1 Timothy 1:9

εἰδώς refers to τις, as knowing this (R.V). For the expression cf. οἶδας τοῦτο, 2 Timothy 1:15 and Ephesians 5:5. νόμος : Although νόμος when anarthrous may mean the Mosaic Law, the statement here is perfectly general (so R.V.). The Mosaic Law does not differ in the range of its application, though it may in the details of its enactments, from law in general, of which it is a subdivision. Law is not enacted for a naturally law-abiding man (dative of reference). δίκαιος is used here in the popular sense, as in “I came not to call the righteous”. It is unnecessary to suppose that St. Paul had his theory of justification in his mind when writing this; though of course those who “are led by the Spirit” are δίκαιοι of the highest quality, κατὰ τῶν τοιούτων οὐκ ἔστιν νόμος (Galatians 5:18 sqq., Galatians 5:23). The enumeration of those whom legislators have in view when enacting laws naturally begins with ἄνομοι, of whom the ἀνυπότακτοι, unruly, those who deliberately rebel against restriction of any kind, are the extreme type. There is no special class or quality of crime involved in the terms ἄνομος and ἀνυπότακτος. As the series advances, the adjectives indicate more definite and restricted aspects of lawlessness: the first three pairs represent states of mind; then follow examples of violations of specific enactments. Since St. Paul is here dealing with the law of natural religion, it is not safe to deepen the shade of ἀσεβής, κ. τ. λ. by looking at the conceptions they express in the light of the Lord.

ὁ ἀσεβὴς καὶ ἁμαρτωλός is a pair of epithets familiar from its occurrence in Proverbs 11:31 (quoted 1 Peter 4:18. See also Jude 1:15). The ἀσεβής is one whose mental attitude towards God Himself is that of deliberate irreverence; the βέβηλος acts contumeliously towards recognised expressions or forms of reverence to God.

Alford and Ellicott, following a hint from Bengel, suppose that in the series commencing πατρολῴαις St. Paul is going through the second table of the Decalogue. It is an argument against this that when St, Paul is unquestionably enumerating the Commandments, Romans 13:9, he places the command against adultery before that against murder (so Luke 18:20; James 2:11; Philo, De Decalogo, xxiv. and xxxii.; Tert. de Pudic, v., all following LXX ([256]) of Deut. chap. 5). There is therefore no necessity to give πατρολῴας the weak rendering smiter of a father (R.V. m.) in order to make the word refer to normal breaches of the Fifth Commandment, It can, of course, both by derivation and use, be so rendered, The Greek word, like parricide in Latin and English, may be applied to any unnatural treatment of a parent.

[256] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

The apostle is here purposely specifying the most extreme violations of law, as samples (καὶ εἴ τι ἕτερον) of what disregard of law may lead to. The healthy, wholesome teaching of Christ is of course in opposition to such enormities; it is also in opposition to the false teachers; these teachers have failed to attain to a pure heart, etc. Consequently, although professing to teach the Law, they find themselves in opposition to the essential spirit of law. Let them, and those who listen to them, take care lest their teaching inevitably issue in similar enormities.