1 Timothy 5:1,2
IV. THE STATUS IN THE CHURCH OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF PERSONS i. 1, 2. ELDER MEN AND WOMEN... [ Continue Reading ]
IV. THE STATUS IN THE CHURCH OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF PERSONS i. 1, 2. ELDER MEN AND WOMEN... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΡΕΣΒΎΤΕΡΟΣ here means _any elder man_ (cp. John 8:9 and πρεσβύτας, Titus 2:2), as is plain from the context; there is no idea of ecclesiastical office. The LXX. use both πρεσβύτερος and πρεσβύτης as renderings of וָקֵו, the former being generally employed where an ‘elder’ in an official sense is me... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΈΡΑΣ ὩΣ ΜΗΤΈΡΑΣ Κ.Τ.Λ. _The elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, in all purity_. ἐν πάσῃ� (see on 1 Timothy 4:12) has special reference to the νεωτέρας. Ellicott appositely quotes Jerome’s prudent advice (_Epist_. lii. 5): ‘omnes puellas et virgines Christi aut aequaliter ignora au... [ Continue Reading ]
ΧΉΡΑΣ ΤΊΜΑ Κ.Τ.Λ. _Honour as widows those that are widows indeed_. Ἡ ὌΝΤΩΣ ΧΉΡΑ is a _bona fide_ widow, i.e. one who is alone in the world without husband or grown-up children to support her. This is apparent from the next verse. The force of τίμα has been disputed; but although τιμᾷν does not as a... [ Continue Reading ]
(_a_) CONCERNING THEIR MAINTENANCE... [ Continue Reading ]
Rec. text inserts καλὸν καὶ (from ch. 1 Timothy 2:3) before ἀπόδεκτον with some cursives and versions; _om_. אACD2GKLP. 4. This verse is parenthetical. If a widow has children or grandchildren, pious care for her needs is _their_ duty. The nominative to μανθανέτωσαν has been understood variously b... [ Continue Reading ]
Rec. text (and Tregelles) insert τὸν before θεὸν with אcAD2KL (cp. 1 Peter 3:5); _om_. א*CGP, followed by Tischendorf (cp. ch. 1 Timothy 4:10). Lachmann and Westcott and Hort place it in square brackets. For θεὸν א*D2* have κύριον, and it is possible that, after all, ἐπὶ κύριον may be the true readi... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἡ ΔῈ ΣΠΑΤΑΛΩ͂ΣΑ Κ.Τ.Λ., _but she_ (i.e. the widow) _that liveth riotously is dead while she liveth_. σπαταλᾷν only occurs in N.T. here and at James 5:5; cp. Ezekiel 16:49 (where it is used of one of the sins of Sodom and her daughters) and Sir 21:15. The conception of spiritual death, of death in li... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΤΑΥ͂ΤΑ ΠΑΡΆΓΓΕΛΛΕ. καί carries us back to a former injunction at 1 Timothy 4:11; ταῦτα must refer to some counsel or warning about widows (and not about widows and their children), for plainly those who are to be ἀνεπίλημπτοι (on which word see 1 Timothy 3:2) are the χήραι alone. Hence the thing... [ Continue Reading ]
Rec. text has τῶν before οἰκείων with CD2bcKLP (repeated from τῶν ἰδίων); _om_. אD2*G. ΠΡΟΝΟΕΙ͂ΤΑΙ. So א*D2*GK. The received text (which Westcott and Hort here prefer, relegating προνοεῖται to the margin) has προνοεῖ with אcACD2cLP &c. See 2 Corinthians 8:21 where there is a similar conflict of aut... [ Continue Reading ]
We read in the Gospels of the ministry of women (Luke 8:3; Matthew 27:55), and also in the Acts (Acts 9:36). In Romans 16:1 Phoebe, a διάκονος of the Church at Corinth, is mentioned. When we come to the Pastoral Epistles, we find that χῆραι are an organised body, of whose names a register is kept; a... [ Continue Reading ]
9, 10. (_b_) WIDOWS AS AN ORGANISED BODY IN THE CHURCH... [ Continue Reading ]
A widow to be placed on the Church’s list must be ἐν ἔργοις καλοῖς μαρτυρουμένη, _well reported of in the matter of good works_. The emphasis laid on ἔργα καλά in the Pastoral Epistles has been already remarked (see on 1 Timothy 2:10 above): of the good works which would especially come within the w... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΤΑΣΤΡΗΝΙΆΣΩΣΙΝ. So (rightly) the text. rec. with אCD2KL; καταστρηνιάσουσιν is found in AGP. The indicative with ὅταν would, no doubt, be possible; but the weight of MS. evidence is against it here. 11. ΝΕΩΤΈΡΑΣ ΔῈ Κ.Τ.Λ., _but younger widows refuse_, sc. to put on the roll of χῆραι. νεωτέρας is us... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΧΟΥΣΑΙ ΚΡΊΜΑ, _having judgement_; i.e. they are self-condemned, ἔχουσαι being almost equivalent to ἑαυταῖς παρέχουσαι. Cp. 1 Timothy 5:20 and Romans 13:2. ὍΤΙ ΤῊΝ ΠΡΏΤΗΝ ΠΊΣΤΙΝ ἨΘΈΤΗΣΑΝ, _because they have made void their first faith_, sc. with the heavenly Bridegroom. πίστις is not Christian fait... [ Continue Reading ]
ἍΜΑ ΔῈ ΚΑΊ, introducing the second reason for the exclusion of young women from the order of ‘widows.’ ἈΡΓΑῚ ΜΑΝΘΆΝΟΥΣΙΝ Κ.Τ.Λ. The translation is doubtful. We may construe (_a_) _being idle, they pick up information_, as they go about from house to house &c.; or, ‘in idleness, they are always learn... [ Continue Reading ]
ΒΟΎΛΟΜΑΙ ΟΥ̓͂Ν, _I desire therefore_: more definite than θέλω, as expressive of a special exertion of will. see on 1 Timothy 2:8. The οὖν refers to both the reasons assigned (1 Timothy 5:11-13) for the unfitness of young widows for the _ordo viduarum_. ΝΕΩΤΈΡΑΣ ΓΑΜΕΙ͂Ν, _that the younger_ widows _m... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΞΕΤΡΆΠΗΣΆΝ ΤΙΝΕΣ is the order in AFG g; txt אCD2KLP d f &c. 15. ἬΔΗ ΓΆΡ ΤΙΝΕΣ ἘΞΕΤΡΆΠΗΣΑΝ ὈΠΊΣΩ ΤΟΥ͂ ΣΑΤΑΝΑ͂, _for already some are turned aside after Satan_. To support his advice (βούλομαι κ.τ.λ.) St Paul adduces the weighty argument of past experience (γάρ). Some ecclesiastical widows have alrea... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠΑΡΚΕΊΣΘΩ. So אAG; ἐπαρκείτω CD2KLP. It is not easy to decide whether the active or the middle form is to he preferred. Rec. text has πιστὸς ἤ before πιστὴ with D2KL, the majority of the cursives, the Syriac versions and good Greek patristic authorities; _om_. אACGP and the Bohairic version. There... [ Continue Reading ]
The ΠΡΕΣΒΎΤΕΡΟΙ here are not the _elder men_ (as in 1 Timothy 5:1), but the Church officials who bear that honourable name. Their duties and their relation to the ἐπίσκοποι have already been discussed in the _Introduction_, chap. V., and it is unnecessary to repeat what was there said. ΟἹ ΚΑΛΩ͂Σ ΠΡΟ... [ Continue Reading ]
ACP f follow the order of the LXX. οὐ φιμώσεις βοῦν� (as in 1 Corinthians 9:9); but the order in the text is supported by אD2GKL d g. 18. ΛΈΓΕΙ ΓᾺΡ Ἡ ΓΡΑΦΉ. This is the ordinary Pauline formula of citation from the O.T.; see Romans 4:3; Romans 11:2; Galatians 4:30. ΒΟΥ͂Ν�. _Thou shalt not muzzle th... [ Continue Reading ]
Some Latin MSS. known to Jerome seem to have omitted the words ἐκτὸς … μαρτύρων; and it is possible that we have a trace of this in Cyprian _Test_. iii. 76; but the variant is only a curiosity of criticism. 19. ΚΑΤᾺ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΈΡΟΥ ΚΑΤΗΓΟΡΊΑΝ Κ.Τ.Λ. _Against a presbyter receive not an accusation except... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΟῪΣ ἉΜΑΡΤΆΝΟΝΤΑΣ. Those found sinning, sc. the presbyters, with whose discipline the whole section is taken up. So also ἐνώπιον πάντων does not mean that the whole congregation is to be assembled when a presbyter receives rebuke, but that the sentence shall be delivered in the presence of all his _... [ Continue Reading ]
ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ͂ ἸΗΣΟΥ͂. So אAD2*G, the Latin and the Egyptian Vss.; rec. text has κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ with D2cKLPF and the Syriac. ΠΡΌΣΚΛΙΣΙΝ. This spelling is supported by אGK and the Latin versions; AD2LP have πρόσκλησιν which gives no tolerable sense and might readily have arisen through itacistic int... [ Continue Reading ]
The thought of πρόσκλισις or partiality in his dealings with the Ephesian presbyters on Timothy’s part suggests the warning χεῖρας ταχέως μηδενὶ ἐπιτίθει. (_a_) Some modern commentators and a few of the Latin fathers understand this of the _reconciling of penitent presbyters_ who have fallen into si... [ Continue Reading ]
Rec. text has σου after στόμαχον with D2cGKL and most versions; _om_. אAD2*P. 23. ἉΓΝΕΊΑ does not refer only to bodily purity and discipline; it is rather concerned with purity of intention and singleness of life. This may however be misapprehended, and to avoid any mistaken inference from σεαυτὸν... [ Continue Reading ]
To avoid a falsely favourable estimate, remember that while some men’s sins are notoriously evident (πρόδηλοι) and _lead the way_ to judgement (i.e. they go before like heralds, as it were), the sins of other men are hidden and _follow_ the perpetrators (i.e. their sin will find men out at last, but... [ Continue Reading ]
Rec. text has τὰ καλὰ ἔργα with KL; txt follows אAD2GP. Also rec. after πρόδηλα adds ἔστι with KL (D2GP add εἰσι); _om_. אA. At the end of the verse rec. text has δύναται with אGKL, but the reading δύναται is found in AD2P17 and some other cursives, and is adopted by recent editors. The use of a _pl... [ Continue Reading ]