False Teachings in the Church of Ephesus

The exact nature of the views being put forth to the church of Ephesus by false teachers has been discussed since the first century. Some scholars argue over what was actually being taught by the "false teachers" described by Paul in the Pastoral Epistles. Some argue about the ideas of the false teachers and whether or not those ideas were heretical in and of themselves. There are only so many verses describing the false doctrines and their teachers in the New Testament. The fact that Paul doesn't give much detail to the situation can lead to some confusion on exactly how prevalent the teachings were and how many people fell prey to the false ideologies. We know that Paul thought it was enough of a problem to ask Timothy to put a stop to it. When it comes to the actual ideas being expressed by the false teachers Paul thinks they are not worth discussing. In fact he calls them "old wives' tales" that are not worth mentioning. He might have chosen not to discuss the false teachings in his letters so that he would not cause more discussion of them in the church. Paul said that the false teachings "promote controversies" and "meaningless talk". (1 Timothy 1:4-6 NIV)

Controversy in a church over doctrinal issues can cause huge divisions; so while it may have been wise for Paul not to mention them in detail in his letters, it makes it harder for us to find out what happened. The two major views most people hold to concerning the nature of the false teachings are either 1) they were Gnostic creation myths or 2) they were a collection of Jewish myths concerning the Old Testament Scriptures and Jewish genealogies. Scholars that would like to date the Pastoral Epistles during the 2nd century would hold to the view that the false teachings were Gnostic myths. Most scholars who view the Pastoral Epistles being written after Paul being released from Roman imprisonment for the first time hold that the false teachings were of Jewish descent and had almost nothing to do with Gnosticism. A proper understanding of the false teachings is important because it gives a greater context with which we can study the Ephesian church and Christianity in the first century. This paper is designed to discuss the arguments for the Jewish nature of the false teachings in Ephesus from a frame point of the Pastoral Epistles being written in the first century A.D. It is also designed to show why Gnosticism was not a major problem in the first century and it couldn't have been the core of the false teachings mentioned.

Some have claimed that the false teachings in the Pastoral Epistles were influenced solely by Gnostic teachings. The etymology of the word "Gnostic" comes from the Greek word "gnosis" which means knowledge. 2nd Century Gnostics were labeled as heretics by the early church fathers for their beliefs which varied from believing in a philosophical dualism between matter and spirit, claiming the resurrection of Christ was merely a spiritual one, and promoting a "secret knowledge" or revelation that could not be found in the Scriptures. Scholars who think that the teachings are based in Gnostic thought would say that the myths mentioned by Paul were actually Gnostic versions of the creation story found in the Old Testament. In order for the false teachings to be Gnostic in nature that would mean that Gnosticism in Ephesus was fully organized in the first century unless you believe that events of the Pastoral Epistles took place in the second century where Gnosticism was a major problem in the church. The facts seem to point to the idea that Gnosticism didn't fully develop till the second century. From what we know of the church father's writings and actual Gnostic texts it seems that Gnosticism was in its very early stages in the first century. Some scholars like Elaine Pagel believe that Gnosticism and Christianity grew up together and in the mid-second century Orthodox Christianity attempted to destroy Gnosticism. It is very probable that the Gnostic movement could have begun in the first century although it would be extremely small and unorganized from what we see in history. The main Gnostic leaders/proponents of Gnostic ideas (Marcion of Sinope, Valentinus, and Carpocrates) all lived during the second century. Other scholars believe Gnosticism, used as an umbrella term, has origins in Greek Philosophy and Oriental Mysticism both of which were before the Christian era. The Gnosticism of the pre-Christian era differs greatly compared to the second century Gnostic-Christian heresy. There were/are multiple schools of Gnosticism and all of them don't agree enough on major doctrinal points in order to classify an orthodox form of Gnosticism. Studying Gnostic thought can be very confusing because Gnostics tend to take ideas from many different belief systems and blend them into their own. The second century Gnostics who were leading astray the church took some of the Old Testament, specifically the first six chapters of Genesis, and perverted the literal text to create new mythic stories.

Some Jewish Rabbis in the first century also changed the Old Testament though, so adding to the scriptures was not an practice that developed in the second century. The second century Gnostics in the church adopted some Jewish beliefs, some Christian theology, some Greek philosophy, and possibly some oriental mystic concepts in order to formulate their theology and belief systems. The false teachings in the Pastoral Epistles were most likely Jewish in nature and not Gnostic though for many reasons, firstly Titus 1:14 states that the false teachings in 1 and 2 Timothy were "Jewish". It would seem very unlikely for a first century Christian emerging Gnostic to be preaching myths that were entirely Jewish in nature. Gnosticism has more to do with philosophical dualism, overt spiritualization of Christian thought, and asceticism than with ancient Judaism. Gnosticism in the second century borrowed little from the Old Testament and Jewish culture except for a few key passages from Genesis. There are Gnostic myths about creation based on Genesis, but there are also Jewish legends that interpret Genesis allegorically. However the two differ from each other greatly. The Gnostic view of creation doesn't take the text as history but as a spiritualized mythology. The 2nd century Gnostic school of thought on Adam and Eve was that they were merely representative of humankind's spirit and not actual historical figures. The myths under question in 1 Timothy 1:4 were probably legends added to the Old Testament that were passed down by rabbis over the years and not creation stories. Another piece to this puzzle can be found in 1 Timothy 4:3. Paul tells Timothy some things that the false teachers were doing. He says that they were forbidding people to marry (forced to live a celibate life) and to abstain from certain foods.

For the sake of discussion we will focus on the two teachings separately. The first teaching we know of is that the false teachers forbade marriage in the church. This restriction probably also included the bearing of children. This call to celibacy was likely part of the false teacher's call to asceticism. Asceticism is a denial of one's body from worldly pleasures and a willing submission to a simple life free from gluttony, pride, and other vices. Asceticism can have religious motivations or non-religious motivations. Some scholars might view this asceticism as a sign that the false teachers were Gnostics. Gnosticism does submit to the philosophical dualism which states that all matter is evil (including the human body) and all spirit is good. Therefore most Gnostics promoted a celibate lifestyle. However, Jews and Christians in the first century promoted asceticism even though they didn't believe that matter was inherently evil. Many early Christians placed the celibate life on a higher spiritual level than the married life. Marriage restrictions are also something found in Judaism so one can't confidently conclude that this restriction in Gnostic in its origin. The second restriction can more easily be shown to be Jewish in thought. The text is quite ambiguous on exactly what food was restricted. The Greek word for "foods" is "broma" which simply means "that which is eaten, food". Fortunately we know that Judaism had strict food cleanliness laws. They took the prohibitions in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 very seriously. Gnosticism did not deal with food as the Jews did. There were no strict laws outlining the different types of animals that could or could not be eaten. There was only a general philosophy based on how Gnostics viewed the human body. They thought the body was evil but they also believed that their spirit was trapped in their flesh. Therefore they didn't care what happened to their body or their health as much as the state of their spirit. Their main focus was leaving the physical realm and entering the spiritual realm to be one with God. It is almost absurd to think that Gnostics would be putting restrictions on what Christians could eat in the first century. Paul's response in verse 4 to the false teachers is a denouncement of dualism and asceticism. In 4a he states that everything is God made is good, therefore matter cannot by evil because a good God made it. In 4b he states that nothing (including food) is to be rejected or restricted if it is had with a spirit of thanksgiving. The most likely cause of these food restrictions was a wrong view of the Mosaic laws on food cleanliness.

The last piece of evidence, which can help to show that the false teachers in Ephesus were not Gnostics, comes from the book of Acts. In Acts 20:29-30 Paul tells the Ephesian elders that "savage wolves will come in among you". He is telling them that people outside the church of Ephesus will try to come in and destroy the fellowship of believers there. He goes on in verse 30 to add that men from their leadership team will start to distort the truth and lead Disciples of Christ away from the true faith. Paul named three false teachers in the church of Ephesus. Philetus (2 Timothy 2:17), Hymenaeus (1Timothy 1:20; 2 Timothy 2:17), and Alexander the Coppersmith (1 Timothy 1:20, 2 Timothy 4:14) were the main perpetrators of false teachings in Ephesus. However, there could have been other false teachers that were only a minimal threat to the church. Paul might have not wanted to give them any more attention by mentioning them by name. The question that follows then is - Were Philetus, Hymenaeus, and Alexander Gnostic theologians? We do not have much information on Alexander except for the fact that he was harassing Paul. Some commentators say that he was the Alexander from Acts 19:33-34 who was at Ephesus when Paul was. We cannot be certain though since Alexander was such a popular name in the first century. Philetus and Hymenaeus did believe that the resurrection of believers has already happened. They spiritualized Paul's teaching on baptism and applied it the resurrection of believers. It seems that Philetus and Hymenaeus believed that a future physical resurrection of believers was not going to happen. This is not enough to classify them as fully developed Gnostics however. Ronald Ward would classify this teaching as "incipient Gnosticism" that is a "wrong interpretation of Paul's doctrine" of the future resurrection. In other words it was an idea that set a spark to slowly gather together more ideas, which eventually formed into Gnosticism in the second century. This idea of a past spiritual resurrection of believers is obviously based on Greek thinking. The Greeks viewed the soul as being trapped in the body while Christianity views the soul and body as one. It is obvious to see that this particular false teaching is a forerunner to full blown Gnostic thought. The "Jewish myths" and "endless genealogies" were different false teachings, although they could be just as divisive in the church.

After studying the text it is quite clear that the false teachings mentioned in the Pastoral Epistles were not in fact Gnostic creation myths. It is concluded that the false teaching mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:18 is a belief in the church amongst false teachers that is a precursors to Gnosticism. It is concluded that the restrictions on marriage and certain foods by false teachers were most likely based on Judeo-Christian asceticism and not Gnosticism, even though Gnostics eventually held somewhat similar beliefs. What are yet to be discussed are the Jewish myths and genealogies mentioned in 1 Timothy 1:3-4. Firstly, what were these Jewish myths that Paul warned Timothy about? According to Thomas Lea and Hayne Griffin they were probably "patriotic legends" similar to "George Washington and the cherry tree". So the myths being promoted by false teachers were legends added to the Old Testament. It is obvious by Paul's seriousness about them that the myths were causing meaningless conversations amongst the church in Ephesus. It is important to note that these teachers weren't people outside the church attacking it but rather members inside the church who thought they had a higher understanding of Scripture. The exact nature of the Jewish myths being discussed by the false teachers is unclear to us. There are numerous extra-Biblical stories that were written during the Old Testament and Inter-Testament time periods. Most of the myths that the false teachers would have been promoting would be pre-Tannatic, which means they were written before the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. These stories have since been collected into works like the Book of Jubilees and the Talmud. Ancient people realized that the narratives of scripture left many unanswered questions so their solution was to create legends, which could help people better understand the scriptures. Subject matters covered in the Talmud deal with topics such as the life of Adam and Eve, these myths try to satisfy the curiosity people as to what exactly happened between the lines of scripture. The term "myth" is always used in a plural sense in the Pastoral Epistles. "Myths" is consistently a "pejorative and polemical classification." The word "classifies material not simply as untrue or legendary but as pernicious in its (or its author's) purpose to justify immoral or improper behavior on the basis of a divine or traditional pattern." We can see that Paul was angered by the myths not only for the quarrels they were causing among believers but also because of the immorality they promoted.

Paul didn't want to even mention these myths to Timothy because all that would do is cause more "meaningless talk" among the church. Paul passes off these superstitious fables as "old wives' tales" that aren't even worth discussing because they were so ludicrous. It is quite possible that stories from the Talmud were what Paul was thinking of when he wrote to Timothy. The Talmud is known for its extreme versions of Biblical stories such as the myth that Lilith the night demon was Adam's first wife. Such speculation over fanciful adaptations of scripture is not only a waste of time it is extremely dangerous because it corrupts the truth. For example, because of the Ancient Near Eastern legend of Lilith a Hebrew tradition rose up where mothers would put amulets on their male children until they were circumcised at 8 days old to protect them from Lilith. This shows the destructive power of adding to the Bible what is not there. The false teachers in Ephesus knew that people were susceptible to stories that tickle their ears and imaginations. Paul mentions this idea of people looking for people to teach them what they want to hear in 2 Timothy 4:3-4. He states, "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." The principle is simple: there will always be false teachers where their services are requested. To put it more simply false teachers seem to know the people who are most likely to believe what they say and they will seek out those people. These verses tell us something about the church of Ephesus. They tell us that at least some of the congregation wasn't interested in the sound teaching of the scriptures but rather in legends that sounded good to them and more importantly gave them ground to let more immorality in their lives. The church of Ephesus was surrounded by paganism and immorality. Ephesus was famous for its temple of Diana and the prostitutes who worked there. The congregation in Ephesus must have been under extreme pressure from both external and internal forces, it is no wonder why Timothy needed encouragement from Paul.

The second problem that Paul mentions in verse 4 of 1 Timothy 1 is the obsession some people in the church had with genealogies. There might have been numerous reasons why the early Christians studied genealogies in the first century. Jewish people might have studied the genealogies to prove which of the twelve tribes they were from or to prove that they were Levites, therefore being in the priestly line. Other Biblical commentators suggest that false teachers were emphasizing genealogies because they were teaching that the genealogically systems that were spiritualized. Johnson mentions Philo, an Alexandrian Jew, who built up a genealogical system where the names symbolized the condition of one's soul. We don't know for certain what teaching on genealogies were being brought forth at Ephesus. The effects of the strong emphasis on genealogies raised questions in the church and started discussions. If the emphasis on genealogies focused on priesthood the debate might have been on what makes someone truly a Levite. In order to understand the situation a context must first be put in place though. The Jewish people have lost their public genealogical records at this point in time due to Herod the Great burning the public genealogical records to conceal his Israelite heritage. This caused many Jews to panic because they feared losing their proud heritage. There were private records however that some people had access to. The private genealogies helped some people to piece back together their family line but not every one benefited from them. The false teachers might have been telling people that the genealogies were the key to preserving their traditions. Paul might have also denounced the obsession with genealogies because people were using their lineage (which tribe they were from) to put themselves higher than others in the church. Paul must have seen the effects of these teachings and saw the bickering they produced among the believers. While we know the effects of the teachings on endless genealogies we might never know what exactly these teachings were in detail. The best that can be done with the information, which is a minute reference by Paul and extra-Biblical historical records, is to make an educated guess. While this might seem unsatisfactory, it is as far as we should go lest we speculate too much on the exactness of these teachings.

In order to conclude this discussion we must first look at the applications that can be made to our lives and our churches after studying the struggles in the Ephesian church with false doctrines. The Ephesian church had many troubles and its overseer Timothy was known for his faithfulness but also for being timid. If we let false teachers gain a position of authority in which they can promote false doctrines in our church we must act swiftly in order to remove them from that position. Simply removing a false teacher from a place where they can manipulate the truth is not enough however. We must then teach the congregation the falsehoods that were presented to them and refute those falsehoods with a clear understanding of the Scriptures. Only then can a congregation be healed from unsound doctrine. Another lesson to be learned from the struggles of the Ephesian church is that controversy can destroy a church if it goes unchecked. The controversy over the teachings of Philetus and Hymenaeus on the resurrection of the believers could have easily split the church into two camps- those who believed in a physical future resurrection of believers and those who believed in a past spiritual resurrection of believers. By the grace of God and because of Paul's actions that division did not happen. Paul had to send Alexander and Hymenaeus outside of the church because of the controversy they have stirred up. Elders have to be willing to ask people not to come back to their church if they refuse to stop promoting controversy among the believers. The unfortunate truth is that there will always be savage wolves that will try to divide the church. Paul promises us that Satan is determined to halt the advancement of God's kingdom in any way possible. Therefore we have to be willing to make decisions on part of our congregation even if it means turning people away. The Ephesian church also had to deal with some of its own leadership members turning people's attention away from the gospel and towards foolish fables. The fables of today would differ greatly from the first century but their effect is the same. They cause people to follow after something other than God; maybe it is a theological argument, a certain belief system, a church tradition, or a personal spiritual whimsy. It is easy to get caught up in the hype of a myth in the church today. For example; you can present almost any piece of evidence to the church and if it supports Biblical historicity people will believe it without even studying it. In the 1997 there was a scientific report about red blood cells being found in Tyrannosaurus-Rex bones. The church jumped all over this as proof to a thousands year old earth instead of one that billions of years old. However that report has since been disproved and the "red blood cells" have been found to be nothing more than cellular remains. The lesson to be learned is that we all can be susceptible to believing news we want to hear unless we train our hearts and minds to focus only on what the Bible has said. As Christians we should search out the truth of a story instead of giving it credit because it says something we want to be true. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 tells us to test everything and hold on to the good. That means that we should put every new idea up against scriptures and up against the rules of logic to test its veracity. Another lesson to learn from the false teachings is that everything God originally created is good therefore Christians shouldn't deny each other the opportunity to marry or eat meats unless there is something morally wrong in the situation. Not every Christian should get married however and if eating certain foods distresses a fellow believer then one should not eat them.

In conclusion of this discussion it is apparent that the false teachings in the Pastoral Epistles were not truly Gnostic in their origins. Gnosticism didn't fully develop till the second century, however there are some overlaps in the ideas of the false teachers with the ideas that 2nd Century Gnostics believed. The myths and genealogies mentioned were solely Jewish issues that dealt with ancient Jewish legends and family lines. The restrictions on marriage and certain foods were most likely based on Judeo-Christian asceticism that viewed a simple, celibate life as the most spiritual one. The belief that the resurrection of believers was merely spiritual and happened at baptism was a precursor to full blown Gnosticism. Philetus and Hymenaeus were considered heretics for there beliefs. The study of the false doctrines in the Pastoral Epistles can be confusing due to the lack of material written. So we should approach the issue by trying to find out as much as we can about it but that doesn't mean we should speculate what we can not know for certain.

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