The Letters of Timothy
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To Paul, my beloved father in Faith.
Having heard about your mistreatment at the hands of the pagans, I very much desire to come to your aid, even though the work you appointed to me in Ephesus is certainly unfinished. I refer, of course, to the dissensions which have arisen regarding your teaching, in particular the problems posed by the Greek philosophers. I am ashamed to admit that I permitted them to talk, not thinking it dangerous. But now their evil influence is becoming apparent. The Jews are still having difficulty reconciling your precepts with the requirements they learned from their fathers to observe the Law in everything for righteousness. They see turning away from the Law as the most heinous kind of sin. I can perhaps counter the philosophical arguments of the Greeks, but my knowledge of my mother's heritage is not sufficient fully to answer the questions of the learned Jews, with whom you so eloquently spoke when you were here. Their chief concern is how a religion which presumes to lead all men to holiness can tolerate obvious sinners. They look to a holy Jew, such as yourself, for answers, and tend to discount anything I say to them as arising from my supposed sympathy with a basically pagan desire to inherit the blessings promised only to devout Jews without doing what is necessary to earn it, which they see as blasphemy. Blasphemers, they say, can never be saved. Mercy in any form is a concept hard for Greeks to grasp. The concept of the resurrection from the dead is also foreign to their understanding of the nature of the human individual. Their position is espoused by some very persuasive teachers, many of them Jews of Greek descent, followers of Hymenaeus and Alexander, and I do not seem to be making headway in countering some of their arguments. Frankly, my father, our ship is foundering! I feel that I am losing the battle for their salvation which you entrusted to my care! As a result of these divisions, many who consider themselves the more important or influential members of the Christian community have come to feel that those who do not accept their interpretation of the faith are already irrevocably lost. They consider them outsiders, condemned by God's prior intent. As a result, they criticize them and belittle them and publicly humiliate them. They have even come to consider praying for them, even those who have great need of it, as inappropriate for what they consider a true Christian. The women, especially, have become clannish and exclusionary. They seem to be more concerned with what they look like than what they are, and are not happy with your earlier remonstration regarding their behavior. Church gatherings and liturgical services have begun to resemble a gathering of self-absorbed society matrons, many of whom have taken to arguing and criticizing the men, even the priests and deacons. Some of them even see me as nothing but a male chauvinist Greek and add to their claim, that I don't properly sympathize with Jews, that I don't understand the female viewpoint, either. This dissension has infiltrated even our homes and families, and has made it increasingly difficult to find men whose families will support their ordination or the sacrifices necessary for the ministry. Candidates for the diaconate and priesthood have become increasingly rare. Our selection criteria can certainly be improved. We have had to accept men of dubious moral reputation, and some of our priests have recently been accused, and even convicted, of truly shocking behavior. Even the bishops are having domestic troubles! I am sure a personal visit from you would be a great blessing in resolving these disputes and setting straight those who have deviated from the true path. Some of our people claim that this true path can only be achieved by rejecting the world entirely. For some of the Jews, this means going back to Jewish ways and practices, unacceptable to most Greeks. I do not know how to guide them in this matter, having received my secular training largely from my father, whose idea of health was eating right and getting enough exercise. "Eating right," or course, is a problem for the Jews, many of whom do not consider me old enough, even if otherwise qualified, to understand their emotional adherence to the dietary restrictions of their upbringing. The widows are especially troublesome, combining their disdain for my youth with the anxiety of their social and economic situation. Some of these so-called "widows" are, in fact, divorced women who feel that they have been wronged and are looking for a man to punish. I am their most visible target. Others question my legitimacy, as a lately circumcised Greek, to preach to Jews at all, even though they admit my Jewish heritage. I don't know how to act towards them. I am becoming tired, frustrated and cross, personality traits which I know are contrary to the teachings of Christ. My stomach has lately been bothering me, and at times I have been unable to eat, and cannot drink anything except water. I feel I have become a burden on the community. I would appreciate your fatherly advice. If you have any pastoral advice for the women, I am sure they would give it more weight than anything that they thought came only from me. I am also greatly in need of your advice regarding the behavior of some of our clergy, which would only add to your burdens, were you to hear even of a little of it. I have spoken to some of them privately, but it doesn't seem to have done any good. As you anticipated, the belief that each human being is a child of God has had severe social repercussions in this largely Greek community, and your earlier letter to us, unfortunately, has not completely resolved all the resulting arguments. I am constantly bombarded with questions regarding application of the Gospel to this or that social issue. How are slaves to behave? What is the role of women in a Christian community? To what degree is acquiring wealth a virtuous act? What allegiance to we owe to pagan rulers? What contributions should we make, under what circumstances, and to whom? And so on, and so on. Although I am committed to the commission I received from you, I must confess that I miss our missionary days together and my travels with Erastus to Macedonia. Little did I realize then how carefree those days were! May the blessing of Jesus Christ continue to enrich your life and ministry. You son in faith, Timothy |
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