In this investigation the questions which fur nish the chief debate are (1) the specific stage of church organization and (2) the par ticular phase of false teaching which the letters disclose.
(1) As to the organization presented, it is clear that Timothy and Titus are representatives of the Apostle in charge over certain fields of work (I. Tim. i. 3. 4; iv. 11-16: 11. Tim. ii. I, 2; iv. 1. 2; Tit. i. 5.6; ii. 15; iii. 12-14), which fields are evidently general. covering more or less ex tended regions around specifie localities (I. Tim.
ii. 8; Tit. i. 5), while flue charges are apparently temporary (I. i. 3, 4; 1. 5; iii. 12). The instructions given to the church officers re ferred to in the letters have to do with the dis tinctive mend qualities of the candidates, rather than with the functions of their office ( 1. Tim.
iii. 1-13; v. 4.16; Tit. i. 5-9) ; while the offices themselves are presbyterial rather than mon archical (I. Tim. iii. 1-7: v. 17-19; Tit. i. 5-9). In fact, the church teaching aecomplished among the people. though connected the elder's office (1. Tim. iii. 2; v. 17; 11. ii. 2-4; Tit. i. 9) is not confined to official hands, but is ex tended to individual members within the congre gation who carry it on from house to house. It is this that the false teachers abuse ( I. Tim. i. 3-7; vi. 3-5; II. Tim. iii. 6-9; Tit. i. 10-14). Clearly this organization is not what we tind in the recorded New Testament history.
(2) As to these false teachers, they are evi dently of two classes: (A) a class then at work among the people ( 1. Tim. i. 5-11; vi. 3-10; 11. Tim. ii. 14, 16-18, 24-20; iii. 8, 0; 'fit. i. 10-16) and (Ti) a class definitely predicted as to de velop among them in later times (1. Tim. iv. 1-3; II. Tim. iii. 1-7; vi. 3, 4). (A) The present class is evidently further divided into two groups: (1) The main portion. working among the congregation, as members themselves of the churches (I. Tim. vi. 20, 21; II. Tim. ii. 17. 18; iii. 6-9; Tit. i. 10-16). (2) The smaller portion separated from all church membership (1. Tim, i. 19, 20; v. 11-15; Tit, iii. 10). ( 1) This first and larger group is described in the letters (a) as only nominally Christian (I. Tim. i. 4, 19;
II. Tim. ii. 14-18; Tit. i. 9, 13, 16) ; (b) as having their chief occupation in teaching among the people of the parishes—going froin house to house with their doctrines and making their teaching a business of money gain ( I. Tim. vi. 3-10; Tit. i. 11) ; (c) as busying themselves in this teaching with affairs which ministered only to wordy disputes (I. Tim. i. 4; vi. 4; Tit. iii. 9) and within these disputes as having specifically to do with Jewish questions such as the contents and authority of the Mosaic law (I. Tim. i. 7; Tit. iii. 9). Jewish legends and genealogies (I. Tim. 1. 4; Tit. i. 14: iii. 9). (el) At the same time it is evident that they are not identical with the Judaizers pictured to us in the Galatian and Corinthian Epistles. They are developed be yond them, especially in their indifferenee to the moral claims of the Christian life (I. Tim. i. 10; vi. 3-10; Tit. i. 15-10). On the other hand, they are not advanced to the full matured Gnostic doctrine of God. Formally they hold to the doctrine of Cod and grace, though praetical ly denying them in life (II. Tim. iii. 5; Tit. i. 16). (2) The second and smaller group is more definitely referred to in the letter to but in the Timothy Epistles sonic appear to have been excommunicated on moral grounds ( 1. Tim, i. 19, 20), while certain younger women, who had rejected their first faith, seemed to have `turned aside to Satan' (1. Tim. v. 11-16). (It) The future errorists arrange themselves in three groups: (1) The first is described in I. Tim. iv. 1-3 as carrying on an extreme form of teaching and developing a hardness of character. (2) The second is described in 11. Tim. iii. 1-5 as wholly demoralized in character and yet as nominally within the Church. (3) The third is described in II. Tim. iv. 3, 4 as not enduring wholesome teaching and consequently as turn ing definitely away from the truth to legends. Evidently these teachers, whether present or future within the Church or separated from it, are no reproductions of the errorists described in any of the accepted New Testament writings.