Second Epistle to Timothy
Second Epistle to Timothy
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Second Epistle to Timothy

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Second Epistle to Timothy

The Second Epistle to Timothy is one of the three pastoral epistles traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle. Addressed to Timothy, a fellow missionary, it is traditionally considered to be the last epistle Paul wrote before his death. The original language is Koine Greek.

While the Pastorals are attributed to Paul, they differ from his other letters. Since the early 19th century, scholars have increasingly viewed them as the work of an unknown follower of Paul's teachings. This perspective arises from the fact that the Pastorals do not focus on Paul's typical themes, such as believers' unity with Christ, and they present a church hierarchy that is more organized and defined than what existed during Paul's lifetime.

Nonetheless, a number of scholars still defend the traditional authorship of 2 Timothy.

Some modern critical scholars argue that 2 Timothy, as well as the other two so-called "pastoral letters" (1 Timothy and Titus), were not written by Paul but by an anonymous author, sometime between 90 and 140 AD. Some scholars refer to the assumedly pseudonymous author as "the Pastor".

The language and ideas of 2 Timothy are notably different from the other two pastoral epistles yet similar to the later Pauline epistles, especially the ones he wrote in captivity. This has led some scholars to conclude that the author of 2 Timothy is a different person from that of 1 Timothy and Titus. Raymond E. Brown proposed that this letter was written by a follower of Paul who had knowledge of Paul's last days.

Most scholars, both those arguing for and against its authenticity, are of the opinion that 2 Timothy belongs to a pseudepigraphic genre known as the testamentary genre or farewell discourse, the 'testament' genre contains two main elements: ethical warnings to be followed after the death of the writer and revelations of the future. The significant fact about the 'testament' genre was not in its markers but in its nature; it is argued that a piece of 'testament' literature is meant to "be a completely transparent fiction".

Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, however, argued that 2 Timothy was written by Paul and that the other two pastoral epistles were written by someone else using it as a model.

The original manuscript of this book is lost, as are about two centuries of the earliest copies. The text of surviving manuscripts varies. The oldest manuscripts containing some or all of the text of this book include:

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