1 Timothy 5:16-21 sits inside this longer paragraph.
11But refuse younger widows, for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they desire to marry, 12having condemnation, because they have rejected their first pledge. 13Besides, they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house. Not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not. 14I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary for insulting. 15For already some have turned away after Satan. 16If any man or woman who believes has widows, let them relieve them, and don’t let the assembly be burdened, that it might relieve those who are widows indeed.
17Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching. 18For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain.” And, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”
19Don’t receive an accusation against an elder, except at the word of two or three witnesses. 20Those who sin, reprove in the sight of all, that the rest also may be in fear. 21I command you in the sight of God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the chosen angels, that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality. 22Lay hands hastily on no one. Don’t be a participant in other people’s sins. Keep yourself pure. 23Be no longer a drinker of water only, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv16–21 16 If any believer. It being customary for every…
16 If any believer. It being customary for every one willingly to throw his own burdens on the whole Church, on this account he expressly enjoins that it be guarded against. He speaks of believers who ought to support their widows; for, as to those widows who renounced a wicked relationship, it was proper that they should be received by the Church. And if they act a sinful part, who, by sparing themselves, allow the Church to be burdened with expense, let us learn from this in what aggravated sacrilege they are involved, who, by fraud or robbery, profane what was once dedicated to the Church.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19, 20, 21 The sixth rule: Let the faithful help their widows…
The sixth rule: Let the faithful help their widows at their own charges as much as they can, and let not the Congregation be burdened with these expenses.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv16–21 16 If any man or woman that believeth have…
16 If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
Ver. 16. Have widows] That are widows indeed, that have neither children nor nephews to relieve them, 1Ti 5:3, of whom by the law of nature they may require θρεπτηρια, aliment and assistence.
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And let not the church be charged] How then will church robbers answer it, if church chargers be in fault? let them give us a just commentary upon Pro 20:25, and remember Cardinal Wolsey, and his sacrilegious instruments; five of whom came to fearful ends, as Scultetus recordeth, and concludeth with this wish, Utinam his et similibus exemplis edocti discant homines res semel Deo consecratas timide attrectare, I would that men would be warned by these examples, and better advise how they meddle with church maintenance, thereby to enrich themselves. (Scultet. Annal.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv17–21 Who these elders are here intended hath been a…
Who these elders are here intended hath been a great question: it is plain they are not such only as are preachers. They are such as are,
worthy of double honour. The learned Mr. Pool, in his Latin Synopsis, giveth us an acconut of the most opinions about it:
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1. Some judging them some of the elder sort of the members of the church, joining with the ministers in the government of the church, but not meddling with preaching, or administering sacraments.
2. Some judging by elders here are meant such as had been ministers, but being aged were superannnuated.
3. Others understanding by it the civil magistrates; which seemeth of all other opinions least probable, because at this time there were no such members of the Christian church.
4. Others think that deacons are here by that term understood, who being church officers have the name of elders given to them.
5. Others understand by elders the ordinary pastors of churches, that resided with their flocks, in opposition to apostles and evangelists: this seemeth less probable, because, there were no such in the primitive church but did labour in the word and doctrine.
6. Others think that some such are meant, as were not so fit for preaching, but yet administered the sacraments, prayed with the church, and privately admonished exorbitant members; but we shall want a good proof, either from Scripture or other authority, of any such officers in the primitive church.
I shall not determine which of these opinions is rightest, but leave the reader this own judgment. Whoever are here meant by elders are declared worthy of double honour; by which is understood either abundant honour, or else (as some say) respect and reverence, and also maintenance.
Especially they who labour in the word and doctrine; but especially such as take pains in preaching the gospel.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv17–19 Our apostle proceeds next to give Timothy directions concerning…
Our apostle proceeds next to give Timothy directions concerning elders; not old men in years, but elders in office, such as were employed in the governing of the church, and over and above that service, laboured even unto weariness in preaching of the word, and expounding the Christian doctrine, requiring that double honour be given unto such.
Note here, 1. The elders’ work and duty declared; to rule well: wisely to preside over, and discreetly to govern, the church of Christ; also to labour in the word and doctrine; to take pains in preaching the gospel upon all occasions: those that are advanced to the highest eminency in the church will not think themselves above this part of their duty.
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Note, 2. The honour and respect challenged on their behalf: double honour is their due, namely, an honour of reverence, and an honour of maintenance, and a double measure of either; some think it an allusion to the first born, who was the priest of the family, and had a double portion amongst his brethren; the Levites succeeded them, and the ministers of the gospel these; who, when laborious in governing and teaching the church of Christ, deserve more honour and better maintenence than the unkind world is willing to confer upon them; who, instead of double honour, sometimes deny them civil respect.
Note, 3. In that the apostle styles the ministers’ maintenance is not to be esteemed in the nature of alms, but of a tribute paid by an inferior to a superior; neither is our maintenance mercenary wages, but such as ought to be given as a testimony of honour, as well as in the nature of a reward. As then they are worthy of, let them never fail to receive, double honour, who rule well, and also labour in the word and doctrine.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v17 Here are directions,
Here are directions,
I. Concerning the supporting of ministers. Care must be taken that they be honourably maintained (Ti1 5:17): Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour (that is, of double maintenance, double to what they have had, or to what others have), especially those who labour in the word and doctrine, those who are more laborious than others. Observe, The presbytery ruled, and the same that ruled were those who laboured in the word and doctrine: they had not one to preach to them and another to rule them, but the work was done by one and the same person. Some have imagined that by the elders that rule well the apostle means lay-elders, who were employed in ruling but not in teaching, who were concerned in church-government, but did not meddle with the administration of the word and sacraments; and I confess this is the plainest text of scripture that can be found to countenance such an opinion. But it seem a little strange that mere ruling elders should be accounted worthy of double honour, when the apostle preferred preaching to baptizing, and much more would he prefer it to ruling the church; and it is more strange that the apostle should take no notice of them when he treats of church-officers; but, as it is hinted before, they had not, in the primitive church, one to preach to them and another to rule them, but ruling and teaching were performed by the same persons, only some might labour more in the word and doctrine than others. Here we have, 1. The work of ministers; it consists principally in two things: ruling well and labouring in the word and doctrine. This was the main business of elders or presbyters in the days of the apostles. 2. The honour due to those who were not idle, but laborious in this work; they were worthy of double honour, esteem, and maintenance. He quotes a scripture to confirm this command concerning the maintenance of ministers that we might think foreign; but it intimates what a significancy there was in many of the laws of Moses, and particularly in this, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn, Deu 25:4. The beasts that were employed in treading out the corn (for that way they took instead of threshing it) were allowed to feed while they did the work, so that the more work they did the more food they had; therefore let the elders that labour in the word and doctrine be well provided for; for the labourer is worthy of his reward (Mat 10:10), and there is all the reason in the world that he should have it. We hence learn, (1.) God, both under the law, and now under the gospel, has taken care that his ministers be well provided for. Does God take care for oxen, and will he not take care of his own servants? The ox only treads out the corn of which they make the bread that perishes; but ministers break the bread of life which endures for ever. (2.) The comfortable subsistence of ministers, as it is God's appointment that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel (Co1 9:14), so it is their just due, as much as the reward of the labourer; and those who would have ministers starved, or not comfortably provided for, God will require it of them another day.
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II. Concerning the accusation of ministers (Ti1 5:19): Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Here is the scripture-method of proceeding against an elder, when accused of any crime. Observe, 1. There must be an accusation; it must not be a flying uncertain report, but an accusation, containing a certain charge, must be drawn up. Further, He is not to be proceeded against by way of enquiry; this is according to the modern practice of the inquisition, which draws up articles for men to purge themselves of such crimes, or else to accuse themselves; but, according to the advice of Paul, there must be an accusation brought against an elder. 2. This accusation is not to be received unless supported by two or three credible witnesses; and the accusation must be received before them, that is, the accused must have the accusers face to face, because the reputation of a minister is, in a particular manner, a tender thing; and therefore, before any thing be done in the least to blemish that reputation, great care should be taken that the thing alleged against him be well proved, that he be not reproached upon an uncertain surmise; "but (Ti1 5:20) those that sin rebuke before all; that is, thou needest not be so tender of other people, but rebuke them publicly." Or "those that sin before all rebuke before all, that the plaster may be as wide as the wound, and that those who are in danger of sinning by the example of their fall may take warning by the rebuke given them for it, that others also may fear." Observe, (1.) Public scandalous sinners must be rebuked publicly: as their sin has been public, and committed before many, or at least come to the hearing of all, so their reproof must be public, and before all. (2.) Public rebuke is designed for the good of others, that they may fear, as well as for the good of the party rebuked; hence it was ordered under the law that public offenders should receive public punishment, that all Israel might hear, and fear, and do no more wickedly.
III. Concerning the ordination of ministers (Ti1 5:22): Lay hands suddenly on no man; it seems to be meant of the ordaining of men to the office of the ministry, which ought not to be done rashly and inconsiderately, and before due trial made of their gifts and graces, their abilities and qualifications for it. Some understand it of absolution: "Be not too hasty in laying hands on any; remit not the censure of the church to any, till time be first taken for the proof of their sincerity in their repentance, neither be partakers of other men's sins, implying that those who are too easy in remitting the censures of the church encourage others in the sins which are thus connived at, and make themselves thereby guilty." Observe, We have great need to watch over ourselves at all times, that we do not make ourselves partakers of other men's sins. "Keep thyself pure, not only from doing the like thyself, but from countenancing it, or being any way accessary to it, in others." Here is, 1. A caution against the rash ordination of ministers, or absolution of those who have been under church-censures: Lay hands suddenly on no man. 2. Those who are rash, either in the one case or the other, will make themselves partakers in other men's sins. 3. We must keep ourselves pure, if we will be pure; the grace of God makes and keeps us pure, but it is by our own endeavours.
IV. Concerning absolution, to which Ti1 5:24, Ti1 5:25, seem to refer: Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment, and some follow after, etc. Observe, Ministers have need of a great deal of wisdom, to know how to accommodate themselves to the variety of offences and offenders that they have occasion to deal with. Some men's sins are so plain and obvious, and not found by secret search, that there is no dispute concerning the bringing of them under the censures of the church; they go before to judgment, to lead them to censure. - Others they follow after; that is, their wickedness does not presently appear, nor till after a due search has been made concerning it. Or, as some understand it, some men's sins continue after they are censured; they are not reformed by the censure, and in that case there must be no absolution. So, also, as to the evidences of repentance: The good works of some are manifest beforehand. And those that are otherwise, whose good works do not appear, their wickedness cannot be hid, and so it will be easy to discern who are to be absolved, and who are not. Observe, 1. There are secret, and there are open sins; some men's sins are open beforehand, and going unto judgment, and some they follow after. 2. Sinners must be differently dealt with by the church. 3. The effects of church-censures are very different; some are thereby humbled and brought to repentance, so that their good works are manifest beforehand, while it is quite otherwise with others. 4. The incorrigible cannot be hid; for God will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of all hearts.
V. Concerning Timothy himself. 1. Here is a charge to him to be careful of his office; and a solemn charge it is: I charge thee before God, as thou wilt answer it to God before the holy and elect angels, observe these things without partiality, Ti1 5:21. Observe, It ill becomes ministers to be partial, and to have respect of persons, and to prefer one before another upon any secular account. He charges him, by all that is dear, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, to guard against partiality. Ministers must give an account to God and the Lord Jesus Christ, whether, and how, they have observed all things given them in charge: and woe to them if they have been partial in their ministrations, out of an worldly politic view. 2. He charges him to take care of his health: Drink no longer water, etc. It seems Timothy was a mortified man to the pleasures of sense; he drank water, and he was a man of no strong constitution of body, and for this reason Paul advises him to use wine for the helping of his stomach and the recruiting of his nature. Observe, It is a little wine, for ministers must not be given to much wine; so much as may be for the health of the body, not so as to distemper it, for God has made wine to rejoice man's heart. Note, (1.) It is the will of God that people should take all due care of their bodies. As we are not to make them our masters, so neither our slaves; but to use them so that they may be most fit and helpful to us in the service of God. (2.) Wine is most proper for sickly and weak people, whose stomachs are often out of order, and who labour under infirmities. Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that are of heavy hearts, Pro 31:6. (3.) Wine should be used as a help, and not a hindrance, to our work and usefulness.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv16–21 Let the elders that rule well,.... By whom are…
Let the elders that rule well,.... By whom are meant not elders in age; though such ought to be honoured and respected, and to have a proper maintenance either from their children or the church, when reduced, and incapable of helping themselves; but then this is what should be done to all such persons, whereas the elders here are particularly described as good rulers and labourers in the word and doctrine; besides, elders in age are taken notice of before; nor are civil magistrates intended, such as were called the elders of Israel; for though such as discharge their office well are worthy of honour, yet it does not belong to any of them to labour in preaching the doctrine of the Gospel: nor are deacons designed, for they are never called elders in Scripture; nor is their work ruling, but serving of tables; nor does the ministry of the word belong to them as such; nor is any maintenance allowed them from the church on account of their office: nor are lay elders meant, who rule, but teach not; since there are no such officers appointed in the churches of Christ; whose only officers are bishops or elders and deacons: wherefore the qualifications such are only given in a preceding chapter. There are no other that rule in churches, but such who also speak to them the word of God; wherefore by him that rules, and the labourer in word and doctrine, are not meant two distinct orders, but different persons of the same order; some of these ruling well, but do not take so much pains in the ministry of the word; while others of them both rule well and labour in the word, and who are to be reckoned deserving of the honour hereafter mentioned. These are called "elders", because they are commonly chosen out of the senior members of the churches, though not always, Timothy is an exception to this; and because of their senile gravity and prudence, which were necessary in them: and they may be said to "rule", because they are set in the highest place in the church, and over others in the Lord, who are to submit themselves to them, and obey them. Christ's church is a kingdom, he is King of it, and his ministering servants are rulers under him; and who rule "well" when they rule not with force and cruelty, or lord it over God's heritage; but when they govern according to the laws which Christ the King and lawgiver has prescribed; when they explain and enforce those laws, and show them to the people, and see that they are put in execution and when they discharge this part of their work with diligence and prudence. Now let such be
counted worthy of double honour; which some understand of honour in this world, and in the world to come, and which they have; they are honoured now by Christ, though reproached by the world, by being called unto, qualified for, and succeeded in the work of the ministry; and when they have faithfully discharged it, they will be honoured by him hereafter, and be introduced into his joy with commendation, and shine as the stars for ever and ever. But rather this is to be understood both of that outward respect that is to be shown them by words and actions; and of a sufficient maintenance that is to be provided for them; in which sense the word "honour" is used in this chapter before; See Gill on Ti1 5:3, and some think that the comparison is between the widows before mentioned, and these elders; that if poor widows in the church are to be honoured and maintained, then much more the officers of it; these are worthy of more honour, even of double honour, or, a larger and a more honourable main tenant: and indeed this seems to be the meaning of the word "double" when used both in an ill and in a good sense; see Rev 18:6 and is an allusion to the firstborn among the Jews, who was to have a double portion of his father's goods, Deu 21:17 and so may here signify, that the ministers of the Gospel ought not to have a short and scanty, but a large and honourable maintenance.
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Especially they who labour in the word and doctrine; which lies in a constant reading of the Scriptures, the word of God, and diligently searching into them, and comparing them together, in order to find out the mind and will of God in them; in a daily meditation upon them, and study of them; and in frequent and fervent wrestling with God, or prayer to him, to give an understanding of them; and in endeavouring to find out the sense of difficult passages, which are hard to be understood; and in providing for the different cases and circumstances of hearers, that everyone may have a portion; and in the choice of apt and proper words to express truth in, to the capacities of all: this is labouring in the word in private; besides which there is labouring in doctrine, in public; in preaching the Gospel constantly, boldly, and faithfully; in holding it fast against all opposition, and in defending it by argument, both by word and writing. The phrase seems to be Jewish, a like one is often to be met with in Jewish writings: Rabbenu was sitting ,
""and labouring in the law" before the congregation of the Babylonians at Tzippore (b);''
and again (c),
"R. Jonah gave tithes to R. Acha bar Alia, not because he was a priest, but because he , "laboured in the law";''
and they say (d),
"there is no greater reward for a man in the world, as for him , "who labours in the law";''
hence we read (e) of , "the labour of the law", which they say the mouth is made for, and of labourers in the law (f); and such persons they judged worthy of the greatest respect, and to be preferred to others. For, they say (g),
"if a congregation is obliged to give a salary to a doctor (or ruler of the synagogue), and to a minister of the congregation, and it is not in their power to give to both; if the ruler is a famous man, and great in the law, and expert in doctrine, he is to be preferred, but if not the minister of the congregation is to be preferred.''
(b) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 33. fol. 28. 3. (c) T. Hieros. Masser, Sheni, fol. 56. 2. (d) Zohar in Gen. fol. 60. 4. & pasira. (e) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 99. 2. (f) Derech Eretz, fol. 17. 4. (g) Jore Des, Tit. 251. sect. 13.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv17–21 Let the elders that rule well - Who approve…
Let the elders that rule well - Who approve themselves faithful stewards of all that is committed to their charge. Be counted worthy of double honour - A more abundant provision, seeing that such will employ it all to the glory of God. As it was the most labourious and disinterested men who were put into these offices, so whatever any one had to bestow, in his life or death, was generally lodged in their hands for the poor. By this means the churchmen became very rich in after ages, but as the design of the donors was something else, there is the highest reason why it should be disposed of according to their pious intent. Especially those - Of them. Who labour - Diligently and painfully. In the word and teaching - In teaching the word.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv16–21 Verse 16. If any man or woman that believeth]…
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 those widows who were employed in its service, teaching children, visiting the sick, c., c. For the performing of such offices it is very likely that none but widows were employed and these were chosen, other things being equal, out of the most indigent of the widows, and therefore called by the apostle, here and in 1Ti 5:3, αἱς οντως χηραι, widows indeed-widows desolate, without support, and without relatives. See note on 1Ti 5:10.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv17, 19, 21 1Ti 5:17-18. Let the elders that rule well —…
1Ti 5:17-18. Let the elders that rule well — Who approve themselves faithful stewards of all that is committed to their charge; be counted worthy of double honour — A more abundant provision, seeing that such will employ it all to the glory of God. As they were the most laborious and disinterested men who were put into these offices, so, whatever any one had to bestow, in his life or death, was generally lodged in their hands for the poor. By this means the churchmen became very rich in after ages. But as the design of the donors was the general good, there was the highest reason why it should be disposed of according to their pious intent. Especially they who labour — Diligently and painfully; in the word and doctrine — That is, in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture saith, &c. — See on 1Co 9:9.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv16–21 If any man or woman that believeth - Christians…
If any man or woman that believeth - Christians are often simply called “believers,” because faith is the leading and most important act of their religion.
Have widows - Widowed mothers, or grandmothers, or any other widows whose support would naturally devolve on them.
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Let them relieve them - That is, let them support them. This was an obvious rule of duty; see the notes on 1Ti 5:8. Nothing can be more unreasonable than to leave those who are properly dependent on us to be supported by others, when we are able to maintain them ourselves.
That it may relieve, ... - That it may have the means of supporting those who are truly dependent. To require or expect the Church, therefore, to support those whom we ought ourselves to support, is, in fact, to rob the poor and friendless. In regard to these directions respecting widows 1Ti 5:3-16, we may remark in general, as the result of the exposition which has been given:
(1) They were to be poor widows, who had not the means of support themselves.
(2) They were, probably, to be not merely supported, but to be usefully employed in the service of the church, particularly in overseeing the conduct, and imparting instruction to the female members.
(3) They were to be of such age and character that there would be security of stability and correctness of deportment; such that they would not be tempted to leave the situation or to act so as to give occasion of reproach.
(4) It is by no means certain that this was intended to be a permanent arrangement. It grew probably out of the special customs respecting contact between the sexes in the Oriental world, and would undoubtedly be proper now in similar circumstances. But it by no means follows that this arrangement is binding on the churches where the customs of society are different. Yet.
(5) The passage inculcates the general principle that the poor widows of the church are to be assisted when they have no relatives on whom they can naturally depend. No class of people are more helpless than aged widows, and for that class God has always shown a special concern, and his people should do so likewise.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv17, 19, 20, 21 The priests, or ancient ministers, (i.e. bishops, priests, &c.)…
The priests, or ancient ministers, (i.e. bishops, priests, &c.) deserve a double honour; i.e. to be more liberally supplied and maintained by the flock, especially when they labour in preaching the word. --- Thou shalt not muzzle, &c. See 1 Corinthians ix. 9. (Witham) --- It is the obligation of the faithful to provide a decent maintenance for their pastors, and the duty of pastors to be content with little. Happy the church where there is no further difference found than between the liberality of the former and the disinterestedness of the latter!
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v17 B.—Directions touching the Presbyters of the Congregation.—Weighty suggestions for…
B.—Directions touching the Presbyters of the Congregation.—Weighty suggestions for Timothy
1Ti_5:17-25
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17Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the [omit “the”] word and doctrine. 18For the Scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn.9 And, The laborer is worthy of his reward.10 19Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. 20Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also [the21rest also] may fear. I charge thee before God, and the Lord [omit “the Lord”] Jesus Christ11 [Christ Jesus], and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.12 22Lay hands suddenly [hastily] on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure. 23Drink no longer water [only], but use a little wine for thy stomach’s13 sake and thine often [thy frequent] infirmities. 24Some men’s sins are open before hand [openly manifest], going before to judgment; [,] and some men they follow after. 25Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand [openly manifest]; [,] and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Ti_5:17. Let the elders. With these words the Apostle passes to a new precept, closely connected, however, with the preceding. If the poor of the church be supported in the right way, then it is of importance that they be instructed in the right way; but this is impossible so long as worthy ministers are not honored, and unworthy ones not removed from among them. Accordingly Paul takes this opportunity to give some wise suggestions on the subject, from which it is most obvious with what ample power Timothy was invested in the church. Bengel says with reason on 1Ti_5:19 : “Habebat ergo Timotheus potestatem judicandi in Ecclesia.” It lies, moreover, in the nature of the case, that such instructions, although given directly to Timothy himself, must in part at least be put in practice in the church as the occasion should arise.—That rule well. The elders who exercise their office well (καλῶς) are not contrasted with those who grossly neglect it, but only with those who distinguish themselves less. Among the ministers, as among the members of the church, eminent men were associated with those of moderate ability. It is of the first the Apostle enjoins, that they be counted worthy of double honor. The τιμή which he claims for them is not merely a pecuniary support, a maintenance in general, to which they have a right, although this is not overlooked (see 1Ti_5:18), but the esteem due to them; which is called double, not because it is literally twofold (thus, e.g., Melanchthon: Duplici honore, i.e., victu et reverentia; others differently, see De Wette), but because it should be shown to them in greater measure than to others (thus Chrysostom, διπλῆς = πολλῆς τιμῆς). Paul would have them esteemed worthy (ἀξιούσθωσαν) by the church, which can show its gratitude to them in no other way. “Upon a casual misinterpretation of this verse was founded the disgusting practice, which prevailed in the third century, of setting a double portion of meat before the presbyters in the feasts of love;” Conybeare and Howson, vol. ii. p. 472.—Especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. The emphasis is on this description of the elders as laboring (κοπιῶντες). No easy post of honor, but a large task was entrusted to them. As laboring in word and doctrine (ἐν here refers to the sphere in which the labor is performed), they have especial claim, from the severity and the dignity of their work. By λόγος we are to understand a discourse, either prophetic or hortatory, while διδασκαλία refers specially to teaching. It has often been attempted, from this μάλιστα of Paul, to draw a marked distinction between the ruling and the teaching presbyters. The fact was simply this, that in the large field of labor assigned to the Christian presbyters, one felt himself drawn more to this, another to that portion, since the revelation of the Spirit was given to each πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον. But we have seen clearly that Paul honored more those elders who, together with other duties, were engaged especially in the instruction and comfort of believers; because the capacity for this highest gift of the presbyterial office was not found in all.
[No footsteps are to be found in any Christian church of lay elders, nor were there for many hundred, years. St. Paul, prescribing Timothy (1 Timothy 3.) how he should stablish the church, passeth immediately from bishops and ministers of the word and sacraments to deacons, omitting these lay elders, that are supposed to lie in the midst between them. The places of Scripture brought to prove this kind of government are three: 1Ti_5:17; Rom_12:7-8; 1Co_12:28. The two latter are too weak to prove the thing in question. Touching the first, some interpret it as noting two parts or duties of the presbyterial office, not two sorts of presbyters; some, that amongst the elders some labored principally in governing, others in teaching and preaching. Thus these words may have a very good and true sense, without pressing the late conceit touching lay elders. Field, “Of the Church,” B. 5, 1Tim 26. “The offices of πρεσβύτερος and διδάσκαλος were united, at the date of the Pastoral Epistles, in the same persons; which is shown by διδακτικός being a qualification required in a presbyter; 1Ti_3:2. But though this union must in all cases have been desirable, we find, from this passage, that there were still some πρεσβύτεροι who were not διδάσκαλοι; i.e., who did not perform the office of public instruction in the congregation. This is another strong proof of the early date of the Epistle.” Conybeare and Howson, ii. 472. It must be allowed, however, while this notion of lay eldership has but slight warrant, if any, in Scripture, that the idea which prompted it is not to be lightly passed by. The whole tendency of the later Church was to forget the distribution of the χάριοματα, which was the most living feature of the primitive body, and to identify the Church with the clergy. It would be a great blessing to our modern Christianity, if we could have preacher, pastor, and teacher each in his own sphere. We have lost the flexibility of the apostolic age.—W.]
1Ti_5:18. For the Scripture saith, &c. The Apostle illustrates and confirms his doctrine by Deu_25:4. Comp. 1Co_9:9, where he has with great emphasis set forth the same argument still more minutely. In our text he cites the words of the Old Testament merely as an instructive parallel, and leaves to the reader the inference a minori ad majus in regard to a human laborer. This idea, at first suggested, is now clearly expressed: And the laborer is worthy of his hire. If the phrase λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή be connected with these words, the criticism is right which finds here a proof that the composition of the Epistle was of a later date. The Old Testament contains no passage which could have occurred here to the Apostle (Lev_19:33; Exo_24:14, cannot be meant); and that the saying of the Lord (Luk_10:10; comp. Mat_10:10) should already be cited here by Paul as γραφή, is as groundless a supposition (comp., however, Wordsworth, in loco). But it is wholly unnecessary to refer the words, λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή, to both parts of the verse. The last clause, ἄξιος, κ.τ.λ., seems simply a proverbial expression, which had been used before by the Lord. (Thus also Calvin.) This whole passage shows that the Apostle requires such a τιμή for the presbyters as should be shown in a due provision for their temporal necessities (comp. Gal_6:6).
1Ti_5:19. Against an elder receive not an accusation. After Paul has shown how to act toward presbyters who are worthy of honor, he proceeds more exactly to define the conduct of Timothy toward the unworthy. It is obvious that the Apostle does not mean here, by πρεσβύτερος, an old man in the general sense (Chrysostom), but distinctly a presbyter of the church, against whom any accusation might be brought. Timothy must receive no complaint in such cases, except (ἐκτὸς εἰ μή, a well-known pleonasm) before two or three witnesses. This number was required by the Mosaic law (Deu_17:6; Heb_10:28), and by the Lord Himself in a similar case (Mat_18:16). This decision may have occurred, perhaps, to the mind of the Apostle. Timothy was not to be disturbed by unproved private complaints, but to give due weight to the rights of the presbyterial office, and to condemn no innocent man unheard. “It might easily happen, in a church so large and mixed as the Ephesian, that one or another, from wounded feelings of honor, from mere partisanship, or some selfish motive, would seek to injure a presbyter, and drag him down from his influential position; and against this the precept of the Apostle was the best safeguard” (Matthies). It is noticeable that we have here not ἐπὶ στόματ. δύο μαρτ., but simply ἐπὶ δύο μαρτ. If the preposition be here understood in the sense of coram, as ἐπὶ μαρτ. was often used by classical writers in the sense of before witnesses (Huther), we have here the rule that the personal presence of the definite number of witnesses must in each case be held necessary; a rule probably designed to save Timothy from the appearance of partiality. But we regard it as more probable that only the testimony of two or three men is here required (De Wette); and there is surely no ground to refer this exclusively (Huther) to complaints affecting the office of a presbyter, but to anything by which the character, public or private, might be in the least degree injured.
1Ti_5:20. Them that sin rebuke before all, &c. According to some, this denotes, in general, sinful members of the church; according to others, sinful presbyters. The last, however, is here the more probable, and the nature of the case itself requires that ἁμαρτάνοντας should be specially understood of grosser crimes; indeed, of those which justly create scandal. The sinful persons are represented as still at the time living in sin, whence the present is used where otherwise the perfect would be expected. The question, again, is whether the following words, rebuke before all, that others also may fear, mean the other presbyters, or all the other members of the church. Grammatically, one is as allowable as the other, and both expositions have a sound sense. Since, however, a censure of the guilty presbyter in the hearing of the assembled church was not necessary, and might easily lead to a depreciation of the clerical office, it is perhaps better to suppose a censure coram consensu presbyterorum; a rule of unquestionable value, since the associates of the guilty man, who perhaps might be inclined to wrong, would thus be moved by a wholesome fear.
1Ti_5:21. I charge thee before God (comp. 2Ti_4:1). With this solemn attestation the just and faithful execution of all these precepts is impressed on Timothy. Perhaps the mention of the μάρτυρες (1Ti_5:19) led the Apostle naturally to point his friend and scholar to the highest μάρτυς of his life and work. The subject was certainly weighty enough to justify the most solemn charge. Should Timothy forget it, the injury to the church might be incalculable. The cumulative style of the words also proves how heavily this lay on Paul’s heart. Bengel says well: “Repræsentat Timotheo suo judicium extremum, in quo Deus revelabitur et Christus cum angelis coram conspicietur.” He charges him not alone before God and Jesus Christ (κυρίου is not genuine; see the critical note), but before God and the elect angels. Manifold expositions have been given of this verse, especially in regard to the striking ἐκλεκτῶν. Not to criticise the almost forgotten notion of those who thought this an allusion to distinguished preachers of Christianity, or to the presbyters of the church, we name only the view (Baur) which explains it by the Gnostic fancy of certain angels, who stand in special connection with the Redeemer; a view which would again give internal evidence of the later origin of the Epistle. This argument, however, proves too much, since this conception of elect angels, standing in a special relation to the Lord of the Church, is of genuine New Testament origin (comp. 1Pe_3:22; Heb_1:6, and other places). For our part, we hold it most probable that the Old Testament idea of different ranks and orders of angels passed before the mind of the Apostle, and that he here refers to the highest among them. Conybeare and Howson: “By the chosen angels, are probably meant those especially selected by God as His messengers to the human race, such as Gabriel.” The interpretation of the passage as only an epitheton ornans (Huther) seems to us somewhat tame. For other views, see De Wette in loco.—That thou observe these things. Ταῦτα refers to the exhortation immediately before; that is, respecting the presbyters deserving blame (as well as to those worthy of honor?)—Without preferring one before another, χωρὶς προκρίματος; without hasty judgment, especially of an unfavorable kind.—Doing nothing by partiality, κατὰ πρόσκλισιν. The unjust disposition is meant, which may easily lead us to look on the virtues or faults of others through a magnifying glass or a microscope. If πρόσκλησιν be the true reading (as Lachmann thinks, on the authority of A. D., and other MSS.), then we must infer that the Apostle exhorts Timothy to do nothing coram judice Romano, ethnico (Bretschneider), which would give but a very forced sense; and it is therefore simpler to regard this reading as a lapsus calami, and to adhere to the common one.
1Ti_5:22. Lay hands suddenly on no man. “Timothei erat, manus imponere presbyteris;” Bengel. But the question is, to what laying on of hands the Apostle here refers. According to De Wette, he means the admission of such as had been excluded from church fellowship. Without doubt the connection favors this opinion; and already at an early day the laying on of hands was practised as a sign of absolution for excommunicated or heretical persons restored into the pale of the church. It is, however, not capable of proof that this was customary in the apostolic age; and as the Apostle here, without further definition, speaks of the laying on of hands as a custom already existing, it is more natural to refer it to the ordination of a presbyter or deacon; an exposition which is also favored by 1Ti_5:24-25 (comp. 1Ti_4:14; Act_6:6). The laying on of hands was not merely the mode of communicating spiritual gifts, but a recognition from those who did it, a declaration that they would be accountable for those ordained. If the latter were unworthy, the former shared the guilt. For this reason the clause was added, neither make thyself partaker of other men’s sins. Timothy gave to each man, in the laying on of hands, evidence of his own esteem; and should it appear afterward that he was, through haste, deceived in the person, then he would reproach himself as in some measure answerable for the consequences of others’ sins. In the words, Keep thyself pure, the opposite conduct was recommended to him. The meaning of ἁγνόν is too much contracted, if referred merely to chastity and modesty (comp. 1Ti_4:12); yet it is too extended, if moral purity in its full extent is included in it. In this connection, purity in respect to the sins of others is here especially impressed upon Timothy. As to this whole precept (1Ti_5:22), Melanchthon’s words deserve citation: “Complectitur utilem doctrinam. Primum confirmat vocationem et ordinationem, quæ fit per homines in Ecclesia, quia approbat ordinationem, quam Timotheus faciebat imponens manus iis, quos Ecclesia vel ipse elegerat; altera admonitio hæc est, quod vult fieri explorationem doctrinæ et morum, etc.”
1Ti_5:23. Drink no longer water. It may seem, in a superficial view, that this counsel of Paul is of trivial value, and, in this connection, strange and without purpose. As to the last point, much must undoubtedly be allowed to the free, artless style of this letter to his friend and pupil; while again the words just before, Keep thyself pure, would give the Apostle a fit occasion, from the close union of soul and body, to prescribe to Timothy this change in his previous course of life. That Timothy in this respect may have been under the fetters of a false asceticism (Wiesinger), can hardly be supposed; and as little (Otto) that he was in danger of being warped in his judgment by the Gnostics, who forbade the use of wine, or at least required abstinence from it as necessary for progress in the Gnosis. It is more probable that the effort to check the excess of others by his own example, had led him gradually to too rigid a diet. But those who followed Gnostic or Essenian views might meanwhile make a misuse of his example, while his own health, apparently not very firm, was liable to injury. Hence the exhortation, Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake; literally, be no longer a water-drinker. According to Winer, Gramm., 6th ed., p. 442, ὑδροποτεῖν means, to use water as a customary and exclusive drink. Whoever drinks a little wine, of course ceases to be a water-drinker in this sense; and therefore μόνοι need not be connected in thought with these words. The reason of this friendly advice is added in the clause, for thy stomach’s sake and thine after infirmities. Chrysostom: ὅσον πρὸς ὑγίειαν, οἀ πρὸς τρυφήν. If this, however, be the only ground of this whole injunction, then there is not, indeed, the slightest connection between it and what precedes or follows. It is still possible that his fear lest Timothy might too strictly understand his command to keep himself pure, drew this advice from the Apostle. The conjecture (Heydenreich) is a desperate one, that this is an interpolation, to be thus explained: that the parchment was finished, and, for the rest of the letter, a new leaf was added at 1Ti_5:24. After all was done, this remark, contained in 1Ti_5:23, occurred to the Apostle; but there was no room on the last leaf, and therefore be wrote it on the parchment, closing with 1Ti_5:22, at the end of which a little space may have been left. “So might I have done, had I been Paul!” Better be content to read in this verse a clear proof of the genuineness of the Epistle, since surely it could never have entered the mind of any romancer for any conceivable purpose to have written it. [Paley has urged this keenly, as a proof of the genuineness of the Epistle. “Imagine an impostor sitting down to forge an epistle in the name of St. Paul. Is it credible that it should come into his head to give such a direction as this—so remote from everything of doctrine or discipline, of public concern to the religion or the church, or to any sect, order, or party in it? Nothing but reality, the real valetudinary situation of a real person, could have suggested it. … The direction stands between two sentences, as wide from the subject as possible. Now, when does this happen? It happens when a man writes as he remembers. In actual letters, in the negligence of a real correspondence, such examples frequently take place; seldom in any other production.” Horæ Paulinæ, 1Tim 12, No. 4.—W.]
1Ti_5:24. Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment, &c. A general observation (1Ti_5:24-25), with which this part of the Epistle closes, and one which as truly proves Paul’s wisdom, and knowledge of human nature, as it was fitted for the wants of Timothy in church discipline, and especially in the appointment of the ministry. It would lead him to forethought, since a hasty judgment, whether favorable or not, would be followed by such frequent deception (comp. 1Co_4:5).—Are open beforehand, πρόδηλοι; not strictly, are manifest beforehand, but, before the eyes of all (comp. Heb_7:14, where the same word is used, not in relation to time, but place).—Going before to judgment, εἰς κρίσιν; in other words, they go as heralds before them (as an evil report outstrips a man) to a judgment, which therefore is beyond all doubt. The Apostle would say, that with such men no special foresight is requisite; they constantly condemn themselves; but it is not so with others.—Some men they follow, &c, sc.εἰς κρίσιν; i.e., their sins are first known after and by the judgment, not known beforehand, like the first-named. In regard to those whose character is not yet clear, circumspection in our judgment cannot be too strongly urged.—They follow after, ἐπακολουθοῦσιν. “Interim patienter exspectandum, dum res se aperiat, nec inquirendum morosius. Fidelem servum tamen regit Deus, ut opportuna agat et dicat. Præpositioἐπὶdicit intervallum non longum;” Bengel. This verse has indeed the character, of a common proverb (Huther); but it does not follow that κρίσις is to be understood in a merely general sense, much less that it signifies exclusively a moral tribunal (De Wette). We must rather believe that the Apostle means the judgment at the advent of Christ, as the goal toward which all sins and all good works proceed; some before their possessors, others after them; some before the eyes of the world, others hidden from men, until at the last judgment, whether known before or not, they are brought fully into the light.
1Ti_5:25. Likewise also the good works. What the Apostle has said above in regard to particular sins, he applies now to good works. Likewise also the good works are manifest beforehand. Some have been for a long time known, and there could be no doubt of them. It was not so, however, with all good works, and therefore he continues: and they that are otherwise, i.e., those good works which are not yet manifest, cannot be hid; they come earlier or later by their own true nature to the light. This is said as a consolation to Timothy, in case he should be troubled by the thought that the doers of many good works would remain perhaps unknown to him, and might thus be overlooked in the choice of presbyters in the church. If we interpret they that are otherwise as meaning evil works, the parallel fails, and we have only a weak repetition of 1Ti_5:24. The harmony demands that 1Ti_5:25 be explained as referring wholly to good works; 1Ti_5:24 to evil works. According to De Wette, both observations mean very little; according to Bengel, we have here, on the contrary, an insigne dictum et hodie observandum. We agree with the latter.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It is a duty which the church should hold dear, to provide amply for the support of its teachers. The neglect or disregard of this duty leads to an injury which falls back on itself. The minister must always remember the word of the Lord: “Freely ye have received, freely give;” but the church, for its own interest, should not wish this rule applied too literally. It cannot be denied, too, that a certain independence of the minister of the gospel, in his individual relation to the members of the church, is greatly to be desired.
2. In respect to the proper discipline which, according to God’s word, must be exercised over the ministers of the church, there are two perils equally to be avoided. The maxims of espionage, of intimidation, of suspicion, of censure in regard to the most trivial things, have at all times borne bitter fruit. But there can be as little good from that moral latitudinarianism, that false indulgence which is so often seen on the other side. The best discipline for the spiritual office is, however, that which the pastor, by the light of the word and the Spirit of God, exercises over himself.
3. Even if t the word be purely preached and the sacraments duly administered, yet the church remains unfaithful to its calling if it has no desire or power to remove bad men from its midst (comp. 1Co_5:13). But, On the other side, those who rightly mourn over the decay of church discipline, often forget that the chief ministers of the church cannot judge upon reports without evidence; that they must have substantial proof; and that all things must be sustained by the word of two or three witnesses, who, when the trial comes, are usually missing.
4. The doctrine of various ranks and orders in the angelic world is no fruit of Jewish superstition or heathen theosophy, but of the Divine revelation (see the book of Daniel, and the different suggestions in Luk_1:19; Eph_1:21; Col_1:16). The error of the speculative gnosticism here lay in its results and its method, but not, however, in its ground-ideas. Even sound reason must find it probable, à priori, that the spiritual world, the realm of freedom, must be the scene of the richest variety. It cannot, then, surprise us that Paul in this place charges Timothy by the elect angels, when we reflect that, according to the Apostle’s own teaching, the heavenly powers have the most lively sympathy with the weal and woe of the Church of Christ (Eph_3:10; comp. 1Pe_1:12).
5. Christianity is as far removed from a sensual and epicurean view of life, as from a stoical and ascetic one.
6. He who, from the precept of Paul in respect to drinking water and wine, doubts the inspiration of this Epistle, must have the most superficial idea of inspiration. If, indeed, we suppose the Apostle moved by the Spirit to write mechanically and passively what it dictated, then sentences like the preceding are strange indeed (comp. 2Ti_4:18). But he who holds that the whole personality of the Apostle was filled and interpenetrated by the Spirit, so as to be guided by it as well in a word of advice to a friend as in the weightiest rules for the welfare of the church, or in revealing the mysteries of the future, will not even in such seemingly slight things deny the presence of that Spirit, to whom, because He is divine, nothing can be too great, nothing too insignificant. On this whole verse, compare further the seventeenth Homily of Chrysostom (De Statuis, ad populum Antioch.)
[7. The reading, “Be no longer a water-drinker,” brings out more fully the Pauline view of temperance. Indeed, this trivial allusion, like almost all the sayings of the Apostle, involves an ethical principle. Christianity commands temperance: but it plants the law of it in the character, and so makes the man able to judge between use and abuse. To put instead of this a law of total abstinence, is not gospel ethics, but the very asceticism which Paul rebukes in the false teachers of his time.—W.].
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Among the rulers of the church, we meet with men of mediocrity more often than of high ability; but we must despise neither of them, although the latter have the greatest honor.—The laborer is worthy of his hire: (1) No work without reward; (2) no reward without work; (3) no work and reward except according to the rule of Scripture.—No man can be condemned unheard with less justice than the minister of the word.—The object of church discipline is not only corrective, but prohibitive.—With God there is no respect of persons; it should be even so with men.—How must a Christian act in judging the faults of another? (1) Cautious in condemning a brother; (2) Strictly watchful over him self.—The union of love and earnestness which we should show toward the offences of others (comp. Mar_3:5).—The Christian and the false Gnostic asceticism.—Even Timothy had a thorn in the flesh.—Care for the body is necessary even for the minister of the Lord.—Not too hasty prepossessions in our intercourse with men, yet no unloving distrust.—The day brings everything to light (1Co_3:13).
Starke: Osiander: The weaknesses of a minister of the church should indeed be so far kept from publicity, that the worthiness of his office of preacher may not be despised; yet great and manifest sins must not go unpunished, that the church may know that what is rebuked in the hearers, cannot be right in their ministers.—Hedinger: The holy angels are also in the assembly of the Lord, and hence we should be blameless (1Co_11:10).—Thou flatterest thyself thou hast not committed this or that sin; but if thou hast in any way helped it on, it is the same as if thou thyself hast done it (Rom_1:32).—Be comforted by this example, ye servants of God who are weak and sickly in body. Ye can nevertheless be useful to the Church of God.—Anton: There is no web so fine-spun, but at last it comes out in the sunlight.—Osiander: The church does not judge private and hidden things. What is manifest, we must reform; but what is hidden, we must leave to God, the righteous Judge (1Co_4:5).
Heubner: A moderate, scanty salary should be a school of discipline for the true, pure, heavenly spirit.—Church discipline is essentially different from civil or temporal.—An evil ground in the heart cannot long remain undiscovered.—A Christian judgment of the character of others.—Christianity throws light on the knowledge of men.—The worth of a good reputation.—Von Gerlach: It does not show regard for the ministerial office, when the offences of the pastor are concealed and gilded over, but when they are specially punished.—Lisco (on 1Ti_5:17-21). The love which should be shown to the ministers of the church: (1) Generous; (2) forbearing love.—The discipline which pastors should exercise over one another.—(Synodal Sermon) on 1Ti_5:22-25 : On true prudence in the appointment of the ministry: (1) In what it consists; (2) Why it is necessary.—A timely exhortation and a sure foresight.
Footnotes:
[9]1Ti_5:18.—[The commonly received order of these words is Βοῦν ἀλοῶντα ὀυ φιμώσεις. Lachmann, after A. C., reverses it, thus: ὀν φιμ. βοῦν ὰλοῶν.—E. H.]
[10]1Ti_5:18.—[Instead of μισθοῦ—Recepta, Tischendorf, Lachmann—the Sinaiticus has τροφἢς.—E. H.]
[11]1Ti_5:21.—Received text: And the Lord Jesus Christ. Κυρίου to be rejected, beyond question. See Tischendorf on the place.
[12]1Ti_5:21.—[πρόσκλισιν; see Tischendorf’s note. Lachmann has πρόσκλισιν. Cf. Huther.—E. H.]
[13]1Ti_5:23.—[Lachmann omits σου after στόμαχόν; so also the Sinaiticus.—E. H.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv16–21 If any . . . have widows--of his family,…
If any . . . have widows--of his family, however related to him. Most of the oldest manuscripts and versions omit "man or," and read, "If any woman that believeth." But the Received text seems preferable. If, however, the weightiest authorities are to prevail, the sense will be: He was speaking of younger widows; He now says, If any believing young widow have widows related to her needing support, let her relieve them, thereby casing the Church of the burden, Ti1 5:3-4 (there it was the children and grandchildren; here it is the young widow, who, in order to avoid the evils of idleness and wantonness, the result of idleness, Ti1 5:11, Ti1 5:13; Eze 16:49, is to be diligent in good works, such as "relieving the afflicted," Ti1 5:10, thus qualifying herself for being afterwards a widow-presbyteress).
let them--rather as Greek, "let him," or "her"; "let such a one" (Ti1 5:10).
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be charged--literally, "be burdened" with their support.
widows indeed--really helpless and friendless (Ti1 5:3-4).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv16–21 16. Have widows—Spoken of the younger widows, as 1Ti_5:8…
16. Have widows—Spoken of the younger widows, as 1Ti_5:8 refers rather to the support of elder widows.
Let them—Referring to the any man or woman; that is, the son or daughter, or other relative able to maintain the widow.
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Widows indeed—Note on 1Ti_5:3.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–21 16. If any man or woman that believeth] The…
16. If any man or woman that believeth] The balance of authority in mss. requires us to read with R.V., If any woman that believeth.
have widows] Again, hath widows, dependent on her. In what precise way we are to understand this verse is not very clear; whether (1) as a general summary of the whole passage, or (2) as a summary of the portion respecting younger widows inculcating such oversight as might anticipate sinful leanings, or (3) as an extension of the charge to more distant Christian relatives than in 1Ti_5:4; 1Ti_5:8. On the whole, having regard to the way in which the points are put more than once in some fresh aspect, with some degree of repetition, (1) seems best. From 3 to 8 the chief reason given for refusing lavish maintenance is the good of the relatives themselves; from 9 to 15 the good of the widows; in 1Ti_5:16 the good of the Church. Each section is commenced without any introductory particle; and (it may be noticed) in Scrivener’s edition is marked by a capital letter.
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let not the church be charged] Or, more exactly, burdened; the verb is the later Hellenistic form of the strong classical verb ‘to weigh down,’ ‘to oppress.’ It is the word used of the apostles’ eyes ‘weighed down with sleep,’ Mat_26:43; of St Paul’s affliction in Asia, 2Co_1:8, ‘we were weighed down exceedingly.’ Bp Wordsworth quotes Cornelius, bishop of Rome, a.d. 250 (in Euseb. 6.43), as mentioning the existence in the Church of Rome of ‘widows and afflicted,’ more than 1500 in number. For the N. T. use of ‘the Church,’ see on ch. 1Ti_3:14.
widows indeed] See 1Ti_5:3.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–21 (16) If any man or woman that believeth have…
(16) 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 1Ti_5:4; 1Ti_5:8. There the duties enjoined were what may be termed filial; the love, respect, and kindness to the aged was especially pressed on the younger, on the children and grandchildren of the desolate, on the master of the house or family to which the aged widow belonged. Here the reference belongs exclusively to the younger widows, who (see Note above) were, no doubt, very numerous in a great Asian Church like Ephesus; for the future of these women, often still young and totally unprovided for, St. Paul was very anxious. Until a new home was found for such, of course the Church cared for them, but this heavy burden on the Church’s alms must be lightened as much as possible. It was the plain duty of relatives to care for these in their hour of destitution and sorrow. The Church would have many a one, still comparatively speaking young, utterly dependent on its scanty funds—friendless as well as homeless.
It has been asked: How is it that, considering the prominence here given to the questions (a) of the support of Christian widows, (b) of the rules respecting presbyteral widows, who evidently occupied a position of dignity and importance in the Church of the first days, no other mention of this class in the community (with the exception of Act_6:1; Act_9:39) appears in the whole New Testament.
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This has been pressed as one of the arguments pointing to a much later date for the writing of the Epistle; but the question is, after all, readily and conclusively answered. With the exception of the short Epistle to Titus, the subject of the internal organisation of a church is nowhere handled. There is no room or place for such a mention in any of the more exclusively doctrinal or apologetic Epistles. In the broad field of ecclesiastical history occupied by the Acts, the two casual allusions above referred to, in the Churches of Jerusalem and Lydda, tell us of the existence of and the care for these widows in the communities of Christians, even in the earliest years of the Church’s existence.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv16–21 Woman for man or woman, A.V and T.R.; hath…
Woman for man or woman, A.V and T.R.; hath for have, A.V; her for them, A.V; burdened for charged, A.V If any woman, etc. So the preponderance of the best manuscripts, and the texts of Lachmann, Buttmann, Tischendorf, etc. But the T.R. is retained by Alford, Ellicott, "Speaker"s Commentary," and others. If the R.V is right, the woman only is mentioned as being the person who has the management of the house. The precept here seems to be an extension of that in ver. 4, which relates only to children and grandchildren, and to be given, moreover, with special reference to Christian widows who had no believing relations to care for them, and so were necessarily cast upon the Church. Let her relieve them (ejparkeitw, as in vet 10). Widows indeed (taiv ontwv chraiv, as in vers. 2 and 5).
Further directions as to the support of widows.
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There is here a return to the subject of private beneficence.
I THE DUTY OF CHRISTIAN WOMEN TO SUPPORT THEIR WIDOWED RELATIVES. "If any woman that believes hath widows, let support be given to them." The allusion is probably to the younger widows, whose future would be very uncertain till, at least, they should marry. The apostle had already provided for the case of aged widows. It was the plain duty of relatives to watch over the welfare of the younger women, who might be sisters, sisters-in-law, or nieces. The apostle founds the duty upon the principle that the gospel has not superseded, but rather strengthened, the claims of kinship.
II REASONS FOR THE DISCHARGE OF THIS PRIVATE DUTY. "And let not the Church be burdened, that it may relieve those that are widows indeed.
1. It would burden the Church greatly to increase the number of the pensioners on its generosity.
2. The exercise of private beneficence would allow a fuller provision to be made for those aged widows who were really friendless, homeless, and destitute. T.C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv16–17 1Ti_5:4; 1Ti_5:8; 1Ti_5:16
1Ti_5:4; 1Ti_5:8; 1Ti_5:16
But if any widow have children or nephews.
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Home responsibilities
We are reminded here--
I. That home responsibilities are to be accepted as the appointment of God. The sacredness of family relationship is constantly insisted upon both in the Old Testament and the New. All transgressions against it were severely punished under the Mosaic economy, and were condemned still more solemnly by our Lord. A word of exposition on the first clause in the fourth verse is desirable, If any widows have children or nephews, let them (i.e., not the widows, but the children or nephews)
learn first to show piety (filial love) at home. The word nephews is used by our translators in its old English sense, and is rendered in the Revised Version by its nearest modern equivalent, grand children, for in the writings of Chaucer, Sir Thomas More, and John Locke, nephews is used to denote grandchildren. And similarly, when it is said they are to requite their parents, more is included than fathers or mothers, for the apostles word is equivalent to the Scotch forbears, for which the English language has no exact synonym. The idea is that we owe a debt of gratitude to those from whom we have derived existence, and to whom we owe the support, care, and education we have received. We are bound to see that to the utmost of our ability their wants in old age are met.
II. That among our God-given responsibilities is the duty of labouring for the support of the weak. Among the blessings of our human relationships is this: that honest work is necessitated. We have seen instances in which a young fellow who has spent all his salary on cigars, dress, and amusements, has after his marriage buckled to work, and displayed an energy and ability for which none had given him credit before. Many a brave young wife and self-sacrificing mother has been ennobled through her home duties, having completely abandoned the foolish and trivial pursuits to which she was once addicted. And what numberless instances there are of men, whose diligence and self-abnegation are beyond praise, who have become what they are by first feeling the responsibility of caring and working for a widowed mother!
III. Paul emphatically declares that those who fail in these responsibilities have denied the faith and are worse than infidels. Stern as the words are, they are true! Even the heathen, certainly the better class of them, were wont to acknowledge filial duties, and would have condemned cynical disregard of parents and refusal to fulfil natural duties towards them. This is an offence against humanity, and therefore, in the deepest sense, an offence against Christ. But a Christian professes to have higher motives in duty than others. Let us never for get that the test of character is to be found in family relationships rather than in those which are ecclesiastical; and that it is in the home first and chiefest of all that Christs disciples are to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)
Piety at home.--
Life at home
A church within a church, a republic within a republic, a world within a world, is spelled by four letters--Hornet If things go right there, they go right everywhere; if things go wrong there, they go wrong everywhere. The door-sill of the dwelling-house is the foundation of Church and State. A man never gets higher than his own garret or lower than his own cellar. In other words, domestic life overarches and underguides all other life. George Washington commanded the forces of the United States, but Mary Washington commanded George. Chrysostoms mother made his pen for him. As individuals, we are fragments. God makes the races in parts, and then He gradually puts us together. What I lack, you make up; what you lack, I make up; our deficits and surpluses of character being the wheels in the great social mechanism. One person has the patience, another has the courage, another has the placidity, another has the enthusiasm; that which is lacking in one is made up by another, or made up by all. Buffaloes in herds; grouse in broods; quails in flocks; the human race in circles. Our usefulness, and the welfare of society, depend upon our staying in just the place that God has put us, or intended we should occupy. For more compactness, and that we may be more useful, we are gathered in still smaller circles in the home group. And there you have the same varieties again; brothers, sisters, husband, and wife; all different in temperaments and tastes. It is fortunate that it should be so. If the husband be all impulse, the wife must be all prudence. If one sister be sanguine in her temperament, the other must be lymphatic. Mary and Martha are necessities. Then there are those who will, after awhile, set up for themselves a home, and it is right that I should speak out upon these themes.
1. My first counsel to you is, have Jesus in your new home, if it is a new home; and let Him who was a guest at Bethany be in your new household; let the Divine blessing drop upon your every hope, and plan, and expectation. Those young people who begin with God end with heaven.
2. My second advice to you in your home is, to exercise to the very last possibility of your nature the law of forbearance. Prayers in the household will not make up for everything. Some of the best people in the world are the hardest to get along with. Sometimes it will be the duty of the husband and sometimes of the wife to yield; but both stand punctiliously on your rights, and you will have a Waterloo with no Blucher coming up at nightfall to decide the conflict. The best thing I ever heard of my grandfather, whom I never saw, was this: that once, having unrighteously rebuked one of his children, he himself--having lost his patience, and, perhaps, having been misinformed of the childs doings--found out his mistake, and in the evening of the same day gathered all his family together, and said: Now, I have one explanation to make, and one thing to say. Thomas, this morning I rebuked you very unfairly. I am very sorry for it. I rebuked you in the presence of the whole family, and now I ask your forgiveness in their presence. It must have taken some courage to do that.
3. I advise, also, that you make your chief pleasure circle around about that home. It is unfortunate when it is otherwise. If the husband spend the most of his nights away from home, of choice and not of necessity, he is not the head of the household; he is only the cashier. If the wife throw the cares of the household into the servants lap, and then spend five nights of the week at the opera or theatre, she may clothe her children with satins, and laces, and ribbons that would confound a French milliner, but they are orphans.
4. I advise you also to cultivate sympathy of occupation. Sir James McIntosh, one of the most eminent and elegant men that ever lived, while standing at the very height of his eminence, said to a great company of scholars: My wife made me. The wife ought to be the advising partner in every firm. She ought to be interested in all the losses and gains of shop and store. She ought to have a right--she has a right--to know everything. Your gains are one, your interests are one, your losses are one; lay hold of the work of life with both hands. Four hands to fight the battles. Four eyes to watch for the danger. Four shoulders on which to carry the trials. It is a very sad thing when the painter has a wife who does not like pictures. It is a very sad thing for a pianist when she has a husband who does not like music.
5. I have one more word of advice to give to those who would have a happy home, and that is: let love preside in it. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Home, sweet home
How many are longing for grand spheres in which to serve God. They admire Luther at the Diet of Worms, and wish they had some such daring opportunity in which to exhibit Christian character. Now, the apostle comes to such persons, in my text, and says: I will show you a place where you can exhibit all that is grand, and beautiful, and glorious in the Christian character, and that place is the domestic circle. Let them learn first to show piety at home. Indeed, if a man does not serve God on a small scale, he never will serve Him on a large scale. I propose to speak to you of home as a test, of home as a refuge, of home as a political safeguard, of home as a school, of home as a type of heaven.
I. The home, in the first place, is the most powerful test of ones character. A mans disposition in public may be in gay costume, while in private it is in deshabille. The play actor does differently on the platform from the way he does behind the scenes; and public life is often a very different thing from private life. A man will receive you in his parlour with so much gracefulness that he seems to be the distillation of smiles, while in his heart there is a swamp of nettles. Private life is often public life turned wrong side out. The lips that drop with myrrh and cassia--the disposition that seems to be warm and bright as a sheaf of sunbeams, may only be a magnificent show-window to a wretched stock of goods. The harp that all day sang like an angel, may at night grate like a saw. There are those who are philanthropists in public life, who in home life are the Nero with respect to their slippers and their gown. The great Newton, after he had spent half of his life on one manuscript, came into his study one day and found that his dog had torn the manuscript to pieces. All he said was: Little Diamond, you know not how much trouble you have given your master. Audubon, the great ornithologist, with gun and pencil, went all through the forests of this country for the purpose of bringing down and sketching the birds of the land; then went home, put the valuable documents in a trunk, and, after an absence, found that the rats had completely devoured the manuscripts, so that again he took gun and pencil, and again went through the forests of the land, reproducing that which was destroyed; while there are many in private life who, at the loss of a pencil or an article of clothing, will act as though they had met with a severe and irreparable loss, and will blow sharp, and loud, and long as a north-east storm. Let us learn to show piety at home.
II. Again: I remark that home is a refuge. The home is the tent we pitch to rest in, our bayonets stacked, our war caps hung up, our heads resting on the knapsack until the morning bugle sounds, warning us to strike tent and prepare for marching and action. Oh, what a pleasant place it is to talk over the days victories, and surprises, and attacks, seated by the still camp-fires of the domestic circle. Life is a stormy sea. With shivered mast, and torn sail, and hulk aleak, we put into the harbour of home. Into this dry-dock we come for repair. Blessed harbour! The candle in the window is to the labouring man the lighthouse guiding him into port. May God pity the poor miserable wretch who has not any home.
III. Again: I remark that the home is a political safeguard. The safety of the State depends upon the character of the home. The Christian hearthstone is the only foundation for a Republic. In the family virtues are cultured which are a necessity for the State; and if there be not enough moral principle to make the family adhere, there cannot be enough political principle to make the State adhere. No home, no free institution. No home makes a nation of Goths and Vandals; makes the Nomads of Central Asia; makes the Numidians of Africa, changing from month to month, and from place to place, as the pasture happens to change.
IV. I go further, and speak of home as a school. Old ground must be upturned by a subsoil plough, and harrowed and re-harrowed, and then it will not yield as good a crop as new ground with less culture. Now, infancy and childhood are new ground, and all that is scattered over that ground will yield luxuriantly. Make your home the brightest place on earth if you would charm your children into the high path of rectitude and religion. Do not always have the blinds turned the wrong way. Let Gods light, that puts gold on the gentian and spots the pansy, stream into your windows. Do not expect your children to keep step to a dead march. A dark home makes bad boys and bad girls to be bad men and bad women. Above all, take into your homes thorough Christian principle. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Home piety
I. Our first endeavour will be to show what piety is. This is all the more needful, as mistakes, numerous and fatal, exist on this vital subject, not only in the world, but also in the Church. It is the mind that was in Christ, leading us to walk as He also walked.
1. Piety has its principles. It is not like a tree without a root; or a stream without a spring. It is originated, sustained, and cherished by an experimental acquaintance with God in Christ; for this is life eternal, to know Thee, the true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent. Here, then, we have the principles of piety--knowledge, faith, love, submission, and holy fear. A cluster of good things; the soul and spirit of true religion; the gift of the Divine hand; the fruit of the Spirit; the purchase of Messiahs blood; and the earnest of everlasting life.
2. Piety has its enjoyments. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her. The forgiveness of sins, access to God as a Father, the communion of Saints, the hope of everlasting life, the possession of a new nature, constitute a well-spring of blessedness to the humble, believing, obedient soul.
3. Piety has its duties. If ye love Me, said the Saviour, keep My commandments; not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. With what frequency and earnestness has practical piety been enforced in the law and the prophets, as also by our Lord and His apostles!
II. We proceed to show where piety is to be made manifest. If the principles and rootlets of piety be out of sight, their existence and power may easily be made apparent. Vegetable life in this sweet jessamine, or in yonder blushing rose, is far beyond our ken; but the effects of life are plain enough to be seen--the rind, the bud, the leaf, the flower, tell us that life is there. As to animal life--the sparkling eye, the ruddy countenance, the cheerful voice, the active limb, show us that life is there; but it is as much a mystery as ever; as far out of sight as ever. Steam, as it lies in the bosom of the boiler, is invisible; but the stroke of the piston, the sweep of the u heel, and the speed of the train, as well as the condensing power of the atmosphere, tell us that it is there. So of piety: much of it is hidden from the public gaze--its depths are not seen. Christian life is hid with Christ in God. Yet if spiritual life exists, it will give proof of its existence and power. Hence at Antioch, when Barnabas had seen the grace of God, he was glad. And exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. Fire must burn, a fountain must flow, a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit--Therefore show piety.
1. In general, wherever the providence of God may place you. The shop, the ship, the market, the farm, the factory, the counting-house, will afford you opportunities for confessing your Lord.
2. In particular, let your piety appear at home. Show to those around you, that the fear and love of God control your desires, purposes, words, and deeds; whatever your relation to the family circle--in whatever department your duty lies, act your part with cheerfulness, fidelity, and to the extent of your ability. See, that your piety is such as never can be reasonably questioned.
(1) Shows its reality; let the root of the matter spring up and bring forth good fruit.
(2) Maintain its spirit, humble, gentle, kind, forgiving: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
(3) Manifest its power, to restrain you from evil, to sustain and comfort and bless you, amid the ills of life; and to enable you by a patient continuance in well-doing, to seek for glory, honour, immortality, and eternal life. Mind that your piety be uniform; let no child be forgotten, no aged parent neglected, no poor widowed relative forsaken, no duty omitted. One word more: let your home religion be steady and growing; and as a general rule, rather seen, and felt, than heard.
3. The considerations by which this important duty may be enforced are numerous and weighty. Would to God we could rightly see and feel them. God, our Saviour, has made Christian believers a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, to show forth the praises of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. And shall they not do His pleasure? Shall not Christian people acknowledge their Owner--and the claims of Him who hath made, redeemed, and saved them--by giving up themselves to His service, by glorifying Him, both at home and abroad, in their body and spirit, which are His? Besides, as members of the family circle, are we not bound to promote its comfort, safety, and welfare to the extent of our ability? If you feel any interest in the prosperity of the Church, the conversion of poor sinners, the general good of society, show piety at home. Be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Tread in the steps of faithful Abraham, the pattern of believers, and the friend of God, who commanded his children and household after him to keep the way of the Lord. Drink into the spirit of Joshua, who served the Lord himself, and put forth all his strength to lead his family to do likewise. (J. J. Topham.)
The Christian at home
Some characteristics of home piety.
1. A careful respect for the rights of each member of the family. It is our first duty to be just towards each other, and a duty which is obligatory all round, as between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, families and their relatives, employers and servants. It is not always easy to be just. It requires thoughtful consideration and some power of imaginative sympathy even on the part of those who desire to do as they would be done by. A great deal of the wrong that is suffered in the world arises out of unwitting injustice. Some persons are grossly and habitually unjust to those about them, misrepresenting their opinions, and imposing upon them sacrifices of feeling and trouble, while in other respects they are singularly generous. Another frequent cause of unhappiness in families is the partiality shown to a favourite child. This also justice forbids.
2. Next to careful respect for the rights of others I may mention great forbearance in asserting our own. A small thing in family life, but most significant as an index to character, is the self-pleasing with which some persons secure their own preferences at table. Even if they make a show of giving up what others like, they do it so ostentatiously that their generosity is generally declined. But real self-denial, that can find pleasure in the gratification of others, will conceal its preferences so that they may enjoy what they like without knowing that it is at the expense of any one else.
3. A third characteristic of home piety is the endeavour to please those about us for their good. A cheerful manner, a flow of wise and genial conversation, sparkling here and there with some bright coruscation of wit, flavoured always with the salt of cultured taste, and sometimes suggestive of serious thoughts, is a fine means of pleasing and benefiting others. Show piety at home by learning to talk well and wisely.
4. Lastly, piety should be shown at home in a devout regard for the honour of God. At the principal meals of the day, and morning or evening, if not both morning and evening, reverence should find suitable expression in acts of worship. You must be guided by your own sense of fitness as to what arrangements you shall make for this purpose. Let us systematically choose the good part, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, endeavour to catch the spirit of our Master, and let its influence be diffused throughout our whole life. (E. W. Shalders, B. A.)
Piety at home
The radiance of a Christian character is to shine around the family hearth. In most minds the word home awakens emotions both sweet and solemn. Our tenderest relations, our strongest affections, our highest joys, our deepest sorrows, all are touched by the thought of home. The great duty which our text enjoins is the cultivation of piety at home.
I. Home is the place where character is most tested; and if piety be not shown there, it cannot be shown anywhere. Our real character is not so much shown in what we do intentionally and with a purpose, as in what we do impulsively and without reflection. Abroad in the world men may wear a cloak--they may deceive others, they may deceive themselves as to their true character; but at home the cloak generally slips aside, the true character comes out, and those who see them in their unguarded hours know them as they really are. Often a word, a look, or even a gesture in the family will give more insight into a mans heart than years of observation of his public life. The close intercourse of home life tries as well as reveals the real character. That which tries character also helps to form it. Home not only shows what we are, it helps to make us what we shall be for ever. The education which is deepest and most enduring is that of the home school.
II. Home is sometimes the scene of our deepest sorrows: and piety is the best help to enable us to bear these. The causes which disturb the happiness of home are manifold. Unwise marriage unions are the cause of much family misery. Bad habits are a frequent occasion of home sorrow, Evil tempers sometimes ruin the happiness of home. A practical carrying out of our text would speedily correct the evils to which we have referred, and change the character of the home-life where they have been endured. Were all the members of a family to learn to show piety at home, what a scene of blessedness that would be! But there are other trials which sometimes convert the home into a house of mourning, and which piety alone can enable us to meet. There are homes in which the pinching of poverty has to be endured. There are homes where disease presses with his heavy hand; and homes over which death spreads his black and chilly wing. But if there be only one pious member of the family, how the others will look to him and lean upon him in their hour of bereavement and sorrow! The influence acquired by consistency of character now operates for the good of his afflicted friends.
III. Home ought to be the scene of our highest joy; and piety is the only means to make it so, The mutual love and confidence so essential to family happiness, can be produced and secured by nothing so certainly as by a common affection for the Saviour. How blessed are the ties of nature when they are sanctified and strengthened by grace! (G. D. Macgregor.)
Selfish children
An old Virginia minister said lately, Men of my profession see much of the tragic side of life. I have seen men die in battle, have seen children die, but no death ever seemed so pathetic to me as the death of an aged mother in my church. I knew her first as a young girl, beautiful, gay, full of joy and hope. She married and had four children. Her husband died and left her penniless. She sewed, she made drawings, she taught, she gave herself scarcely time to eat or sleep. Every thought was for her children, to educate them, to give them the advantages their father would have given them had he lived. She succeeded. She sent her boys to college and her girls to school. When all came home they gave themselves up to their own selfish pursuits. She lingered among them some three years, and then was stricken with mortal illness brought on by overwork. The children gathered around her bedside. The oldest son took her in his arms. He said, You have been a good mother to us. That was not much to say, was it? It was much to her, who had never heard anything like it. A flush came over her pallid face, and with faint voice she whispered, My son, you never said so before! (Dr. Hoge.)
John Gough and his mother
I remember, when my father was away in the Peninsular war, my mother, who used to work lace very nicely (and she grew very nearly blind by it), went one day from Sandgate to Dover, eight and a half miles, to sell it. I went out to play, having the whole day to myself till she came back. I was a famous reader when I was a little bit of a thing, and I never remember the time when I learned to read, and I cant remember when I could not read with the book the wrong side up. As I was playing, a boy came up to me and said, Johnny Gough, Mr. Purday wants you in the library. Well, I ran into the library, and I remember being taken into a little room, and a girl dipped her hands in water and rubbed my face, and brushed my hair back, to make me look decent, and then took me into the reading-room, where there was a venerable looking gentleman, whom I distinctly remember they called my lord. Mr. Purday said, This is the boy I was speaking of; and he then put a newspaper into my hands, and asked me to read a certain column to him, which I did. He gave me a five-shilling piece; another gentleman gave me sixpence; and the proprietor of the library gave me two pennies. Oh I how rich I was! I went out to play with the boys; I put my hands in my pockets now and then, and jingled my money, and then went on playing again. After a while a boy came to me and said, Johnny, your mother has got home. I ran into the house, and there sat my poor mother upon a stool, faint and weary, with her basket of lace at her side. Her face was buried in her hands; I heard her sob, and I never could bear to hear my mother cry. Mother, mother, said I, what is the matter? My poor child, she said, I have not sold a farthings-worth to-day, and what we shall do God only knows! Said I, Mother, just look at this! and she did look at it; and she said, Why John, where did you get that? I have been into the library; one gentleman gave me that, another gave me that, and Mr. Purday gave me these two pennies. My mother went upon her knees, clasped me around the neck, lifted up her eyes, thanked God, and then gave me a halfpenny all to myself! And what do you suppose I did with it? I went out and changed it into two farthings, and I never enjoyed money as much as that all the days of my life. (J. B. Gough.)
A widows trust in God
M. Poinsot, the devoted Protestant Scripture-reader at Charleroi, has been much blessed in his arduous and heroic work for Christ. He says in his journal--I visited a poor woman of seventy-six years of age, alone, poor, and ill. I said to her, The nights must seem very long to you, being always alone? If I were alone, she replied, I should have been dead long ago, but I have a Friend who never leaves me day nor night; I commune always with Him, and His Word comforts me. But, I said, if you became worse in the night? He would take care of me, was the reply; He is the best Doctor in Belgium.
1Ti_5:16
May relieve them that are widows indeed.
Charity ruled by wisdom
The first of these main principles of Church charity is--
I. That those received to permanent support should be only such as are aged or weak. In the ninth verse we read, Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old; or (as the R.V. more correctly has it) Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old. A woman over sixty in Asia Minor (though it would be otherwise in our healthier, cooler climate) could no longer work, nor do much for the Church either, except by her prayers and supplications (another proof that officials are not referred to). Widows thus infirm and aged were to receive constant and generous support. But nothing was to be done, even under the sacred name of charity, which would paralyse personal exertion or weaken the sense of responsibility in relatives and friends. Pauls second principle is this--
II. That those whose character is Christian have special claims on the support of the Church. He is not referring here to the relief of distress which is the duty of every Christian, hut to the use of the charitable funds given by the Church for distribution among her members. How beautiful is the picture of the true Christian matron, as depicted by the few touches of this masterhand in 1Ti_5:5; 1Ti_5:10. Think of her motherliness, one who has brought up her children aright. Very beautiful, too, are the thoughts suggested of her lowly, loving ministry. Entertaining strangers, for the Lords sake; not necessarily because she was rich, but because she was kind.
III. The last principle which should guide us in the selection of those who may live on the charity of the Church is this, that they should be rejected who would be morally injured by depending on it. At first sight the apostle seems rather hard upon the younger women; although it is evident from the 15th verse that he was not speaking from theory, but from actual and painful experience, and that some in the Church at Ephesus had already fallen into the evils to which he refers, having lost their first simple faith in Jesus Christ, and their former consecration to Him. He implies that ecclesiastical arrangements had aggravated their temptations, and he strongly urges that younger widows who might properly receive special help and solace for a time, ought not to be put on the roll of the Church for perpetual relief. His reason is given plainly enough. They learn to be idle, says he, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. Right as it was to support the aged and infirm, it would be morally injurious to support by charity these younger women. Idleness is always a fruitful parent of sins, of which gossip, meddlesomeness, and unprofitable talk are not the greatest; and the best preventive of this would be to throw Christian women as far as possible on their own resources, to let them take a good opportunity for settling in life, to exert themselves for their own maintenance, or to care for another household, as the brave and patient servants of Jesus Christ. Any one who knows the pernicious effects produced by ill-regulated charity, any one who reflects on the vices common to the idle classes of society, any one who has noticed the moral deterioration of young people who have nothing to do but to while away their time, will thank God for these wise counsels. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv16–21 16. If any … that believeth have widows. If…
16. If any … that believeth have widows. If any have widows among their relatives, let them support these, instead of the church, in order that the church may support the “widows indeed.”
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v17 1Ti_5:17. Counted worthy of double honour.—If the honour is…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1Ti_5:17. Counted worthy of double honour.—If the honour is remuneration, this double honour, denoting competent reward as well as respect, is like Costard’s “gardon, better than remuneration.”
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1Ti_5:19. Receive not an accusation.—Their position would render them liable to be accused, and they must be guarded from slander.
1Ti_5:21. The elect angels.—Who kept their own estate (Jud_1:6).
1Ti_5:22. Lays hands suddenly on no man.—The usual explanation, of the imposition of hands in ordination, is rejected by Ellicott in favour of the assumption that it was in absolution of penitents. It would seem better to leave the admonition more general, as a warning against precipitancy.
1Ti_5:23. Drink no longer water.—Timothy had evidently carried his abstemiousness beyond the limits of prudence.
1Ti_5:24. Going before … follow after.—In either case they come to judgment, as heralds and apparitors, or as an inevitable testimony crying after them.
1Ti_5:25. The good works of some are manifest beforehand.—R.V. “there are good works that are evident.” As in the case of sins, so in the case of good works—they must eventually be manifest, perhaps to the astonishment of those by whom they were wrought.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Ti_5:17-25
Rules for Church Government
I. The diligent and faithful minister should be highly esteemed and generously maintained (1Ti_5:17-18).—It is in vain to expect spiritual profit from a minister we do not respect. As a public man he is exposed to much criticism—criticism that is often thoughtless, shallow, and unfair; and all such criticism tends to lower his influence with the indifferent and unspiritual. To get the highest good from the pastor the people must love and esteem him; and where this spirit obtains his maintenance will be just and generous, and cheerfully rendered. He devotes his life, his powers, his all, to his work, first for the love of his Master, and then for the spiritual salvation of his people. If he ministers faithfully in holy things, he is entitled to honour and becoming support in temporal things.
II. The character and reputation of a minister should be jealously guarded (1Ti_5:19).—There are some people who gloat with undisguised satisfaction as they eagerly listen to the most flippant scurrilities disparaging a minister of the gospel. His very office is an offence to them, and his fidelity a constant rebuke to their inconsistencies and follies. A Church that runs down its minister degrades itself. If there is real cause for complaint, the accusation should be cautiously and tenderly made, and should be treated and sifted with the utmost gravity and justice. A minister’s character is his shield: if that is lost, he is undone.
III. Care should be scrupulously exercised in selecting men for the Christian ministry.—“Lay hands suddenly [hastily] on no man” (1Ti_5:22). A man is not fit for the Christian ministry because he thinks he is. He must possess not only grace—every Christian must do that—but also gifts that demonstrate his suitability for the office. Even then it should be evident by the fruits of his labours that he is Divinely called to the work. He must also have the opportunity of scholastic and spiritual training, and be severely tested by inquiry and repeated examinations. Few young men realise the difficulties and trials of the ministerial vocation. Dr. Raleigh, at the height of his popularity, speaking to one of his deacons on this subject, said: “They come here and see the place crowded; they hear me preach, and it all seems easy and natural; and straightway they get a desire to do the same. Ah! they little know what it has cost me to attain to this!”
IV. Sin everywhere should be faithfully and fearlessly denounced.—
1. As a warning to others. “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear” (1Ti_5:20).
2. To avoid the suspicions of personal connivance. “Neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure” (1Ti_5:22).
3. Sin and virtue will sooner or later be made evident (1Ti_5:24-25).
V. Zeal to serve the Church does not justify indifference to bodily health (1Ti_5:23).—Many practise this advice to Timothy who do not suffer from Timothy’s complaint. The tendency of the young pastor was to asceticism, and his excessive abstinence, adopted from conscientious motives, was undermining his already delicate constitution. There were few by whom the advice to take a little wine for medicinal purposes could be so safely followed as by Timothy. His high-toned temperance was his safeguard. There is no encouragement to the wine-bibber in this cautious advice. The health of the minister is an important factor in the effective discharge of his physically exacting duties. There was common sense in the reply of Robert Hall to the question as to what is the best preparation for preaching when he said, “A good night’s rest.” The success of the sermon depends upon the preacher’s state of health. It is a sacred duty to cherish and strengthen the body, that it may be a more vigorous servant and instrument of the mind.
VI. Rules for Church government should be applied with strict impartiality. (1Ti_5:21).—There should not be less care in maintaining Church order and discipline than in the methodical management of a large business, or in civic government, or in the administration of justice in courts of law. Church courts should be patterns of justice and equity. It is easier to observe than to enforce discipline.
Lessons.—
1. Church organisation is the outgrowth of Church life.
2. To govern well the minister must himself respect and obey the law.
3. Discipline and doctrine are essential in promoting vigorous Church life and progress.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ti_5:17-22. Ministerial Life—
I. Should be relieved from pecuniary burdens (1Ti_5:17-18).
II. Should be guarded from vexatious charges, but its sins fearlessly rebuked (1Ti_5:19-20).
III. Should be distinguished by impartiality (1Ti_5:21).
IV. Should not be entered upon without careful preparation (1Ti_5:22).
1Ti_5:24-25. Bad and Good Men.
I. Bad men and their actions.—
1. The openly wicked. Their character is patent to all observers. Their sins are gross and flagrant.
2. The secretly wicked. They have a false character, different at home and abroad, in their family and among their boon companions, in the Church and in the world. They are sometimes unmasked during their lives. They shall appear in their true colours before the judgment-seat.
II. Good men and their actions.—
1. The unmistakably good. They are acknowledged as Christians by all who know them. Comparatively rare. High style of excellence. A boon to have been intimately acquainted with a single specimen.
2. The questionably good. Their excellence is concealed by their humble position, or their meagre attainments, or their constitutional diffidence and reserve. Gradually it becomes known in a larger or more limited circle here. They shall “shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”
Lessons.—
1. Let us be cautious in our judgments of our fellow-men.
2. Let us act with habitual reference to the judgment-seat.
3. Let us be resolved not to leave behind us a doubtful reputation.—G. Brooks.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v17 17. “Let the elders, who stand before you in…
ARGUMENT 14
MINISTERIAL SUPPORT
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17. “Let the elders, who stand before you in the beauty of holiness, be considered worthy of double remuneration, especially those who labor in word and teaching.” This does not mean simply a ruling elder, as in E.V., but the teachers and preachers of mature years, experience, and learning. The Greek, proestotes, in E.V. translated “rule,” is from pro, before, and istemi, to stand. Hence, it simply means standing before you in the attitude of a teacher. Kalos, “well” in E.V., literally means beautifully. Therefore the elderly brother and sister who stand before you preaching and teaching, adorned with the beauty of holiness, are to be counted worthy of double pay for their service. “Especially those who labor in word and teaching.” Preach means simply proclaim the Word of God as revealed in the Bible, while teach involves the deep subtleties of exposition. As the Bible was written in Oriental languages not now used by any living people, we must be educated and thus prepared to go down into the dark mysteries of these dead languages, and haul up the sparkling gems of inspired truth, that they may dazzle the illuminated eye of the faithful inquirer, exploring the deep things of God. In view of the time, money, and labor needed in the qualification to labor in “word and teaching,” the Holy Ghost here enjoins double remuneration in behalf of the elders, who “labor in word and doctrine.” In this and many other instances the E.V. bends the translation into favoritism with ecclesiastical authority, which at that time was so prominent in the Episcopal Church. But this passage has no intimation of official rank or prerogative, but simply exhorts the people to confer double remuneration on the elderly brothers and sisters who “stand before them in the beauty of holiness, laboring in word and instruction,” while hundreds of others around, with no costly education nor long years of experience, may preach the living Word with a small remuneration.
18. “For the Scripture says, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The laborer is worthy of his hire.” This verse is confirmatory of the preceding. When I was in Egypt and the Holy Land, I saw the oxen, everywhere I went, going round on the threshing-floor, treading out the wheat and barley and other grains (there never having been any American corn in that country). Why don’t they use steam threshers? The iron horse is there, thundering along the railroad. Why do they not let him thresh out their wheat? The customs of the patriarchal age must abide there, witnesses to the truth of the Bible, till the Lord comes. Why do they not have steam mills to grind their wheat and manufacture their flour? Still, two women sit down on either side of the little hand mill, and grind flour for dinner. They are waiting till the Lord comes for his Bride, taking up the one and leaving the other.
19. We have no right to conclude that this is only an official elder, as the original meaning of the Greek is simply of mature years. As people get old, extraordinary deference is due them. Hence, we should go slowly in their accusation and condemnation, keeping quiet till we can prove the allegations by two or three witnesses.
20. “Convict those who sin in presence of all, in order that the rest may indeed have fear.” O how plain and explicit the duty of the preacher is here specified! In the great congregation, God requires him to lift up his voice like a trumpet, sparing neither friends nor foes, but exposing all sin, and convicting all sinners. The word which I here translate “convict,” is elegche. It is the Greek word for the sentence of the criminal judge, when he gives his verdict against the accused, condemning him for the penitentiary or the gallows. It is the strongest condemnatory word in the Greek language. Do you know that condemnatory preaching is rapidly becoming a lost art, as very few Churches have the grace to tolerate it, and equally few preachers the heroism to give it?
21. “I testify before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, that you may guard these things without prejudice, doing nothing according to partiality.” You see Paul solemnly obligates Timothy before God and the angels sent forth to help him, and the people to whom he preached to secure their heavenly election, that he will guard all these truths like a soldier standing sentinel, as that is the word here used. It was a penalty of death for a Roman soldier to go to sleep on guard. Every preacher is God’s sentinel under the eye of Omniscience and the elect angels standing to guard immortal souls against the invasions of the devil. Woe unto the pastor who permits the Lethean slumber so to somnify him that he shall fail to sound the alarm on every approach of the enemy! “Prejudice” is one of the meanest things ever hatched in hell. It is from the Latin, pre, beforehand, and judicium, judgment. Hence, it means a verdict given before the evidence is heard. I heard of a judge in the Emerald Isle who said he always gave his decision when he heard one side of the evidence; for if he waited and heard the other side he would get puzzled so he would not know how to decide. We have no right to have prejudice against anything, not even the devil; for God is going to give all the devils a fair trial in the judgment-day. Prejudice killed Jesus and two hundred millions of his faithful followers. All the opposition to holiness is the work of Satan’s prejudice. John Fletcher well says, “Perfect love is an angel so lovely and beautiful that the devil can’t get his hell-hounds to chase it till he covers the amiable form with a bearskin.” Then they will go for the bearskin, but not for the angel; so all the hell-hounds barking on the track of holiness are just after the bearskin, which the devil has thrown on it. “Doing nothing according to partiality.” To this Paul solemnly adjures Timothy. No wonder our Lord required even his own apostles to get sanctified wholly as a qualification to preach the Pentecostal gospel, as nothing but the fires of the Holy Ghost can burn the prejudice and partiality all out of the heart.
22. “Lay hands suddenly on no one, lest you participate in the sins of others.” This is very appropriate admonition. When they sent out men and women to preach, they gathered around them, laying hands on them, and invoking the descension of the Holy Ghost on them, with his extraordinary spiritual gifts, to empower them for the responsible conflict with sin and Satan, invariably incident to soul-winners. Before we thus commission people for responsible posts of duty, we should test them thoroughly, and be satisfied that they have a genuine case of personal salvation, lest they prove traitors, and bring reproach on the cause of God. “Keep yourself pure.” “Pure” in this charge not only includes experimental holiness, but emphasizes personal chastity, so preeminently imperative in the preacher of the gospel.
23. “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and frequent sickness.” While Timothy was an exceedingly valuable preacher, he had a feeble constitution and a weak stomach. In my camp-meeting tour I traveled through the great South every summer and fall, where a diversity of febrile diseases are constantly prevalent, and ever and anon the pestilential yellow-fever visits the land. When he comes, I always pay him the courtesy of an orderly retreat. In case of all the other fevers, I stand my ground so far as possible, ceasing to drink the ordinary waters, which are frequently warm and malarious, but resorting to the medical springs, which, in the goodness of God, prevail in that country, determining the location of almost every camp; having never yet yielded to the importunities of the natives to use coffee as an anti-malarial. The word used by Paul means neither fermented nor alcoholic wine, but the unadulterated fresh juice of the grape, which is nutritious, reviving, and sanitary. Mark the specification here, “Use a little wine;” i.e., not much.
No person acquainted with the facts in the case can criticize Paul in this advice. Doubtless the water in that country at that time was not first-rate, and the atmosphere malarious.
24. “The sins of certain men are manifest beforehand, going before to judgment, but to certain people, indeed, they follow afterward.” This is a plain statement of universally prevailing occurrences. The two most prominent men in your village are your pastor and your saloon-keeper. All enlightened people condemn the latter, and deplore the evil employment in which he spends his life, not only poisoning and killing the bodies, but destroying both soul and body in hell. Not so with the pastor. All believe he is spending his life for the good of humanity. At the judgment he turns out to be a Judas Iscariot, who sold his Master for filthy lucre. A preacher in Brother Carradine’s revival was on his knees at the altar seeking sanctification. An ecclesiastic passes by, stoops down, and, putting his hand on his shoulder, whispers to him, “If you do not get away from there, you go to the piny woods.” He arose, and left, never to return; for he was in a fifteen-hundred dollar station. He beat Judas one hundred-fold, as he only got fifteen dollars.
25. You can hide your works here, and pass them for good when they are bad; but you can not hide them when we all stand before the great white Throne.
1,2. The world was full of slavery in Paul’s day. While the gospel provides for every relation in this life, it puts the plowshare down deep, and plows out all evil in due time. Rapidly is human slavery evanescing before the advancing light of Christian civilization.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv20–21 Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
sin
Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v17 Rules of Conduct with Regard to the Elders of…
Rules of Conduct with Regard to the Elders of the Congregation.
v. 17. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the Word and doctrine.
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v. 18. For the Scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn; and, The laborer is worthy of his reward.
v. 19. Against an elder receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses.
v. 20. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.
v. 21. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.
v. 22. Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins. Keep thyself pure.
v. 23. Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.
v. 24. Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.
v. 25. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.
Having named the qualifications of a bishop or elder in the third chapter, the apostle here speaks of the regard in which the members of the presbytery should be held and the manner in which they should be treated: Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, above all those that toil in the Word and doctrine. All the elders, all the members of the presbytery that are engaged in that excellent office and work of overseeing and ruling the congregation, should be regarded and treated with double honor, partly on account of their age, partly on account of the dignity of their office. This includes, as a matter of course, that those men who devote all their time to the congregation receive such a compensation as will enable them to live decently with their family, in proportion to the average income of the church members. But the apostle singles out those that are engaged in the hard labor, in the toil connected with the teaching of the Word, in proclaiming Christian doctrine. These men, whom we now designate as pastors or ministers, are not only engaged in the arduous work of overseeing the flock of Christ, but also have charge of the fatiguing labor of teaching, both publicly and privately, in public sermons and individual pastoral application.
The apostle supports this demand with passages from Scriptures: For Scripture says, The ox treading out the grain thou shalt not muzzle; and, Worthy is the laborer of his pay. In the Ceremonial Law of the Old Testament, Deu 25:4, the rule had been included that no farmer engaged in threshing his grain on the open stone threshing-floor, such as were in use in the Orient, was permitted to place a muzzle on the oxen that were treading out the grain from the hull. The animals were to be allowed to eat of the straw and of the grain as much as they liked. The application the apostle leaves to the reader, and it certainly offers little difficulty. The second passage quoted by him is not found in that form in the Old Testament, being a word used by Jesus, Mat 10:10; Luk 10:7. "It would seem probable, therefore, that he had seen the Gospel by Matthew or by Luke, and that he quoted this as a part of Scripture, and regarded the Book from which he made the quotation as of the same authority as the Old Testament. If so, then this may be regarded as an attestation of the apostle to the inspiration of the ‘Gospel’ in which it was found. " (Barnes.) A laborer is worthy of his pay, or wages. A pastor being engaged all the time in the service of the congregation, either directly or indirectly, it follows that he must be given his livelihood by the people whom he serves. But the support thus offered by the congregation cannot be considered adequate payment for the imparting of blessings that cannot be paid with all the money of the world. The maintenance of pastors is not a matter of charity, but of plain duty on the part of the congregations.
The apostle next takes up the matter of accusations against the elders of the congregation: Against an elder do not accept a charge except by two or three witnesses. It was to be expected that the ruling elders of the congregation, the members of the presbytery, would be subject to suspicion and criticism, partly from jealousy, partly from ignorance. This situation St. Paul meets in time by giving this rule for cases of that kind. Timothy, as the apostolic delegate, was in no way to accept such accusations, not permit them to be discussed, unless the testimony of at least two or three witnesses was available, Deu 19:15. It was of prime importance that the dignity of the ministerial office should be guarded, and that mere suspicions and conjectures should not be permitted to hinder the course of the Gospel.
On the other hand, of course, it was necessary to make use of the utmost severity in dealing with a real offense: Those that sin rebuke before all that the others also may have fear. If it should happen that an elder become guilty of some grave offense against morality, such as adultery, drunkenness, and other sins, where the guilt is apparent or easily proved, especially if the official concerned was making a practice of such sins, there Timothy should administer his rebuke immediately and with great emphasis. For it is by means of such offenses that the greatest harm is done in the Christian Church. A sharp, rebuke would have the purpose, not only of correcting the erring brother and bringing him to his senses, but also of serving as a warning to others, that is, to the other members of the presbytery. To use just the right words in a case of this kind and to be tactful in just the right way is not an easy matter. The apostle therefore adds the solemn adjuration: I charge thee before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels that thou observe these points without prejudice, doing nothing according to partiality. He calls upon God, the Lord of heaven, upon Christ Jesus, the Lord of the Church, upon all the elect or holy angels, as witnesses of his earnest charge. Timothy should remember that all these were vitally interested in the work and success of the Church, and should govern all his actions accordingly. His attitude must be one of absolute impartiality, his judgment should be influenced neither by personal likes nor dislikes. As there is no respect of persons with God, so Timothy should discard all outside influences and let the facts of the case decide the matter.
More important, however, than the proper adjustment of matters after an offense of this kind was that of avoiding them altogether, if possible: Lay hands hurriedly on no man. Timothy was not to be too anxious about accepting or ordaining men as presbyters or elders. The proper examination of every candidate’s qualifications was never to be omitted, lest someone be ordained and installed in the work of the ministry who might later prove altogether unfit for the office. Should this occur, the criticism would later strike Timothy, and that with full justice. For that reason the apostle adds the warning: Nor become partaker of other men’s sins. Should Timothy perform the ordination of some man, thereby declaring him to possess the necessary ability and character for the office, whereas it would later appear that the man was altogether unworthy of the ministry, especially if false ambition, avarice, and other sins of like kind should be proved, then the blame would certainly fall upon the ordinant for his hasty action, and he would be considered guilty with the sinner.
Timothy was to keep his hands entirely clean in the matter, for which reason St. Paul adds a few rules: Thyself keep pure; namely, from this offense and from every other evil. He should not become guilty of laxity, of lack of proper care. He should keep himself morally clean, guard against every pollution of the body and of the spirit. That Paul here does not advocate a false abstinence is shown in his next words: Be no longer a water-drinker; but use a little wine on account of thy stomach and thy frequent attacks of weakness. It may be that Timothy had made it a permanent practice of fasting and denying himself even the necessities demanded for good health and for that reason was in danger of becoming ill. The drinking of a little wine, therefore, would stimulate his appetite and benefit his stomach. Note: If abstinence from food or drink endangers the health, a decent regard for the Fifth Commandment demands the changing of habits that are dangerous.
After these parenthetical remarks, which were intended for Timothy alone, the apostle returns to his subject: The sins of certain men are manifest from the beginning before the Judgment, some men they follow after. This is a general truth, but with a very specific application to the case in hand, the ordaining of unworthy, incompetent men for the office of elder or pastor. Timothy was to make his judgment, his examination, with great care in the case of every candidate for the holy office. It would then become manifest that the sins of some men: their gross transgressions, were so well known that they appeared in advance at the examination and declared the candidate to be unworthy. In the case of others, however, the unworthiness would become apparent only by a careful weighing of the evidence offered. If there were any suspicious circumstances at all, the apostle wanted his representative to look into the matter very carefully and not to make a hasty conclusion.
However, just as it was with the sins of some, so it was with the good works and excellencies of other candidates: Likewise also the excellent works are manifest, and those in whose case the opposite is true cannot remain hidden. In most cases the really excellent works of a man mill be known far and wide, will receive their merited praise. And where the matter is not so plain, where a candidate is very reluctant about revealing any praiseworthy act, or where the jealousy of enemies makes every effort to corer his worth, there the examination will nevertheless, if conducted properly, result in the correct judgment of the situation. If this care in the selection of able candidates for the holy office were at all times exercised, it would undoubtedly result in raising the dignity and the worth of the ministry to a much higher level than it occupies at the present time.
Summary.The apostle discusses the manner in which Timothy should administer rebukes, how the widows in the congregation are to be taken care of, and treats at length of the qualifications of a widow that expects to be supported by the congregation; he speaks also of the honor due to the elders and of the care which must be exercised in selecting candidates for this important office.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv17, 19, 21 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Paul again talks of how elders (overseers) should be treated and then gives Timothy some personal instructions.
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Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy
This can be stated in active form. AT: "All believers should think of the elders who are good leaders as worthy" (See: Active or Passive)
double honor
Possible meanings are 1) "respect and payment" or 2) "more respect than others receive"
those who work with the word and in teaching
Paul speaks about the word as if it is an object that a person can work with. AT: "those who preach and teach God's word" (See: Metaphor)
For the scripture says
This is personification that means that this is what someone has written in the scriptures. AT: "For we read in the scriptures that" (See: Personification)
You shall not put a muzzle on an ox while it treads the grain
Paul is using this quotation as a metaphor meaning that church leaders deserve to receive payment from the Christian community for their work. (See: Metaphor)
muzzle
a sleeve that goes over an animal's snout and mouth to prevent it from eating while it is doing work (See: Translate Unknowns)
treads the grain
And ox "treads the grain" when it walks on or pulls a heavy object over the cut grain to separate the grain from the stalks. The ox was allowed to eat some of the grain as they worked.
is worthy of
"deserves"
translationWords
elder
rule
worthy
honor
word
teach
word of God
cow
grain
labor
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv16, 17, 19, 20, 21 5:16 Individual Christian households maintained their function and identity…
5:16 Individual Christian households maintained their function and identity within the church (cp. 2:15; 3:15). They were not eclipsed by the church, although the household of God is primary to the identity of the believing community (see Mark 3:31-35).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.