Shame

Excerpt

‎Timothy is urged not to be ashamed of the testimony or of Paul, the Lord’s prisoner (1:8). Paul himself exemplifies not being ashamed of the gospel (1:12) and Onesiphorus, not being ashamed of Paul the prisoner (1:16). Given the potency of shame-honour systems in the first-century Mediterranean world, Bassler concludes that the author is constructing a new honour system, “to encourage bold proclamation of the gospel—in spite of the potentially ‘shameful’ consequences—among an honor-sensitive people.” So he avoids “shameful” components in the summary of the gospel (1:10) and infuses “shame-linked items” such as Paul’s imprisonment with “new categories of honor.”5 These insights from the Graeco-Roman environment are frutiful, but the “sacred writings” that he commends (3:16) and the traditions of Hellenistic Judaism also provided concepts of being ashamed/put to shame. … More

Wieland, George M. The Significance of Salvation: A Study of Salvation Language in the Pastoral Epistles. Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2006. Print.