1 Timothy 4:1. Now. Better ‘ _but_,' as introducing a contrast to the mystery of godliness in 1 Timothy 3:16. THE SPIRIT SPEAKETH EXPRESSLY. The reference is clearly not to Old Testament prophecies, which would have been cited in terms, and quoted as Scripture, nor to our Lord's words in Matthew 24... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:2. SPEAKING LIES IN HYPOCRISY. The grammar of the sentence requires a different rendering: ‘ _In,_ or _by, the hypocrisy of men who speak lies_.' HAVING THEIR CONSCIENCE SEARED AS WITH A RED-HOT IRON. The English Version (rightly, as I think) gives prominence to the idea of the callous... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:3. FORBIDDING TO MARRY. The phenomenon taken by itself has been so common in all ascetic systems that it is not easy to identify the particular system to which St. Paul referred. Some of the Essene communities practised celibacy, and there were, as St. Paul's own teaching shows (1 Corint... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:4. GOOD. THE HIGHER WORD (καλόν, _excellent,_ not ἀ γαθόν) is used in the Greek, as in the LXX. of Genesis 1, and with a manifest reference to that history. The repetition of the clause (‘with thanksgiving ‘) is striking, as showing how the apostle's mind recognised that it was the spir... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:5. SANCTIFIED. Better, ‘consecrated.' BY THE WORD OF GOD AND PRAYER. We are thrown back upon what we know of Jewish and early Christian forms of blessing and thanksgiving. Such formulae, so far as they are now extant, were for the most part a tesselated mosaic of scriptural phrases, an... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:6. IF THOU PUT THE BRETHREN IN REMEMBRANCE. The Greek verb is hardly so definite, and is better expressed by ‘ _suggesting'_ or ‘ _advising.'_ The use of the word tends to limit ‘these things' to the immediate context. A stronger word would naturally have been used had the writer been th... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:7. REFUSE. Better, ‘ _avoid.'_ OLD WIVES' FABLES. The adjective is found here only in the New Testament, and takes its place among the strong colloquial phrases which characterize these Epistles. In the absence of any more distinct evidence, it is reasonable to assume that the fables w... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:8. BODILY EXERCISE. The figure is continued. We can hardly suppose that Timothy ‘trained,' as the Greek athlete did, with a view to the prizes for which the athlete contended. But the example of St. Paul (1 Corinthians 9:25-27) might well suggest a like discipline with the aim of bringin... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:9. THIS IS A FAITHFUL SAYING. At first it might seem as if the words referred to what had immediately preceded, and it is possible that they do so here; but the rule in all other cases is that they precede the truth to which they refer, and the verse that follows is sufficiently axiomati... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:10. FOR THEREFORE. The latter word suggests a logical inference more strongly than the Greek; better, ‘ _to this end.'_ LABOUR AND SUFFER REPROACH. The first word involves ‘toil and trouble' as well as simple work. Commonly such toil led to praise and reward. The Christian too often ha... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:11. The exhortation becomes more personal, as if the writer called to mind all that he had observed of the strength and weakness of his young disciple, and felt for and with him in the work and responsibility to which he had been, it may be, so unexpectedly called. COMMAND AND TEACH. T... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:12. LET NO MAN DESPISE THY YOUTH. The words point to a danger to which St. Paul knew that his disciple was exposed. We have no accurate dates as to the life of Timothy, but the tone of Acts 16:1 and 2 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 3:15, seems to imply an age, say, between fifteen and twenty, at... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:13. TILL I COME. The words seem to imply that Timothy's work at Ephesus was thought of as temporary and provisional. On St. Paul's return that delegated work would naturally cease, and the Church be left afterwards to the normal government of its bishop-elders. TO READING. All the word... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:14. NEGLECT NOT. The words point, like the ‘ _rekindle_ ' in 2 Timothy 1:6, to the danger of an ascetic temperament tending to meditative quiescence rather than energetic service. THE GIFT. The context implies that it was the special gift needed for the ‘exhortation' and ‘teaching' of... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:15. GIVE THYSELF WHOLLY TO THEM. Literally, ‘ _live, be,_ exist in them.' Alford quotes as a curious verbal parallel the line from Horace _(Epp._ i. 9. 2): ‘Nescio quid meditans nugarum et totus in illis.'... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Timothy 4:16. TAKE HEED TO THYSELF AND TO THE DOCTRINE. As before, ‘ _teaching'_ in its wider sense, rather than ‘doctrine.' The condensed summary of 1 Timothy 4:12-13, in their bearing on personal conduct and official work. CONTINUE IN THEM. See in all the ‘things' dwelt on in the exhortation f... [ Continue Reading ]