christology, greco-roman religious piety 223
organizational disarray.7 the main concern of the Pastorals is to instruct
parishioners about social conformity. for example, anthony hanson
understands the Pastorals as letters instructing the church on how to be
a good citizen.8 luke Johnson identifies οἰκονομίαν θεοῦ (understood as
church administration) as the Pastorals’ central motif.9 Ben fiore sees the
Pastorals as “church order” letters, resembling the official duty-roster mem-
orandum given to subordinate officials on assuming a new position.10
it is not that the Pastorals lack Christology. the titles “Christ Jesus,” “our
savior Jesus Christ,” and “our lord Jesus Christ” (with minor variations)
alone appear thirty-one times in the Pastorals’ thirteen chapters.11 since
hans Windisch’s formative 1935 ZNW essay, scholars readily acknowledge
the presence of Christological titles, statements, and hymns but view
them as largely irrelevant to the situation that prompted the writing of the
Pastorals.12 it is commonly argued that the term εὐσέβεια, found thirteen
times in the Pastorals (and elsewhere only in acts and 2 Peter), sums up
the Pastorals’ primary concern to instruct the church on how to live com-
fortably in the world.13 hans Conzelmann, who regards the Pastorals as
bourgeois documents concerned with a middle-class ethic of respectabil-
ity and conformity to prevailing social values, is representative.14 even
conservative scholarship reflects a similar ecclesial perspective albeit a
7 ferdinand Christian Baur, Die sogenannten Pastoralbriefe des Apostels Paulus aufs
neue kritisch untersucht (stuttgart: Cotta, 1835); martin dibelius, Die Pastoralbriefe (hand-
buch zum neuen testament 13; tübingen: J. C. B. mohr, 1931). Cf. Brox, Die Pastoralbriefe;
hans Bürki, Der erste Brief des Paulus an Timotheus (Wuppertaler studienbibel neues
testament 14; Wuppertal: r. Brockhaus, 1994); fritz grunzweig, Erster Timotheus-Brief
(Bibel-Kommentare 18; neuhausen-stuttgart: hanssler, 1990); merkel, Die Pastoralbriefe;
heinz-Werner neudorfer, Der erste Brief des Paulus an Timotheus (historisch-theologische
auslegung; Wuppertal: r. Brockhaus, 2004); oberlinner, Die Pastoralbriefe.
8 anthony t. hanson, The Pastoral Epistles (nCBC; london: marshall Pickering,
1982), 13.
9 Johnson, First and Second Letters to Timothy, 147–54.
10 Benjamin fiore, The Pastoral Epistle (sP 12; Collegeville, mn: liturgical Press, 2007),
9–12.
11 1 tim 1:1 (twice), 2, 12, 14, 15, 16; 2:5; 3:13; 4:6; 5:11, 21; 6:3, 13, 14; 2 tim 1:1 (twice), 2, 9,
10, 13; 2:1, 3, 8, 10; 3:12, 15; 4:1; titus 1:1, 4; 2:13; 3:6. 2 tim 4:1.
12 hans Windisch, “Zur Christologie der Pastoralbriefe,” ZNW 34 (1935): 213–14.
13 see dibelius, Die Pastoralbriefe; Brox, Die Pastoralbriefe; Bürki, Der erste Brief des
Paulus an Timotheus; fritz grünzweig, Erster Timotheus-Brief; Jeremias, Timotheus und
Titus; merkel, Die Pastoralbriefe; heinz-Werner neudorfer, Der erste Brief des Paulus an
Timotheus. Historisch-Theologische Auslegung (hta; Wuppertal: Brockhaus, 2004); lorenz
oberlinner, Der Titusbrief (htKnt 11; freiburg: herder, 2002); roloff, Der erste Brief an
Timotheus.
14 see hans Conzelmann, The Pastoral Epistles (hermeneia: Philadelphia: fortress,
1972), 8–10. Compare houlden, Pastoral Epistles, 64–65; Karris, The Pastoral Epistles, 64.