Danny, (here's the post I've owed you)....
You wrote:If we're only going to focus on the text of 1 Timothy 4:9-10, then it seems that the use of the word "especially" (malista in the Greek) is of paramount importance. Malista means most of all; in the greatest degree; more of the same. Paul uses the word again in 2 Timothy 4:13 when he writes, "When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments." The parchments were a subset of the scrolls. Paul wants the scrolls and most of all the parchments. This is consistent with how malista is used everywhere else in the NT (Acts 20:38; 25:26; 26:3; Gal 6:10; Phil 4:22; 1 Tim 5:8, 17; Titus 1:10; Philemon 16 and 2 Peter 2:10).
Malista, (Greek, "especially, specially, in particular, chiefly, most of all, more than anything else" etc.).
Texts:
1 Tim 4:10, NASB
For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.
The same word is used below (in bold).
2 Tim 4:13, NRSV
When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.
2 Tim 4:13, NKJV
Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come--and the books, especially the parchments.
Comments:
You said,
"The parchments were a subset of the scrolls. Paul wants the scrolls and most of all the parchments."
First, parchments and scrolls (or books) aren't the same things (you wrote that parchments were a "subset of scrolls"). The following articles demonstrate they
aren't the same.
[quote="Three sources on "and the books, especially the parchments" (2 Tim 4:13b)"]Even more than the cloak, Paul wanted his scrolls and the parchments. Paul's arrest may have occurred so suddenly that he was not allowed to return home to gather his personal belongings. The scrolls would have included parts of the Old Testament The parchments (Greek
membranas) were very likely parchments or codices, frequently used in the first century for notebooks, memoranda, or first drafts of literary works. Perhaps these parchments were drafts or copies of some of Paul's letters. (Source, Life Application Study Bible Commentary).
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Let us mention here an interesting development concerning paper and bookmaking that may also have affected the development of the canon. At least some of the first New Testament writings may have existed in a roll or scroll form if Paul "books" and parchments mentioned in II Timothy (4:13) were New Testament. But we are not at all sure these were New Testament writings. These parchment may had been Old Testament scrolls Paul wanted to use in his defense. As Alands has pointed out, "All the literature of the period was written on scrolls (including Jewish literature . . .); yet apparently from the very beginning Christians did not use scrolls format for their writing, but rather the codex." (The codex is a "leaf" formed booklet.) They note that only four of the early known papyri were scrolls, and these four were "either opisthographs or written on used material." Roberts and Skeats suggest the papyrus codex was probably used by Christians before 100 A.D. The reason for this change to codies is unclear. It may have been for economic reasons (both sides could be written on; their use of abbreviations show the scribe wanted to shortened the text), convenience in paging back and forth in the writings, or to break from the Jewish use of scrolls, etc. (Source,
The New Testament Canon, by Leland M. Haines).
By this time, Paul has already sent Tychichus to Ephesus (@ Tim 4:12). He now urges Timothy to bring Mark with him, " for he is very useful in my ministry" (2 Tim 4:11). But most important of all, Timothy is instructed to bring the "book-carrier" that Paul "left with Carpus in Troas, and also the books, and above all the parchements" (2 Tim) 4:13. As Skeat has argued these parchments were not scrolls, but parchement leaves---to be sewn in the form of a codex (T.C. Skeat, "Especially the Parchments: A Note on 2 Timothy 4:13.
JTS n.s. 30 [1979] pp. 173-177).
(Source, The Unity of the Bible: Exploring the Beauty and Structure iof the Bible, by Duane L. Christensen, p. 24).
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"The Birth of the Codex"
Society of Biblical Literature
We take for granted the book as the standard physical medium for any extended piece of text, failing to recognize that it was an innovation developed thousands of years after the invention of writing. The book assembles a set of leaves, written on both sides and bound together at the folds to form a multi-page codex, thus making the text accessible at a multitude of entry points and providing a portable, compact, and user-friendly reading device.
The precise origins of the codex are not altogether clear, but its precursors were probably wax tablets, often hinged together, known to exist at least as early as the first century BCE. Wax tablets were handy for note taking and letter drafting, and they even afforded the opportunity for reuse, if desired. It was not a big leap to substitute other materials that benefited equally from the codex form. Letters and eventually literary compositions benefited from the advantages of the codex. 2 Tim 4:13 records Paul's request for
"ta biblia, malista tas membranas" variously translated "the scrolls and parchments" (NIV) or "my books and papers" (NLT).
Contrast this with the scrolls used by the Jewish communities at the time of Jesus. Jesus himself found the passage Isa 61:1-2 in a scroll used at the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-20). The 800+ Jewish documents found at Qumran were written on scrolls. While there are indications that readers acquired great dexterity in manipulating scrolls, they were no match for the codex. As Callimachus, a cataloguer of books at the great library of Alexandria, is reported to have said, "A big roll is a big nuisance."
Recognizing the codex as a reader-friendly medium, and undoubtedly seeing it as an ideal format for compiling letters, the early Christians were quick to collect Paul's letters in this form. The earliest manuscript containing substantial portions of New Testament text is Papyrus 46 (now in Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, and the University of Michigan). Eighty-six of the original 104 leaves of the codex survive today, complete with page numbers and some additional readers' aids. The manuscript dates from approximately 200 CE. Although a date as early as the late first century CE has recently been suggested,[7] I, and many others, still prefer the 200 date. (
Source, Society of Biblical Literature, SBL Forum, "The Myth of the Paperless Church: Codex, Cognition, and Christianity").[/quote]
More comments:
Parchments and scrolls can be said to be "writing materials" in the same way believing people and unbelieving people can be said to be "people". Paul, in 1 Tim 4:10 and 2 Tim 4:13 clearly distinguished between:
A. "all people"
believers and unbelievers alike/scrolls, and,
B. "especially those who are believing"
(believers in particular)/parchments.
2 Timothy 4:13
confirms Paul was talking about two classes of people in 1 Timothy 4:10. That, God is really and presently the Savior of all who are believing while remaining the God who is the Savior of unbelievers as well; providing they come into to the special, particular, class of people whom God actually saves (in the present tense), which is believers.
From the B-Greek Mailing List, a post & reply by Carl Conrad, who wrote:At 12:37 PM -0500 12/3/03, Doug Hoxworth wrote:
George W. Knight's commentary in the NIGTC series suggested (derived from a study done by T. C. Skeats in the April 1979 issue of the Journal of Theological studies pp. 173ff entitled "Especially the Parchments") that MALISTA can have the meaning of 'namely' rather than 'especially'. In other words that MALISTA can be used to further define what someone is talking about (e.g., epexegetical). is this true?
Carl Conrad replied:
It's not indicated in the lexica, but inasmuch as MALISTA means,
essentially, "more than anything else," it seems to me that it's not much of an extension to say that it means "just that," or perhaps, "and to be precise"--like German "zwar."
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
As Conrad points out, if
malista meant "just that" or "and to be precise"(and in another B-Greek post it was asked if it could mean "namely"); 1 Timothy would read:
A. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, [and] just [that] of believers, OR,
B. ....God, who is the Savior of all men, and to be precise of believers, OR,
C. ....God, who is the Savior of all men, namely of believers.
But
malista doesn't meant these.
Paul's usage and meaning of
malista was that the Savior-God [noun] Christians believe in, thereby being specially-saved, is the Savior-God [noun] Who is and remains the
potential and effectual Savior of all people; though this same God "preserves (saves) the lives" of every person by 'sending his rains', 'in Him we [believers & unbelievers alike] live and move and have our being'.
God gives Billy Graham and Osama bin Laden the same air to breath.
But he doesn't save the souls of "all people" like bin Laden, till they "are believing" (as 1 Tim 4:10 reads literally).
I've studied some of the other verses you cited on
malista. Every one of them show and indicate "clear distinctions" (specifically different classes) as I've demonstrated in this post.
There ya go, Danny!
Thanks for reading,
Rick
P.S. Is this thread over now?