1 Timothy 5:1. REBUKE NOT AN ELDER. The question naturally rises whether the word ‘elder' is to be taken in its official sense or as referring to age only. The fourfold classification of which this is part is all but decisive in favour of the latter. On the other hand, we must remember that age and... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:2. The exhortation is, of course, parallel to that in 1 Timothy 5:1, but something more was needed to guard against suspicion and scandal. The free intercourse of a brother with brothers was not equally possible in this case, and therefore the limiting clause is added, ‘in all purity.'... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:3. The verses that follow depend for their right interpretation on a true estimate of the position of the ‘widows' in a Christian community in the Apostolic Church, and this seems accordingly the right place for bringing together the _data_ for such an estimate. (1) At the beginning of t... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:4. The first group thus excluded from those that answer to the name of ‘widow,' are such as have ‘children or nephews' _(i.e. grandchildren)_ who are able to support them. LET THEM LEARN. On simply grammatical grounds, the words may refer either to the widows or the children, and each... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:5. DESOLATE, _i.e._ left alone, in contrast with the widow who has children or grandchildren. TRUSTETH. Better, ‘ _has set her hope on God.'_ IN SUPPLICATIONS AND PRAYERS NIGHT AND DAY. The parallelism with Luke 2:37 suggests the idea that St. Paul may have heard from his companion o... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:6. SHE THAT LIVETH IN PLEASURE. The English words give the sense, but not the terseness or the vigour of the Greek verbs. ‘ _She that plays the wanton'_ comes somewhat nearer, but implies one form of evil too definitely. IS DEAD. Spiritually dead, and therefore to be treated as such fo... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:8. The precept is general, and in its terms includes the duty of parents to provide for their children as well as that of the children to provide for the parents. Practically, as the latter duty had been already enforced in 1 Timothy 5:4, it is probable that the words point to the duty o... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:9. The negative conditions are followed by the positive. LET NOT A WOMAN BE TAKEN INTO THE NUMBER. Better, ‘ _entered on the register_ or _list.'_ The word implies a systematic, organized relief of poverty, guarded, as far as possible, against the indiscriminate almsgiving that tends t... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:10. WELL REPORTED OF. Including, as in the parallel of 1 Timothy 3:7, the testimony of those outside the Church. IF SHE HAVE BROUGHT UP CHILDREN. The Greek word seems purposely chosen to leave it open whether the children thus brought up were her own or those, orphans or destitute, of... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:11. REFUSE, _i.e._ decline to place them on the register of those entitled to special privileges. WAX WANTON. Another of the vigorous colloquial phrases of the Epistle, implying partly wilful resistance, partly lascivious desire. THEY WILL MARRY. The Greek is more emphatic: ‘They _wi... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:12. HAVING DAMNATION. As in 1 Corinthians 11:29, in the general sense of the word, ‘ _coming under condemnation._ ‘ THEIR FIRST FAITH. We best understand these words by bearing in mind the teaching of 1 Corinthians 7:34. Marriage was in itself honour-able, but it was not compatible with... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:13. The very functions of the registered widows would tend in the case supposed to aggravate the evil. Their work of ministration, like that of a District Visitor or Sister of Mercy in modern times, involved frequent visits to many houses; and this might easily pass into simple idleness,... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:14. YOUNGER WOMEN. Better, _‘younger widows;'_ for it is of these as a class, and not of women in general, that St. Paul is speaking, though, as above suggested, the word may not necessarily have implied actual widowhood. BEAR CHILDREN. The special word is as deliberately chosen as the... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:15. SOME. Obviously limited by the context to the so-called ‘widows.' The formula, so common in these Epistles, implies that St. Paul knew, and that Timothy would understand, of whom he thus speaks. The warning was not uncalled for. Facts had shown that there was urgent need for it. AR... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:16. IF ANY MAN. Added as an afterthought, as enlarging the scope of the rule previously given in 1 Timothy 5:4. Not children or grandchildren only, but any relatives on whom the widow had claims, were to regard it their duty, as members of the Church, to support them, so that the funds o... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:17. WORTHY OF DOUBLE HONOUR. The apostle is practical enough to recognise even the value of money - payment as a recognition of higher gifts well used. The word ‘honour,' as in Acts 28:10, clearly implies such payment, even if it is not necessarily confined to it. The rule implies that t... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:18. THE SCRIPTURE SAITH. It is interesting to note that St. Paul had already quoted (in 1 Corinthians 9:9) and reasoned on the verse from Deuteronomy 25:4, going below the letter to the principle on which it rested, and applying that principle as a law of action for men in their dealings... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:19. AGAINST AN ELDER. Here the context is obviously in favour of the official sense. The rule of ‘two or three witnesses,' which in Deuteronomy 19:15 is given as applicable to all judicial testimony, is here specialized as applying _à fortiori_ to a case where there was a presumption in... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:20. THEM THAT SIN REBUKE BEFORE ALL. The precept, apparently general, is defined by the previous context. If the result of the trial of a presbyter shows that he is living in sin (the Greek implies continuance), the judge is not to hush up the matter in a private audience. Openly, in the... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:21. I CHARGE THEE. The solemnity of the adjuration here, as in 2 Timothy 4:1, implies a latent fear that the youth, the asceticism, the sensitiveness of Timothy might lead him beyond the line of strictly judicial action, to prejudice against the accused, or partiality in his favour. THE... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:22. LAY HANDS SUDDENLY ON NO MAN. The words have been referred by some writers as carrying on the series of rules for Church discipline, to the imposition of hands which accompanied the pardon and readmission of the penitent. It is doubtful, however, whether that practice prevailed thus... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:23. DRINK NO LONGER WATER. The interpretation thus given of the previous counsel seems to me to afford the only natural and tenable answer to the question why a matter apparently so irrelevant is thus abruptly introduced. All experience shows that it is the weakened bloodless brain that... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:24. GOING BEFORE TO JUDGMENT. After the advice given parenthetically, the latter returns to the subject of Church discipline. The ‘other men's sins' in which Timothy is not to be a partaker, are of two classes (1) flagrant, notorious, so conspicuous even before the trial, that they scarc... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 5:25. THEY THAT ARE OTHERWISE CANNOT BE HID. The previous verse had been directed against hasty acceptance or acquittal. This is against hasty condemnation or rejection. In some cases a man's good deeds are clear and patent, in others _meliora latent._ ‘Better than the seen lies hid,' but... [ Continue Reading ]