Wesley J. Smith, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism and consultant for the Patients Rights Council warns, “Healthcare is quickly becoming about much more than the provision and reception of medical treatment. To a disturbing degree, healthcare public policy is becoming a means of imposing a secularist, anti–sanctity-of-life ideology on all of society.” [i] Today’s situation could not have been foreseen by the purveyors of early medicine. Following the example and teachings of Jesus who healed the sick and urged a life of service for his followers, Christians took the lead in caring for the sick and in the establishment of hospitals.  When St. Basil founded the first Christian hospital in Caesarea in 369, he set in motion a medicinal revolution in which both its practice, and the ethical framework that controlled it, was shaped by the Christian faith. Christian hospitals spread throughout the East and the West and by the mid-1500s 37,000 Benedictine monasteries alone cared for the sick.  The names of hospitals, such as St. Vincent’s, St. Luke’s, Mt. Sinai, Presbyterian, Mercy, and Beth Israel, still give evidence of just how much the practice of medicine owes to Christians. Indeed, even the French term for hospital is hôtel-Dieu - “hostel of God”. [ii]

It was 1874 when Andrew Taylor Still, MD developed the practice of Osteopathic medicine. Still was the son of a Methodist minister and physician and he pioneered the concept of "wellness" in the treatment of patients. Still’s concept of “wellness” did not end with treatment or cure of specific symptoms, but reflected the biblical concern for the whole person and is reflected in the tenet that “The body is a unit; the person is a unit of body, mind and spirit.” The Osteopathic philosophy is concerned with promoting the overall health and well-being of individuals, families and communities by recognizing, for example, that spirituality and religion have a role to play by supporting actions that enhance physical and mental health. It is this Osteopathic philosophy that undergirds the training of the students at Campbell University’s Medical School. 

The world that our students are graduating into, however, is much different than days of old. In many cases, the name “hostel of God” would be considered a misnomer and the concept of “wellness” has changed. Today hospitals around the globe, rather than being concerned with following Christ in his concern for “the least of these,” are involved in practicing abortions for parents who would prefer children of specific genders or who would like to be spared the “trouble” of raising a child with a developmental disability; performing sex reassignment surgeries on children as young as four; and performing euthanasia individuals with mental illness or cognitive disorders.  As a consequence, medical practice has gone from an expression of faith to an institution where political and cultural battles are fought.[iii] Those expressing religious concerns regarding the direction medicine is taking are now being told by others in the profession that, if they cannot leave their religion at the door, they need to get out of the practice of medicine altogether.[iv] As a consequence, leave their religion at the door is exactly what many doctors do. 

Despite this, there a renewed interest in the link between religion/spirituality and health. Campbell University now joins three-quarters of all U.S. medical schools which offer courses in spirituality and medicine. [v] We have utilized materials from academic centers such as the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health and have invited researcher, Harold Koenig, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center, and author of a number of publications on the intersection of religion and health, to present lectures to our students. I have taken the opportunity to deliver lectures on “Taking a Spiritual History” and my message to our students is that, to care for the whole patient, one must tend to their spiritual health as well as their physical.

How do we go about doing this? 1 Timothy 2:1-7 gives us some direction.

1 Timothy 2:1-7

2 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth. 5 For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, 6 who gave himself a ransom for all  - this was attested at the right time. 7 For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. (NRSV)

            Paul’s first letter to Timothy was born out of an urgent desire to see false teachers who had cropped up in the fledgling church in Ephesus confronted and their teachings silenced.  Discord had been introduced into the house of God and it could not be allowed to remain.  With persecution bearing down upon Christians from outside of the church and teachers making shipwrecks of people’s faith from within the church, Paul must have wondered how much longer this congregation in Ephesus could survive. In response, Paul entrusts the Ephesian church to his faithful companion Timothy whom he charges with guiding and nurturing them with pastoral care.  To this end, Paul sends Timothy a letter with specific instructions regarding the proper order that must be instituted and maintained in the household of God. In 1 Timothy 2:1-7 we are exposed to the first set of instructions but we are also given insight into the core of Paul’s methodology and motivation. Paul’s first tact for combatting the false teachers is not public debate but public prayer.  Prayer will accomplish what other methodologies cannot.  And Paul’s first concern is not simply for correct doctrinal training to replace the false.  What motivates Paul is a love for God and, therefore, a desire for the things which He desires. God desires that all men might be saved and Paul recognizes that a church unified in their love for the truth and living out their faith in the public sphere can be a powerful witness to a lost world.

Historical and Literary Contexts

The question of Paul’s authorship of 1 Timothy has been raised by scholars who feel that several arguments point to it being pseudonymous: a) the testimony of the early church does not appear to be very strong; b) the polemical style seems much different than the style of the epistles which have been accepted as genuine (Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon); c) the situation of 1 Timothy is hard to place in what we know of Paul’s activities; d) the vocabulary used in 1 Timothy is differs substantially from the genuine epistle; and e) the church order presented seems like it belongs to the turn of the century or later.[vi]   Those who accept the letter as authentic counter that: a) until the 1800’s it seems that nobody questioned their authenticity including representatives of the early church such as Polycarp, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Eusebius who all recognized them as being authentic[vii]; b) the language utilized differs from other Pauline letters because the occasion was different and demanded different terminology; c) the organization of the church described in 1 Timothy is no different than what we see in Philippians and we know that Paul appointed elders from the beginning of his mission work (Acts 14:23).[viii]  As far as the timing of the writing is concerned, the letter presents an occasion when Paul left Timothy in Ephesus while he made a visit to Macedonia.  Though we cannot know exactly when this happened, we know of two occasions in which this exact scenario took place (Acts 20:1-3 and 2 Corinthians 1:16, 2:12-13, 7:5-6) and so it is easily within the realm of possibility.  Even if neither of these two occasions fits the timing of the writing of 1 Timothy, our knowledge of all of Paul’s activities is not exhaustive.[ix]         

The letter is written to Timothy, Paul’s younger mentee (1:2, 1:18). We are introduced to Timothy in Acts 16:1-3.  He was a disciple who was living in Lystra and his good reputation among the Christians led Paul to invite him to accompany him and Silas on their missionary endeavors. Timothy’s mother was Jewish but, because his father was Greek, Timothy would have been considered a Gentile. Paul, therefore, circumcised him in an attempt to prevent his presence from being a stumbling block to the Jews he was hoping to reach. This paid off as we read that, through their combined efforts, “churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily” (Acts 16:5).  Timothy accompanied Paul and Silas on the remainder of Paul’s second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-18:22) and then accompanied Paul on his third missionary journey when he travelled to Ephesus.  Paul sent Timothy and a disciple named Erastus ahead to Macedonia to prepare for his own arrival there on his planned trip to visit Jerusalem (Acts 19:21-22).  Later, he was again sent ahead to prepare the way for Paul, this time to Troas (Acts 20:1-6).  The picture that is painted of Timothy is one of a highly trusted companion who helped manage Paul’s affairs and who, at times, served as an ambassador for Paul to carry on his work of strengthening and confronting congregations (cf. 1 Thess 3:1-6, 1 Cor 4:17; 16:10-11; Phil 2:19-24). 

Occasion

Paul and Timothy had come to Ephesus together but when Paul continued on to Macedonia he left Timothy there in order for Timothy to oversee the church. This oversight involved confronting false teachers who threatened to lead the Christians in Ephesus astray, and ensuring a proper church order was instituted and followed.  Since we do not know on which particular trip to Macedonia this letter was written, dating it is difficult.  Lea provides a helpful possible chronology for the letters of Paul and dates the writing of 1 Timothy somewhere between A.D. 63-66 which would be after Paul had been released from his first imprisonment.[x]

Form, Structure, Movement

1 Timothy is in the form of a letter and is typically described, along with 2 Timothy and Titus, as a “pastoral letter” because it was written to Timothy to help him in the discharge of his pastoral duties in Ephesus.   Dibelius and Conzelmann, who consider the letter pseudonymous, argue that it is a collection of church order materials put into the form of a letter attributed to Paul to ensure a wide audience and broad appeal.[xi] Gloer, who accepts the letter’s authenticity, argues that the letter shares the nature of a particular type of letter called the mandata prinicippiis.  This was a letter that contained orders given by a superior to a delegate who would enact the orders in their own sphere of influence.[xii] 1 Timothy contains elements which are personal in nature such as Paul’s instruction for Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach ailments (5:23) but it is clear that Paul intended it to be read to the entire church from the letter’s closing statement “Grace be with you all” (6:21).  As a result, the letter does shift from personal to formal and back again on occasion indicating that it was intended to be a sort of guide for church order which Paul desired Timothy to share, at least in part, with the church.

The form of 1 Timothy follows the standard letter form of Paul’s day but Belleville notes that it is missing not only the standard thanksgiving section at the opening of the letter but, more strikingly, detailed travel plans and closing greetings at the end which both 2 Timothy and Titus contain.  Belleville explains that this “signals a troubling and pervasive state of affairs at Ephesus.”[xiii]

Towner (following the arguments of Johnson) argues that the theological perspective of 1 Timothy is shaped by the concept of “the good order from God” introduced in 1:4 (oikonomia theou).  The idea is that God divinely orders all of reality.  This would include the church, “the household of God” (oikos theou, 3:15), and the whole of the social and political world in which it finds itself.  The false teachers have created a disruption to this order in the church and Timothy is charged with admonishing the opponents and instructing the faithful in order that the church will see good order restored and it will, then, stand as a symbol of God’s ordering presence in the world.[xiv] Having greeted Timothy (1:1-2), Paul describes the challenge facing the church in Ephesus (1:3-11), relates his own call to ministry (1:12-17) and charges Timothy to his own ministerial call (1:18-20).  2:1-7 initiate the specific instructions that Timothy is to follow.

Outline of 1 Timothy 1:1-2:7

1. Opening Greeting- 1:1-3a
2. Body of the Letter 1:3-6:21
   1. The challenge in Ephesus 1:3-11
      1. False teaching including that regarding the law 1:3-7
      2. Proper use of the law in a fallen world 1:8-11
   2. Paul’s call to ministry 1:12-17
   3. Timothy’s charge to ministry in Ephesus 1:18-20
   4. The first response to the challenge- prayer with a view to gospel witness 2:1-7

Detailed Analysis

Vs. 1a “First of all, then..”

This connects 2:1-7 to what has come before.  Certainly, a link can be made to 1:3 and 1:18-20 (see Fee), but it seems better to see it as a natural outgrowth of all that has come before.  The prayers are said with the end of peaceful, quiet, godly, and dignified lives in view.  This is in contrast to what Paul has described in chapter one.  The situation that Timothy is facing is marked by speculations (vs. 4) and meaningless talk (vs. 6) by those who desire to be teachers while not understanding what they are saying (vs. 7) leading others to making shipwrecks of their faith (vs. 18) some of whom have had to be removed from the fellowship of the church (vs. 20). The broader context in which this is happening is a world in which lives the lawless and disobedient, the godless and sinful, the unholy and profane, those who kill their father and mother, murderers (vv. 8-11).  Paul recognizes that the fate that they deserve, he deserved as well and, yet, he received mercy (vv. 12-17) from the King of the ages (vs. 17).  Now Paul, has a young man named Timothy who has had prophecies made regarding him which has singled him out as a worthy companion and which will be of help to him as he fights a spiritual battle (vs. 18).  It is in light of all of this that Paul, therefore (“then”) charges Timothy to pray (cf. Eph 6:18) for earthly kings that peace may reign and others might receive mercy as he did.  Of all the work that Timothy will be called upon to do, prayers come “first of all.”  That they would come first in sequence and first in priority is not a surprise given the priority it is given elsewhere. In a situation that bears certain similarities to this one, Jeremiah writes a letter to elders, priests, prophets and all the (God’s) people who find themselves in a world whose system of belief is hostile to their own.  He calls on them to seek the welfare of the city by praying to the LORD on its behalf “for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer 29:7).  Paul elsewhere calls for a similar priority be given to prayer when the situation is one of God’s people living in the midst of a world of conflict and conflicting viewpoints and the goal being one of peaceful interaction with others while standing for the truth (cf Col 4:2-6, Eph 6:18-20).

Vs. 1b  “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,”

Mounce articulates the view of most commentators when he argues that Paul’s intention here is not to distinguish the various kinds of prayer but simply to make the point that “all prayers, of all types, should be for all people.”[xv] Gloer, argues that, while Paul does not intend to limit the types of prayers to these three (the term “prayer” being understood as a generic term while “supplications”, “intercessions” and “thanksgivings” being particular types of prayers), these three (at least) should be included in the prayers lifted up.[xvi] “Supplications” refers to asking God on behalf of others for a specific perceived need.  “Intercessions” refers to pleading on behalf of another in a way that demonstrates one’s concern for them in a time of need.  “Thanksgivings” are expressions of gratitude for the blessings bestowed upon someone.[xvii]

“for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth.”

Given the circumstances described in chapter one, one would expect that the prayers Paul commends would be primarily, if not solely, focused on those who were false teachers.  By praying either for their hearts to be changed or for their removal from their spheres of influence, this would usher in the peace and quiet for the church in Ephesus that Paul indicates would be a result of the prayers.  The prayers that Paul charges Timothy to lead the church in praying have a much broader scope however. Does this indicate that the troubles the church is facing are coming from all directions both within and without?  We know that Paul has sent Timothy to Ephesus at a time proximate to his being imprisoned while attempting to spread the faith, so this is a distinct possibility.  Viewing it in this manner, we might read Paul as saying, in essence, “Pray that everyone (troublemakers within and without the church) will just leave us alone that we might practice our faith in peace.”  This approach, however, does not seem likely.  First, Paul, far from expecting a life of comfort and ease for believers, expresses suffering as a means by which the power of God is put on full display and, as a result, life in Christ is spread to others (Eph 4:7-12). Secondly, earthly comfort does not appear to be one of Paul’s greater concerns.  In fact, compared to the glory believers will experience in the new heavens and new earth, today’s sufferings are but “light and momentary” and no cause for believers to lose heart.  Rather than praying for the suffering to cease, then, believers are encouraged to look beyond them to things unseen (2 Cor 4:16-18).  Debelius and Conzellman point to the perceived contrast between the author of 1 Timothy and Paul’s other writings to justify their rejection of Pauline authorship for 1 Timothy.  They state that, contrary to Paul, the author of the Pastorals “seeks to build the possibility of a life in this world…He wishes to become part of the world.”[xviii] If we assume Pauline authorship, what are we to make of this?  1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 may give us a clue as to what Paul has in mind here.  The same concern for believers living quiet lives is here linked to the result of their walking “properly before outsiders”.  His concern seems to be that the Gentiles, whom he longed to be saved (1 Thess 2:16), would see in the quiet lives of the Thessalonian believers the gospel on display. Since Paul’s concern in 1 Timothy 2:4 is for the salvation of others, seeing these as parallel passages would not be ungrounded.  Paul would be understood, then, to be saying “I am charging you to pray, not just for the trouble makers within the church in Ephesus, but also for community at large and those who rule over it as well. The goal of these prayers is that you would be free to live out your faith in a way that is untroubled by strife and conflict but, instead, as a living demonstration of the gospel.” “Godliness” refers to “the whole of the Christian life as the interplay between the knowledge of God and the observable conduct that emerges from that knowledge.”^[xix] And “dignity” refers to a “settled piety” which “results in moral earnestness, which affects both outward actions and inward intentions (and) wins the respect of others.”^[xx]

Paul’s emphasis that God desires that “everyone” would be saved may be a rebuke to those of 1:4 who were devoted to “endless genealogies” and, therefore, sought to limit the gospel’s reach to particular groups of peoples. God’s desire for everyone to be saved does not imply that all will be saved nor that God is powerless to accomplish what he wills. Arminians have used this text to argue against the Calvinist contention that God limits his will to save to only the elect. John Piper responds by pointing out that Calvinists and Arminians actually both agree on their basic approaches to 2:3-4. First acknowledging that neither Arminians nor Calvinists can accept the idea that there is a power in the universe greater than God which overrules what he wills, Piper writes:

The other possibility is that God wills not to save all, even though he is willing to save all, because there is something else that he wills more, which would be lost if he exerted his sovereign power to save all.  This is the solution that I as a Calvinist affirm along with Arminians.  In other words, both Calvinists and Arminians affirm two wills of God when they ponder deeply over 1 Timothy 2:3-4.  Both can say that God wills for all to be saved.  But then, when queried why all are not saved, both Calvinist and Arminian answer that God is committed to something even more valuable than saving all.

The difference between Calvinists and Arminians lies not in whether there are two wills in God, but in what they say this higher commitment is.  What does God will more than saving all?  The answer given by Arminians is that human self-determination and the possibility of a resulting love relationship with God are more valuable than saving all people by sovereign, efficacious grace.  The answer given by Calvinists is that the greater value is the manifestation of the full range of God’s glory in wrath and mercy (Romans 9:22-23) and the humbling of man so that he enjoys giving all credit to God for his salvation (1 Corinthians 1:29).[xxi]

Is their “being saved” and “coming to the knowledge of the truth” two ways of describing a singular event or do these describe two separate, albeit connected, events? It could be that this is simply two ways of describing a single salvation event with “the knowledge of the truth” emphasizing that faith is not anti-intellectual but involves an embracing of truth claims.[xxii]  In 2 Timothy 3:1-9, Paul describes those who had the appearance of godliness and yet who, despite all of their learning, never arrived “at a knowledge of the truth” (vs. 7).  Perhaps, what Paul has in mind, then, is that God desires that all people would avoid the fate of Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim 1:19b-20) who had appeared to have embraced the faith and yet were led astray from a knowledge of the truth leading to the shipwreck of their faiths and the expulsion from the church.

5 For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, 6 who gave himself a ransom for all  - this was attested at the right time.

            “For” connects vss. 5-6 to the call to prayer in vs. 1 and the contention of vss. 3-4 that God “our Savior” desires “all people” to be saved. Why would “our” Savior desire salvation for others? We might think of Peter’s response to Jesus when, after many of his disciples left him, he asked Peter “Do you want to go away as well?” Peter replied, “Lord to whom shall we go?” (John 6:67-68). In other words, since salvation can be found in no one else, who is there that we could possible turn to?  In the same vein, Paul makes the point that, if salvation is to be desired for others, there is no use in hoping they find it in any other source other than the one true God. There is only one God.  There is only one mediator between humankind and God.  Therefore, we pray for all people that they find God, the only hope that they have for salvation.  With vs. 5 echoing the Jewish affirmation on the uniqueness of God (Deut. 6:4), Mounce argues that verses 5-6 contain the strongest arguments that the Ephesian heresy was primarily Jewish.[xxiii] Arguing against the way that the affirmation was used by them in an exclusivistic way, Paul contends that “one God” means he is the one God for all the nations which are composed of a humanity that is in universal need of help which God has provided through the one mediator, the God-man  who identifies with them.[xxiv]

Most commentators connect this with Jesus’ statement in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Towner notes that Paul has adapted 10:45 in numerous passages (Gal 1:4, 2:20; Eph 5:2; Titus 2:14). The importance of this passage for Paul lay in the presentation of Jesus’ death as a voluntary self-sacrifice as a representative and substitute.  Mounce argues that the placement of the phrase “This was attested at the right time” indicates that it is a comment on a creedal formula.^[xxv] Verses 5 and 6 may be the part of a creed, or the entire creed itself, which would have been known by the Ephesian church. “For,” connects the creed with the theme of the paragraph with Christ’s ransom being “for all” what Paul wants to emphasize.^[xxvi] If that is the case, we might read it as saying that Christ’s ransom for all people is the appropriate witness to the fact that the church should not exclude anyone from the offer of salvation. 

7 For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

“For this” is most naturally understood to be referring to Paul’s role as God’s instrument to lead people to a “knowledge of the truth” since the means by which he is to accomplish his appointment was by being a herald, apostle and teacher.  His target audience is composed of Gentiles which is proof in and of itself of the point that he has been making here.  Namely, that God’s desire that all (not simply Jews) be saved.   Paul is emphatic on this point and so exclaims “I am telling the truth, I am not lying.” 

Synthesis

There was an urgency to Paul’s insistence that Timothy remain in Ephesus and “wage the good fight” (1:18) against the false teachers who were active there.  And it is no wonder as their vain discussions were guilty of shipwrecking the faith of those in the church.  If it wasn’t enough that the world at large was hostile to the message of hope which resulted in a world that was full of disorder, inside the church similar conditions now reigned.  Paul had entrusted Timothy to be his representative to address issues in the churches on his behalf before and he has once again charged Timothy with the task of setting things aright.  But where should Timothy begin?  Paul has armed Timothy with a letter which gives him instructions for the household of faith.  “Teach and urge these things” Paul writes in 6:2.  What things? Instructions regarding the qualifications for elders (3:1-7) and deacons (3:8-11).  Instructions regarding relationships within the church (5:1-16), for the care and provision of elders (5:17-19), and for the relationships between servants and masters (6:1-2). Before Timothy is to address any of these things, however, Paul makes sure he understands what must come first: prayer.  Prayer is the main weapon in Timothy’s arsenal and, more than simply praying for the problem to go away, Paul leads Timothy in thinking through the broader implications.  It was not enough to pray that order within the church be restored.  That order had a higher purpose yet.  In Jesus’ high priestly prayer of John 17, Jesus prayed that the disciples would “all be one” in order that “the world may believe that you (the Father) have sent me” (John 17:21).  Paul now echoes Jesus’ desire.  The issues within the church must be addressed and unity of mind and action restored with the goal that a watching Gentile world would come to believe.

[i] Wesley J. Smith, “Religious and Pro-Life Conscience Unwelcome in Healthcare,” First Things, July 22, 2016, https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2016/07/religious-and-pro-life-conscience-unwelcome-in-healthcare.

[ii] “The Christian Origins of Hospitals,” Biblemesh, February 6, 2012, https://biblemesh.com/blog/the-christian-origins-of-hospitals.

[iii] Wesley J. Smith, “The ‘Medical Conscience’ Civil Rights Movement,” First Things, March 30, 2018,  https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2018/03/the-medical-conscience-civil-rights-movement

[iv] See for example The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ “Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine” at  https://www.acog.org/Clinical-Guidance-and-Publications/Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Ethics/The-Limits-of-Conscientious-Refusal-in-Reproductive-Medicine.

[v]Manoj Jain “Should doctors pray with their patients? Despite skeptics, medical schools addressing spirituality,” The Washington Post, November 21, 2008, https://journaltimes.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/religion/should-doctors-pray-with-their-patients-despite-skeptics-medical-schools/article_5a81059e-5da9-5774-9883-253bc28c974b.html.

[vi] Martin Dibelius and Hans Conzelmann. The Pastoral Epistles, ed. Helmet Koester, trans. Philip Buttolph and Adela Yarbro (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972), 1-4.

[vii] Philip H. Towner. The Letters to Timothy and Titus (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006), 10.

[viii] W. Hulitt Gloer. 1 & 2 Timothy-Titus (Macon, Georgia: Smyth & Helwys, 2010), 7.

[ix] Ibid., 4.

[x] Thomas D. Lea and Hayne P. Griffin, Jr. 1, 2 Timothy, Titus (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1992), 40-41.

[xi] Dibelius and Conzelmann, 5-7.

[xii] Gloer, 12.

[xiii] Linda L. Belleville, Jon C. Laansma, and J. Ramsey Michaels. Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: 1-2 Timothy, Titus and Hebrews (Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009), 15.

[xiv] Towner, 68-70.

[xv] William D. Mounce. Pastoral Epistles (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 79.

[xvi] Gloer, 137.

[xvii] Richard C. Blight. An Exegetical Summary of 1 Timothy (Dallas: SIL, 2009), 91.

[xviii] Debelius and Conzellman, 39.

^[xix] Blight, 99.

^[xx] Ibid.

[xxi] John Piper. The Pleasures of God (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 2000), 333.

[xxii] Gordon D. Fee. 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1988), 63.

[xxiii] Mounce, 85.

[xxiv] Fee, 65.

^[xxv] Mounce, 91.

^[xxvi] Mounce, 87.