Corpus-Paul

[Richard Fellows <rfellows AT shaw.ca>]

Bob, Jeff, and Jack,

thanks for your constructive emails and helpful suggestion. Unfortunately I
do not have access to TLG or even to the library right now, so I will not be
able to take up Bob's suggestion for a while. However, many relevant studies
have already been done on naming and renaming. I have just finished
re-reading my files on the subject and will summarise the findings here. I
think the existing studies are sufficient, though further work would be very
useful and would give us greater precision.

New names are given to people in all cultures and in all centuries, but the
frequency and style of naming does vary. The practice is common among
Buddhists, Bahais, and Muslims, for example, as well as popes and monks. In
ancient Egypt Amenhotep IV became "Akhenaten", Nefertiti became
"Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti" and Tutankhaton became "Tutankhamen", all
receiving new names for religious reasons. But which culture is relevant to
the hypothetical case of Titus-Timothy? He had a Jewish mother and a Greek
father and was probably a native of Antioch, where, according to Josephus,
many Greeks were attracted to the synagogue and were to some extent
incorporated among the Jews. So Titus-Timothy would have had a Jewish as
well as a Greco-Roman heritage. But, as we shall see, the perspective of the
one giving the name is more important than that of the one who is named. We
are proposing that Paul gave new names to Titus, Crispus and perhaps Gaius.
Which world, then, did Paul belong to? Did he come from a culture in which
new names were given? If so, were the styles of naming consistent with the
hypothetical case of Titus-Timothy?

Paul was born in Tarsus and spent time in Antioch, so he certainly moved in
the Greco-Roman world. But Paul was also a Jew who had a Hebrew name. He was
a Hebrew, born of Hebrew, of the tribe of Benjamin (Phil 3:5). He was
brought up in Jerusalem and spoke the language (Acts 22:3). Barrett writes,
"It is probable that Luke meant that Paul received not only his higher but
also his elementary education not in Tarsus but in Jerusalem." He sat at the
feet of Gamaliel. Later he persecuted the church and then became a member of
the same, which was a Palestinian Jewish movement. So, we should expect Paul
to have acquired practices and ways of thinking from Palestinian Jews as
well as from Diaspora Jews and the wider Greco-Roman world.

I will start by discussing the Jewish practice of giving new names, and then
explore ways in which a purely Greco-Roman context could have given rise to
the Titus-Timothy name combination.

In the OT we have several examples of individuals who received a new name.
Abram-Abraham, Sarai-Sarah, Jacob-Israel, Joseph-Zaphenathpaneah (Gen
41:44-45), Hoshea-Joshua, Gideon-Jerubba'al, Eliakim-Jehoiakim (2 Kings
23:34), Mattaniah-Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:17), Solomon-Jedidiah (2 Sam 12:25),
Naomi-Mara (Ruth 1:20) Daniel-Belteshazzar, Hananiah-Shadrach,
Mishael-Meshach, Azariah-Abednego (Dan 1:7). For our purposes it matters
little how historic these examples are: they teach us about renaming in the
Jewish tradition. Those who have commented on OT renaming are unanimous that
the giving of a name was the prerogative of a superior (1) and in such cases
it signified the appointment of the person named to some specific position,
function, relationship or destiny (2). Eissfeldt writes:

The naming of places and persons, and so too their renaming, is a privilege
of high importance, not only in the Old Testament, but at all times and in
all areas. here we are concerned with a right which expresses the authority
which the one who gives the name or who renames exerts over the one who is
named or renamed. The way in which this right is revealed may differ: it may
in one instance indicate conquest, and even exploitation of the one named or
renamed, it may carry with it protection and patronage. ... the latter is
undoubtedly the case in the word of Yahweh to Israel in Isa. 43:1 'Fear not!
I have redeemed you, named you with your name, you are mine.'

Examples of new names in the later period include Judas-Macabee and Simon
Bar Koziba - Bar Kochba (meaning 'son of a star'). Simon was given his new
name by Rabbi Akiva to reflect his destiny. However, when studying the
possibility of Titus-Timothy, the most important demographic is that of the
NT characters. Jesus names Simon "Cephas" to signify his role in the
movement. James and John were called "Boanerges", which Mark interprets as
"sons of thunder", which is commonly explained as an oriental figure for
powerful preachers (3).

The name "Barnabas" is now generally recognised to be a pagan theophoric
name, meaning 'son of Nebo' (4). The name is rare among Jews, there being
only one example other then our Barnabas. It was common as a first name
among other semites. How, then, did Joseph come to be called Barnabas.
Barrett is helpful here. He points out that the popular etymology need not
correspond the scientific etymology. Thus Luke and/or the apostles may have
understood the name 'Barnabas' to mean 'son of prophecy' or 'son of
exhortation' or the like. Thus I think Barnabas was a new name given to
Joseph. It is hard to see it as merely patronymic. It is significant, I
think, that Luke mentions that it was the apostles who called him Barnabas:
those in authority have the right to give the name.

There are other examples. Bob mentioned Judas called Iscariot, and Judas
Thomas Didymus. Also, Caiaphas was a nickname given to Joseph by the Jews.
Elymas is also worth mentioning. Strelan's recent work (5) has shown that he
was named after Elam, the son of Shem and I think there are some fresh
arguments that confirm this. Elam was probably associated with magic so Luke
can interpret Elymas to mean magician. Presumably he received his name after
becoming a magician. Strelan also suggests that he took the name Bar Jesus
because he was a follower of Jesus in some sense. Perhaps he performed his
magic in the name of Jesus. So he may have received both his names as an
adult.

More speculatively, Apollos may be Apelles. Also, I have wondered whether
the Theudas of Josephus took his name from the Theudas of Acts 5:36. There
are, of course, many other examples of double naming in the NT, such as
Jesus called Justus and Silas-Silvanus, but these are less relevant to the
case of Titus-Timothy.

More important, I think, is Ignatius, who begins all his letters by
presenting himself as "Ignatius o kai Theophorus". The o kai formula, as Bob
points out, was used to identify bi-names. Papyri have shown that the
expression can be used interchangeably, so that A o kai B can be written B o
kai A. Thus it is translated "Ignatius also known as Theophorus". There are
some interesting parallels here with the hypothetical Titus-Timothy. Both
men are first century Christians in Antioch. Both have a Latin name with no
significant meaning. Both have a theophoric Greek name.

We know so little about most of the NT characters that it is impossible to
say how many of them received new names. However, it seems to me that there
are enough definite and probable cases to make us suspect that there may be
new cases to be found in Paul's letters and Acts.

I'll mention a three examples of double naming from Jewish or Christian
communities from later times that I have stumbled across. Horsley gives
examples of bi-names given to indicate religious conversion (6). One such is
Aurelius Athanasios also called Philadelphos (end of the third century),
whom Horsley believes was a Christian. Like Titus-Timothy he has a Latin
name and a Greek meaningful name.

A  3/4 century sarcophagus from Rome was inscribed in Latin. Beturia
Paulina, who was buried in the coffin, had become a convert to Judaism at
the age of seventy, adopting for the occasion the additional name of Sarah
(7). Her new name was fitting because she was given the title "mater
synagogae".

In the fifth century a Jew named Papario became a Christian and took the
name "Peter"(8).

How did the ancient Jews and Christians themselves interpret the giving of
new names in their tradition? Philo discusses the cases of the giving of new
names to Abram, Sarai and Jacob and says that they symbolised a betterment
of character (9). Origen writes, "A name is a designation that sums up and
describes the particular character of the one named. ... For when the
character of "Abram" was changed, he was called "Abraham." So when "Simon"
was changed, he was called "Peter" (10). John Chrysostom writes, "Those in
whom virtue was going to shine from their earliest youth received their
names from that time, while the name was given afterwards to those who were
destined to be famous later" (11). Rabbinic sources say, "A man acquires one
name from his parents, people give him a second, and he wins the third for
himself" (12).

In many of the examples given above we have seen the tendency to choose a
new name that sounds similar to the original name. We have also seen that
the new name often has religious significance when the person in question
has an important role in the religious community. Titus-Timothy fits this
pattern on both counts. We have also seen that the new name is usually given
by a person in authority, so Paul would be the name giver in the cases of
Crispus-Sosthenes and Titus-Timothy. The practice of name giving is attested
in the first century church in Palestine and also probably in the diaspora.
I see no reason why Paul, who displays an interest in the meaning of names,
could not have given new names too. Whether Titus-Timothy is such a case
depends on historical arguments, which I will not discuss right now.


Let's move now more towards the wider Greco-Roman context. Horsley
conveniently brings together examples of double names from the papyri,
Josephus and the NT (13). He writes, "papyrus examples are most frequent in
II, though very common still a century either side of it. ... As an example
of how very common the double name is, IG Aeg. 33028 (Karnak c.200) is a
fragmentary list of 54 complete or partly preserved names of which 17 are
double names using the o kai formula.  ... Further, far more of the examples
occur in papyri than in inscriptions - though they should not be thought
rare in the latter - and this reflects the different function of the two
writing mediums and the different nature of the texts placed upon them.
Legal documents (texts, census returns, bills of sale etc.) require as exact
description as possible of the persons concerned (including physical
identification such as "with a scar on the left arm"): they are on papyri
because they are documents of an administrative, ephemeral, or private
nature.  ... in the case of gravestones, there is of course not the same
need to specify the deceased by an additional name if he had one."

The classic study of double names in the papyri is that of Calderini (14),
who agrees that the abundance of double names recorded in Egypt is simply a
function of the medium on which our records are preserved. A study of double
names in Egypt, Asia minor and Syria (15) shows that the phenomenon was
indeed common throughout. The author notes a religious motive in many of the
cases of double naming. It is also clear from the lists that the Latin-Greek
name combination (e.g. Marcus Theophilus) was very common.

An interesting example of a name change is that of Malchus who was born in
Tyre in about C.E. 232. He moved to Athens and was given the name
"Basileus", which is a mere translation, and finally his teacher named him
Porphyrius. Like Simon-Cephas-Peter, he had three names and was named by his
teacher. An example from first century graphiti is a soldier called Gaius
Julius Capito os kai Odysseus. Horsley suggests that he was called Odysseus
to reflect his mobility while in service. Horsley also gives cases of naming
for religious reasons in his survey of 1976 finds.

So I think it is clear that the double naming of Titus-Timothy can be
explained by the Greco-Roman context as well as the Jewish context. If Titus
was indeed given the bi-name (or agnomen) "Timothy", the one who named him
may have been influenced by scriptural precedents, contemporary Jewish
practice, recent precedents in the Jesus movement, and Greco-Roman practice,
or a combination of these. I suggest that the namer was Paul, because he was
the 'father' of Timothy and because we have the case of Crispus-Sosthenes.
But we cannot rule out the possibility that Titus's parents gave him the
bi-name "Timothy" from infancy.

Another possibility is that Timothy was his cognomen and Titus was his
praenomen. It was not uncommon to have a Latin praenomen and a Latin nomen,
but a Greek cognomen. A Greek, on being manumitted would take the praenomen
and nomen of his former master and keep his original Greek name as his
cognomen. Thus freedmen and their immediate decendents often had a Latin
praenomen and a Greek cognomen. And in the east even a free-born
enfranchised person could have a Greek cognomen (16). Commentators have
argued that many in Paul's churches were freedmen. Erastus may well have
been an example of this. Meeks writes, "Like his contemporary, Cn. Babbius
Philinus, Erastus was probably a Corinthian freedman" (17). We should not be
surprised if Titus had a Greek cognomen. We cannot rule out the possibility
that Titus and Timothy were simply the praenomen and cognomen of the same
person. However, the fact that the two names sound similar and the fact that
the meaning of the name "Timothy" is appropriate, suggest to me that
"Timothy" is a bi-name given to Titus after he became a follower of Christ.

Further resources on renaming and double names are available (18)

I hope some of this has been useful. I welcome feedback on the content.
Feedback on things like my writing style and frequency of posts will also be
appreciated, so that I can make adjustments, but this should, of course, be
done politely and off-list.

Richard.

Notes
(1) Eissfeldt "Renaming in the Old Testament" in Words and Meanings p 70;
The New Bible Dictionary p 862.
(2) The vocabulary of the Bible p 278; The New Bible Dictionary p 862; The
Interpreters Bible p 779 n 45; Lane, The Gospel According to Mark p 134; The
JPS Torah Commentary on Genesis p124.
(3) e.g. Alexander, The Gospel of Mark. This goes back at least to Eusebius.
(4) Williams, "Palestinian Jewish Personal Names in Acts" in The Book of
Acts in its First Century Setting vol. 4. p101.; See also Barrett Acts 1-14
ICC.
(5) Strelan, "Who was Bar Jesus (Acts 13,6-12)?" Biblica vol. 85 2004.
(6) Horsley, Name Change as an Indication of Religious Conversion in
Antiquity, Numen Vol 34.
(7) Konikoff, Sarcophagi from the Jewish Catacombs of Ancient Rome.
(8) Williams p 104.
(9) Philo "On the change of names" (De Mutatione Nominum) 70.
(10) On Prayer 24.2.
(11) Homily 19 on John.
(12) Tanch.
(13) GHR Horsley, New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity 1981 p89-96.
(14) R. Calderini, Aeg. 21(1941) 221-60; id., Aeg. 22(1942)
3-45 "Ricerche sul doppio nome personale nell' Egitto greco-romano".
(15) Kretschmer und Kroll, Glotta, Zeitschrift fur griechische und
lateinische Sprache (1914) p 99-170.
(16) A Sherwin-White, Roman society and Roman Law in the New Testament.
(17) W. Meeks, The first urban Christians
(18) Demsky "Double Names in the Babylonian Exile and the Identity of
Sheshbazzar", in These are the Names Studies in Jewish Onomastics vol. 2.
Hachlili "Names and Nicknames at Masada" in  "These are the Names. Studies
in Jewish Onomastics" vol. 3.