To Titus

1Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,

3but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,

4To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

II. Purpose

1. For the faith (and the knowledge)
2. In the hope
3. To Titus

Of the three possible purpose phrases, this is by far the clearest example. Even so, we will dig into the language and compare/contrast it with other examples.

I would expect this phrase to read ‘τῷ Τιτῷ’, in the dative case. As I look at my Greek testament, I realize how long it’s really been since I immersed myself in this stuff. The dative case in it’s purest form (indicating the indirect object, showing to or for whom the action is taking place) does not require a preposition at all. In my guess, τῷ was in my mind taking the place of the English preposition ‘to,’ which is not needed in Greek. Worse, τῷ isn’t a Greek preposition at all, but a definite article! My guess would have translated ‘to the Titus.’

…Which is exactly why I’m doing this…

Paul is addressing his letter to Titus, obviously a dear friend of his, with whom he has much history. It appears very cut-and-dry…but is it?

• How were personal letters treated in Paul’s day?
• Was he really just intending it for Titus only, or did he foresee its wide dispersion and eventual canonization?
• How does he write this personal letter differently than his church letters?

To deal with the first question, as always, I’d prefer to look at other parts of Scripture first. Looking back to our comparison with introductions of other letters, first to Paul’s other personal letters, then to any other personal letters we can find.

In I & II Timothy we find Τιμοθέῷ, the exact same simple construction, just a name in the dative case. Interestingly, both letters to Timothy also address him as τέκνον, or child. We find several instances of the same construction in his intro to Philemon: Φιλήμονι…καὶ Ἀπφίᾳ…καὶ Άρχίππῳ…καὶ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ: To Philemon…and to Apphia…and to Archippus…and to the church. All are in the dative case, but the last one includes the definite article, presumably since it is not a proper name like the rest.

It seems that Paul wrote to Timothy in the same style as he did to Titus, but he clearly wrote to Philemon knowing that it would be read in a public setting. I’ve heard it said, and I would suspect, that Paul’s purpose in addressing Philemon’s letter to the church that met in his home also, was to ensure that they would hold him accountable to do the right thing in taking Onesimus back into his household without punishment for running away.

Looking briefly at other NT letters: The letter to the Hebrews is not addressed in the introduction, James writes to the dispersed Jewish Christians, and Peter and Jude write to all Christians abroad. Each of John’s three letters are addressed differently:

1. addressed to ‘you’ but doesn’t clarify (common theory is that he’s writing to the church at Ephesus
2. addressed to ‘the chosen lady and her children,’ presumably the bride of Christ – the church – both currently and in future generation
3. addressed to ‘the beloved Gaius,’ of whom very little is known

We have a range of letter-writing styles that is totally appropriate to the Greek culture of the time. To quote Stephen J Andrews in Mercer Dictionary of the Bible:

In antiquity letter writing was a well established mode of communication and assumed many forms ranging from simple personal addresses to elaborate literary masterpieces. Epicurus, Seneca, and Cicero used the epistolary medium for discourse on moral, ethical, and philosophical questions.

There seems to be a distinction between ‘letters’ – writing to one person with whom the author has a personal relationship – and ‘epistles’ – writing to groups of people in a more literary style to communicate and disseminate ideas. We’re going to classify Titus with I & II Timothy and Jude, as a true personal letter, directed at one person only, with whom the author clearly had a deep personal relationship.

The New Testament canonization process seems to have started when early churches began exchanging various collections of apostolic letters and writings they had gathered over the years. The process seems to have treated letters and epistles the same – but should we? Should we consider Paul’s teaching to Titus just as authoritative over our modern lives as his doctrinal epistles to, say, the Corinthians? Or should we just see this as it was apparently intended: a personal letter containing suggestions on how a young pastor could better lead his flock? These questions will affect our interpretation and application of the rest of the book.

Why does it seem that I always end up with more questions than when I started? This was supposed to be the easiest one!

In the hope

1Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,

3but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,

4To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

II. Purpose

1. For the faith (and the knowledge)
2. In the hope

We’re going to take a look at the second possible purpose phrase of Paul’s intro: “In the hope of eternal life.” I’d like first to predict what I may find in the Greek text, based on my previous study and knowledge of vocabulary, then compare it to what’s actually there. Then we’ll look for other places Paul and others use this construction and in what contexts, and will finish by attempting to draw some conclusions from our findings.

I would expect this Greek phrase to look something like this: “ἐν τῶ ἐλπίδι” – literally “in the hope.” The preposition ‘in’ with the locative case form of ‘hope,’ with its corresponding definite article. What I actually find is ἐπ᾽ ἐλπίδι. ἐπ᾽ is the abbreviated form of the preposition ἐπὶ, whose root meaning is stuck in my brain as ‘upon.’ There’s no definite article in the actual Greek text.

I find the use of ἐπὶ very curious…mainly because I’m almost three years removed from my Greek education and haven’t retained a good grasp on the vocabulary, aside from some simple one-word English substitutes, which I’m beginning to distrust more and more. I’m going to Bauer’s Lexicon to check out the preposition and look at its different uses.

Bauer lists some 18 primary meanings/uses of ἐπὶ, presumably in descending order of frequency:

1. marker of location or surface, answering ‘where?’ (on, upon, near)
2. marker of presence or occurrence near an object or area (at, near)
3. marker of involvement in an official proceeding (before)
4. marker of movement to or contact with a goal (toward)
5. marker of manner
6. marker of basis for a state of being, action, or result (on)
7. marker of addition to what is already in existence (to, in addition to)
8. marker of perspective (concerning, etc.)
9. marker of authority (over)
10. marker of legal proceeding (before)
11. marker of purpose, goal, result (to, for)
12. marker of hostile opposition (against)
13. marker of number or measure
14. marker indicating indirect object (to)
15. marker of feelings directed toward someone (for, toward)
16. marker of object or purpose
17. marker in idiom of authorization
18. marker of temporal associations (at, on)

I was hoping/expecting to see our Titus reference listed under ‘11 – marker of purpose, goal’ or maybe ‘16 – marker of object or purpose.’ No such luck. After searching I finally found it listed under ‘6 – marker of basis for state of being, action, or result.’ He lists five other occurrences of its combination with ἐλπίδι:

1. Acts 2.26′THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE;’
   • This is part of Luke’s quotation of King David from Psalm 16.8-11. Interestingly, the Hebrew word used in the Psalm is the noun בטח – ‘confidence,’ from the root verb בטח – trust. The noun is in this case (and almost always) used with the ל preposition to make it an adverb: ‘confidently.’ Obviously Luke is quoting from the LXX, which indeed reads ἐπ᾽ ἐλπίδι. Fascinating, but we’ll come back to that later when we really dig into ἐλπίς.

2. Romans 4.18In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.”
   • This is from Paul, but he’s talking in a discourse context about Abraham. Good reference, but not a good parallel with our text.

3. Romans 8.20-21For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
   • This is yet another Old Covenant reference (interesting in itself), giving us a connotation of expectation and certainty (the previous verse says ‘For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God’)

4. I Corinthians 9.10Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher {to thresh} in hope of sharing {the crops.}
   • Here again we have a probable allusion to confident expectation. The plowman knows that his labor will yield results.

5. Acts 26.6″And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers”
   • Bauer lists this a secondary example of this combination of words, with a slightly different meaning. He posits that here ἐπί is indicating the basis for which Paul is on trial.

I notice that all of these references are to some sort of ancient or timeless heritage of hope. Titus seems to be the only clear reference to the current hope of eternal life. It could be argued that Paul’s hope (for which he argues his case in Acts) is that of eternal life. Nevertheless I’d counter that Paul is presenting his case before a Jewish court, to whose heritage and culture (which he shared) he was appealing. The hope they knew of was the Old Covenant hope of the Promised One. Paul’s point was that that hope was realized in Jesus Christ. It’s only to the New Covenant Christian that the hope of eternal life, referenced here in Titus, is valid.
Upon further search, I’ve found another valuable instance of this combination of words in the Greek text.

• Romans 5.2

  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Now here we can presume that Paul means the future revealed glory of God following the second coming, since he just finished talking about justification by faith and peace with God that comes through Christ.

I find it interesting that the Greek here in Romans is also ἐπ᾽ ἐλπίδι, and it took me forever to find Bauer’s listing of it. I finally found it under the same main heading, ‘6 – marker of basis for a state of being,’ but under a subheading ‘c – with verbs that denoted aroused feelings.’ It lists it with as the only example with the verb καυχώμεθα, which is the PMI 1st person plural of καυχάομαι – ‘rejoice.’

I think this is probably the clearest parallel to the Titus usage because it carries the same principle of future glory.

Conclusions

Does this phrase actually indicate purpose for which the letter was written? Bauer would say ‘no’ I think, but I’m still not throwing out the possibility. Like its predecessor phrase ‘for the faith,’ it could be referring back to Paul’s personal introduction. That is, he could be qualifying his identification of himself as ‘a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ,’ ‘in the hope of eternal life,’ which is to say that he’s only qualified to call himself such things in the context of the hope we have through Christ.

If it seems that I’m long on research, analysis, and conjecture, but short on conclusions, it’s only because I am.

I Really Am Working On This

My, how frustrating. I couldn’t write about this last week when it happened because it would have made me cry. I think I’m over it now, so here goes:

I just started using a desktop blogging client for Mac called ecto. It’s really great, and I’ve really enjoyed my free trial. Almost. Last week I spent well over 2 hours researching and writing for II-B – ‘In the Hope’ (which, incidentally, you should see appear later this morning). At the end of this little session, I wanted to flip over to HTML edit mode in ecto to manually do some stuff with my code. As soon as I clicked the button, I noticed something very strange. And by strange I mean my entire post was gone. Apparently the auto-save feature of ecto still has a little glitch they need to work out. Namely, it doesn’t work. Despite all my efforts and searching of forums and punching holes in walls, the best I could recover was this:

1Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,

3but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,

4To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

II. Purpose

Which represents perhaps the first 15 seconds of my researching/writing session. It must have totally ignored the ensuing 140 minutes or so. Apparently I didn’t quite reach the 5-minute auto-save mark. Go figure. So this morning I have made my peace with ecto, and I’m going to try it again. Hopefully all my brilliant hypotheses and conjectures are still bouncing around in my head and it won’t take as long to recreate as it did to create originally. Thanks for bearing with me.

For the Faith

1Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,

3but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,

4To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

II. Purpose
As we now look into the purposes for which Paul wrote this letter, I find three prepositional phrases which suggest purpose, one of which I am sure about, but the other two will require some investigation.

1. For the faith (and the knowledge)
2. In the hope
3. To Titus

The first possible purpose phrase, for the faith, is one I’m not totally sure denotes purpose. So let’s look into it.

I’d like to look at the Greek first, then compare the phrase in a few translations.

κατὰ πίστιν ἐκλεκτῶν…καὶ ἐπίγνωσιν

Now, when I was studying Greek I learned that the preposition κατά should be normally translated as ‘according to,’ as in κατὰ Λογκαν – ‘(the gospel) according to Luke.’ A further examination, with the help of my good friend Bauer, reveals that κατά with the accusative (πίστιν and ἐπἴγνωσιν are the accusative forms of πίστις – ‘that which evokes trust and faith’ and ἐπίγνωσις – ‘knowledge, recognition’) can have an incredibly wide range of meaning:

1. marker of spatial aspect
2. marker of temporal aspect
3. marker of division of a whole into parts
4. marker of intention or goal
5. marker of similarity
6. denoting relationship
7. other more ambiguous cases

Bauer has Titus 1.1 listed under #4 – ‘marker of intention or goal,’ with the caveat: but the meaning ‘in accordance with’ is also probable.

Translations:

• KJV, NKJV, ASV, Young, Darby – ‘according to the faith’
• NASB, NIV, CSB – ‘for the faith’
• Amplified Bible – ‘to stimulate and promote the faith’
• New Living – ‘(I have been sent) to proclaim faith’
• ESV – ‘for the sake of the faith’
• CEV – ‘(I encourage God’s own people) to have more faith’
• Wycliffe – ‘by the faith’

Observations:

Bauer and most of the translators seem to agree that this phrase denotes purpose, but I’m still not comfortable with what I have learned to be the basic root meaning of the preposition – ‘according to.’ To me, those are substantially different.

How does the difference affect the meaning of the passage?

Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for/according to the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness

‘for the faith’ – To me this rendering clearly denotes purpose. Paul is finished with his introduction of himself and is moving on to state the purpose for which he’s writing – to further the faith (or faithfulness – but we’ll talk about that later…) and the knowledge of God’s people.

‘according to the faith’ – This suggests to me a continuation of the previous phrase: ‘Paul, a bond-servant…and an apostle…according to the faith.’ It seems as if he would be setting the framework under which he considers himself a servant and apostle.

Since we’ve already done the work, let’s go back and look at our analysis of other introductions, to help judge what Paul is most likely intending here.

The other Biblical introductions that use κατα in a similar position are:

• I Timothy: ‘Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope,’
• II Timothy: ‘Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus,’

No other authors use it in their personal introduction, and Paul only uses it when writing to a specific person: Titus or Timothy, his ‘true child(ren) in the faith.’ It always comes after ‘an apostle of Jesus Christ.’

I think we’re going to have to leave this as an unresolved issue for now. I think it carries connotations of both, but we may reach a decision as we continue our study through the introduction.

We’re Back!

Okay, I’m finally back at it. I have no excuses, no defense; I’ve just neglected this for far too long. But no longer.

We’re back in the Word.

I’m working through the next section, and it should be out in the next day or two.

Skipping ‘Extra-Biblical Authors’ – For Now…

This morning I started looking for extra-Biblical letters to read and compare with TItus, but after a half-hour of searching I was getting nowhere, and more importantly, I realized I was straying away from the text for too long.   I’m going to keep looking, but I’m going to press on with the text and come back to extra-Biblical authors when I can get a hold of some to look at.  Anyone with suggestions, please let me know!

Letters from other Biblical authors

Titus 1.1-4

1Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

 2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,

 3but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,

 4To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

I. Compare with other intros

• Other personal letters (of Paul)
• Church letters (of Paul)
• Letters from other Biblical authors

               Hebrews

1God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

                    Attribution – none 

                    Address – none 

                    Greeting – none

                    No formal epistolary introductory elements, merely sets up doctrinal foundation for the letter

               James

1James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.

                    Attribution – James (bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ)

                    Address – to the Diaspora (Jews abroad)

                    Greeting – greetings

               I Peter

1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

                    Attribution – Peter (an apostle of Jesus Christ)

                    Address – Christians abroad (who are chosen)

                    Greeting – grace and peace

               II Peter

1Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;

                    Attribution – Peter (a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ)

                    Address – those who have received faith

                    Greeting – grace and peace…in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord

               I John

1What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life–2and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us–3what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

                    Attribution – we (text does not claim Johannine authorship, only the style links it to his Gospel)

                    Address – ‘you’  (Ephesians?)

                    Greeting – none

                    More of an doctrinal foundation, but at the end mentions the epistolary nature of the work

               II John

1The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: 3Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

                    Attribution – the elder (presumed John the apostle)

                    Address – the chosen lady and her children (congregation – bride of Christ? – and later generations)

                    Greeting – Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ

               III John

1The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

                    Attribution – the elder

                    Address – Gaius (unknown)

                    Greeting – none 

               Jude

1Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: 2May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

                    Attribution – Jude (a bond-servant of Jesus Christ)

                    Address – those who are the called (chosen)

                    Greeting – mercy, peace, and love

               General Observations

                    Similar constructs with several personal letters

                         bond-servant (2)

                         apostle of Jesus Christ (2)

                         grace and peace (3)

                         from God/Jesus Christ (1)

                    Concept of ‘those chosen’ (2)

                    Less consistent in form than Paul’s

• Letters from extra-Biblical authors

Why I haven’t written this week

I haven’t been writing this week because my wife had a baby boy (our second child) Sunday, and I’m trying to spend as much time with my family as possible.  If you’re interested, I’ve written more on our personal family blog – Me and My House.

Hopefully I’ll get back to work next week!

Church letters (of Paul)

Titus 1.1-4

1Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

 2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,

 3but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,

 4To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

I. Compare with other intros

 

• Other personal letters (of Paul)
• Church letters (of Paul)

          Romans

          Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

               Same

                    -bond-servant of…

                    -apostle

                    -Grace…and peace from God the/our Father and…

               Different

                    -bond-servant of Christ Jesus

                    -to all who are beloved…called as saints

                    -God our Father

                    -the Lord Jesus Christ

          I Corinthians

Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

               Same

                    -apostle of Jesus Christ

                    -Grace…and peace from God the/our Father and…

               Different

                    -‘called as’ and apostle

                    -and Sosthenes

                    -to the church

                    -God our Father

                    -the Lord Jesus Christ

          II Corinthians

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

               Same

                    -apostle of Christ Jesus (Jesus Christ)

                    -Grace…and peace from God the/our Father and…

               Different

                    -and Timothy

                    -to the church

                    -the Lord Jesus Christ

          Galatians

Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

               Same

                    -apostle

                    -Grace…and peace from God the/our Father and…

               Different

                    -and all…

                    -to the churches

                    -the Lord Jesus Christ

          Ephesians

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

               Same

                    -apostle of Christ Jesus (Jesus Christ)

                    -Grace…and peace from God the/our Father and…

               Different

                    -to the saints

                    -the Lord Jesus Christ

          Philippians

Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

               Same

                    -bond-servant(s)

                    -Grace…and peace from God the/our Father and…

               Different

                    -and Timothy (both bond-servants)

                    -to all the saints

                    -including overseers and deacons

                    -the Lord Jesus Christ

          Colossians

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

               Same

                    -apostle of Jesus Christ

                    -Grace…and peace from God the/our Father

               Different

                    -and Timothy

                    -to the saints

                    -from God our Father.

          I Thessalonians

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

               Same

                    -Grace…and peace

               Different

                    -and Silvanus and Timothy

                    -(no qualified attribution)

                    -to the church

                    -(no source of grace and peace)

          II Thessalonians

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

               Same

                    -Grace…and peace from God the Father and…

               Different

                    -and Silvanus and Timothy

                    -(no qualified attribution)

                    -to the church

                    -the Lord Jesus Christ

          General observations

               Attribution

                    -2 other instances of ‘bond-servant,’ once includes Timothy

                    -mostly uses ‘apostle’

                    -authorship

                         -(2) Paul alone

                         -(4) with one other

                              -(1) Sosthenes

                              -(3) Timothy

                         -(2) with two others (Silvanus and Timothy)

                         -(1) with ‘all that are with me’

               Address

                    -(4) to the saints

                    -(5) to the church

               Greeting

                    -always: Grace TO YOU and peace

                    -from:

                         -(6) God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

                         -(1) God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

                         -(1) God our Father

                         -(1) none

                    -emphasis on Lord instead of Savior

Other personal letters (of Paul)

Titus 1.1-4

1Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,

 2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,

 3but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,

 4To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

I. Compare with other intros

      ·      Other personal letters (of Paul)

               o      I Timothy

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope,

2To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

                         ú       Same

                               ·      apostle of Jesus Christ (Christ Jesus)

                               ·      according to the commandment of God our Savior

                               ·      hope

                               ·      To ***, my true child in *** faith

                               ·      Grace…and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus

                                            our Savior/Lord

                         ú       Different

                               ·      and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope

                               ·      Lord

                o      II Timothy

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus,

2To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

                       ú       Same

                               ·      Paul, …an apostle of Jesus Christ (Christ Jesus)

                               ·      hope/promise of…life

                               ·      Grace…and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus

                                           our Savior/Lord

                       ú       Different

                               ·      by the will of God

                               ·      my beloved son

                               ·      Lord

                o      Philemon

1Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker,

2and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:

3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

                           ú       Same

                                    ·      Grace…and peace from God the Father

                           ú       Different

                                    ·      prisoner of Christ Jesus

                                    ·      and Timothy our brother

                                    ·      to Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker

                                    ·      to…(others) and to the church in your house

                                    ·      the Lord Jesus Christ

        o      General observations

                §       Attribution – LORDSHIP OF CHRIST

                         ú       ‘bond-servant of God’ is unique

                         ú       ‘apostle of Jesus Christ’ is common (‘prisoner’ in Philemon)

                         ú       Titus is the only time Paul preaches in the middle of the

                                     greeting

                                   ·      addresses theme that matches II Tim: hope/promise of

                                              (eternal) life

                                   ·      addresses theme that matches I Tim: according to the

                                               commandment of God our Savior

                         ú       writing by himself (with Timothy in Philemon –1^st person

                                     always plural)

                §       Address – FAMILY REFERENCES

                         ú       ‘true child’ common with I Tim

                                  ·      to Titus: ‘in a common faith’

                                  ·      to Timothy: ‘in the faith’

                         ú       II Timothy: ‘beloved son’

                         ú       Philemon: ‘beloved brother and fellow worker’

                §       Greeting – GRACE AND PEACE FROM GOD

                         ú       Grace and peace is universal, to Timothy he adds mercy

                         ú       speaks on behalf of Father and Son? or invokes these things

                                    that can only come from Father and Son?

                         ú       no mention of Spirit