myths and endless genealogies

[Stuart]

Forget Stephen Huller's fixation on Aramaic and Hebrew root words and supposed translations errors into Greek for everything in and near to Christianity. It's his personal cracked theory. Just set it aside, as it' is irrelevant to issue at hand anyway - it would be nice if he admitted it was personal speculation and said as much when digressing (telling the reader can consider what follows or not).

But his original comment is correct that 1 Timothy was focusing on Gnostic Christians, and their cosmology, which was convoluted and complex, and which varied from one teacher to another. Irenaeus AH (the parts I think are not later interpolations) lays out some of the complex cosmologies. Or just google Valentinian beliefs. I suggest reading Elaine Pagel's Gnostic Paul to get an understanding of how they read the ltters of Paul. Of course she conflates generations of different Gnostics and various systems, but it does give a decent picture of the parallel Christian belief system the proto-Orthodox were competing against.

Also 1 Timothy 1:3 is something of a corrective to Titus 1:14, as the two letters have different opponents in view. It should be noted that the relationship of 1 Timothy as dependent upon the other two pastoral letters was first observed over two hundred years ago, and was the start of the see concept of deutero-Pauline authorship (see http://depts.drew.edu/jhc/patsch.html for a discussion). Critics have moved onto the so called core of Authentic letters among the ten non-pastoral letters, ascribing secondary authorship to varying numbers of the letters. But I digress, simply to note that I accept a date very late in the 2nd century for 1 Timothy, if not early in the 3rd, when Gnostic systems had become quite developed and involved. (I do not subscribe to the notion of systems being fully developed "at birth", meaning when the early writings the systems are incomplete and still evolving.)

There is no need to follow Mr. Huller's theories to understand the arguments in favor of the refernce in 1 Corinthians being focused squarely on Valentinian type heretics.

[Secret Alias]

There are recognized Aramaisms in Hegesippus.

[Secret Alias]

James being called oblias https://books.google.com/books?id=5SHbj ... us&f=false

[Secret Alias]

There are many more but I am busy

[iskander]

From... 1 Timothy 1:3... the admonition is to ignore such things... to what is it referring if not the major synoptics?

Paul seems to be warning against what some authors later called that " diabolical art of disputing" : the consideration of idle speculation , from which no advantage is derived.

Genealogies is chosen as an example of one such idle speculations.

Wesley's Notes on the Bible
by John Wesley
1st TIMOTHY
I
" 3. Charge some to teach no other doctrine - Than I have taught. Let them put nothing in the
place of it, add nothing to it.

4. Neither give heed - So as either to teach or regard them. To fables - Fabulous Jewish traditions.
And endless genealogies - Nor those delivered in scripture, but the long intricate pedigrees whereby they strove to prove their descent from such or such a person. Which afford questions - Which lead only to useless and endless controversies"