Was ist falsch an der »fälschlich so genannten Gnosis«? Zur Paulusrezeption des Ersten Timotheusbriefes im Kontext seiner Gegnerpolemik

The notion of the »falsely so-called Gnosis« in 1 Tim 6:20 is the only explicit reference to a religious group of a Gnostic type in the New Testament. Within the Pastoral Epistles, however, the religious profile of the »heretics« is highly disputed, because these letters describe different types of opponents with particularly Jewish, Christian, and Gnostic characteristics. The paper argues that in order to understand the problem within the Pastoral Epistles it is inappropriate to suppose a mixed type of »heresy,« i.e. of a Jewish-Christian Gnosis. From the perspective that each of the letters has its specific challenge only 1 Tim pertains to the quarrels of the church with the raising Gnostic movements in the first half of the second century. The main instrument in First Timothy's struggle against Gnostic opponents and for an internal consolidation of the church is a significant transformation of Pauline Ecclesiology.