1 Timothy 5:17-25

Elders. In 1 Timothy 3:1 * Paul discusses qualifications for eldership, here he gives Timothy rules for its supervision. (a) On the principle of Scripture (Deuteronomy 25:4, cf. 1 Corinthians 9:9) and of a well-known proverb, successful presidents (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:12) should receive special maintenance, particularly if to the strict functions of eldership they add that of teaching (1 Timothy 5:17 f.). (b) Against an elder only legally-attested charges (Deuteronomy 19:15) may be recognised (1 Timothy 5:19). (c) Elders convicted of sinful practices should be reprimanded publicly, as a deterrent to others. In all this Timothy must exercise absolute impartiality (1 Timothy 5:20 f.). (d) He may guard against scandal by making full inquiry before ordaining an elder, thus avoiding a share in responsibility for defaulters'sins, from which he must ever keep himself unspotted (1 Timothy 5:22). This will prevent (i) hasty acceptance of candidates (since, while some men's sins are so notorious as to proclaim the necessity of judgment, others'sins are discovered only long afterwards, 1 Timothy 5:24); (ii) hasty rejection (since not all good works, also, are immediately evident, 1 Timothy 5:25).

1 Timothy 5:17. honour: 1 Timothy 5:3 *.

1 Timothy 5:18. scripture: refers only to the first of the sayings that follow. Since Christ's words (Luke 10:7) would not at this date be cited as scripture, the second saying was probably a proverb familiar to both Lord and apostle.

1 Timothy 5:20. them, etc: in this context those elders who.

1 Timothy 5:21. elect: i.e. Unfallen.

1 Timothy 5:22. For the view that this verse concerns the restoration of penitents see EGT.

1 Timothy 5:23, which deprecates Timothy's abstinence from wine, undertaken perhaps in protest against a prevalent danger (1 Timothy 3:3; 1 Timothy 3:8), breaks the connexion between 1 Timothy 5:22 and 1 Timothy 5:24, and is either an awkward parenthesis to safeguard keep thyself pure, or an interpolation, possibly displaced from 1 Timothy 4:3 (Holtzmann).