1 Timothy 5:22

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 early, and the train of thought, as such, is continuous on the more common interpretation. The best way to avoid the scandal of a trial was to be cautious at the outset, and to decline the complicity in the guilt of others which might follow on a hasty ordination.

Keep thyself pure. The primary and usual meaning of the word is that of chastity. Here it refers probably to the risk of mental contamination incident to the trial of offenders against purity. It is probable that then, as in later ages, most of the cases that called for the exercise of discipline were of this nature, and it was hardly possible to hear evidence of the details of such sins without the danger to which St. Paul thus briefly alludes.