CHAPTER V. _Rules to be observed in giving reproofs to the old and to the_ _young_, 1, 2. _Directions concerning widows_, 3-16. _Of elders that rule well_, 17, 18. _How to proceed against elders when accused, and against_ _notorious offenders_, 10-21. _Directions concerning imposition of hand... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Timothy 5:2. _THE ELDER WOMEN AS MOTHERS_] Treating them with the respect due to their age. _THE YOUNGER AS SISTERS_] Feel for every member of the Church, old and young, male and female; consider them as fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters; treat them all with gentleness; and labour to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Timothy 5:3. _HONOUR WIDOWS THAT ARE WIDOWS INDEED._] One meaning of the word τιμαω, to _honour_, is to _support, sustain, c._, Matthew 15:4; and here it is most obviously to be taken in this sense. Provide for those widows especially which are _widows_ _indeed_-persons _truly destitute_, be... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Timothy 5:4. _BUT IF ANY WIDOW HAVE CHILDREN OR NEPHEWS_] This shows that _widows indeed_ are those that have _neither_ children nor nephews, i.e. no relatives that either will or can help them, or no near relatives alive. _LET THEM LEARN FIRST TO SHOW PIETY AT HOME_] Let these children and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Timothy 5:5. _AND DESOLATE_] και μεμονωμενη. _Left entirely_ _alone_-having neither children nor relatives to take care of her. _TRUSTETH IN GOD_] Finding she has no other helper, she _continues in prayer and supplication_, that she may derive that from God which, in the course of his provi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Timothy 5:6. _BUT SHE THAT LIVETH IN PLEASURE_] Ἡ δε σπαταλωσα· _She that liveth delicately-voluptuously_ indulging herself with dainties; it does not indicate _grossly criminal pleasures_; but simply means one who indulges herself in _good eating and_ _drinking_, pampering her body at the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 7. _THAT THEY MAY BE BLAMELESS._] Charge the whole _Church_ to attend to these things, that _they_ may be blameless. The words are not spoken of the widows only, but of the Church or its officers; it cannot be restricted to the _widows_, for the adjective ανεπιληπτοι is both of the _masculine_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 8. _BUT IF ANY PROVIDE NOT FOR HIS OWN_] His own _people_ or _relatives_. _THOSE OF HIS OWN HOUSE_] That is, his own family, or a poor widow or relative that lives under his roof. _HATH DENIED THE FAITH_] The Christian religion, which strongly inculcates love and benevolence to all mankind.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 9. _TAKEN INTO THE NUMBER_] Let her not be taken into the list of those for which the Church must provide. But some think that the apostle means the list of those who were _deaconesses_ in the Church; and that no widow was to be admitted into that rank who did not answer to the following chara... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 10. _WELL REPORTED OF FOR GOOD WORKS_] Numbers being able to _bear testimony_, as the word implies, that she has not only avoided all sin, but that she has walked according to the testimony of God. _BROUGHT UP CHILDREN_] It was customary among the Gentiles to expose their children, when so po... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 11. _BUT THE YOUNGER WIDOWS REFUSE_] Do not admit those into this office who are under sixty years of age. Probably those who were received into such a list _promised_ to _abide_ in their _widowhood_. But as young or comparatively young women might have both occasion and temptations to remarry... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 12. _HAVING DAMNATION_] In the sense in which we use this word I am satisfied the apostle never intended it. It is likely that he refers here to some promise or engagement which they made when taken on the list already mentioned, and now they have the _guilt_ of having violated that promise; t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 13. _AND WITHAL THEY LEARN_ TO BE _IDLE_] They do not love work, and they will not work. _WANDERING ABOUT FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE_] Gadding, gossiping; never contented with home; always visiting. _AND NOT ONLY IDLE_] If it went no farther, this would be intolerable; but they are _tattlers_-tale-... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 14. _I WILL THEREFORE THAT THE YOUNGER WOMEN MARRY_] As the preceding discourse has been about the younger widows, and this is an inference from it; it is most evident that by the _younger women_ the apostle means the young _widows_. These he considers unfit for the office of the female _diac... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 15. _FOR SOME ARE ALREADY TURNED ASIDE_] Some of these young widows, for he appears to be still treating of them, are turned aside to _idolatry_, to follow Satan instead of Christ. Slight deviations, in the first instance, from a right line, may lead at last to an infinite distance from Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 16. _IF ANY MAN OR WOMAN THAT BELIEVETH_] If any _Christian man_ or _woman_ have poor _widows_, which are their relatives, _let them relieve them _- provide them with the necessaries of life, and not _burden the Church_ with their maintenance, that the funds may be spared for the support of th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 17. _LET THE ELDERS THAT RULE WELL_] Elder is probably here the name of an ecclesiastical officer, similar to what we now term _presbyter_. See note on 1 Timothy 5:1. Dr. _Macknight_ has remarked that, "in the first age, the name πρεσβυτερος, _elder_, was given to all who exercised any sacred... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 18. _THE SCRIPTURE SAITH, THOU SHALT NOT MUZZLE THE OX_] This is a manifest proof that by τιμη, _honour_, in the preceding verse, the apostle means _salary_ or _wages_: "Let the elders that rule well be accounted worthy of double honour," a _larger salary_ than any of the _official widows_ me... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 19. _AGAINST AN ELDER_] Be very cautious of receiving evil reports against those whose business it is to preach to others, and correct their vices. Do not consider an elder as guilty of any alleged crime, unless it be _proved_ by _two_ or _three_ witnesses. This the law of Moses required in re... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 20. _THEM THAT SIN REBUKE BEFORE ALL_] That is, before the members of the Church; which was the custom of the Jews in their synagogues. But, if the words refer to the elders alone, then the transgressing elder is to be reproved before his fellows, and be tried by them. _THAT OTHERS ALSO MAY F... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 21. _I CHARGE_ THEE _BEFORE GOD_] The apostle would have Timothy to consider that all he did should be done as in the sight of God, the Father of the spirits of all flesh; in the sight of Christ, the Saviour of sinners, who purchased the Church with his own blood; and in the sight of the most... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _LAY HANDS SUDDENLY ON NO MAN_] Do not hastily appoint any person to the sacred ministry: let the person be well proved before he receives the _imposition of hands_. Some understand this of laying hands on the sick. _NEITHER BE PARTAKER OF OTHER MEN'S SINS_] It is a sin for any improper p... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _DRINK NO LONGER WATER, BUT USE A LITTLE WINE_] The whole of this verse seems, to several learned critics and divines, strangely inserted in this place; it might have been, according to them, a note which the apostle inserted in the margin of his letter, on recollecting the precarious sta... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _SOME MEN'S SINS ARE OPEN BEFOREHAND_] In appointing men to sacred offices in the Church, among the candidates Timothy would find, 1. Some of whom he knew nothing, but only that they professed Christianity; let such be tried before they are appointed. 2. Some of whose faith and piety he... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Timothy 5:25. _LIKEWISE ALSO THE GOOD WORKS_ of some] Though those who are very holy and very useful in the Church cannot be unknown, yet there are others not less holy who need to be brought forward; who do much good in private; and their character and good works are not fully known till af... [ Continue Reading ]