CHAPTER IV Ver. 1. _But the Spirit speaks expressly,_ etc. The description given toward the close of the preceding chapter of the church as the pillar and basement of divine truth, and of the grand mystery which finds its evolution in connection with the interests and hopes of the church, might well... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 2. Ἐν ὑποκρίσει ψευδολόγων not, as in the Authorized Version, “speaking lies in hypocrisy,” which would take ψευδολόγων as in apposition with the δαιμονίων of the preceding clause, and so would identify die demons with the instrumental agents _but in hypocrisy of speakers of lies:_ a prepositi... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 3. Here the apostle descends to particulars, indicating in one or two leading points the directions this false pietism was going to assume: _forbidding to marry,_ [bidding (Construction by zeugma, requiring κελευο ́ ντων to be supplied to make out the sense (Winer, § 66, 1, e).)] _to abstain fr... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 4. _Because everything made by God_ (this is better than _every creature of God_, as _creature_ seems to point too definitely to animated being, while by κτίσμα creation in all its parts is meant, whatever has received its being from the Creator, though the apostle's usual term for this is κτίσ... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 7. _But_ (expressive of a contrast to the things just mentioned and proper to be done) _the profane and old wives' fables avoid_ παραιτοῦ, turn aside from, shun. He gives no further description of them, nor indicates why he reckoned them profane, and such as were hatched in the brains of old wi... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 8. The reason follows: _for bodily exercise is profitable unto little, but godliness is profitable unto all things._ Commentators have long been, and still are, divided as to what should be understood by the bodily exercise (σωματικὴ γυμνασία): whether of such exercise as pertains to the health... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 9. _Faithful is the word, and worthy of all acceptation._ This form of expression, peculiar to the Pastoral epistles, has already occurred in another connection, 1 Timothy 1:15. Here it is applied to the promise of life now and hereafter, as connected with the earnest pursuit of holiness, which... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 10. _For to this_ (εἰς τοῦτο, with a view to it, in order that we may in our own case realize the good contained in the promise) _we toil_ (κοπιῶμεν, which is somewhat stronger than ἑργάζομεν, labour) _and strive_ (ἀγωνιζόμεθα), (This is undoubtedly the best supported reading, being that of א... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 11. From the beginning of this new section to the end of the chapter, we have a series of practical exhortations to Timothy respecting his personal bearing and character: _Charge these things, and teach;_ the things, namely, which had been mentioned in the immediately preceding verses, and whic... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 12. _Let no one despise thy youth_. This is, doubtless, the proper rendering, although the position of the pronoun is somewhat peculiar, σου τῆς νεότητος καταφρονείτω; but it again occurs in 1 Timothy 4:15, where also the governing substantive follows. The sense plainly is, “Let no one despise... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 13. _Till I come_ (the present, ἔρχομαι, probably to express the purpose of an early return to Ephesus), _give attention to the reading, the exhortation, the teaching._ The definiteness indicated respecting these things by the use of the article, seems to point to them as well known: stated emp... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 14. _Neglect not the gift_ (the charism) _that is in thee, which was given thee through_ (or by means of) _prophecy, with laying on of the hands of the presbytery._ There can be no reasonable doubt that this is the correct rendering, and that the attempts which have at various times been made t... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 15. _Be mindful of these things_ (μελέτα, found only here and at Acts 4:25, but signifying to _care for, attend to, or be mindful of_): let them have their proper place in the regard and application of thy soul. _Be in them;_ have your very life, as it were, in such things. On which Bengel rema... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 16. _Give heed to thyself and to the teaching:_ not precisely _doctrine_, though doubtless including what is understood by that, but the whole matter of teaching in relation to Christianity; hence, in the first place, making due preparation for the work of public discourse, and then, when actua... [ Continue Reading ]