TIMOTHY, FIRST AND SECOND EPISTLES TO, form, along with the epistle to Titus (q.v.), the three " pastoral epistles," the authorship of which is all but universally ascribed to St Paul. The external evidence for their genuineness is very strong, yet not complete. They occur in the Muratorian canon and the Peshito version as writings of St. Paul; Eusebius classes them among the homologaumena • while still earlier, Irennus, Tertullian, and others of the fathers quote them as authoritative. On the other hand, Tatian (q.v.), one of the earliest of the fathers, denies their genuineness, as did also Marcion, Basilides, and most of the Gnostic teachers. Origen speaks of some who rejected 2d Timothy on account of the mention of " Jannes and Jambres," two apocryphal characters; while in modern times, Schleiermacher and Neander admit the Pauline origin of 2d Timothy, and endeavor to disprove the genuineness of the 1st. Eichhorn, De Wctte, Baur, and others
go further, and seek to demonstrate the spuriousness of the whole three pastoral epistles. They consider the language and mode of thought quite distinct from the Pauline, and they (particularly Eichhoru) find no period in the apostle's life to which they could be properly fitted in. Their arguments have largely influenced the conclusions of very many scholars in this field. The purpose and scope of the epistles to Timothy are so well known, that an analysis, however slight, is almost superfluous. They consist of a series of warnings, exhortations, advices, and predictions.—See the "Introductions" of Afford, Wordsworth, Davidson, Wiesinger, Hug; and the list of commentators on the " Pastoral Epistles," appended to the article on the epistle to Thus.