V. (1) REBUKE NOT AN ELDER, BUT INTREAT HIM AS A FATHER. — Two-thirds of St. Paul’s first Letter to Timothy have been taken up with directions, warnings, and exhortations respecting the public duties connected with the office of superintending presbyter, or bishop, of a church like that of Ephesus;... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ELDER WOMEN AS MOTHERS. — The same watchful care against all assumption of superiority must also be exercised in his dealings with the Christian matrons of Ephesus. THE YOUNGER AS SISTERS, WITH ALL PURITY. — In the case of the younger women, St. Paul adds to his directions respecting brotherly... [ Continue Reading ]
HONOUR WIDOWS THAT ARE WIDOWS INDEED. — The mention of the relations of a pastor to the female members of the flock suggests another train of thought. Christianity had, during the thirty years of its history, developed a perfectly new existence for women who professed the faith of Jesus of Nazareth.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF ANY WIDOW HAVE CHILDREN OR NEPHEWS, LET THEM LEARN FIRST TO SHEW PIETY AT HOME, AND TO REQUITE THEIR PARENTS (or, _nephews_). — The Greek word here should be rendered _grandchildren;_ the original meaning of “nephew” (_nepotes_) has disappeared. Here a warning against allowing the Church to b... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW SHE THAT IS A WIDOW INDEED, AND DESOLATE. — St. Paul, after mentioning this exception to the fit objects of the Church’s charity and protection, again returns to this special class of helpless ones: “the widows indeed” — a class, no doubt, in those days of selfish luxury and of extreme misery an... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT SHE THAT LIVETH IN PLEASURE IS DEAD WHILE SHE LIVETH. — This is a thoroughly Pauline thought, set forth in other language in the Roman Epistle, Romans 8:13 : “For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die.” The word in the Greek rendered “she that liveth in pleasure” is very remarkable, and in the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THESE THINGS GIVE IN CHARGE. — That is to say, the duties of widows, as set forth in 1 Timothy 5:5, together with his (St. Paul’s) estimate of the gay and frivolous character painted in 1 Timothy 5:6. THAT THEY MAY BE BLAMELESS. — That, whether seeking support from the public alms of the Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF ANY PROVIDE NOT FOR HIS OWN. — This repeated warning was necessary in the now rapidly widening circle of believers. Then, in those early days, as now, men and women were attempting to persuade themselves that the hopes and promises of Christians could be attained and won by a mere profession... [ Continue Reading ]
LET NOT A WIDOW BE TAKEN INTO THE NUMBER UNDER THREESCORE YEARS OLD. — The question respecting the assistance to be afforded to the poor and destitute widows of the great Asian Church reminded St. Paul of an organisation, consisting of widowed women, which had grown out of the needs of Christianity.... [ Continue Reading ]
WELL REPORTED OF FOR GOOD WORKS. — Not only must men have no evil to say of her, but she must be well known for her good works, for her kindly willingness to help the weary and heavy-laden ones of the world. IF SHE HAVE BROUGHT UP CHILDREN. — This title to honour must be understood quite in a gener... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE YOUNGER WIDOWS REFUSE. — The younger women — younger used in a general sense — must positively be excluded from, and held ineligible for, this presbyteral order. This direction by no means shuts them out from participation in the alms of the Church, if they were in need and destitute; but i... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVING DAMNATION. — _Judgment,_ not necessarily “damnation.” The Greek word _krima_ is often thus unhappily translated. The context of the passage must in all cases decide the nature of the “judgment,” whether favourable or the contrary. Here it signifies that those who in after days give up a work... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WITHAL THEY LEARN TO BE IDLE, WANDERING ABOUT FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE. — The first fervour of their devotion and renunciation of self will have cooled, their very occupation will become a snare to them — the going about to the various dwellings for the object of consoling, instructing, assisting, wo... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL THEREFORE THAT THE YOUNGER WOMEN MARRY, BEAR CHILDREN, GUIDE THE HOUSE. — Here the Apostle deliberately expresses his _will_ that in these Christian communities the younger widows should not, in the first fervour of their zeal, when borne down by sorrow, attempt anything like an ascetic life,... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR SOME ARE ALREADY TURNED ASIDE. — It was the backsliding of these “nameless” ones, probably, which had been the immediate occasion of these directions to Timothy. Although these unhappy sisters had worked such great mischief to the cause of Christ, still St. Paul, with his tender grace and love,... [ Continue Reading ]
IF ANY MAN OR WOMAN THAT BELIEVETH HAVE WIDOWS, LET THEM RELIEVE THEM. — This is not what, at first sight, it appears to be — a mere repetition of the injunction of 1 Timothy 5:4; 1 Timothy 5:8. _There_ the duties enjoined were what may be termed filial; the love, respect, and kindness to the aged w... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE ELDERS THAT RULE WELL BE COUNTED WORTHY OF DOUBLE HONOUR, ESPECIALLY THEY WHO LABOUR IN THE WORD AND DOCTRINE. — More accurately rendered, “Let the elders (_presbyters_) who rule well.” The consideration of the position and qualifications of certain ruling elder women (_the presbyteral widow... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE SCRIPTURE SAITH, THOU SHALT NOT MUZZLE THE OX THAT TREADETH OUT THE CORN. — The quotation is from Deuteronomy 25:4. The idea in the Apostle’s mind, when he quoted the words of Moses, was: If, in the well-known and loved law of Israel, there was a special reminder to God’s people that the _v... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAINST AN ELDER RECEIVE NOT AN ACCUSATION, BUT BEFORE TWO OR THREE WITNESSES. — By the “elder” here we must understand a presbyter — the ordained minister of the Church. St. Paul has been directing his son in the faith, and successor in the government of the chief Asian Church, carefully to watch f... [ Continue Reading ]
THEM THAT SIN REBUKE BEFORE ALL, THAT OTHERS ALSO MAY FEAR. — The Apostle here, apparently, is still referring exclusively to that order of presbyters whose more meritorious members he had directed Timothy to honour with a special honour, and towards whose accused members he instructed him how to ac... [ Continue Reading ]
I CHARGE THEE BEFORE GOD, AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. — More accurately, as well as more forcibly rendered, “I _solemnly_ charge thee.” “Lord” must be omitted before Jesus Christ, the older authorities not containing the word. The sense of the passage remains the same. Very solemnly is Timothy adjure... [ Continue Reading ]
LAY HANDS SUDDENLY ON NO MAN. — This command refers primarily to the solemn laying on of hands at the ordination of presbyters and deacons. It no doubt also includes the “laying on of hands” customary, apparently, even in the Apostolic age, on the absolution of penitents and their re-admission to ch... [ Continue Reading ]
DRINK NO LONGER WATER, BUT USE A LITTLE WINE FOR THY STOMACH’S SAKE AND THINE OFTEN INFIRMITIES. — Those who argue that this Epistle was the artificial composition of an age subsequent to St. Paul’s, and was written in great measure to support the hierarchical development, which, they say, showed it... [ Continue Reading ]
SOME MEN’S SINS ARE OPEN BEFOREHAND, GOING BEFORE TO JUDGMENT; AND SOME MEN THEY FOLLOW AFTER. — The preceding verse was parenthetic, and suggested by his fears lest the effect of his direction to his son in the faith _to keep himself pure_ might lead Timothy to the practice of a useless and unhealt... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKEWISE ALSO THE GOOD WORKS OF SOME ARE MANIFEST BEFOREHAND; AND THEY THAT ARE OTHERWISE CANNOT BE HID. — In his difficult post Timothy might fear lest, especially in his selection of men for the Lord’s service, true nobility of character might not unfrequently escape his notice and be overlooked,... [ Continue Reading ]