1 Timothy Chapter 4

¹Now the Spirit clearly says, that in future times some people will fall away from the faith, giving heed to seductive spirits and teachings of demons. ²With deceiving hypocrisy, their consciences seared beyond sensitivity, ³they will forbid to marry, and command to abstain from foods, which things God created to be partaken of with thankfulness by those who are believing and acquainted with the truth. ⁴For every creation of God is good, and none to be rejected, when received with giving of thanks: ⁵because it is made holy through the word of God and prayer. ⁶By instructing the brethren these things, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished up with the word of faith and the good teachings which you have faithfully followed. ⁷But avoid profane old wives’ fables. And exercise yourself toward godliness; ⁸for bodily exercise is a little beneficial; but godliness is beneficial in all respects, having the promise of life both present and future. ⁹This is a trustworthy saying, and deserving of all acceptance. ¹⁰Toward this therefore we toil and struggle, because our hope is placed upon the living God, who is the savior for all, most certainly for those who believe. ¹¹Command and teach these things.

¹²Let no one despise your youth, but be an example for the believers, in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity. ¹³Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. ¹⁴Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by the laying on of hands of the elders.

¹⁵Be earnestly attentive to these things, so your progress may be seen by everyone. ¹⁶Pay close attention to yourself and your teaching. Persevere in them; for by so doing you will save yourself and your hearers.

1 Timothy Chapter 3

¹This is a trustworthy saying: If any man aspires to be an overseer, he desires a good work. ²An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one woman, circumspect, temperate, orderly, hospitable, able to teach; ³not given to wine, not violent but gentle, not combative, not covetous; ⁴one who rules his own household well, having his children in subjection with all dignity. ⁵For if someone does not know how to rule his own household, how will he take care of the church of God? ⁶Not a new convert, or he might get puffed up, and fall into the condemnation of the devil. ⁷Moreover he must have a good reputation with those outside, so that he not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

⁸Likewise also deacons must be dignified, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for gain, ⁹holding to the mystery of the faith in a clear conscience. ¹⁰And these however you must first prove, and then they shall serve, after being found blameless. ¹¹Likewise also the wives must be dignified, not slanderers, but temperate, trustworthy in all things. ¹²Deacons must be the husband of one woman, ruling well their own children and households. ¹³For those serving well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves, and great assurance in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴I am writing these things to you even though I expect to be present with you soon; ¹⁵but it is so that in case I delay, you may know how to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the foundation of the truth.

¹⁶And without question, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, certified by the Spirit, visited by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up into glory.

Latter Times 1 Timothy 4 v. 1

In 1 Timothy 4:1 the word ὕστερος is usually translated “latter times,” but that is a problem, since it was quite early, that some Christian authorities began to forbid to marry or commanded to abstain from certain foods; in other words, it was NOT in the latter times. DeBrunner in BDF § 62, says the adjective ὕστερος here is not comparative, but absolute. That is, not “latter times” but “in future times.”

So, I translate this passage as follows: “Now the Spirit clearly says, that in future times some people will fall away from the faith, giving heed to seductive spirits and the teachings of demons. With deceiving hypocrisy, they will forbid to marry and command to abstain from foods, which things God created to be partaken of with thankfulness by those who are believing and acquainted with the truth. For every creation of God is good, and none to be rejected, when received with giving of thanks: because it is made holy through the word of God and prayer.”

UBS6 Ratings of Certainty

Since I am working on translating the Pastoral Epistles and Philemon, I examined my recently arrived “A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament” by H. A. G. Houghton to see how the ratings of certainty for variant readings have changed from those of the UBS5. Below are the changes only in the Pastorals and Philemon:

1 Tim 1:17 – θεω ‖ σοφω θεω – no footnote → {B}
1 Tim 2:7 – λεγω ‖ λεγω εν χριστω – {A} → {B}
1 Tim 4:10 – αγωντιζομεθα ‖ ονειδιζομεθα – {C} → {B}
1 Tim 4:12 – εν πιστει ‖ εν πνευματι εν πιστει – no footnote → {B}
1 Tim 6:17 επι θεω ‖ επι τω θεω ‖ επι θεω ζωντι ‖ εν τω θεω ζωντι – {A} → {B}
1 Tim 6:21 η χαρις μεθ’ υμων ‖ η χαρις μετα σου ‖ η χαρις μεθ’ υμων αμην ‖ η χαρις μετα σου αμην – {A} → split into two footnotes, the first part {B} and the omission of αμην as {A}
2 Tim 1:11 – και διδασκαλος ‖ και διδασκαλος εθνων – no footnote → {B}
2 Tim 2:14 – θεου ‖ κυριου – {B} → {C}
2 Tim 2:18 – [την] αναστασιν ‖ την αναστασιν – {C} → no rating
2 Tim 4:10 γαλατιαν ‖ γαλλιαν ‖ γαλιλαιαν – {A} → {C}
Tit 1:10 – πολλοι [και] ‖ πολλοι και – {C} → no rating
Tit 2:7a – αφθοριαν ‖ αφθονιαν ‖ αδιαφθοριαν – no footnote → {B}
Tit 2:7b -σεμνοτητα ‖ σεμνοτητα αφθαρσιαν – no footnote → {B}
Tit 3:1 – αρχαις ‖ αρχαις και – {B} → {A}
Philem 25 – υμων ‖ υμων αμην – {A} → {B}

The most notable thing is that they now footnote 5 Byzantine readings which were previously not noted and rated. Overall there are 11 decreases in certainty, and 4 increases in certainty.

UBS6 commentary error

UBS5/6 Error

I received my UBS6 textual commentary today and notice that it perpetuates an error in the UBS5 critical apparatus on 1 Timothy 1:4. It says GA 0150 reads εκζητησεις, supporting the UBS reading, but in fact 0150 reads ζητησεις. But the commentary makes a good point of speculation, that the EC ending of the previous word was confused with EK in the beginning of εκζητησεις. I can see this easily happening with a scribe whose primary language was Latin.

In my understanding of the context, εκζητησεις fits better, meaning “uncertainties” as opposed to “furthering the program of God which is in faith.”

1 Timothy 3:3 Variant

1 Timothy 3:3 “not given to wine, not violent but gentle, not combative, not a moneylover;”

Concentrating on the phrase “not violent but gentle.” This was the NA28 text. The Textus Receptus and Robinson-Pierpont text inserts “not greedy for gain” between “not violent” and “but gentle.” This breaks up the train of thought, plus it is very weakly attested in the Greek manuscripts, and doesn’t even have the Harklean Syriac with it:

1 Tim 3:3 txt αλλ’/αλλα ℵ A D F G K L P 0150 33 pm it-d,g vg syr-p,h-txt cop-sa,bo arm eth TH NA28 {\} ‖ μη αισχροκερδη αλλ’ pm syr-h-mg (Titus 1:7; 1 Tim 3:8) TR RP

Byz advocates say the αλλα is contrasting one set of 3 traits against the set of 3 traits that follows αλλα.  This is a long stretch in my view.  That explanation would make more sense to me if the first 3 were negatives- “not” something, and then all the 3 traits following the αλλα are positives, that is, not these 3 things, but ARE these 3 things. No, this is a case of Byz advocates stubbornly defending a reading that is very weak, with a looooong stretch.

parablepsis by homoioteleuton

Homoioteleuton Example

In New Testament textual criticism there occurs a phenomenon known as homoioteleuton, “same ending.” A scribe who is making a copy of a manuscript skips a phrase or line and proceeds with a different phrase or line that ends the same way as the one he was supposed to copy and write. The skipping of the eye is called parablepsis.

Here is the latest example of parablepsis by homoioteleuton that I have found. It is in a 9th century majuscule identified as G (012), in 1 Timothy chapter 3. Following are verses 6 – 8, where both v. 6 and v. 7 end with του διαβολου, “of the devil.” Then v. 8 starts with Διακονους, “deacons.”

1Ti 3:6 Μη νεοφυτον ινα μη τυφωθεις εις κριμα εμπεση του διαβολου.
1Ti 3:7 Δει δε και μαρτυριαν καλην εχειν απο των εξωθεν ινα μη εἰς ονειδισμον εμπεση και παγιδα του διαβολου.
1Ti 3:8 Διακονους ωσαυτως σεμνους μη διλογους μη οινω πολλω προσεχοντας μη αισχροκερδεις

A later scribe or editor marked the end of verse 6 with an asterisk, to draw attention to the oversight. The image above is a snippet of the manuscript image, showing the asterisk at the end of v. 6, then the beginning of v. 8 which starts with Διακονους. (The words above the Greek text are the Latin for the same text.)

1 Timothy Chapter 1

¹Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour and Christ Jesus our hope;

²to Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³The reason I asked you to remain at Ephesus while I went on to Macedonia, was so that you might command some not to teach differing doctrine, ⁴neither to give attention to inconclusive legends and genealogies, which produce uncertainties rather than furthering the program of God which is in faith. ⁵Now the goal of the commandment is love from a pure heart and good conscience, and faith that is unpretended; ⁶from which some have strayed away, and detoured into idle talk. ⁷Desiring to be teachers of the law, they have no understanding of what they are saying, not even about the things they are dogmatically asserting.

⁸But we know that the law is good, if one uses it correctly, ⁹knowing this, that the law is not there for the righteous person, but for the lawbreakers and the rebellious, the ungodly and the sinful, the unholy and profane, assaulters of fathers and assaulters of mothers, murderers, ¹⁰fornicators, homosexuals, human traffickers, liars, perjurors, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching ¹¹in accordance with the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

¹²I am thankful to Christ Jesus our Lord who enabled me. Because he deemed me trustworthy, he appointed me to this stewardship, ¹³even though I was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and violent. But I received mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. ¹⁴And with faith and love in Christ Jesus, the grace of our Lord abounded all the more.

¹⁵This statement is trustworthy, and deserving of all acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason: so that in me first, Christ Jesus might show forth all longsuffering, as a pattern for those who in the future were to believe on him unto eternal life. ¹⁷Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, in accordance with the prophecies that were made about you before, that with them you might soldier a good warfare, ¹⁹holding onto faith, and also a good conscience, which some having cast off, have experienced shipwreck as to faith; ²⁰among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered over to Satan, so they may learn not to blaspheme.