1 Timothy 4:12

Rec. text inserts ἐν πνεύματι before ἐν πίστει with KLP (arising, probably, from an original misreading of πίστει or possibly from a reminiscence of ἐν� in 1 Corinthians 4:21; cp. Colossians 1:8 and 2 Corinthians 6:6; om. אACD2G and Vss.

12. μηδείς σου τῆς νεότητος καταφρονείτω. This is advice to Timothy, not a command to the members of the Church at Ephesus, though no doubt they would take note of it. σου depends on νεότητος and is not directly governed by καταφρ.: let no man despise thy youth. νεότης (a word not occurring again in St Paul’s Epistles, though found in his speech before Agrippa in Acts 26:4) is a relative term. Timothy must have been about 30 years of age at this time (cp. again 2 Timothy 2:22), and was thus young in comparison with St Paul and in respect of the duties which were incumbent on him, though not by any means a boy or immature[531]. See further in Introduction p. xliii, and for the reverence due to young bishops cp. Ignatius Magnes. 3 and Apost. Const. ii. 1. In an earlier Epistle St Paul had expressed similar anxiety that Timothy should be treated with respect: ἐὰν δὲ ἔλθῃ Τιμόθεος … μή τις οὖν αὐτὸν ἐξουθεήσῃ (1 Corinthians 16:11). Cp. the advice to Titus (Titus 2:15) μηδείς σου περιφρονείτω.

[531] The term νεότης is common in the LXX. The phrase ‘wife of thy youth’ (ἐκ νεότητός σου, Proverbs 5:18; Malachi 2:14) shews that it is not restricted to the period of childhood (cp. Lamentations 3:27). “Polybius (XVII. 12. 5) speaks of Flaminius as ἐκ νεότητός σου, ‘very young,’ because, as he explains, ‘he was not more than 30 years old,’ and he uses this same expression of Hicro (I. 8. 3), who seems to have been then close upon 35, and of Philopoemen (II. 67. 5), who was then over 30 … So likewise Galen in one passage (Op. 13. p. 599) describes himself as νέος τήν ἡλικαίαν when he was entering upon his 29th year, and in another (Op. 19. p. 15) as νέος ὦν ἔτι, though he was in his 34th year at the time” (Lightfoot, Ignatius, I. 448). In Xen. Mem. I. 2. 35, Charicles says, μγδὲ σὺ διαλἐγου νεωτέροις τριάκοντα ἐτῶν in answer to Socrates’ demand ὁρίσατέ μοι μέχρι πόσων ἐτῶν δεῖ νομίζειν νέους εἶναι τοὺς�, which shews that νέος was an elastic word, but that a reasonable limit to fix was 30 years. St Paul is called νεανίας at the time of Stephen’s martyrdom (Acts 7:58), when he must have been about 30 years old. This was probably also the limit of adulescentia among the Romans; it is often said that it lasted until 40, but for this there is not good evidence.

ἀλλὰ τύπος γίνου τῶν πιστῶν. But be a pattern of the believers, not merely an example to them but a model for them. So Titus is counselled περὶ πάντα σεαυτὸν παρεχόμενος τύπον καλῶν ἔργων (Titus 2:7). St Paul refers more than once to the duty which was incumbent on himself to be a τύπος to his converts (Philippians 3:17; 2 Thessalonians 3:9).

ἐν λόγῳ, ἐν�. κ.τ.λ. The order should be noted. Timothy is to be a τύπος τῶν πιστῶν (1) in outward conduct, in speech and act, in word and in manner of life. Compare Romans 15:18 λόγῳ καὶ ἕργῳ and Colossians 3:17, and for ἀναστροφή conversation, a favourite word of St Paul, cp. Galatians 1:13; Ephesians 4:22. He is also to be a τύπος (2) in inward disposition, ἐν�, ἐν πίστει, ἐν ἁγνείᾳ, in love, in faith, in purity, graces which may be said to cover respectively our duty to man, to God, and to ourselves (cp. Titus 2:12). The classical substantive ἁγνεία only occurs again in the N.T. in ch. 1 Timothy 5:2 (it is a false reading in Galatians 5:23); but we have ἁγνός in 1 Timothy 5:22 of this Epistle, and ἐν ἁγνότητι (the later Greek word) in 2 Corinthians 6:6, references which seem to define its meaning here. It signifies purity of life and motive, and not merely chastity, which is only one outward manifestation of the Christian grace of ἁγνεία. It is interesting to note that in the prayer before the Benediction in our Form of Consecration of Bishops, where the words of this verse are reproduced, for ἐν ἁγνείᾳ we have the double rendering “in chastity and in purity,” indicating this larger meaning of ἁγνεία.

ἐν πνεύματι of the rec. text is an interpolation (see crit. note).