Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/798

 TIMOTHY

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TIMOTHY

early and universal tradition ascribing the whole of them to the Apostle is correct.

As we pass from one to another of the four groups of St. Paul's Epistles — (1) Thessalonians; (2) Gala- tians, Corinthians, Romans; (3) Captivity Epistles; (4) Pastorals — we observe considerable differences of style side by side with very marked and charac- teristic resemblances, and that is precisely what we find in the case of the Pastorals. There are some striking points of connexion between them and Phil., the Epistle probably nearest to them in date; but there are many resemblances in vocabulary, style, and ideals connecting them with portions of all the other Epistles, especially with the practical parts. There are, for instance, forty-two passages connect- ing I Tim. with the earlier Epistles. The terms are nearly identical, but display an amount of liberty denoting the working of the same independent mind, not a conscious imitation. The Pastorals show throughout the same marks of originality as are found in all the writings of the Apostle. There are similar anacolutha, incomplete sentences, play on words, long drawn periods, like comparisons, etc. The Pastorals are altogether practical, and therefore do not show the rugged fervour of style confined, for the most part, to the controversial and argumenta- tive portions of his large epistles. (See the very valu- able book by James, "Genuineness and Authorship of the Pastoral Epistles", London, 1906; also Jac- quier, and Lilley.) It may be well to note, in this connexion, that Van Steenkiste, professor at the Catholic Seminary of Bruges, asserted, as long ago as 1876, that the inspiration of the Pastorals and their Pauhne authorship would be sufficiently safeguarded if we accepted the view that they were written in the name and with the authority of the Apostle by one of his companions, say St. Luke, to whom he dis- tinctly explained what had to be written, or to whom he gave a written summary of the points to be de- veloped, and that when the letters were finished, St. Paul read them through, approved them, and signed them. This, he thinks, was the way in which "He- brews", also, was wTitten (S. Pauli Epistolae, II, 283).

E. Objection from the advanced state of church organization. — This objection is adequately answered in the articles Hier.^rchv of the Early Church, Bishop, etc. See also "The Establishment of the Episcopate" in Bishop Gore's "Orders and Unity" (London, 1909), 115. The seven, St. Stephen, Phihp, etc., were set aside for their ministry by the Apostles by prayer and the laying on of hands. Immediately after this we read that they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and preached with great success (Acts, vi, vii). From St. Luke's usual method we may con- clude that a similar ceremony was employed by the Apostles on other occasions when men were set aside to be deacons, presbyters, or bishops. We read of presbyters with the Apostles at an early date in Jerusalem (Acts, xv, 2) and according to the earliest tradition, St. James the Less was appointed bishop there on the dispersion of the Apostles, and succeeded by his cousin Simeon in a. d. 62. Sts. Paul and Bar- nabas ordained priests in every church at Derbe, Lystra, Antioch of Pisidia, etc. (Acts, xiv, 22). Bishops and priests, or presbyters, are mentioned in St. Paul's speech at Miletus (Acts, xx, 28). In his first Epistle (I Thess., v, 12) St. Paul speaks of rulers who were over them in the Lord, — see also Rom., xii, 8; "governments" are referred to in I Cor., xii, 28, and "Pastors" in Eph., iv, 11. St. PaulwTote "to all the saints in Christ Jesus, who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons" (Phil., i, 1).

In Rom., xii, 6-8, 1 Cor., xii, 28, Eph., iv, 11, St. Paul is not giving a list of offices in the Church, but of charismatic gifts (for the meaning of which .see HiERARniY OK THE Early Church). Those who were endowed with supernatural and transitory char-

ismata were subject to the Apostles and presumably to their delegates. Side by side with the possessors of such gifts we read of "rulers", "governors", "pas- tors", and in other places of "bishops", "priests", and "deacons". These, we may lawfully assume, were appointed under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost by the Apostles, by prayer and laying on of hands. Amongst these so appointed before a. d. 64 there were certainly ordained deacons, priests, and possibly bishops also. If so they had bishop's orders, but the limits of their jurisdiction were not as yet, perhaps, very clearly defined, and depended alto- gether on the will of the Apostles. It is assuredly in the highest degree likely that the Apostles, towards the end of their lives and as the Church extended more and more, ordained and delegated others to ap- point such priests and deacons as they had been in the habit of appointing themselves. The earliest tradition shows that such a thing took place in Rome by a. d. 67; and there is nothing more advanced than this in the Pastorals. Timothy and Titus were con- secrated delegates to rule with Apostolic authority and appoint deacons, priests, and bishops (probably synonymous in these Epistles).

But a further objection is raised as follows: "The distinctive element, however, i. e. the prominence assigned to Timothy and Titus is inteUigible only on the supposition that the author had specially in view the ulterior end of vindicating the evangelic succession of contemporary episcopi and other office bearers where this was liable for various reasons to be challenged. . . . The craving (visible in Clem. Rom.) for continuity of succession as a guarantee of au- thority in doctrine (and therefore in discipline) under- lies the efforts of this Paulinist to show that Timothy and Titus were genuine heirs of Paul" (Ency. Bib., IV). — If this craving is visible in St. Clement of Rome, who was a disciple of the Apostles there and wrote less than thirty years after their death, it is surely more likely that he was maintaining an or- ganization established by them than that he was de- fending one of which they were ignorant. If these Epistles were written against people who challenged the authority of bishops and priests about a. d. 100, why is it that these opponents did not cry out against forgeries written to confute themselves? But of all this there is not the slightest shred of evidence.

F. Objection. No room for them in the life-time of St. Paul. — The writer in the "Ency. Bib." is never tired of accusing the defenders of the Epistles of making gratuitous assumptions, though he allows himself considerable liberty in that respect through- out his article. It is a gratuitous assertion, for ex- ample, to state that St. Paul was put to death at the end of the first Roman captivity, a. d. 63 or 64. Christianity was not yet declared a religio illicita, and according to Roman law there was nothing de- serving of death against him. He was arrested to save him from the Jewish mob in Jerusalem. The Jews did not appear against him during the two ye;»rs he was kept in prison. Agrippa said he could have been delivered had he not appealed to Caesar, so there was no real charge against him when he was brought be- fore the emperor's or his representative's tribunal. The Epistles written during this Roman captivity show that he expected to be soon released (Philem., 22; Phil., ii, 24). Lightfoot, Harnack, and others, from the words of Clem. Rom. and the Muratorian Fragment, think that he was not only released, but that he actually carried out his design of visiting Spain. During the years from 63-t)7 there was ample time to visit Crete and other places and write I Tim. and Titus. II Tim. was written from his second Roman prison soon before? his death.

G. Objection from the errors condemned.^-It is said that the errors referred to in the Pastorals did not exist in St. Paul's time, though the most ad-