christology, greco-roman religious piety 229
thirty and five thousand men: for through the appearance of god (τῇ τοῦ
θεοῦ ἐπιφάνειᾳ) they were greatly cheered.
While not that common in the new testament,33 εὐσέβεια and cognates
are plentiful in the lXX. they are typically used of reverence for god
(e.g., 4 macc 11:5; 12:14; 16:14). Ιn the Pseudepigrapha, as in the Pastorals,
εὐσέβεια is parallel to δίκαιος and ἀληθινός (e.g., T.Levi 16:2; 1 En. 102:4;
103:3), and to δικαιοσύνη (Let. Aris. 131). Εὐσέβεια is also common in Philo
and Josephus. observance of the law is a matter of εὐσέβεια for Philo (Ebr.
5 [18]) and is associated with the virtues of φρόνησις, σωφροσύνη, and δικαι-
οσύνη (Cher. 96; Det.73). in Josephus εὐσέβειαι are acts enjoined by the law
(Life 14; C. Ap. 2.188, 291). in the greco-roman moralists, εὐσέβεια expresses
reverence toward the gods and respect towards relatives, between men
and wives, slaves to masters and the legions to the emperor (e.g., epic-
tetus, Ench. 31.3; TDNT 7:177). for Plutarch, the εὐσεβής knows that the
gods are πατρῷοι καὶ γενέθλιοι, σωτῆρες καὶ μειλίχιοι, from whom one seeks
wealth, security, harmony, peace and guidance in good words and works,
(Mor. 2.166d–e). similar to the Pastorals, philosophers and statesmen show
τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ σεμνότητα μετὰ χρηστότητος καὶ μεγαλοφροσύνης καὶ εὐμενείας
καὶ κηδεμονίας, (De Super 6.167e).
Preformed Christological Materials in the Pastorals
it is commonly acknowledged that the Pastorals contain preformed
Christological materials. William Conybeare and John howson’s 1852 The
Life and Epistles of Paul is recognized as the first to acknowledge such
materials.34 alfred seeberg continued the discussion in his 1903 work Der
katechismus der Urchristenheit, in which he maintained that the Pastorals
contain several fixed catechetical units (1 tim 3:16; 2 tim 2:8; 4:1).35 more
recently Joachim Jeremias (1954) and Ceslas spicq (1969) argued that
the Pastorals cite a large number of established sayings and formulas.36
33 acts 3:12; 10:2, 7; 17:23; 1 tim 2:2; 3:16; 4:7–8; 5:4; 6:3, 5–6; 2 tim 3:5; 3:12; titus 1:1; 2:12;
2 Pet 1:3, 6; 2:9; 3:11.
34 William Conybeare and John howson, The Life and Epistles of Paul (london: long-
mans, green, 1852).
35 alfred seeberg, Der Katechismus der Urchristenheit (tB 26; munich: Kaiser, 1905).
36 Jeremias, Die Briefe an Timotheus und Titus, 226–29; Ceslas spicq, Les Epîtres Pasto-
rales (4th ed.; eB; Paris: gabalda, 1969); cf. Quinn and Wacker, The First and Second Letters
to Timothy, 184.