1 Timothy 1:3–4 in the Memory of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius, and Chrysostom
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Historical Criticism and Reception
2.1. Social Memory Theory
The interaction of symbol and memory is a continuous process being played out at every level. That applies in particular to “memory of the will”. Whenever we think about something that we do not want to forget under any circumstances, we invent memory aids that range from the famous knot in our handkerchief to our national monuments. Such aides-mémoires are also the lieux de mémoire, memory sites in which the memory of entire national or religious communities is concentrated, monuments, rituals, feast days and customs. In short, the entire panoply of things that go to make up what Halbwachs called tradition and which he contrasted with mémoire vécue and tradition, communication and tradition (Assmann 2006, pp. 8–9).
2.2. My Practice of Interpretation
3. 1 Timothy 1:3–4
4. Reception of 1 Timothy 1:4
4.1. Against the “Gnostics”
4.1.1. Irenaeus
4.1.2. Tertullian
[W]hen he mentions “endless genealogies”, Valentinus is recognized, according to whom some Aeon or other of a strange and shifting name produces Sense and Truth out of its own Grace; and these in like manner generate from themselves Word and Life; while these again produce Man and Church; from which first ogdoad of Aeons come ten others, while twelve Aeons besides with wondrous names make up the entire fiction of the Thirty.13
To take another instance: if someone knowledgeable in our faith comes to these tales and immediately finds so many names of Aeons, so many marriages, so many offspring, so many dooms, so many adventures, joys, sorrows of a scattered and fragmentary godhead, will he hesitate then and there to call these the “myths and endless genealogies” which the apostle’s inspiration had already condemned even then when these heretical seeds were sprouting?15
4.2. Against the Jews
4.2.1. Athanasius
The Hellenes, as the apostle said, attack with elevated and persuasive words and plausible sophisms, while the Jews, who abandoned the divine scriptures, conduct their wrangling from now on in fables and endless genealogies, as the apostle said. Along with them the Manichaeans and Valentinians and the others corrupt the divine scriptures and invent fables from their own false texts (66.4).16
4.2.2. John Chrysostom
By “fables” [i.e., myths] he does not mean the law; far from it; but inventions and forgeries and counterfeit doctrines. For, it seems, the Jews wasted their whole discourse on these unprofitable points. They numbered up their fathers and grandfathers, that they might have the reputation of historical knowledge and research. “That thou mightest charge some”, he says, “that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies”.17
4.3. Analysis
5. Conclusions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
1 | In addition to the studies in the previous note, see, e.g., (Hwang 2006; Zamfir 2008; Tinkle 2010; Dupont 2011). |
2 | See, (Smith 2023, p. 38), who uses the plural to provide a critique of the “classic” historical-critical method. |
3 | Describing the origins of an idea or method is always a fraught endeavor. One can easily find antecedents to historical critical methods prior to the nineteenth century—even pushing back into antiquity. Scholars seem to locate the origin of historical critical methods in the work of various scholars, such as Salomo Semler, Reimarus, John David Michaelis, Johann Gottfried Eichhorn, etc. However, the nineteenth century (or slightly before) in Europe seem to be a fairly commonly cited milieu for the advent of historical criticisms. (Kurtz 2023, pp. 21–25). |
4 | For a discussion of reception historical studies on the New Testament, see, (Shedd 2021, pp. 16–20). |
5 | (White 2014, pp. 95–96; Nora 1989, p. 12). “The defense, by certain minorities, of a privileged memory that has retreated to jealously protected enclaves in this sense intensely illuminates the truth of lieux de mémoire—that without commemorative vigilance, history would soon sweep them away”. |
6 | For this critique along with an analysis of the critique, see (Keith 2015, p. 363). |
7 | Καθὼς παρεκάλεσά σε προσμεῖναι ἐν Ἐφέσῳ πορευόμενος εἰς Μακεδονίαν, ἵνα παραγγείλῃς τισὶν μὴ ἑτεροδιδασκαλεῖν μηδὲ προσέχειν μύθοις καὶ γενεαλογίαις ἀπεράντοις, αἵτινες ἐκζητήσεις παρέχουσιν μᾶλλον ἢ οἰκονομίαν θεοῦ τὴν ἐν πίστει. |
8 | Plato, Timaeus 23b. Although he does not use the term γενεαλογία, he uses the cognate verb γενεαλογέω, which conveys the idea of relating genealogies. |
9 | For further uses of these terms, see, (Kidson 2020, pp. 125–26). |
10 | (Towner 2006, p. 110); (Marshall and Towner 1999, pp. 355–56). These two interpretations—gnostic and Jewish—are not necessarily mutually exclusive. There are a number of mediating positions between them. For a discussion of several mediating views, see, (Thornton 2014, pp. 38–39). |
11 | The earliest reception of the Pastoral Epistles is difficult to determine and highly contested. See (Looks 1999). |
12 | Translation: Dominic J. Unger, trans., St. Irenaeus of Lyons: Against the Heresies, vol. 1, revisions by John J. Dillon (Unger 1992). Although this work is only fully extant in Latin, there is a Greek fragment of this portion of the preface. Ἐπεὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν παραπεμπόμενοί τινες ἐπεισάγουσι λόγους ψευδεῖς καὶ γενεαλογίας ἀπεράντους, αἵτινες ζητήσεις μᾶλλον παρέχουσι. (SC 264). |
13 | Tertullian, Praescr. 33. Translation: Thomas Herbert Bindley, trans., Tertullian on the Testimony of the Soul and on the “Prescription” of Heretics (Bindley 1914, pp. 80–81). Sed et cum genealogieas indeterminatas nominat, Valentinus agnoscitur, apud quem Aeon ille nescio qui noui et non unius nominis generat ex sua Charite Sensum et Veritatem; et hi aeque procreant ex se Sermonem et Vitam, dehine et isti generant Hominem et Ecclesiam de qua prima ogdoade Aeonum exinde decem alii et duodecim reliqui Aeones miris nominibus oriuntur in meram fabulam triginta Aeonum. (SC 46) |
14 | See (Bauckham 2003). For a discussion of the Ebionites in Tertullian’s writings, see, (Klign and Reinink 1973, pp. 21–22). |
15 | Tertullian, Val. 3. Translation: Mark Timothy Riley, “Q. S. Fl. Tertulliani Adversus Valentinianos: Test, Translation, and Commentary”, (Ph.D. dissertation, Riley 1971). sed qui ex alia conscientia venerit fidei, si inveniat tot nomina Aeonum, tot conjugia, tot genimina, tot exitus, tot eventus felicitates infelicitates dispersae atque concisae divinitatis, dubitabitne ibidem pronuntiare has esse fabulas et genealogias indeterminatas quas apostoli spiritus, his iam tunc pullulantibus seminibus haereticis, damnare praevenit? |
16 | Translation: Flower, Imperial Invectives against Constantius. Καὶ Ἕλληνες μὲν, ὡς εἴπεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ἐν ὑπεροχῇ καὶ πειθοῖ λόγων καὶ σοφίσμασι πιθανοῖς ἐπιχειροῦσιν· Ἰουδαῖοι δὲ, ἀφέντες τὰς θείας Γραφὰς, λοιπὸν, ὡς εἶπεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ἐν μύθοις καὶ γενεαλογίαις ἀπεράντοις ἔχουσι τὴν ἔριν· Μανιχαἶοι γὰρ καὶ Oὐαλεντῖνοι σὺν αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἄλλοι, καπηλεύοντες τὰς θείας Γραφὰς, τοῖς ἑαυτῶν ἐπιπλάστοις λόγοις μυθολογοῦσιν. (PG 25:772). |
17 | Chrysostom, Hom. 1 Tim 1 (NPNF 13:410) Μηδὲ προσέχειν, φησί, μύθοις καὶ γενεαλογίαις ἀπεράντοις. Μύθους οὐ τὸν νόμον φησὶν, ἄπαγε· ἀλλὰ τὰς παραποιήσεις καὶ τὰ παραχαράγματα καὶ τὰ παράσημα δόγματα. Εἰκὸς γὰρ τοὺς ἐξ Ἰουδαίων ἐν τοῖς ἀνανήτοις τὸν πάντα λόγον ἀναλίσκειν, πάππους καὶ προπάππους ἀριθμοῦντας, ἵνα δῆθεν ἐμπειρίας πολλῆς καὶ ἱστορίας δόξαν ἔχωσιν. Ἵνα παραγγείλῃς τισὶ, φησί, μὴ ἑτεροδιδασκαλεῖν, μηδὲ προσέχειν μύθοις καὶ γενεαλογίαις ἀπεράντοις. (PG 62:504). |
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Robertson, M.S. 1 Timothy 1:3–4 in the Memory of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius, and Chrysostom. Religions 2023, 14, 1123. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091123
Robertson MS. 1 Timothy 1:3–4 in the Memory of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius, and Chrysostom. Religions. 2023; 14(9):1123. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091123
Chicago/Turabian StyleRobertson, Michael Scott. 2023. "1 Timothy 1:3–4 in the Memory of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius, and Chrysostom" Religions 14, no. 9: 1123. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091123
APA StyleRobertson, M. S. (2023). 1 Timothy 1:3–4 in the Memory of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius, and Chrysostom. Religions, 14(9), 1123. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091123