The Use of 1 Timothy in the Epistles of Ignatius of Antioch

The strongest parallel found in Ignatius’ writings involves a series of allusions with parallel passages in 1 Tim 1.3-5.

 

Ign. Magn. 8.1; Ign. Eph. 20.1; 14.1	1 Tim. 1.3-5
Do not be deceived by strange doctrines or ancient myths which are worthless. I will make clear to you what I begun to speak about, the administration The beginning is faith, the end is love.	As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than the administration of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

 

The strongest point of contact is with the combination of “strange doctrines” and “myths’ found in Ign. Magn. 8.1 and 1 Tim. 1-3-4. While the whole passage is not a direct citation, the shared phrasing is reminiscent of the language in 1 Timothy. The potential use of 2 Tim. 1.16 in Ign. Eph. 2.1 (and maybe also in Ign. Smyrn. 10.2) involves the same type of correspondence: the shared use of slightly uncommon terminology. In both passages from his writings Ignatius speaks of figures who have “refreshed” him during his transportation to Rome, in a similar vein to me, and was not ashamed of me chains” (2 Tim. 1.16). Ignatius’ self-presentation of his journey as imitating Pual’s journey to Rome lends further weight to the suggestion that the choice of language is intentional to create a parallel with Paul’s expressions. (Paul Foster, “The Text of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers,” in The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers, ed. Michael F. Bird and Scott D. Harrower [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021], 114)