100 Reasons to Believe New Testament History
17. Defence of Paul’s Letter’s to Timothy
The authorship of the so-called Pastoral Epistles has been challenged more than any of the Pauline letters. The most common explanation among liberals is that the Pastoral Epistles, including the letters to Timothy, were “pious forgeries” from the second century. There are several problems with this idea.
First, the early church was sensitive to the problem of forgeries. The words of Tertullian against the spurious writings being propagated by Marcion have already been noted A. Tertullian, along with Clement of Alexandria B , and the Muratorian Cannon C, all accepted the New Testament letters to Timothy as authentically Pauline.
Second, the adjective “pious” should deceive no one. Forgery was as deceptive then as it is now. The entire Bible is replete with warnings about lying.
Third, these letters contain many personal names and details, which would have likely been avoided by a forger, who would have concealed the deception in vagueness. Fourth, it is often claimed that the forger was an admirer of Paul, yet this hardly reconciles with statements found in 1 Timothy 1:13, 15 D where Paul refers to himself as a former blasphemer, arrogant, and the chief of sinners.
17. Defence of Paul’s Letter’s to Timothy - Notes and References
A. See pt. 13
B. Merrill C. Tenney, “New Testament Survey”, Revised Ed., Eerdmans Publishing Co.,1985, pp.430-431
C. “A…list of great importance was the Muratorian Cannon, named for the Italian historian and librarian who found who first found it in the Ambrosian Library at Milan. The manuscript itself is not older than the seventh century, but its contents probably belongs to the last third of the second century, about 170 A.D.” Merrill C. Tenney, “New Testament Survey”, Revised Ed., Eerdmans Publishing Co.,1985, p. 408,
D. “[I was] a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” 1 Timothy 1:13-15