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  • From: Richard Fellows <rfellows AT intergate.ca>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Titus and 2 Cor 11.22
  • Date: Sat, 04 Nov 2000 13:12:22 -0800



Loren wrote:
>Some texts do imply this. But had Titus ended up
>circumcised, Paul wouldn't have appealed to the
>account as justification that the Galatian influencers
>are wrong.

But in Gal 2.3 Paul is NOT saying, "you should not be circumcised because
Titus was never circumcised". Such a statement would leave himself exposed
to the obvious retort, "But what about Timothy?". No, Paul is just saying
that the circumcision was not demanded BY THE APOSTLES.

Gal 2.3-5 is open to a wide range of interpretations and we should be
cautious about drawing firm conclusions from this text. But I think we can
be reasonably confident that Titus was not circumcised in Jerusalem at that
time. To find out whether he was circumcised subsequently, we have to turn
to other texts.

>I suspect Deborah is right: On Crete
>there were probably Jewish factions who resented an
>uncircumcised Greek like Titus leading them.

The PE are of doubtful historical value, but the issues that Loren and
Deborah raise about Crete also apply to Corinth.

Why would Paul circumcise Timothy to make him acceptable to Jews, but
select an uncircumcised, 100% gentile Titus to deal with the situation
about which we read in 2 Cor 11.22? In 2 Cor 11.22 Paul emphasizes his own
Jewish credentials to combat the influence that outsiders have had in
Corinth. One would therefore expect that he would choose a circumcised
envoy to carry this letter. Now, whatever partition theory you accept, you
will probably conclude that Paul selected Titus as the delegate to deliver
2 Cor 11.22, and you will probably also conclude that Titus's mission was
successful. This makes better sense if we suppose that Titus was
circumcised at that time and that he had some Jewish ancestry. It is a
small point, but I think it supports the conclusion that 'Titus' was
nothing more than an informal name used by Timothy.

The Titus-Timothy hypothesis is confirmed by a detailed examination of the
data in 1 & 2 Corinthians.

Richard Fellows
Vancouver
rfellows AT intergate.ca





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