Journal: Pneumatikos
Volume: PNEUMATIKOS 15:1 (Spring 2024)
Article: The Problematic Meaning Of The Greek Term, "Genealogia" (I.E., “Genealogies”) From 1 Timothy 1:4
Author: R. Mark Musser

Pneumatikos 15:1 (Spring 2024) p. 46

The Problematic Meaning Of The Greek Term, Genealogia (I.E., “Genealogies”) From 1 Timothy 1:4

R. Mark Musser

Ararat-Rainier East-West Fellowship
Minsk, Belarus

Key Words: Genealogies, 1 Timothy, Apostle Paul, Philo, Timothy, Philo, Strabo, Ephorus, Cratylus, Historical Meaning, Myth, γενεαλογία, תּוֹלְדֹת

Abstract: This article discusses what later became a sharp controversy in the ancient church over how to properly interpret the Scriptures. The Antiochene School, located in the very city that housed the apostle Paul’s home church during his missionary journeys, emphasized the historical meaning of the Bible. The Alexandrian School, centered in the Greco-Roman Hellenism of Egypt, emphasized allegory. When Paul disparaged the legalism being taught in Ephesus in 1 Timothy 1:4 as “myth and endless genealogies,” the denunciation of allegorism of Scripture was included in his criticism.

Introduction

In 1 Timothy 1:3–4, the apostle Paul’s denunciation of “myths and endless genealogies” includes a disparagement of Hellenistic allegorism so widespread at the time when ancient Greek texts of the mythical past were interpreted for contemporary consumption. The great problem in Ephesus at the time of Paul’s writing (A.D. 62–63) was that some church leaders, steeped in the Hellenistic culture of their

Pneumatikos 15:1 (Spring 2024) p. 47

times, were also using Greek allegory to interpret the Old Testament as well. This was upsetting the overall spiritual condition of the churches in Ephesus that needed apostolic correction. As such, on his way to Macedonia, Paul thus charged his young protégé Timothy, “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 furthering the administration of God which is by faith” (1 Tim. 1:3b-4). When viewed historically in context, the atypical use of genealogia (γενεαλογία), i.e., “genealogy,” mixed together with the word “myth” in the phrase mythois kai genealogiais (μύθοις καὶ γενεαλογίαις) essentially means “mythical genealogy.” Moreover, such mythical genealogies were allegorically derived from the Old Testament, and thus were contrary to the original meaning of what the biblical author(s) wrote. In other words,...