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  • From: Richard Fellows <rfellows AT intergate.bc.ca>
  • To: <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Cc: <rfellows AT navigator.intergate.ca>
  • Subject: Re: Timothy also known as Titus
  • Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 23:58:03 -0700


Braulio Barillas wrote:

<< Your hypothesis about "Timothy also known as Titus" (Sat, 17 April
1999 09:46:38 + 100, and following) is interesting.
Can you please coment about the external evidence of this Thesis? Do you
believe Policarp, Clement of Rome, Ireanous, Tertulian, Clement of
Alexandria, if they knew about the contraction or diminutive name, why
didn't they mention it?
How do you relate both names, if Timothy is an original name of
Christianity (honor towards God) and Titus is a Roman name? >>

'Titus' and 'Timothy' appear very rarely in the second century literature.
The names achieved prominence only as addressees of the three letters.

However, 'Titus' does appear in the Acts of Paul and is placed outside
Iconium on the 'Royal road that leads to Lystra'. This could be
coincidental, or it could be that the author used a source document which
connected Titus with Lystra and Iconium.

Another piece of external evidence derives from the textual variant of Gal
2:5 in D*, Tertullian (adv. Marc. 5.3.3), and Irenaeus. This variant has
it that Paul (and Titus?) did give way. I suspect that a scribe equated
the false brothers with the Jews in Acts 16:3 (as Tertullian did) and made
this amendment to bring the text into simplistic harmony with Acts 16:3
which says that Timothy was circumcised. This is just the sort of textual
variant that we would expect from a community that identified Titus as
Timothy.

None of this proves anything, of course, but neither do the PE. The issue
must be settled by the undisputed letters.

Timotheus was a Greek theophoric name dating from pre-Christian times.

I do not know how to classify 'TITOS'. Perhaps it was used by Timothy as a
praenomen, in which case he may have had a recent freedman ancestor who was
called Timothy (Greeks kept their names as cognomina when receiving Roman
citizenship). Praenomina were often used in letters for family members and
close friends. Alternatively it may have been a nickname, or a contraction
of TIMOTHEOS. The names do sound similar, particularly when the I is given
the same pronunciation in each name. Also note that (according to Ramsay)
'TH' and 'T' were used interchangeably in Galatia. It may not be possible
to decide between the various possibilities, and I do not have the
expertise to weigh the probabilities properly. In any case, from the
contexts in which the names appear, I think Timothy was the more formal name.


Richard Fellows
Vancouver
rfellows AT intergate.bc.ca





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