1 Timothy 5:18 (Edwards)
Ralph Nielsen nielsen@uidaho.edu
Mon, 9 Mar 1998 11:25:41 -0800 (PST) (00889493141, v03007803b1297a987f81@[129.101.112.18])
>> D R EDWARDS
>> I'm sure this has come up before, but what's the take on 1 Tim 5:18? The
>> writer refers to the phrase "The worker deserves his wages" as scripture,
>> when this saying is recorded in the bible only in Luke 10:7. The
>> bibliolaters (well, the better read ones, anyway) like to cite this as
>> evidence that Gospel of Luke was in circulation and regarded as
>>scriptural in Paul's
>> lifetime.
>>
>> I do not believe this. I hold to the view of the pastorals being
>> pseudo-Pauline; at the time of their writing, G of L could well have been in
>> circulation and regarded as authoritative. If 1 Timothy should happen to
>> be Pauline, then the addition of the phrase in question could represent a
>> scribal addition introduced some decades after its composition.
>
RALPH NIELSEN
The writer of 1 Timothy, whether Paul or otherwise did not necesarily copy
the statement from Luke. First of all, Luke's gospel was not original; it
was copied from other sources, as he says in Luke1:1-4. One of the sources
from which Luke (and Matthew) copied was the lost gospel called "Q". And
sure enough, if you check the text of Q, there it is.
For more information on Q, read The Lost Gospel; the Book of Q & Christian
Origins, / Burton L. Mack (HarperSanFrancisco, 1993). Although the
aforementioned book contains the text of Q, you should buy The Complete
Gospels; Annotated Scholars Version. Rev. & exp. ed. / Robert J. Miller,
editor (HarperSanFrancisco, 1994. ISBN 0-06-065587-9 $18) It is a goldmine
of useful information. For convenience, scholars use the chapter and verse
numbering of Luke to identify what is borrowed from the lost gospel of Q.
So this quotation in 1 Timothy is not late, but a pre-Lukan oral tradition.
1 Timothy itself, however, is generally regarded as not being by Paul. So
its author could have copied either from Q, or from the much later gospel
of Luke.