What are the essential needs for survival? One answer to this question lies in 1 Timothy 6.8. But a quick comparison of various Bible translations will reveal that the answer is not so easily discernible. Some translations use the word pair “food and clothing” while others have “food and shelter.” These are vastly different answers. This study will examine primary source materials in order to seek an accurate translation and interpretation of the word σκέπασμα in this important verse. An examination of primary source materials with an emphasis on synchronic evidence will demonstrate that 1 Timothy 6.8 most likely refers to clothing and not to housing or shelter.
AristidesAelius. 1829. Aristides ex recensione Guilielmi Dindorfii. 3 vols. Edited by DindorfWilhelm. Leipzig: Weidmann. English translations: Aristides and The Sacred Tales. Translated by C. A. Behr. Amsterdam: A. M. Hakkert, 1968; The Complete Works: Orations XVII–LIII. Translated by C. A. Behr. Leiden: Brill, 1981.
2.
Aristotle. 1924. Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Edited by RossW. D.Oxford: Clarendon. English translation: Aristotle in 23 Volumes. Vols. 17, 18. Translated by Hugh Tredennick. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1933.
3.
Aristotle. 1957. Politica. Edited by RossW. D.Oxford: Clarendon. English translation: Aristotle in 23 Volumes. Vol. 21. Translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1944.
4.
BalzHorstSchneiderGerhard, eds. 1990–1993. Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. 3 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
5.
Basil of Caesarea. 1926. Saint Basil: The Letters, in Four Volumes. Edited by DeferrariRoy J.HeinemannWilliam. 4 vols. London; New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
6.
Basil of Caesarea. 1955. Letters. Translated by WayAgnes C.2 vols. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press.
7.
BauerW.DankerF. W.ArndtW. F.GingrichF. W.1999. Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd edition.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
8.
CampbellLyle. 1998. Historical Linguistics: An Introduction. >dinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
9.
CharlesRobert Henry, ed. 2004. Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. 2 vols. Logos electronic edition. Oxford: Clarendon.
10.
CollinsRaymond F.2002. 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus: A Commentary. Louisville, KY: WestminsterJohnKnox.
11.
CrowleyTerryBowernClaire. 2010. An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. 4th edition.New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
12.
ChrysostomDio. 1893. Dionis Prusaensis Quem Vocant Chrysostomum Quae Exstant Omnia, Vol 1. Edited by de ArnimJ.Medford, MA: Weidmann. English translation: Discourses 31–36. Loeb Classical Library 358. Translated by J. W. Cohoon and H. L. Crosby. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1940.
13.
ChrysostomDio. 1896. Dionis Prusaensis Quem Vocant Chrysostomum Quae Exstant Omnia, Vol 2. Edited by de ArnimJ.Medford, MA: Weidmann. English translation: Discourses 12–30. Loeb Classical Library 339. Translated by J. W. Cohoon. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1939.
14.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus. 1891. Dionysii Halicarnasei Antiquitatum Romanarum quae supersunt. 4 vols. Edited by JacobyKarl. Leipzig: Teubner. English translation: The Roman Antiquities: Books 8–9.24. Translated by Earnest Cary. Loeb Classical Library 372. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1945.
15.
Dioscorides. 1829. De material medica. Translated by SprengelKurt. Leipzig: Knobloch. English translation: The Herbal of Dioscorides the Greek. Translated by T. A. Osbaldeston and R. Wood. Johannesburg: IBIDIS Press, 2000.
16.
DomerisW. R.1997. “סָכַךְ.” Pages 251-53 in vol. 3 of the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis. Edited by VanGemerenW. A.5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
17.
Erotianus Grammaticus. 1918. Erotiani Vocum Hippocraticarum Collectio cum Fragmentis. Edited by Ernst Nachmanson. Collectio Scriptorum Veterum Upsaliensis. Uppsala and Göteburg: Eranos.
18.
FeeGordon D.2011. 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus. Understanding the Bible Commentary Series. Grand Rapids: Baker.
19.
GreenGene L.2007. “Lexical Pragmatics and Biblical Interpretation.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society50(4): 799-812.
20.
GuthrieDonald. 1990. Pastoral Epistles: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 14. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
21.
HaleMark. 2007. Historical Linguistics: Theory and Method. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
22.
John of Damascus. 1914. Barlaam and Joseph. Loeb Classical Library 34. Edited by WoodwardG. R.MattinglyH.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
23.
Josephus. 1888. Flavii Iosephi Opera Recognovit Benedictvs Niese. Translated by NieseBenedikt. Berlin: Weidmann. English translation: The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. Translated by William Whiston. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1987.
24.
LeeJohn A.2004. “The Present State of Lexicography of Ancient Greek.” Pages 66-74 in Biblical Language and Lexicography: Essays in Honor of Frederick W. Danker. Edited by TaylorBernard A.. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
25.
LiddellH. G.ScottR.JonesH. S.1996. A Greek–English Lexicon. 9th edition with revised supplement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
LockWalter. 1924. The Pastoral Epistles: I & II Timothy and Titus. International Critical Commentary. NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
28.
LouwJohannes P.NidaEugene A.1996. Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. 2nd edition.2 vols. New York: United Bible Societies.
29.
MetzgerBruce M.1994. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: A Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (Fourth Revised Edition). 2nd edition.London; New York: United Bible Societies.
30.
MottS. C.1993. “Ethics.” Pages269-75 in The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters. Edited by HawthorneG. F.MartinR. P.Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
31.
MounceWilliam D.2000. Pastoral Epistles. Word Biblical Commentary 46. Dallas: Word.
32.
RufusMusonius. 1822. Reliquiae et Apophthegmata. Edited by PeerlkampJ. Venhuizen. Harlem: Adriani Loosjes. English translation: Musonius Rufus: The Roman Socrates. Translated by Cora Lutz. Edited by A. R. Bellinger. Yale Classical Studies 10. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1947.
33.
NewmanBarclay Moon. 1993. “σκέπασµα.” Page 163 in A Concise Greek–English Dictionary of the New Testament. Stuttgart, Germany: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft; United Bible Societies.
34.
OdenThomas C.1989. First and Second Timothy and Titus. Interpretation series. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.
35.
PernotLaurent. 2006. “The Rhetoric of Religion.” Rhetorica24(3): 235-54.
36.
Perseus Digital Library. Edited by CraneGregory R.Tufts University. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu. Accessed August 15, 2012.
37.
Philo of Alexandria. 2005. The Works of Philo: Greek Text with Morphology. Edited by BorgenPederFuglsethKåreSkarstenRoald. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software. English translation: The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged. Translated by Charles Duke Yonge. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995.
38.
PietersmaAlbertWrightBenjamin G., eds. 2009. A New English Translation of the Septuagint. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
39.
Plato. 1903. Platonis Opera. Edited by BurnetJohn. Oxford: Oxford University Press. English translation: Plato, The Being of the Beautiful: Plato’s Theaetetus, Sophist, and Statesman. Translated by Seth Bernardete. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
Plutarch. 1840. Plutarch’s Lives. Translated by LanghorneJohnLanghorneWilliam. 4 vols. New York: Harper & Brothers.
42.
Plutarch. 1914–1926. Plutarch’s Lives. Translated by PerrinBernadotte. 11 vols. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press.
43.
PorterStanley E.1995. “Pauline Authorship and the Pastoral Epistles: Implications for Canon.” Bulletin of Biblical Research5: 105-23.
44.
RahlfsAlfred, ed. 1996. Septuaginta: With Morphology. Logos electronic edition. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft.
45.
SartonGeorge. 1927. Introduction to the History of Science. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins Co.
46.
SaussureFerdinand de. 1984. Cours de linguistique générale. Edited by de MauroTullio. Paris: Bibliothèque scientifique.
47.
Severus Iatrosophista. 1836. Severi iatrosophistae de clysteribus liber. Edited by DietzF. R.Königsberg: Borntraeger.
48.
SophoclesE. A.1887. Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods (from B.C. 146 to A.D. 1100). 2 vols. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing.
49.
Soranus. 1927. Sorani Gynaeciorum libri IV. Translated by IlbergJohannes. Corpus medicorum Graecorum 4. Leipzig and Berlin. English translation: Soranus’ Gynecology. Translated by Owsei Temkin et al. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1956.
50.
StampsDennis L.2006. “The Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament as a Rhetorical Device: A Methodological Proposal.” Pages 9-37 in Hearing the Old Testament in the New Testament. Edited by PorterStanley. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
51.
StottJohn. 1996. The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity.
52.
Strabo. 1877. Geographica. Edited by MeinekeA.Leipzig: Teubner. English translation: The Geography of Strabo. Translated by H. C. Hamilton and W. Falconer. London: George Bell & Sons, 1903.
53.
Thesaurus Linguae Graecae. Irvine, CA: University of California, Irvine. http://www.tlg.uci.edu. Accessed August 27, 2012.
54.
TownerPhilip H.2006. The Letters to Timothy and Titus. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
55.
van der HorstPieter Willem. 1980. Aelius Aristides and the New Testament. Studia ad Corpus Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti. Leiden: Brill.
56.
VanGemerenW. A.1997. New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
57.
WallRobert W.1995. “Pauline Authorship and the Pastoral Epistles: A Response to S. E. Porter.” Bulletin of Biblical Research5: 125-28.
58.
WellsLouise. 1998. The Greek Language of Healing from Homer to New Testament Times. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 83. Berlin: de Gruyter.
59.
WielandGeorge M.2006. The Significance of Salvation: A Study of Salvation Language in the Pastoral Epistles. Milton Keynes: Paternoster.
