The Apostolic Age · AD 4–70
Philetus
fl. c. AD 65 (death unrecorded) · Teacher within the church, named for error · Ephesus (by implication)
The Apostolic Age
Who Philetus was
Named once, alongside Hymenaeus, in a warning about what their teaching does: their word **“will eat as doth a canker”** — γάγγραινα, gangrene. The specific error is given: they said **that the resurrection is past already**, and so overthrew the faith of some.
**He is held as a member, and that is the point of holding him.** The archive is a prosopography of the church, and men teaching error inside it are part of that church’s history — which is how it already treats Hymenaeus, Diotrephes and Simon Magus. To file him as an external witness would imply he stood outside, and Paul’s complaint is precisely that he did not: the danger is that the word spreads, and it spreads because he is within.
Nothing else is recorded of him — no city, no office, no outcome. Hymenaeus is named twice in the Pastorals and Philetus once; the archive holds Hymenaeus separately.
2 Timothy 2:17 only, named beside Hymenaeus for the teaching the letter rejects — one of the archive’s cases where a single mention is a condemnation.
Common questions
When was Philetus active?
Philetus is dated fl. c. AD 65 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Philetus in the Apostolic Age (AD 4–70). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Philetus?
Philetus is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Paul of Tarsus. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Philetus from?
The archive associates Philetus with Ephesus (by implication).
Who were Philetus’ contemporaries?
The archive links Philetus to 3 other figures, including Paul of Tarsus, Timothy of Lystra and Hymenaeus of Jerusalem. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Scripture record
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
2 Timothy 2:16–18
c. AD 65But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.Paul of Tarsus · read ↗
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 30 · Crucifixion, Resurrection and Pentecost, AD 30–33
- AD 44 · Persecution under Herod Agrippa I, AD 44
- AD 49 · The Council of Jerusalem, AD 49
- AD 57 · Paul writes Romans, AD 57
- AD 62 · James the Just stoned, AD 62
- AD 64 · The Great Fire and Nero’s persecution, AD 64
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Philetus.