THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY Chapter 1 Vers. 1, 2. _Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Saviour, and Christ Jesus our hope; to Timothy, [my] true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord._ If this had been simply a... [ Continue Reading ]
Vers. 3, 4. _According as I besought thee when setting out for Macedonia, [so I do now], to abide still at Ephesus, in order that thou mightest charge some not to teach any other doctrine, nor to give heed to fables and endless genealogies, inasmuch as they minister strifes rather than God's dispens... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 5. _Now the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned._ The _charge_ (παραγγελίας) here meant cannot be the law strictly so called as if παραγ. were all one with νόμος or ἐντολή for the word is never so used; but it indicates the charge lying u... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 6. _From which_ namely, the several moral qualities just mentioned _some having swerved,_ ἀστοχήσαντες (found only besides in 1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Timothy 2:18, where it is coupled with περί), “said in regard to those who do not reach whither they are tending do not attain their aim” (Bengel): fa... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 7. The parties warned against are further characterized as _desiring_ (θέλοντες, _wishing_) _to be teachers of the law_; implying that it was but a wish, a bootless aiming at what, in its proper reality, lay far from them, as is afterwards more distinctly brought out. The interpretation of Baur... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 8. The apostle turns here from the false to the true, gives his own view of the nature of the law, and of the right use of it, as contradistinguished from that which he had condemned in others. _We know, indeed_ (so δὲ here may be best rendered), _that the law is good_: our quarrel, therefore,... [ Continue Reading ]
Vers. 9, 10. The specific application is here given of the general principle just announced not, of course, the only application which it admitted of, but the one which was of importance for the present time: _knowing this_ (holding it as a settled point regarding the proper design of the law), _tha... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 11. _According to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust_ not _the glorious gospel_, taking τῆς δόξης as a qualitative genitive, equivalent to ε ̓́ νγοξος (see Winer, _Gr_. § 34. 6). The gospel of God's glory is the gospel which peculiarly displays His glory... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 12. The thought of such a gospel having been committed to him one so unworthy in himself of having _any_ treasure of God entrusted to him leads the apostle to recall with adoring gratitude the treatment he had received from God _his_ Saviour. In doing so, he in one sense breaks off the thread o... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 13. Then comes the contrast between the present and the past, enhancing in the apostle's esteem the mercy and loving-kindness he had experienced: _though I formerly was_ (τὸ πρότερον ὄντα, the participle of concession, or limitation, Jelf, § 697, _c_) _a blasphemer_ one, that is to say, who was... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 14. _But the grace of our Lord superabounded_ ὑπερεπλεόνασεν not merely manifested itself in an act of mercy, and exhibition of undeserved goodness, as in the case of ordinary sinners, but overflowed, in a manner, its wonted channels, and like a mighty flood poured its gifts of love into his bo... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 15. Now follows a general announcement respecting this grace, grounded on the apostle's own experience, and exemplified by it. _Faithful is the word, and worthy of all acceptation,_ etc. The expression at the commencement, introducing the great truth which follows, _Faithful is the word_ (πιστὸ... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 16. _Howabeit_ (so the A.V. well, giving full expression to the contrast indicated by the ἀλλὰ between the apostle's behaviour toward Christ, and Christ's procedure toward him), for _this cause I obtained mercy, in order that in me first Christ Jesus might show forth all long-suffering, for a p... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 17. _Now, to the King of the ages, the incorruptible, invisible, only God, be honour and glory for ages of ages_ (or, for ever and ever). _Amen_. The language in this doxology is somewhat peculiar, and has no exact parallel in New Testament Scripture. In a very few passages is the epithet _King... [ Continue Reading ]
Vers. 18-20. In these verses the apostle again returns to his proper theme that, namely, of giving specific counsels and directions to Timothy. _This charge I commit to thee, child Timothy_. What charge? Referring back to 1 Timothy 1:3, we find the apostle charging Timothy (ἵνα παραγγείλῃς) respecti... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 19. Here follows an instruction as to the more essential qualifications for prevailing in such a spiritual warfare: _having_ (or holding, ἔχων) _faith and a good conscience_; possessing these moral elements as indispensable prerequisites, or accompaniments of the work. Faith fitly goes first; f... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 20. _Of whom_ (the apostle adds) _is Hymenaeus and Alexander_. Both these names occur again in an unfavourable connection (Hymenaeus in 2 Timothy 2:17, and Alexander in 2 Timothy 4:14); and it is a question among commentators, whether the same persons are in each case denoted by them. In regard... [ Continue Reading ]