© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi � �. ��63/97890043�6690_009 Is There a Heresy in the Pastorals? A Sociolinguistic Analysis of 1 and 2 Timothy via the Ethnography of Communication Theory Hughson T. Ong Introduction The various attempts to identify Paul’s singular opponent in the Pastoral Epistles (or Pastorals) through the so-called Ephesian heresy are usually drawn from two assumptions.1 One is that there is a common situation addressed in the Pastorals, and the other is that the Pastorals show close affinity to each other in language and style.2 Werner Georg Kümmel states, “They presuppose the same false teachers, the same organization, and entirely similar condi- tions in the community. They move within the same relative theological con- cepts and have the same peculiarities of language and style.”3 Unlike most of Paul’s letters (except Philemon), which are written to specific churches, the Pastorals are addressed to individuals, Timothy and Titus, who are Paul’s co-workers, to give them instructions regarding their pastoral duties. These putative commonalities within the letters in the Pastorals have led most scholars to follow Kümmel’s theory, treating them as a unified collection of Paul’s letters, regardless of whether they see the Pastorals as deutero-Pauline, 1  While it has been argued that the Pastorals’ emphasis on doctrinal orthodoxy is post- Pauline, Paul’s defence of traditional Christian orthodoxy is found in his letters from the earliest (e.g. Galatians, 1 Corinthians 15) (see Robert H. Gundry, A Survey of the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003], 443). It is fair to say that “heterodoxy-orthodoxy” is the prominent antithetical theme scholars usually discuss in commenting on the Pastorals (see, for example, William Mounce, Pastoral Epistles [wbc 46; Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2000], esp. lxix–cxviii; F. J. A. Hort, Judaistic Christianity [London: Macmillan, 1894], esp. 134; and Jerome D. Quinn and William C. Wacker, The First and Second Letters to Timothy [ecc; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999], esp. 60, 82). 2  Jerry L. Sumney, “Studying Paul’s Opponents: Advances and Challenges,” in Stanley E. Porter (ed.), Paul and His Opponents (past 2; Leiden: Brill, 2005), 7–58, here 39; cf. D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 563. 3  Werner Georg Kümmel, Introduction to the New Testament (Nashville: Abingdon, 1973), 367. See Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, 15, for the similarities between 1 Timothy and Titus in their description of the opponents. 119-138_Porter and Yoon_Ong_F2.indd 119 2/23/2016 7:01:39 PM