Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Timothy 1:9

πατρολῴαις καὶ μητρολῴαις. This is the spelling of the best MSS.; the rec. text, following the majority of the cursives, has πατραλῴαις, μητραλῴαις.

9. εἰδὼς τοῦτο. This refers to the foregoing τις; the view which must be taken of the law by the teacher who would use it lawfully is now expounded.

δικαίῳ νόμος οὐ κεῖται. The law (sc. the Mosaic law, in particular, although the proposition is true of law in general) is not laid down (enacted) for a righteous man (δίκαιος being here used in its largest sense). κεῖμαι is the passive of τίθημι. τίθημι νόμον ‘I enact a law,’ sc. for other people; but κεῖται νόμος, ‘the law is enacted,’ and so is binding. It is quite in accordance with St Paul’s usage to omit the article before νόμος when it signifies the Mosaic law; there are many examples in the Epistles to the Romans (e.g. Romans 2:25) and the Galatians (Galatians 2:19).

ἀνόμοις δὲ καὶ�. But for the lawless and unruly, a general description of those who will not submit to the restraints of law, viewed as an ordinance of man. We have the epithet ἀνυπότακτος again in Titus 1:6; Titus 1:10, and (in the sense of ‘not subject to’) in Hebrews 2:8; it is not found in the LXX., nor elsewhere in the N.T., but ὑποτάσσειν is a common Pauline word.

ἀσεβέσι καὶ ἁμαρτωλοῖς. The ungodly and sinners, a general description of those who will not obey the law, viewed now as an ordinance of God. ἀσεβής is the man without inward reverence, ἁμαρτωλός the man who defies God by outward act. The two epithets are conjoined again 1 Peter 4:18 (a quotation of Proverbs 11:31) and Jude 1:15.

These lawless ones are now more exactly described, the order of the Decalogue being followed, and the extremest form of the violation of the Commandment being specified in each case.

ἀνοσίοις καὶ βεβήλοις. The unholy and profane. Such is the temper which lies at the root of the sin of perjury, explicitly forbidden in the Third Commandment. ἀνόσιος is a LXX. word, only occurring again in N.T. at 2 Timothy 3:2; βέβηλος is also a LXX. word, but not found in St Paul outside the Pastorals. βέβηλος conveys the idea of secularity (see esp. Leviticus 10:10; Hebrews 12:16), and strictly means what may be ‘walked on’ (βα-), and so is outside the shrine.

πατρολῴαις καὶ μητρολῴαις. Smiters of fathers and smiters of mothers. These words do not occur again in the Bible, but are common in Greek literature; the rendering of A.V. and R.V. ‘murderers of fathers’ is, no doubt, legitimate, but it is not the sin of murder, but of dishonouring parents, which is here uppermost in the writer’s thought, and the wider translation is justified by the usage of the words elsewhere. For this extreme and outrageous violation of the Fifth Commandment the punishment of death was provided in the Mosaic law (Exodus 21:15).

ἀνδροφόνοις. Manslayers. The word only occurs in the Greek Bible elsewhere at 2Ma 9:28. Murder is, in itself, the worst and most explicit manifestation of human hate, forbidden in the Sixth Commandment.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Timothy 1:9

Old Testament

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