applied literally to Christians today, you will end up contradicting Jesus on a number of points. Similarly, trying to treat the Psalms as you would a historical narrative will end up misleading you entirely as to what is being conveyed.

In the case of I and II Timothy, they are obviously personal letters to an individual from Paul containing instructions on how he should conduct his ministry. Thus, we should keep in mind that although these teachings may indeed have applicability for today, the ideas expressed in them do not necessarily follow any chronological progression or hold prophetic clues as to future events, citing just two examples. But we should expect that a variety of topics may be included in those Pastoral Epistles, treated one topic at a time and perhaps given in some sort of logical order.

Section Limits

That leads us to the next step – ensuring that we have a complete intended section of the book in front of us covering what the author wishes to say on a given subject. One might naively expect that we can simply rely on the chapter divisions in our Bibles to take care of this point for us. However, those were invented by a single person in the Middle Ages and should only be treated as a rough approximation of the thought divisions that Paul had in mind when writing.

Thus, in properly dividing up a book such as I Timothy into major sections, there are other things we can use as guides to those divisions. Often, there are tell-tale signs as to when a given section begins or ends. For example, a direct address to the original readers such as “Dear children” often means the start of a new section just as a doxology usually means the end of a passage. In the specific case of I Timothy it turns out that we have few such guideposts to help us. As Lea and Griffin state, “Formal divisions of the letter are difficult to make, for we pass quickly from one exhortation to another.”

The opening and closing points of the whole book are of course rather obvious, but within the bulk of the letter there are few such possible pointers to go by. For example, the word “now” starts chapter 4, which some commentators feel is a clue that a new subject is beginning. But not everyone agrees that it serves that function.

So turning to another obvious method of dividing the letter, one can simply look for drastic changes in subject matter. And here we are given some definite help in our task. I Timothy 3:1-13 obviously are concerned specifically with the qualifications for church offices while Chapter 5 treats of administrative and pastoral counseling issues. That leaves 3:14-4:16 as our best guess as to a discrete section. And we will see confirmation of that decision in noting the number of times the subject of pastoral teaching and preaching pops up in that passage.

Paragraph Divisions

The next challenge is to further divide up our determined passage into sub-units equivalent to today's paragraphs. Again, we might think that we would only have to look at our English translations, which are already divided in that manner, unless one is consulting the King James Version or NASB, for example. But, as with current chapter divisions, any such modern divisions should be taken with a grain of salt.

The NRSV, which I have before me, recognizes the following units: 3:14-16; 4:1-5; 4:6-10, 4:11-16. NIV, RSV, and TEV agree with those dividing points. NEB and The Message differ only in that they further divide the final unit into 4:11-14 and 4:15-16. And The Jerusalem Bible only has the following paragraphs: 3:14-16; 4:1-11; 4:12-16. The Living Bible paraphrase is divided as follows: 3:14-15; 3:16; 4:1-5; 4:6; 4:7-10; 4:11-13; 4:14-16. Nevertheless, this rough consensus gives us a starting point to work from, recognizing that further study may necessitate some minor changes.

Flow of Thought

Lastly, comes the hardest part of the task. And here commentators are quite divided in their approaches. The liberal scholarly school tends to look for awkward shifts of language or thought as tip-offs that different authors or editors were involved in the composition of the book. By contrast, more conservative commentators search for examples of overall unity in a given passage of Scripture, assuming that there will be such unity. But even those scholars are divided into two general classes: (a) those who assume a logical progression of thought and (b) those who look for a more literary unity based on phenomena such as inclusions, chiasms, parallel arrangements, and specifically repeated language. I will admit that I personally, though no trained scholar, tend to side with the latter group.

With that in mind, the next thing I would personally look for is to see if there are any correspondences between the individual paragraphs in terms of either subject matter or specifically repeated language. Starting with the logical approach first, one can label the individual paragraphs in terms that approximately describe their respective topics. Thus, we arrive at the following:

    3:14-16 Paul hopes to come soon but may be delayed; his instructions are designed to give Timothy teaching on how to behave in the church body; ending with a poetic hymn

    4:1-5 He warns against deceitful teachers and teachings

    4:6-10 Next he tells Timothy to put these instructions before the church; shun myths; train yourself in godliness; the hope of believers

    4:11-16 Finally, he says that these are indispensable teachings; Timothy should let no one despise his youth; and to do that he should set a good example before others. Finally he exhorts Timothy to, until Paul arrives, place close attention to himself and the teachings in order than he might will save himself and his listeners

One thing we can see immediately is that this entire passage is permeated with the idea of teaching. Thus, we have the following synonyms: instructions (3:14), proclaimed (3:16), teachings (4:1), instructions (4:6a), words (4:6b), teach (4:11), speech (4:12), public reading, exhorting and teaching (4:13), the gift? (4:14), and teaching (4:16). Along with that, we have exactly seven appearances of Greek words in 3:14-4:16 based on the Greek root pistis (such as faith, believe, believer). All of this repetition helps to confirm that 3:14-4:16 is a discrete section clearly distinguished from what preceeds and follows, as well as outlining the major subjects in the passage.

As to the individual units in this passage, the subject matter summarized above by itself does not really help us much in detecting an overall plan or train of thought. For that we need to break down the four major blocks of teaching down into smaller units. The only sure thing we can state at this point is that the two mentions of Paul's absence from Timothy and desire to be with him soon may represent parallel units. With that in mind, it turns out that an overall plan for this unit can be easily constructed:

                                       Figure 1: Literary Structure of I Timothy 3:14-4:16

    A. Paul's temporary absence and written instructions (3:14-16)

            B. Negative forces to resist (4:1-3)

                    C. Positive teaching (4:4-5)

                            D. Effect of sound teaching on others (4:6)

                                --------

            B'. Negative forces to resist (4:7)

                    C'. Positive teaching (4:8-10)

                                --------

                                    E. Conclusion: necessary teachings (4:11)

                                --------

            B''. Negative forces to resist (4:12a)

                    C''. Positive teaching (4:12b)

                                --------

    A'. Paul's temporary absence and written instructions (4:13)

            B'''. Negative forces (4:14)

                    C'''. Positive teaching (4:15-16a)

                            D'. Effect of sound teaching (4:16b)

As you can see above, this demonstrates that there is not a linear development of ideas, but instead a totally symmetrical arrangement in which the main point actually appears in the center (4:11), not at end of the passage. However, that is not to disparage the great importance of units D and D', which occur at the culmination of the series ABCD and A'B'C'D', thus pointing out the final effect which sound teaching has on others as well as on the teacher.

A shorthand version of Figure 1 would thus look like the following, a very common arrangement found throughout the Bible and known as chiasmus or a chiasm:

    Unit I (3:14-4:6)

            Unit II (4:7-10)

                    Unit III (4:11)

            Unit II' (4:12)

    Unit I' (4:13-16)

At this point, a reality check is in order by considering some of the specific words and thoughts which are repeated within this passage to see if they help confirm the plan in Figure 1. The results are summarized below:

    “word(s)” (4:9, 12b)                         II and II'

    “these things” (3:14; 4:11,15)          beginning, center, and conclusion of passage,

                                                             inclusio (i.e. set of bookends) for I

    “piety” (3:15; 4:7,8)                         inclusio for whole passage

    “living /God” (3:15b; 4:10)              inclusio for whole passage

    “attend to” (4:13,14,16)                    unification of I'

Lastly, we should now return to the various divisions suggested in the translations for comparison. Here we see that the proposed divisions and subdivisions in Figure 1 above have both similarities to and differences from the various translations. Specifically, it may help explain why the Jerusalem Bible connects v. 11 with the preceding verses while other versions feel it starts a new section. One sees this same disagreement in scholarly commentaries on verse 11, which reads, “These are the things you must insist on and teach.” (NRSV) According to my scheme, it belongs to neither verses but represents a section unto itself. Partial confirmation of that conclusion is found in the literature:

    Knight: “V. 11 is a transition verse and could be taken as the conclusion of what precedes or as the beginning of this section [i.e. 4:11-16].”

Hanson: “The verse is one of those linking phrases whereby the author holds together his varied material.”

Ward: “These things broadly covers the contents of the epistle.” Note above that this phrase is the second of three such occurrences in this passage, the other two located at the beginning and conclusion.

Towner: “The dual imperative, 'Command and teach these things,' creates the almost formulaic link...between a preceding apostolic statement and a parenetic section calling the coworker into action as a teacher...Together these two terms, overlapping to some degree, summarize the actions Timothy would take to apply the sort of apostolic discourse given in response to specific doctrinal and ethical errors or more generally to community needs (6:2).”

We can now look at the overall flow of logic in this passage, which proceeds from the ends toward the middle instead of from beginning to end.

Units I and I' lay out the important reasons for Timothy's teaching ministry in the church.

Units II and II' draw his attention to the various pitfalls he must avoid and ways in which he can do that.

Unit III (4:11) serves as even more than a “link,” “summary,” or “transition” verse. Instead, it is the central point of the passage and could be considered as its topic sentence.