1 Timothy 5:1

Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; AN ELDER - in age; probably not in the ministry; these latter are not mentioned until 1 Timothy 5:17. Compare Acts 2:17, "your old men:" contrasted with "the younger men." As Timothy was admonished to give no man reason to despise his youth (1 Timothy 4:12), so he is told to behave with the modesty which becomes a young man toward his elders. "Rebuke" [ Epipleexees (G1969)] - 'Strike hard upon:' Rebuke not sharply; a different word [ epitimeeson (G2008...

1_Do not harshly rebuke an elder _He now recommends to Timothy gentleness and moderation in correcting faults. Correction is a medicine, which has always some bitterness, and consequently is disagreeable. Besides, Timothy being a young man, his severity would have been less tolerable, if it had not been somewhat moderated. _But exhort him as a father _The Apostle enjoins him to reprove elder persons as parents; and he even employs the milder term, _exhort _It is impossible not to be moved with reverence, when we place before our eyes our father or our mother; in consequence of which, instead of harsher vehemence, we are immediately influenced by modesty. Yet it ought to be observed, that he does not wish old men to be spared or indulged in such a manner as to sin with impunity and without correction; he only wishes that some respect should be paid to their age, that they may more patien...

1,2 Respect must be paid to the dignity of years and place. The younger, if faulty, must be rebuked, not as desirous to find fault with them, but as willing to make the best of them. There is need of much meekness and care in reproving those who deserve reproof....

CHAPTER V. _Rules to be observed in giving reproofs to the old and to the_ _young_, 1, 2. _Directions concerning widows_, 3-16. _Of elders that rule well_, 17, 18. _How to proceed against elders when accused, and against_ _notorious offenders_, 10-21. _Directions concerning imposition of hands_, 22. _Concerning Timothy's health_, 23. _Reasons why no person should be hastily appointed to sacred_ _offices_, 24, 25. NOTES ON CHAP. V Verse...

REBUKE NOT AN ELDER - The word “elder” here is not used in the sense in which it often is, to denote an officer of the church, a presbyter, but in its proper and usual sense, to denote an aged man. This is evident, because the apostle immediately mentions in contradistinction from the elder, “the younger men,” where it cannot be supposed that he refers to them as officers. The command to treat the “elder” as a “father,” also shows the same thing. By the direction not to rebuke, it is not to be supposed that the minister of the gospel is not to admonish the aged, or that he is not to show them their sins when they go astray, but that he is to do this as he would to a father. He is not to assume a harsh, dictatorial, and denunciatory manner. The precepts of religion always respect the proprieties of life, and never allow us to transgress them, even when the object is to reclaim a soul from...

EXPOSITION 1 TIMOTHY 5:1 _Exhort _for _intreat_,_ _A.V.; _and _omitted. REBUKE NOT (μὴ ἐπιπλήξης); only here in the New Testament for the more usual ἐπιτιμάω (2 Timothy 4:2, and frequently in the Gospels) or ἐλέγχω, as Titus 1:13; Titus 2:15; Revelation 3:19, and elsewhere. In classical Greek it expresses a sharp castigation with words. Compare the "patruae verbera linguae" (Hor., 'Od.,' 3.

REBUKE NOT AN ELDER,.... By whom is meant, not an elder in office, but in age; for elders by office are afterwards spoken of, and particular rules concerning them are given, 1 Timothy 5:17. Besides, an elder is here opposed, not to a private member of a church, but to young men in age; and the apostle is here giving rules to be observed in rebuking members of churches, according to their different age and sex, and not according to their office and station; and this sense is confirmed by a parallel text in Titus 2:2. Now an ancient man, a member of a church, is not to be rebuked in a sharp and severe way; the word here used signifies to smite or strike; and so the Arabic version renders it, "do not strike an elder"; meaning not with the hand, but with the tongue, giving hard words, which are as heavy blows; repro

V. INSTRUCTIONS AND EXHORTATIONS CHAPTER 5 _ 1. Concerning widows (1 Timothy 5:1)_ 2. Concerning elders (1 Timothy 5:17) 3. Responsibility and personal instructions (1 Timothy 5:22) 1 Timothy 5:1 It is not necessary to follow all these instructions in detail and explain their meaning. An elder was not to be rebuked sharply, but to be entreated as a father, and younger men as brethren. Then he speaks of widows. Those who are widows indeed are to be held in honor. Piety was to be shown at home, if they had children. “She that is a widow indeed, and desolate (left alone) trusteth in

(_b_) 1 Timothy 5:1 to 1 Timothy 6:2_ A_. TIMOTHY'S ATTITUDE TO PARTICULAR CLASSES OF CHURCH MEMBERS. 1 Timothy 5:1 f. Old and Young. Older members must be treated with reverence, younger as equals in the Christian family. 1 TIMOTHY 5:1. ELDER: rather, an older man. For a second-century parallel see Deissmann, _Light from the Ancient East,_ p. 313....

If you have occasion to reprimand an older man, do not do so sharply, but appeal to him as you would to a father. Treat the younger men like brothers; the older women as mothers; the younger women as sisters, in complete purity. It is always difficult to reprimand anyone with graciousness; and to Timothy there would sometimes fall a duty that was doubly difficult--that of reprimanding a man older than himself. Chrysostom writes: "Rebuke is in its own nature offensive particularly when it is addressed to an old man; and when it proceeds from a young man too, there is a threefold show of forwardness. By the manner and mildness of it, therefore, he would soften it. For it is possible to reprove without offence, if one will only make a point of this; it requires great discretion, but it may be done." Rebuke is always a problem. We may so dislike the task of speaking a warning word that we m...