the problem of the pastoral epistles 167
are the passages concerning church leaders (1 Tim 3:1–16; Titus 1:7–9) and
the comments regarding Cretans (Titus 1:12–16).63
The cohesive structure and literary integrity of the PE have been con-
firmed recently by several individual studies.64 The most comprehensive
study to date is that by Ray van Neste.65 Drawing on the modern linguistic
theory of similarity, that “cohesion is created by the use of similar terms
discussing similar things,”66 he examines the boundaries of the discrete
units of each letter, the cohesion of each unit and the cohesion of the
various units within the entire discourse. Cohesion is found both within
and between the following units: 676869
63 Barr, Scalometry, 88–93. Cf. Barr, “Interpolations,” 441–442.
64 Cf. J. T. Reed, “Cohesive Ties in 1 Timothy: In Defense of the Epistle’s Unity,” Neot
26 (1992): 192–213; “To Timothy or Not? A Discourse Analysis of 1 Timothy,” in S. E. Porter
and D. A. Carson (eds.), Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics: Open Questions in Current
Research ( JSNTSup 80; Sheffield: JSOT, 1993), 90–118; E. R. Wendland, “ ‘Let No One Disre-
gard You!’ (Titus 2.15): Church Discipline and the Construction of Discourse in a Personal,
‘Pastoral’ Epistle,” in S. E. Porter and J. T. Reed (eds.), Discourse Analysis and the New Testa-
ment: Approaches and Results ( JSNTSup 170; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1999), 334–51;
K. D. Tollefson, “Titus: Epistle of Religious Revitalization,” BTB 30 (2000): 145–57; D. J. Clark,
“Discourse Structure in Titus,” BT 53 (2002): 101–17; C. L. Westfall, “A Moral Dilemma? The
Epistolary Body of 2 Timothy,” in S. E. Porter and S. A. Adams (eds.), Paul and the Ancient
Letter Form (PAST 6; Leiden: Brill, 2010), 213–52; A. A. Genade, Persuading the Cretans: A
Text-Generated Persuasion Analysis of the Letter to Titus (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011);
P. S. Jeon, To Exhort and Reprove: Audience Response to the Chiastic Structures of Paul’s Let-
ter to Titus (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2012).
65 R. Van Neste, Cohesion and Structure in the Pastoral Epistles ( JSNTSup 280; London:
T&T Clark, 2004); “Cohesion and Structure in the Pastoral Epistles,” in A. J. Köstenberger
and T. L. Wilder (eds.), Entrusted with the Gospel: Paul’s Theology in the Pastoral Epistles
(Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2010), 84–104.
66 Van Neste, Cohesion and Structure, 17.
67 Van Neste, Cohesion and Structure, 18–45.
68 Van Neste, Cohesion and Structure, 146–233.
69 Van Neste, Cohesion and Structure, 234–82.