Don’t receive an accusation against an elder, except at the word of two or three witnesses. Those who sin, reprove in the sight of all, that the rest also may be in fear. I 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. Lay hands hastily on no one. Don’t be a participant in other people’s sins. Keep yourself pure.
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1 Timothy 5:19-22 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Don’t receive an accusation against an elder, except at the word of two or three witnesses. Those who sin, reprove in the sight of all, that the rest also may be in fear. I 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. Lay hands hastily on no one. Don’t be a participant in other people’s sins. Keep yourself pure. Be no longer a drinker of water only, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.
Parallel Translations
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Don’t receive an accusation against an elder, except at the word of two or three witnesses.
Those who sin, reprove in the sight of all, that the rest also may be in fear.
I 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.
Lay hands hastily on no one. Don’t be a participant in other people’s sins. Keep yourself pure.
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Agaynst an elder receave none accusacion: but vnder two or thre witnesses.
Them that synne rebuke openly that other maye feare.
I testifie before god and the lorde Iesus Christ and the electe angels that thou observe these thynges with out hasty iudgement and do nothynge parcially.
Laye hondes sodely on no man nether be partaker of other mens synnes: kepe thy silfe pure.
Show all 3 translations
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Against an Elder receiue none accusation, but vnder two or three witnesses.
Them that sinne, rebuke openly, that the rest also may feare.
I charge thee before God and the Lord Iesus Christ, and the elect Angels, that thou obserue these thinges without preferring one to an other, and doe nothing partially.
Lay handes suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other mens sinnes: keepe thy selfe pure.
Cross-references (63)
- Ephesians 5:11 (v22) Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them.
- 1 Timothy 3:10 (v22) Let them also first be tested; then let them serve if they are blameless.
- 1 Timothy 3:6 (v22) not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
- Deuteronomy 13:11 (v20) All Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall not do any more wickedness like this among you.
- Matthew 18:16 (v19) But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Show all 63 cross-references
- 1 Timothy 1:20 (v20) of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme.
- 1 Timothy 4:14 (v22) Don’t neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the elders.
- 2 Timothy 4:2 (v20) preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all patience and teaching.
- Titus 1:13 (v20) This testimony is true. For this cause, reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,
- Deuteronomy 19:15 (v19) One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth…
- Acts 5:11 (v20) Great fear came on the whole assembly, and on all who heard these things.
- Acts 6:6 (v22) whom they set before the apostles. When they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
- Galatians 2:11-14 (v20) But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before some people came from James, he ate with…
- 2 Timothy 1:6 (v22) For this cause, I remind you that you should stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
- 2 Timothy 2:2 (v22) The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
- 2 John 1:11 (v22) for he who welcomes him participates in his evil deeds.
- Deuteronomy 19:20 (v20) Those who remain shall hear, and fear, and will never again commit any such evil among you.
- Acts 5:5 (v20) Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and died. Great fear came on all who heard these things.
- Acts 13:3 (v22) Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
- 2 Corinthians 13:1 (v19) This is the third time I am coming to you. “At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”
- 1 Timothy 4:12 (v22) Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in…
- Hebrews 6:2 (v22) of the teaching of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
- Deuteronomy 17:6 (v19) At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put…
- Deuteronomy 17:13 (v20) All the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
- Deuteronomy 21:21 (v20) All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from among you. All Israel shall hear, and fear.
- 1 Timothy 6:13 (v21) I command you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession,
- 2 Timothy 4:1 (v21) I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom:
- Titus 1:6 (v19) if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior.
- 2 Peter 2:4 (v21) For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for…
- Leviticus 19:17 (v20) “ ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.
- Acts 18:6 (v22) When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now…
- Acts 19:17 (v20) This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived at Ephesus. Fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
- Acts 20:26 (v22) Therefore I testify to you today that I am clean from the blood of all men,
- 2 Corinthians 5:16 (v21) Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.
- 2 Timothy 2:14 (v21) Remind them of these things, charging them in the sight of the Lord, that they don’t argue about words, to no profit, to the subverting of…
- Hebrews 10:28 (v19) A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses.
- Jude 1:6 (v21) Angels who didn’t keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the…
- Revelation 18:4 (v22) I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don’t…
- Deuteronomy 19:18-19 (v19) and the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his…
- Matthew 25:41 (v21) Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his…
- John 8:17 (v19) It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.
- Acts 25:16 (v19) I answered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to give up any man to destruction before the accused has met the accusers face to…
- Titus 1:5-9 (v22) I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking and appoint elders in every city, as I…
- James 2:1-4 (v21) My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality. For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes…
- Leviticus 19:15 (v21) “ ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your…
- Deuteronomy 1:7 (v21) Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the places near there: in the Arabah, in the hill…
- Deuteronomy 33:9 (v21) He said of his father, and of his mother, ‘I have not seen him.’ He didn’t acknowledge his brothers, nor did he know his own children; for…
- Joshua 9:14 (v22) The men sampled their provisions, and didn’t ask counsel from Yahweh’s mouth.
- Psalms 107:43 (v21) Whoever is wise will pay attention to these things. They will consider the loving kindnesses of Yahweh.
- Psalms 119:34 (v21) Give me understanding, and I will keep your law. Yes, I will obey it with my whole heart.
- Proverbs 18:5 (v21) To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.
- Malachi 2:9 (v21) “Therefore I have also made you contemptible and wicked before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had…
- Matthew 16:27 (v21) For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
- Matthew 28:20 (v21) teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
- Luke 20:21 (v21) They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right, and aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God.
- John 18:29 (v19) Pilate therefore went out to them, and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
- Acts 11:30 (v19) which they also did, sending it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
- Acts 15:37-38 (v21) Barnabas planned to take John, who was called Mark, with them also. But Paul didn’t think that it was a good idea to take with them someone…
- Acts 24:2-13 (v19) When he was called, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “Seeing that by you we enjoy much peace, and that prosperity is coming to this…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:27 (v21) I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the holy brothers.
- James 3:17 (v21) But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and…
- Revelation 12:7-9 (v21) There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. They didn’t prevail. No place…
- Revelation 14:10 (v21) he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv19–22 19 Against an elder receive not an accusation After…
19 Against an elder receive not an accusation After having commanded that salaries should be paid to pastors, he likewise instructs Timothy not to allow them to be assailed by calumnies, or loaded with any accusation but what is supported by sufficient proof. But it may be thought strange, that he represents, as peculiar to elders, a law which is common to all. God lays down, authoritatively, this law as applicable to all cases, that they shall be decided “by the mouth of two or three witnesses.” (Deuteronomy 17:6; Matthew 18:16.) Why then does the Apostle protect elders alone by this privilege, as if it were peculiar to them, that their innocence shall be defended against false accusations?
I reply, this is a necessary remedy against the malice of men; for none are more liable to slanders and calumnies than godly teachers. Not only does it arise from the difficulty of their office, that sometimes they either sink under it, or stagger, or halt, or blunder, in consequence of which wicked men seize many occasions for finding fault with them; but there is this additional vexation, that, although they perform their duty correctly, so as not to commit any error whatever, they never escape a thousand censures. And this is the craftiness of Satan, to draw away the hearts of men from ministers, that instruction may gradually fall into contempt. Thus not only is wrong done to innocent persons, in having their reputation unjustly wounded, (which is exceedingly base in regard to those who hold so honorable a rank,) but the authority of the sacred doctrine of God is diminished.
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And this is what Satan, as I have said, chiefly labors to accomplish; for not only is the saying of Plato true in this instance, that “the multitude are malicious, and envy those who are above them,” but the more earnestly any pastor strives to advance the kingdom of Christ, so much the more is he loaded with envy, and so much the fiercer are the assaults made on him. Not only so, but as soon as any charge against the ministers of the word has gone abroad, it is believed as fully as if they were already convicted. This is not merely owing to the higher degree of moral excellence which is demanded from them, but because almost all are tempted by Satan to excessive credulity, so that, without making any inquiry, they eagerly condemn their pastors, whose good name they ought rather to have defended.
On good grounds, therefore, Paul opposes so heinous iniquity, and forbids that elders shall be subjected to the slanders of wicked men till they have been convicted by sufficient proof. We need not wonder, therefore, if they whose duty it is to reprove the faults of all, to oppose the wicked desires of all, and to restrain by their severity every person whom they see going astray, have many enemies. What, then, will be the consequence; if we shall listen indiscriminately to all the slanders that are spread abroad concerning them?
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 vv19–22 The second rule: Let no accusation be admitted against…
The second rule: Let no accusation be admitted against an Elder, but under two or three witnesses.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv19–22 19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but…
19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.
Ver. 19. Receive not an accusation] If to be accused were sufficient to make a man guilty, no good minister should be innocent. Praedicare nihil aliud est quam derivare in se furorem totius mundi, saith Luther. Truth hath always a scratched face. Men hate him that reproveth in the gate. Every fool hath a bolt to shoot at a faithful preacher.
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 vv19–22 Against an elder; whether an elder in years or…
Against an elder; whether an elder in years or in office, though the latter being the persons formerly spoken of, seen here principally intended.
Recieve not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses; that is, not to proceed to any judicial inquiry upon it, Deu 17:6. This was a law concerning all elders or younger persons, especially in capital causes, but the apostle willeth this to be more specially observed as to officers in the church, whose faithful discharge of their trusts usually more exposeth them to people’s querulous tongues.
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 vv19, 22 Here our apostle directs Timothy how to proceed in…
Here our apostle directs Timothy how to proceed in church censures against open offenders: which plainly shows, that there was a right of judging and censuring offenders in Timothy, by virtue of his office.
First then he begins to acquaint him with his duty in censuring an elder, and advises him never to admit an accusation against such, without the attestation of two or three witnesses: because,
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1. It is the interest of the church of Christ, that the reputation of its ministers be supported.
2. Because prejudiced persons will be ready to accuse without reason.
Conscientious ministers shall never want accusers, if false accusers can but find judges that are willing to believe them: therefore against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses:
Next he advises him, when there is a just and sufficient cause for censuring an elder, to do it publicly. Then that sin, that is, such elders as sin, and are convicted of it, and so become scandalous by it, rebuke before all the church, before all the clergy as in a synod, putting them to public shame, that others may fear to sin, seeing thee to punish so publicly and impartially.
Lastly, he concludes his advice with a very solemn charge to Timothy, before God and Christ and the glorious angels, to observe these rules of justice in ecclesiastical judicature, without preferring one man before another, doing nothing by a partial respect of persons.
Learn hence, That so heinous is the sin of unjust and unrighteous judging, especially in ecclesiastical persons, and of such fatal mischief to the church, that all imaginable care and caution ought to be taken to prevent both the sin and the danger of it. I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, that thou observe these things.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv19–22 Them that sin rebuke before all,.... This the apostle…
Them that sin rebuke before all,.... This the apostle adds to the above rule, to show that he was far from screening wicked ministers, or elders, guilty of flagitious crimes, and gross enormities: for these words, though they may be applied unto, and may hold good of all offenders, that are members of churches; yet they seem chiefly to regard elders, even such who sin, who continue to sin, who live in sin, in some notorious sin or another; which is evident and known, to the great scandal of religion, and dishonour of the Gospel: and so some read the words, "them that sin before all, rebuke"; not only admonish once and again, but degrade them from their office, and withdraw from them, as from other disorderly persons, and cut them off, and cast them out of the church, and that in a public manner; and so the Arabic version renders it, "before the congregation": which was done only in case of notorious offences: and which rule is observed by the Jews, and runs thus (h);
"a wise man, an elder in wisdom, and so a prince, or the father of the sanhedrim, that sins, they do not excommunicate him (with Niddui) always "publicly", unless he does as Jeroboam the son of Nebat and his companions; but when he sins other sins, they chastise him privately.''
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The end is,
that others also may fear; that other elders, or other members of the church, or both, may fear to do the same evil things, lest they incur the same censure and punishment: the Syriac version reads, "other men"; and the Arabic version, "the rest of the people". The phrase seems to be taken out of Deu 13:11.
(h) Maimon. Talmud Tora, c. 7. sect. 1.
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 vv19–22 Against an elder - Or presbyter. Do not even…
Against an elder - Or presbyter. Do not even receive an accusation, unless by two or three witnesses - By the Mosaic law, a private person might be cited (though not condemned) on the testimony of one witness; but St. Paul forbids an elder to be even cited on such evidence, his reputation being of more importance than that of others.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv19–22 Verse 19. Against an elder] Be very cautious of…
Verse 19. Against an elder] Be very cautious of receiving evil reports against those whose business it is to preach to others, and correct their vices. Do not consider an elder as guilty of any alleged crime, unless it be proved by two or three witnesses. This the law of Moses required in respect to all. Among the Romans, a plebeian might be condemned on the deposition of one credible witness; but it required two to convict a senator. The reason of this difference is evident: those whose business it is to correct others will usually have many enemies; great caution, therefore, should be used in admitting accusations against such persons.
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 vv19, 21, 22 1Ti 5:19-20. Against an elder — Or presbyter; do…
1Ti 5:19-20. Against an elder — Or presbyter; do not even receive an accusation — Unless it is offered to be proved by two or three credible witnesses — By the Mosaic law a private person might be cited (though not condemned) on the testimony of one witness. But St. Paul forbids an elder to be even cited on such evidence, his reputation being of more importance than that of others. Them that sin — Namely, openly and scandalously, and are duly convicted; rebuke before all the church, that others also may fear — To commit the like offences.
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 vv19–22 Against an elder - The word “elder” here seems…
Against an elder - The word “elder” here seems to be used in the sense in which it is in the previous verse as relating to “office,” and not in the sense of an aged man, as in 1Ti 5:1. The connection demands this interpretation.
Receive not an accusation - He was not to regard such a charge as well founded unless sustained by two or three witnesses. It is clear from this, that Paul supposed that Timothy would be called on to hear charges against others who were in the ministerial office, and to express his judgment on such cases. There is no reason, however, to suppose that he meant that he should hear them alone, or as a “bishop,” for this direction does not make the supposition improper that others would be associated with him. It is just such counsel as would now be given to a Presbyterian or congregational minister, or such as would be given to an associate justice in a court, on the supposition that a brother judge was at any time to be tried by him and his colleagues.
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But before two or three witnesses - Margin, “under.” The meaning is, unless supported by the testimony of two or three persons. He was not to regard an accusation against a presbyter as proved, if there was but one witness in the case, however positive he might be in his testimony. The reasons for this direction were probably such as these:
(1) This was the requirement of the Jewish law in all cases, which had thus settled a principle which the apostle seems to have regarded as important, if not obligatory, under the Christian dispensation; see Deu 17:6; Deu 19:15; compare notes on Joh 8:17; 2Co 13:1.
(2) There would be much greater reason to apprehend that one person might be deceived in the matter on which he bore witness, or might do it from malignant motives, or might be bribed to give false testimony, than that two or three would give such testimony; and the arrangement, therefore, furnished important security for the innocent.
(3) There might be reason to apprehend that evil-minded persons might be disposed to bring charges against the ministers of the gospel or other officers of the church, and it was important, therefore, that their rights should be guarded with anxious care. The ministers of religion often give offence to wicked people by their rebukes of sin (compare Mar 6:17-20); wicked people would rejoice to see an accusation against them sustained; the cause of religion would be liable to suffer much when its ministers were condemned as guilty of gross offences, and it is right, therefore, that the evidence in the case should be as free as possible from all suspicion that it is caused by malignity, by hatred of religion, or by conspiracy, or by a desire to see religion disgraced.
(4) The character of a minister of the gospel is of value, not only to himself and family, as is the case with that of other people, but is of special value to the church, and to the cause of religion. It is the property of the church. The interests of religion depend much on it, and it should not be wantonly assailed; and every precaution should be adopted that Christianity should not be deprived of the advantage which may be derived in its favor from the piety, experience, and talents of its public defenders. At the same time, however, the wicked, though in the ministry, should not be screened from the punishment which they deserve. The apostle gave no injunction to attempt to cover up their faults, or to save them from a fair trial. He only demanded such security as the nature of the case required, that the trial should be fair. If a minister of the gospel has been proved to be guilty of crime, the honor of religion, as well as simple justice, requires that he shall be punished as he deserves. He sins against great light; he prostitutes a holy office, and makes use of the very reputation which his office gives him, that he may betray the confidence of others; and such a man should not escape. There should be no “benefit of clergy,” and neither a black coat, nor bands, nor the lawn should save a villain.
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 vv19–22 Against a priest. The word presbyter[9] is commonly here…
Against a priest. The word presbyter[9] is commonly here expounded of bishops and priests; though St. John Chrysostom understands it of men advanced in age. --- Receive not an accusation; i.e. do not sit as judge, nor hearken to such information. (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Adversus presbyterum, Greek: kata presbuterou. And St. John Chrysostom, (p. 313.) Greek: ten elikian.
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv19–22 Against an elder--a presbyter of the Church.
Against an elder--a presbyter of the Church.
receive not--"entertain not" [ALFORD].
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but before two or three witnesses--A judicial conviction was not permitted in Deu 17:6; Deu 19:15, except on the testimony of at least two or three witnesses (compare Mat 18:16; Joh 8:17; Co2 13:1; Jo1 5:6-7). But Timothy's entertaining an accusation against anyone is a different case, where the object was not judicially to punish, but to admonish: here he might ordinarily entertain it without the need of two or three witnesses; but not in the case of an elder, since the more earnest an elder was to convince gainsayers (Tit 1:9), the more exposed would he be to vexatious and false accusations. How important then was it that Timothy should not, without strong testimony, entertain a charge against presbyters, who should, in order to be efficient, be "blameless" (Ti1 3:2; Tit 1:6). Ti1 5:21, Ti1 5:24 imply that Timothy had the power of judging in the Church. Doubtless he would not condemn any save on the testimony of two or three witnesses, but in ordinary cases he would cite them, as the law of Moses also allowed, though there were only one witness. But in the case of elders, he would require two or three witnesses before even citing them; for their character for innocence stands higher, and they are exposed to envy and calumny more than others "Receive" does not, as ALFORD thinks, include both citation and conviction, but means only the former.
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 vv19–22 19. Trial of elders.
19. Trial of elders.
Two or three witnesses—Moses (Deu_19:15) required that number of witnesses to condemn a man; St. Paul requires that number to even put an elder on trial. The character of the man demanded a double amount of presumption against him.
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 vv19–22 19. Against an elder] A continuation of Timothy’s official…
19. Against an elder] A continuation of Timothy’s official duties towards the presbyters, as is indicated by the context. The Mosaic precept here referred to is given in its most general terms, Deu_19:15, ‘One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin … at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.’ So the preposition rendered by A.V. here ‘before’ is more exactly given R.V. at the mouth of, the phrase being given thus in full, Mat_18:16. Winer’s note, § 47, 9th ed. ‘by, with, on the testimony of … witnesses’ is more exact than the phrase in his text ‘before witnesses.’ The reason for being particular here is that in our idiom ‘to hear a thing only before witnesses’ implies merely sufficient publicity and evidence of its having been heard, an entirely different thing from what the Greek conveys with the context. The preposition by itself would equally well bear either meaning e.g. (1) in 2Co_7:14, ‘our glorying which I made before Titus;’ (2) in the common phrase ‘of a truth,’ Luk_4:25, ‘of a truth,’ i.e. with, on the firm basis of truth, ‘I say unto you.’ Both meanings come from the proper notion of superposition.
but before] Lit. to give an English colloquial pleonasm, ‘except unless.’ So with more stress than ‘but,’ except it be. The phrase occurs 1Co_15:2, where R.V. alters ‘unless’ into ‘except.’ Cf. the old use of ‘but’ according to its derivation, ‘touch not a cat but without a glove,’ and Spenser
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‘But this I read that but its remedy
Thou her afford, full shortly I her dead shall see.’
This direction is to be regarded as embodying the sense of what St Paul wished to convey under the form of another quotation from O.T., so that we should paraphrase, ‘except it be,’ in the spirit of the old precept, ‘at the mouth of two or three witnesses,’ and so Drs Westcott and Hort print the words. This is the simplest answer to De Wette’s question whether Timothy is not to observe this judicial rule in all cases as well as merely in the case of an elder. There is no question of the precise observance of this or any other purely ceremonial precepts any longer. The spirit however lives; ‘judge, rebuke, but never on ill-supported accusations.’
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 vv19–22 (19) Against an elder receive not an accusation, but…
(19) Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.—By the “elder” here we must understand a presbyter—the ordained minister of the Church. St. Paul has been directing his son in the faith, and successor in the government of the chief Asian Church, carefully to watch for, and to reward by dignity and honour, the services of the more zealous and distinguished presbyters. He now tells him that the other matters, besides zeal and successful service among the Church’s professed officers, will come before him when he stands at the helm of the Church. Charges—owing, possibly, to jealousy, party feeling, suspected doctrinal error—will not unfrequently be brought against a presbyter. Such an accusation is only to be received by Timothy when the evidence is perfectly clear. Every possible precaution against simply vexatious charges brought against one occupying the hard and difficult position of a presbyter, must be taken by the presiding minister. The reference is to Deu_17:6.
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 vv19–22 Except at the mouth of for but before, A.V…
Except at the mouth of for but before, A.V An elder; here clearly a presbyter, as the context proves. Receive (paradecou); give ear to, entertain; as in Act_22:18, "They will not receive thy testimony." At the mouth of, etc. There is a reference to the law in Numbers Deu_19:15, and elsewhere (to which our Lord also refers, (Joh_8:17) and St. Paul applies the principle of the law to Timothy"s dealings with presbyters who might be accused of not "ruling well." He was not to encourage delatores, secret accusers and defamers, but if any one had a charge to make against a ruler, it was to be done in the presence of witnesses (ejpi with a genitive). A doubt arises whether" the witnesses" here spoken of were to be witnesses able to support the accusation, or merely witnesses in whose presence the accusation must be made. The juxtaposition of the legal terms kathgoria and ejpirwn favors the strict meaning of marturwn, witnesses able to support the kathgoria. And, therefore, the direction to Timothy is, "Suffer no man to accuse a presbyter unless he is accompanied by two or three witnesses who are ready to back up the accusation." The italic the mouth of, in the R.V, is not necessary or indeed justified. There is no ellipsis of stomatov. jEtio h triwn% marturwn, before two or three witnesses," is good classical Greek.
Directions as to accusations against elders.
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an elder receive not an accusation, except it be upon two or three witnesses.
I ELDERS MAY BE EXPOSED TO SUCH ACCUSATIONS BY THEIR VERY ZEAL AND FAITHFULNESS.
1. Their duty being to convince the gainsayers and to reprove the faults of men, they would be exposed to the risk of false accusation. Good ministers would be oftener accused if their accusers could but find judges willing to receive their charges.
2. It is the interest of the Church of Christ to maintain the reputation of its ministers unchallenged. It involves a sort of scandal for them to be accused at all, even though they should afterwards be cleared.
II THE COURSE RECOMMENDED IN CASES OF THIS SORT.
1. It diminishes the chances of such charges being made, that the testimony of a single malicious witness will not suffice to have an accusation even formally considered.
2. It would be a serious discouragement to a good minister for such charges to be entertained upon partial or defective evidence.
3. The deference due to the position of a man chosen by the Church as its pastor demanded a wise caution in the reception of charges against him.
4. Yet it was the duty of Timothy to make an investigation supported by adequate evidence. There is nothing in the minister"s position to exempt him from a just inquiry and its due consequences . 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 v22 1Ti_5:17; 1Ti_5:22
1Ti_5:17; 1Ti_5:22
Let the elders that rule well
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Duties towards the ministry
I.
Its faithfulness should be honoured. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour.
II. Its reputation should be cherished.
1. We ought to be slow to believe evil. Against an elder (here used in the official sense and not with reference to age) receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses, or (as the Revised Version has it), except at the mouth of two or three witnesses. The reference is obviously to a well-known Mosaic law. Timothy was not to be credulous of evil reports, he was to pay no attention to mere gossip, and still less was he to show any encouragement to slanderers. He was not appointed specially as a judge; but in contentions, such as unhappily arose in the Church, his authority would often be appealed to. Again and again noble reputations have been ruined by slander, and the injustice and wickedness of the charges have only been demonstrated when it was too late to repair the wrong. But while we are to be slow to believe evil--
2. We ought to be brave in the rebuke of evil. No fear of man, no mincing words to please fastidious ears, no wish to smother up iniquity, should be ours. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.
III. Its aspirants should be approved. Lay hands suddenly (or hastily) on no man. The custom of the laying on of hands dates back to patriarchal times. Jacob laid his hands on Ephraim and Manasseh when he blessed them. It was an appropriate indication of the subject of prayer, a solemn act of designation and of dedication; and in the apostolic days it was used to sanction and ratify the elective act of the Church. In such work we are not to be ruled by caprice, excluding one we dislike; nor by partiality, appointing our personal friends, or those having some claims upon us. I charge thee (says Paul) before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality. What could be a stronger inducement to the keeping of these commands than the realization of the fact that an unseen God and holy angels are near us, and that all our works, and even our purposes, are open and naked before Him with whom we have to do! And there is yet another word here for every Christian, especially for those who work for the Master, namely this: Be not partaker of other mens sins; keep thyself pure, for the emphasis in the original is to be laid just there. It is easy enough to see other peoples faults, and even to rebuke them; but beware lest any have occasion to turn on you and say, Physician, heal thyself. Purity in the sense of chastity is, no doubt, included here, for an impure life is fatal to a Christian and ruinous to his influence for good--nay, even if such evil is only harboured within, it will prove the paralysis of spiritual life. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)
Gifts to ministers
I became an usher in a school at Cambridge, and at the same time, when only sixteen years of age, accepted the pastorate at a Baptist chapel in the neighbourhood. After a while I gave up my post at the school, and was thrown on the generosity of the people, and they gave me a salary of L45 a year; but as I had to pay twelve shillings a week for two rooms which I occupied, the salary was not enough. But the people, though they had not money, had produce, and there was not a pig killed by any one of the congregation that I had not some portion of, and one or other of them would bring me bread, so that I had enough bread and meat to pay my rent with. An old man in that place who was a great miser, one afternoon gave me three half-crowns, and as I was wanting a new hat at the time I got it with the money. The following Sunday the old man came to me again, and asked me to pray for him that he might be saved from the sin of covetousness, and said, The Lord told me to give you half-a-sovereign, and I kept half-a-crown back, and I cant rest of a night for thinking of it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Providing for the minister
Claude, the Indian preacher, after his conversion a few years ago in Russian America, began to sing hymns and tell gospel truths to his idol-worshipping fellow-countrymen. The old medicine men there wept, cowed by the felt presence of Gods Holy Spirit. Claude, said his companions, it is too bad for you to chop wood. You ought to tell the people these things all the time. I should not have anything to eat if I did not chop wood, he replied. We will chop harder and later and get enough for you to live on too, said they. So Claude began to preach and teach. His support was salmon. Salmon for his breakfast, dinner, and supper, every day all the year. This was the salary of the first Protestant missionary to Alaska. Soon he had sixty scholars and an audience of from four to five hundred. Gods Spirit was poured out. There were sixty converted, and hundreds gave up their devil worship.
Payment of ministers
In one of his conferences with working men Dr. Parker said: Some people sneered at preachers because they accepted pay. He contended that the question of payment ought never to arise in estimating the value of a true ministry. He could order a table to be made and delivered at any time, hut where could he order a character to be made and delivered on such a day? The man who gave them a thought gave them inestimable riches. The man who gave them an inspiration lifted them up above fog and cloud and depression and difficulty and gave them a new start in life. If he were asked to go and speak to the humblest outcasts of London, then the question of payment ought not to arise: they were his brethren and sisters and friends and were in darkness, and he had the light. They should have the light for nothing. But when men came to him and said, The well-to-do people of Bath, and Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Bristol want to hear you, he asked, Were they to escape without remunerating the man who instructed them and ministered to their enjoyment? He was prepared to preach for nothing if the landlord, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker were agreeable, but these showed a brutal disregard for his feelings at quarter-day.
A question of payment
When addressing a body of working men, Bishop Wilberforce speaking of the nobility of true work, said, Though I am addressing an audience of working men, I may claim to be a working man myself, for I work as hard as any man here present. A voice called out from the middle of the room, But how about the pay? A burst of general laughter followed, which was, with some little difficulty, hushed down by those who thought that the bishop would be offended. But not a cloud passed across his face. His eye twinkled as he joined himself in the general merriment, and then, when silence was restored, without a moments hesitation, and the smile still playing upon his face, he said, My friend asks, how about the pay? I will tell him at once. You see I am paid the same whether I work or whether I dont. His audience saw at once the significance of his words: Work done for its own sake, not for greed or necessity. And the rafters of the roof above us rang again and again with their cheers. (Memoirs of Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
Ministers need encouragement
I know of a parsonage to which the death-angel came, and took to heaven a faithful and beloved under-shepherd. The kind members of his flock went to that desolate home, and could not say enough in praise of him whom they did truly love. A volume of his sermons was published, and widely circulated. Then the broken-hearted wife said: Oh, if they had only said one-half to him which they now say to me, how it would have lightened his labour and rejoiced his heart! I know of another parsonage to which a pastor returned, after a Sabbath of extreme mental fatigue, and of intensely loving work for his people. The almost agonizing tone with which he said: Not one kind word to-day, and Ive done my very best, would have met a kind response from every parishioners heart, could all have heard it. Not one kind word to-day. I know of a pastor to whom a parishioner said one Sunday evening: I have been benefited by both sermons to-day. When his pastor replied: It always helps me to hear that, this warm-hearted man said: If I always told you when I feel benefited by your sermons, it would be very often. I wish you could have heard the prayer of humble thankfulness which went up to heaven from the family altar in that pastors study that night. (Dr. Hoge.)
Doing nothing by partiality.
Partiality to be avoided
A suggestive anecdote comes to us just now from New York. One of the good clergymen of that city lately travelling, was engaged in pleasant conversation with a friend. He presently found himself greatly annoyed by a drunken fellow-passenger on the seat in front, who recognized him, and persisted in trying to take his share in the conversation. At last, losing all patience, our clerical friend arose, and, pushing his annoyer aside rather roughly, exclaimed: You are drunk, and I dont want to have anything to do with you. At this his unfortunate interlocutor was for a moment silent, and then, turning and gazing reproachfully at the irritated clergyman, replied, in a tone so loud as to be heard nearly through the entire car: Mr.--, pears to me you dont care very much about my soul. It is one thing, truly, to care about the souls of the intelligent, and the cultivated, and the agreeable and the clean, to say nothing of the temperate, and quite another thing to care about the souls of the ignorant and the ill-mannered and the unclean. And yet it must not be forgotten that the claims of this latter class are just as strong upon the Christian Church and the Christian worker, as the former, and that in our efforts to bring men to God we are not to select those who present themselves agreeably to us, but are to take them as they come.
1Ti_5:22
Neither be partaker of other mens sins.
How must we reprove, that we may not partake of other mens sins?
I. How a man maybe said to partake of other mens sins.
1. By contrivance. Thus Jonadab was guilty of Amnons incest, by his subtle contrivance of that wickedness, by being a pander to that villainy (2Sa_13:5). When a man shall wittingly and willingly spread a snare in his brothers way, and either drive him in by provocation, or decoy him in by allurement, he makes himself a partaker of his sin. For example: to provoke a man to passion, to tempt a person to drunkenness and uncleanness, to put a man upon murder and bloodshed, to draw souls into error, heresy, blasphemy, etc.,--this is to espouse and adopt the sin, and to make it a mans own. You know the story there, 2Sa_11:1-27.: Uriah was slain with the edge of the sword; David was many miles off when Uriah was slain: Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon (2Sa_12:9). The Ammonites slew him, but David murdered him. St. Paul tells us he was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious.
2. By compliance. By consenting and complying with sin and sinners: so a man makes himself partaker. Though he has no hand in it, yet, if he has a heart in it; though he does not act it, yet if he likes it, and loves it, and approves it. Saul--He had no hand in St. Stephens death, he did not cast one stone at him; but because he looked on with approbation, and stood by with consent--Saul was consenting unto his death (Act_8:1). You may murder a man with a thought, as they say the basilisk will with a look.
3. By connivance. By a sinful dissembling, flattering, and winking at others in their wickedness and sins, so men become guilty of others sins: The leaders of this people cause them to err (Isa_9:16): it is in the Hebrew, The blessers of this people cause them to err. Beloved, the blessers of men in wickedness are the leaders of men in wickedness.
4. By sufferance. By permitting the sins of others, so we become guilty, by suffering others to sin, whom we are bound in duty, and may be able by authority, to hinder.
5. By influence of bad example. By setting loose and bad examples for others to imitate. So men are guilty of others sins; as, namely, when children sin by the examples of their parents, those very parents are guilty of their childrens sins. So it is here: he that sets an evil example sins not alone; he draws hundreds, it may be, into sin after him. He is like a man that sets his own house on fire; if, burns many of his neighbours, and he is to be answerable for all the ruins.
6. By inference from a bad example, or by imitation. So a man is guilty of another mans sin, not only by pattern, in setting bad examples, but also by practice, in following bad examples; and thus that man that will be drunk because another was drunk, or that breaks the Sabbath because others do the like--he is not only guilty of his own particular sin, but he is guilty also of their sins whom he imitates and follows; and the reason is, because bad examples are not land-marks for us to go by, but they are sea-marks for us to avoid. And this is the woful, intricate, perplexed labyrinth into which sin doth precipitate careless and ungodly sinners. If thou committest that sin which none before committed but thee, thou art guilty of all the sins of future generations by thy example--as Adam was in the world, and Jeroboam in Israel. And if thou committest any sin because others have committed it before thee, thou art guilty of all the sins of former generations by thy imitation: and so sin never goes alone; a single sin is as great a solecism in divinity as a single thank is in grammar and morality.
7. By countenance. By delightful society and company with wicked men to countenance them, so we become partakers of their sins.
8. By maintenance. By upholding and encouraging men in their sins, though thou never committest them thyself, yet thou art guilty. He that biddeth him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds (2Jn_1:11).
II. Why a Christian must be careful to avoid, and not to partake of, other mens sins.
1. Out of a principle of charity to our brethren.
2. Out of a principle of pity to ourselves.
3. Out of a principle of piety to God.
III. application:
1. Is there such a thing as partaking of other mens sins after this manner?
(1) Hence you may be informed of the equity and justice of Gods proceeding in punishment.
(2) Hence be informed what piety, and strictness, and watchfulness are more especially required of those that have the care of others.
(3) Hence take an account why the wicked of the world do so hate the godly, and reproach and revile them. It is this: They will not be partakers of their sins: they will not commit them, neither will they connive at them; and this is the reason why the world hates them.
(4) Here is matter of reproof and humiliation this day for our want of watchfulness in this kind.
2. The second use is of exhortation and caution together.
Is it so, that it ought to be every mans care not to partake of any mans sin?
1. To lay down the arguments.
(1) Consider: You have sins enough of your own, you have no reason to partake of other mens. It is cruel to add affliction to your bonds.
(2) Consider: It is a most monstrous sin, it is a most dreadful sin, to partake of other mens sins. The apostle speaks of committing iniquity with greediness (Eph_4:19).
(3) Consider: If you partake of other mens sins, you shall certainly partake of other mens plagues. Come out of her, My people, says God, namely, from Babylon, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues (Rev_18:4). See Pro_13:20.
2. What sins we must especially take heed of partaking of. Of all sin whatsoever: Abstain from all appearance of evil (1Th_5:22); but especially of three sorts of sin, which may be called epidemical plagues.
(1) Church sins.
(2) National sins.
(3) Family sins.
3. Now, and in the last place, we come to the antidotes: How we must so carry it and order the business, as not to partake of other mens sins.
(1) Exercise an holy jealousy over others. Job, sacrificing for his children, said, It may be that my sons have sinned (Job_1:5).
(2) Watch against the sins of others. Have your eyes about, you: take heed of contriving, complying, winking at them.
(3) Pray against them.
(4) Mourn for them.
(5) Reprove them (Eze_3:17-19). If we would not partake of the sins of others, we must reprove the sins of others (Lev_19:1-37.; Eze_33:7-9). So the apostle saith expressly (Eph_5:11). (J. Kitchin, M. A.)
Partaking of other mens sins
It was a frequent petition of the illustrious St.-Augustine, Lord, forgive other mens sins! It is a petition which we all should constantly present to God; for we, all of us, in a greater or less degree, have been instrumental in producing that iniquity which deluges the world.
I. We are to show you by what means we may partake of other mens sins. We partake of other mens sins by uttering those sentiments which tend to subvert morality, or diminish our horror for guilt. If we propagate loose doctrines, if we scoff at serious piety, if we persuade men that an holy and heavenly life is not necessary, if we call evil good and good evil, we are murdering souls.
II. That we may in future be more guarded, let us attend to some of those motives which enforce the injunction of the apostle.
III. Some directions, to enable you to comply with the injunctions of the apostle.
1. Be careful that your own heart and life are holy. Sin is infectious; and as long as you are polluted with it, you must communicate its poison to those with whom you associate. Besides, if your own life is unholy, your conscience will prevent you from faithfully reproving sin in others, or your ill example will render your reproofs inefficacious.
2. Cultivate a high value and love for the souls of men. That which we love we shall not readily injure; and if we have a proper regard for immortal souls we shall rather forego many pleasures than give a wound to them.
3. Mourn before God for the sins of your brethren. When God passed through Jerusalem to smite it, He spared none but those who cried and sighed for the abominations that were done within it (Eze_9:4).
4. If we would not partake of the sins of others, we must reprove them. (H. Kollock.)
Participation in other mens sins
I. When do we make ourselves partakers of other mens sins?
1. Ministers make themselves partakers in the sins of their people, when those sins are occasioned by their own negligence, by their example, or by unfaithfulness in the discharge of their official duties.
2. Parents participate in the sins of their children, when they occasion, and when they might have prevented them. But further, parents partake in the guilt of their childrens sins when they might and do not prevent them.
3. The remarks, which have been made respecting parents, will apply, though perhaps somewhat less forcibly, to masters and guardians, and all who are concerned in the government and education of youth.
4. Churches become partakers of the sins of an individual member, when these sins are occasioned by a general neglect of brotherly watchfulness and reproof, and when they are tolerated by the Church in consequence of a neglect of Church discipline.
5. We all make ourselves partakers in other mens sins, when we either imitate or in any other way countenance and encourage them.
6. Members of civil communities partake of all the sins which they might, but do not prevent.
7. If private citizens partake of all the sins which they might have prevented, much more do rulers and magistrates. Subjects who have the privilege of choosing their own rulers and magistrates, make themselves partakers of all their sins, when they give their votes for vicious or irreligious characters.
II. To state some of the reasons which should induce us to guard against partaking of other mens sins.
1. If we partake of their sins, we shall share in their punishment.
2. It is impossible not to perceive how completely our subject justifies the con duct of those much insulted individuals, who have voluntarily associated for the purpose of assisting in executing the laws, and suppressing vice and immorality among us. (E. Payson, D. D.)
Participation in the sins of others
I. To specify some of the ways in which we may become partakers in other mens sins.
1. When, through the influence of custom, we fall in with habits which Scripture and conscience condemn.
2. When we fail to exert the power or influence we may possess, for the prevention or discountenance of sin.
3. When we connive at them, or lend our sanction to their improper concealment.
4. When we fail to manifest our abhorrence, on either witnessing or hearing of their commission.
5. By inconsiderately introducing them to stations, the duties or dangers of which they are utterly incompetent to meet.
II. How hardening and injurious will probably be the influence of such conduct on the minds of sinners.
III. How adapted such conduct too to weaken in the believers own mind impressions of the evil of sin in himself. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
Other mens sins
However hideous and hateful our own sins may be, still, from long familiarity with them, or from the pleasure they afford us, we excuse, or palliate, or forget them. But you look with unaffected and unmitigated horror and disgust on the sins of other men. The rich look with horror on the sins of the poor, and the poor with equal indignation loathe the sins of the rich. Now it is this which gives its horror to the thought expressed in our text. It speaks in a language which all can understand. It says to each man, Be not partaker in other mens sins. Let us consider, then, how, or in what way, we may partake in the sins of other men.
I. We may become partakers in other mens sins by learning to practise them. However alien to our own natural disposition, we are in danger of catching the infection of other mens sins--in danger of being corrupted and contaminated, and led to commit them, of learning to do and to delight in doing them. This world is like a hospital crowded with patients afflicted with various diseases. And here in our text the physician warns us to take heed lest in addition to our own disease we catch the infection of other diseases from our fellow-men, and aggravate and complicate our own by introducing their poison into our system. Each man has a sin which more easily besets him--a sin to which he is predisposed, which seems born in his nature. But there is no sin, however alien to our disposition at first, which may not be superinduced on our character, and become a second nature. Perhaps of all sins, acquired sins are the most inveterate. Though we escape the infection of other mens diseases, we may be responsible for their diseases and their death--diseases which we loathe and abominate. This is emphatically the lesson of the text.
II. We become partakers in other mens sins when we wilfully and knowingly entice or encourage them to sin--ay, even though we should scrupulously keep our hands from doing or our own hearts from desiring to do it. This is an acknowledged principle of eternal justice. It is acknowledged and acted on in our courts of law. He who instigates, or encourages, or countenances a theft is held as guilty as the actual thief. He who loosens the stone from the mountains brow is responsible not only for the blade of grass which it crushes in its first tardy movement, but for all the evil that it does in its downward career till it loses the momentum which he gave it, and lies motionless in the plain below. He is responsible for all the ruin it effects though he stands calmly at the top. Even so do we become partakers in all the deepening sins to which our first enticement gave birth. The schoolboy who has whispered in his companions ear a filthy word, or taught him an evil thought; the merchant who has shown his apprentice the tricks and fraudulent dishonesties of trade; the master who has enticed his servant to despise the Sabbath; the giddy youth who has defiled the mind of maiden purity or seduced from the paths of innocence--all these are partakers, not only in the first sin to which they were tempted, but in the long, black, ever-deepening catalogue of sins to which that first sin gave birth. True, indeed, the responsibility of their victims is not lessened by their participation in it.
III. We involve ourselves in other mens sins when we, through heedlessness and inattention, countenance or give them occasion to commit sin. Observe, I do not now speak of those who allow themselves to be corrupted by other mens sins, as under the first head, nor yet of those who intentionally corrupt others, as under the second head, but only of those who, through heedlessness and inattention, are the unwitting and unwilling occasions of countenancing others in sin. The guilt in this case is less than in the former instances, and the consequences are not so fearful to ourselves. This no less than the last is an acknowledged principle of justice. It is acknowledged and acted on in our courts of law. Has any one through heedlessness or want of attention caused the death of a fellow-man, he is acquitted of the crime of murder, but he is brought in as guilty of culpable manslaughter. His guilt is less, but is as clear. His punishment is less, but it is as sure. Does the traveller meet some accident, to the loss of property or the injury of his person, through the heedlessness or inattention of those who conveyed his property or himself, they are held responsible as persons guilty of culpable negligence, and if still persisted in to the frequent injury of others would be liable to severer punishment. But so it is in sober truth, and this for the first time is the point at which I take up the precise lesson of our text. I do not suppose that Paul thought it needful to warn Timothy against being corrupted by other mens sins. Nor can I imagine that he thought it necessary to forbid him from intentionally corrupting others. What, then, did he mean, unless it was to warn him that with the best intentions he might inadvertently, through inattention, involve himself in the guilt of other mens sins, sins which he hated himself, and which he mourned over in others? And so it was. Lay hands suddenly on no man, said Paul, and as an argument or motive to care and consideration, he added, Be not partaker in other mens sins. Having thus endeavoured to illustrate the general principles suggested by or embodied in our text, I might now allude to the encouragement and countenance that is given to drunkenness by the multiplied and unnecessary drinking customs which even good men maintain, but by which they become partakers in the sin of those who are thereby led away to excess. (W. Grant.)
Partaking of other mens sins
There is something which is very striking and very awful in the thought which is suggested to our minds in the words which have just been read. We have often heard it said that it is quite enough for any man in this world to answer for his own doings or misdoings; it is not fair to lay upon him any burden of guilt beyond that which is properly his own; or to attach to him any discredit because he comes, perhaps, of an ill-doing family; or because some one closely related to him has fallen into gross sin and shame. And if, in the nature of things, it is possible for us to help feeling as though a reflected disgrace were cast upon that person whose near kinsman has broken the laws of his country, for instance, and died a felons death, still we are ready at once to confess, when the thing is fairly put to us, that it is not fit or just to hold any human being responsible for that which has been done by another; and that it is quite enough to answer for the wrong which he has done himself. We tremble to think of the heavy load of responsibility and guilt which we have accumulated for ourselves. But can it be that this is not all; can it be that we have all of us more to answer for than we have ourselves done. There is a sense in which it is not possible for any man to be partaker in the sin of another. You cannot transfer responsibility. No man can justly be held responsible for that which he did not do; but then a man may do many things besides those which he does directly. A man may do many things at second-hand, so to speak; and in that case he is quite as responsible for them as if he had done them with his own hand. For instance, you can all understand that if any person hires another to commit a murder for him, both parties in that transaction are equally guilty of the crime of murder. And, indeed, in many cases the accomplice is worse than the actual sinner, for in the case of the accomplice there is all the original guilt, with cowardice and meanness added. But may you not likewise be partaker in sins of which at their commission you did not know, and at whose commission you would shudder? May you not, in the moral world, sometimes set the great stone rolling down the hill, with little thought of the ruin it may deal below? As, for instance, you, a parent, neglect the training of your child, that child grows up into guilt which appals you--guilt which terrifies you; but are you not still partaker in that guilt--answerable for that guilt at the bar of God? Ah, you know you are; you know full well that if that neglected child should end at the gallows, the fault, the sin, the shame will still be in a great measure your own! Ah! you may live after you are dead to do mischief--live in the evil thoughts you instilled, the false doctrines you taught, the perverse character you helped to form. When you stand before the judgment throne, you may find yourself called to answer for myriads of sins besides those which you directly committed; and you will feel that your condemnation for these sins is just and right. Let us, then, look somewhat more closely into this great principle which I have been endeavouring to set before you. Let us look more particularly at some of the ways in which we may become partakers of other mens sins. And in thinking, first, of how we may make others to sin by suggesting evil thoughts and feelings, let us take an extreme case by way of example: an extreme case, indeed, but unhappily not an unprecedented one. Let us think of a great genius: of a man to whom God has been pleased to give that rare and wonderful power of excogitating beautiful thoughts which shall come home to the heart and brain of other men, and clothing these beautiful thoughts in words which shall fall like music on the ear. Let us think of such a man applying the noble powers which God gave him for high and pure designs to surround vice with all the fascinations of poetry and romance, to strip it of all its grossness, while leaving all its guilt; let us think of him writing tales and poems, all of the most corrupting tendency; going to undermine the very foundations of all morality and all religion; and wrapping up infidelity and profligacy in thoughts that breathe and words that burn. And in every such case, is not that perverted genius justly chargeable with a share of that sin to which his writings have tempted? You may have done in a lower degree what the bad great man did on a grander scale. Even then, when you allow vice to pass without reproof, for fear of giving offence, are you not thus tacitly encouraging it? Even then, when you soften down the stern requirements of religion, for fear of making some one uncomfortable whom the truth would make uncomfortable, are you not thus practically encouraging him to remain worldly as he is? So far, then, for certain fashions in which by the lip, by speech or by silence, you may become accessory and abetting to other mens sins; and next we remark that by your life and example you may do so even more effectually. Example, whether good or bad, is always more efficient than precept; and you know quite well that many a man has taken heart to do a sinful deed because he saw another do it, who but for that would never have done so. The higher a mans profession of religion, the more closely will his practice be watched, both by such as have little religion and by such as have none at all; and who does not know how any inconsistency, any lapse, on the part of a professing Christian is laid hold of by ungodly men to countenance their ungodly lives, and to show that all religion is a pretence and a delusion! The evil principle we instilled, the evil example we set, may ripen into bitter fruit in the murderous blow which shall be dealt a century hence upon Australian plains. How strange, yet how inevitable, the tie which may link our uneventful life with the stormy passions of numbers far away! It is but as yesterday that we heard of the success of that marvellous achievement of science which has set the old world in momently communication with the new; and the most sluggish imagination must have been awakened somewhat in the thought of that slender cable which, far beneath the waves of the great Atlantic, lying still in stirless ocean valleys, and scaling trackless ocean cliffs, maintains the subtle current through those thousands of miles; but more wonderful still, surely, is that unseen fibre along which, from other mens sins, responsibility may thrill even to our departed souls--a chain whose links are formed, perhaps, of idle words, of forgotten looks, of phrases of double meaning, of bad advice, of cynical sentiment hardly seriously meant; yet carried on through life after life, through soul after soul, till the little seed of evil sown by you has developed into some deed of guilt at which you would shudder, but from some participation in responsibility for which you cannot clear yourself. Yea, the thought widens out beyond anything which I have hitherto suggested; for surely it is nothing more than a legitimate extension of the great principle of the text to say that in some measure we are responsible for the sin which we failed to do our utmost to prevent; and so that even heathen cruelty and heathen idolatry may be in so far chargeable on us, because, though we never bowed to the senseless image, though we never imbrued our hands in a fellow creatures blood, we yet failed to give of our means, our efforts, our prayers, to send to those dark lands that gospel light, which might have bidden these things die out for ever. In truth, the only way in which it is possible for us to cease to sin in the person of others, is by ceasing to sin in our own; for every sin may waken its echo, every sin is repudiated and reiterated, in other souls and lives. (A. H. K. Boyd.)
Refusing to be a partaker in other mens sins
Joseph Sturge, the Christian philanthropist, remonstrating one day with a drunken man whom he met, was startled by his reply that he had got drunk at a public-house, adding, The beer was made from your barley. His mind was at once made up, and the next Mark Lane Express announced that under no circumstances would the Messrs. Sturge supply barley for malting purposes. This conscientious decision struck off £8,000 a year from their income.
Keep thyself pure.--
A caution to young men
In the abstract, the text, brief as it is, contains a precept impossible to be fulfilled. For who does not know that in His judgment God looks upon the heart? and yet, who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? The solution of the apparent difficulty lies upon the surface: we can do relatively what we cannot do absolutely; we can do in association with the grace of God what we cannot do without it. We then, accordingly, as ambassadors for Christ, say to each young man whom we address, as the apostle said to Timothy, Keep thyself pure. Keep thyself, as one from the beginning separated and set apart for Christ, from everything which is inconsistent with the allegiance which thou must owe to Him; with the attachment which thou oughtest to feel for Him; with the attainment of those blessings which are the purchase of His blood, and which God will bestow on thee through Him alone. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Watch against the beginnings of evil.
1. Keep thyself pure, then, young man, as to doctrine (for doctrine is the foundation of duty).
2. And not only let Holy Scripture stand first, but let it stand alone. Let it be received, not as the word of man, but, as to doctrine, the teacher of truth alone.
3. Again, we say to the young man, keep thyself pure from error, by taking Scripture, in all that seems to require reproof or refutation, as a test. Whatever is repugnant to thy inherent and instinctive sense of right, whether to be denied as a principle, or to be deprecated as a practice, try it by its agreement or disagreement with Gods Word.
4. Next, keep thyself pure in act, by taking the Word of God for correction, or setting upright that which hath fallen down, restoring what hath been damaged or decayed through sin. And here the Word is a supreme, unerring standard of right and wrong; and correction is but another name for bringing into harmony or accordance with the Word.
5. Keep thyself pure, by looking to the Word for instruction in righteousness; for instruction, which must extend itself throughout the whole of life, though life were protracted, as of old time, far beyond the narrow limits of threescore years and ten.
6. Keep thyself pure, then, young man, but only by the grace of God in Christ. Once throw aside that buckler, and thou wilt become vulnerable by every weapon of the foe. Writ thou keep thyself pure, or shall that impurity, which is now thy shame, become thy companion and thy curse throughout eternity? Writ thou be refined as the pure gold, or cast away as the reprobate silver? Keep thyself pure, then, young man! because thy breath is in thy nostrils; because thy sun of life may go down ere it is yet high noon; and that purity of life is essential to the peace of death. But once more we add, keep thyself pure for the improvement--yes, and even for the true enjoyment of life. But by the observance of this salutary caution everything is gained, and nothing can be lost; time is rightly occupied, and talent profitably improved. Diligence in the practice of business, coupled with uprightness in its principles, rarely fails to prosper, even in a worldly view. (T. Dale, M. A.)
Purity in a minister
I admire Mr. Whitefields reasons for always having his linen scrupulously clean. No, no, he would say, these are not trifles; a minister must be without spot, even in his garments, if he can. Purity cannot be carried too far in a minister. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A clean record
The last words of a man are of comparatively little importance, but surely Mr. Gough could have uttered no sentence which would have pleased him better if he had known he would never speak again than the last words which he ejaculated as he sank unconscious in the Presbyterian church in which he was lecturing, Young man, make your record clean!
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v22 Chapter 15
Chapter 15
THE PASTORS RESPONSIBILITIES IN ORDAINING AND JUDGING PRESBYTERS-THE WORKS THAT GO BEFORE AND THAT FOLLOW US. - 1Ti_5:22-25
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THE section of which these verses form the conclusion, like the preceding section about behavior towards the different classes of persons in the congregation, supplies us with evidence that we are dealing with a real letter, written to give necessary advice to a real person, and not a theological or controversial treatise, dressed up in the form of a letter in order to obtain the authority of St. Pauls name for its contents. Here, as before, the thoughts follow one another in an order which is quite natural, but which has little plan or arrangement. An earnest and affectionate friend, with certain points in his mind on which he was anxious to say something, might easily treat of them in this informal way just as they occurred to him, one thing suggesting another. But a forger, bent on getting his own views represented in the document, would not string them together in this loosely connected way: he would disclose more arrangement than we can find here. What forger, again, would think of inserting that advice about ceasing to be a water-drinker into a most solemn charge respecting the election and ordination of presbyters? And yet how thoroughly natural it is found to be in this very context when considered as coming from St. Paul to Timothy.
We shall go seriously astray if we start with the conviction that the word "elder" has the same meaning throughout this chapter. When in the first part of it St. Paul says "Rebuke not an elder, but exhort him as a father," it is quite clear that he is speaking simply of elderly men, and not of persons holding the office of an elder: for he goes on at once to speak of the treatment of younger men, and also of older and younger women. But when in the second half of the chapter he says "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor," and "Against an elder receive not an accusation, except at the mouth of two or three witnesses," it is equally clear that he is speaking of official persons, and not merely of persons who are advanced in years. The way in which the thoughts suggested one another throughout this portion of the letter is not difficult to trace. "Let no man despise thy youth" suggested advice as to how the young overseer was to behave towards young and old of both sexes. This led to the treatment of widows, and this again to the manner of appointing official widows. Women holding an official position suggests the subject of men holding an official position in the Church. If the treatment of the one class needs wisdom and circumspection, not less does the treatment of the other. And, therefore, with even more solemnity than in the previous section about the widows, the Apostle gives his directions on this important subject also. "I charge thee in the sight of God, and Christ Jesus, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality." And then he passes on to the words which form our text.
It has been seriously doubted whether the words "Lay hands hastily on no man" do refer to the ordination of the official elders or presbyters. It is urged that the preceding warning about the treatment of charges made against presbyters, and of persons who are guilty of habitual sin, point to disciplinary functions of some kind rather than to ordination. Accordingly some few commentators in modern times have treated the passage as referring to the laying on of hands at the readmission of penitents to communion. But of any such custom in the Apostolic age there is no trace. There is nothing improbable in the hypothesis, imposition of hands being a common symbolical act. But it is a mere hypothesis unsupported by evidence. Eusebius, in speaking of the controversy between Stephen of Rome and Cyprian of Carthage about the re-baptizing of heretics, tells us that the admission of heretics to the Church by imposition of hands with prayer, but without second baptism, was the "old custom." But the admission of heretics is not quite the same as the readmission of penitents: and a custom might be "old" (παλαιον ηθος) in the time of Eusebius, or even of Cyprian, without being Apostolic or coeval with the Apostles. Therefore this statement of Eusebius gives little support to the proposed interpretation of the passage; and we may confidently prefer the explanation of it which has prevailed at any rate since Chrysostoms time, that it refers to ordination. Of the laying on of hands at the appointment of ministers we have sufficient evidence in the New Testament, not only in these Epistles, {1Ti_4:14; 2Ti_1:6} but in the Acts. {Act_13:3} Moreover this explanation fits the context at least as well as the supposed improvement.
1. The Apostle is speaking of the treatment of presbyters, not of the whole congregation. Imposition of hands at the admission of a heretic or readmission of a penitent would apply to any person, and not to presbyters
2. in particular. Therefore it is more reasonable to assume that the laying on of hands which accompanied ordination is meant.
3. He has just been warning Timothy against prejudice or partiality in dealing with the elders. While prejudice might lead him to be hasty in condemning an accused presbyter, before he had satisfied himself that the evidence was adequate, partiality might lead him to be hasty in acquitting him. But there is a more serious partiality than this, and it is one of the main causes of such scandals as unworthy presbyters. There is the partiality which leads to a hasty ordination, before sufficient care has been taken to ensure that the qualifications so carefully laid down in chapter 3. are present in the person selected. Prevention is better than cure. Proper precautions taken beforehand will reduce the risk of true charges against an elder to a minimum. Here again the traditional explanation fits the context admirably.
"Neither be partaker of other mens sins." It is usual to understand this warning as referring to the responsibility of those who ordain. If, through haste or carelessness you ordain an unfit person, you must share the guilt of the sins which he afterwards commits as an elder. The principle is a just one, but it may be doubted whether this is St. Pauls meaning. The particular form of negative used seems to be against it. He says "Nor yet (μηδε) be partaker of other mens sins," implying that this is something different from hastiness in ordination. He seems to be returning to the warnings about partiality to elders who are living in sin. The meaning, therefore, is-"Beware of a haste in ordaining which may lead to the admission of unworthy men to the ministry. And if, in spite of all your care, unworthy ministers come under your notice, beware of an indifference or partiality towards them which will make you a partaker in their sins." This interpretation fits on well to what follows. "Keep thyself pure"-with a strong emphasis on the pronoun. "Strictness in enquiring into the antecedents of candidates for ordination and in dealing with ministerial depravity will have a very poor effect, unless your own life is free from reproach." And, if we omit the parenthetical advice about taking wine, the thought is continued thus: "As a rule it is not difficult to arrive at a wise decision respecting the fitness of candidates, or the guilt of accused presbyters. Mens characters both for evil and good are commonly notorious. The vices of the wicked and the virtues of the good outrun any formal judgment about them, and are quite manifest before an enquiry is held. No doubt there are exceptions, and then the consequences of mens lives must be looked to before a just opinion can be formed. But, sooner or later (and generally sooner rather than later) men, and especially ministers, will be known for what they are."
It remains to ascertain the meaning of the curious parenthesis "Be no longer a drinker of water," and its connection with the rest of the passage.
It was probably suggested to St. Paul by the preceding words, "Beware of making yourself responsible for the sins of others. Keep your own life above suspicion." This charge reminds the Apostle that his beloved disciple has been using ill-advised means to do this very thing. Either in order to mark his abhorrence of the drunkenness which was one of the most conspicuous vices of the age, or in order to bring his own body more easily into subjection, Timothy had abandoned the use of wine altogether, in spite of his weak health. St. Paul, therefore, with characteristic affection, takes care that his charge is not misunderstood. In urging his representative to be strictly careful of his own conduct, he does not wish to be understood as encouraging him to give up whatever might be abused or made the basis of a slander, nor yet as approving his rigor in giving up the use of wine. On the contrary, he thinks it a mistake; and he takes this opportunity of telling him so, while it is in his mind. Christs ministers have important duties to perform, and have no right to play tricks with their health. We may here repeat, with renewed confidence, that a touch of this kind would never have occurred to a forger. Hence, in order to account for such natural touches as these, those who maintain that these Epistles are a fabrication now resort to the hypothesis that the forger had some genuine letters of St. Paul and worked parts of them into his own productions. It seems to be far more reasonable to believe that St. Paul wrote the whole of them.
Let us return to the statement with which the Apostle closes this section of his letter. "Some mens sins are evident, going before unto judgment; and some men also they follow after. In, like manner also there are good works that are evident; and such as are otherwise cannot be hid."
We have seen already what relation these words have to the context. They refer to the discernment between good and bad candidates-for the ministry, and between good and bad ministers, pointing out that in most cases such discernment is not difficult, because mens own conduct acts as a herald to their character, proclaiming it to all the world. The statement, though made with special reference to Timothys responsibilities towards elders and those who wish to become such, is a general one, and is equally true of all mankind. Conduct in most cases is quite a clear index of character, and there is no need to have a formal investigation in order to ascertain whether a man is leading a wicked life or not. But the words have a still deeper significance-one which is quite foreign to the context, and therefore can hardly have been in St. Pauls mind when he wrote them, but which as being true and of importance, ought not to be passed over.
For a formal investigation into mens conduct. before an ecclesiastical or other official, let us substitute the judgment-seat of Christ. Let the question be, not the worthiness of certain persons to be admitted to some office, but their worthiness to be admitted to eternal life. The general statement made by the Apostle remains as true as ever. There are some men who stand, as before God, so also before the world, as open, self-proclaimed sinners. Wherever they go, their sins go before them, flagrant, crying, notorious. And when they are summoned hence, their sins again precede them, waiting for them as accusers and witnesses before the Judge. The whole career of an open and deliberate sinner is the procession of a criminal to his doom. His sins go before, and their consequences follow after, and he moves on in the midst, careless of the one and ignorant of the other. He has laughed at his sins and chased remorse for them away. He has, by turns cherished and driven out the remembrance of them; dwelt on them, when to think of them was a pleasant repetition of them; stifled the thought of them, when to think of them might have brought thoughts of penitence; and has behaved towards them as if he could not only bring them into being without guilt, but control them or annihilate them without difficulty. He has not controlled, he has not destroyed, he has not even evaded, one of them. Each of them, when brought into existence, became his master, going on before him to herald his guiltiness, and saddling him with consequences from which he could not escape. And when he went to his own place, it was his sins that had gone before him and prepared the place for him.
"And some men also they follow after." There are cases in which mens sins, though of course not less manifest to the Almighty, are much less manifest to the world, and even to themselves, than in the case of flagrant, open sinners. The consequences of their sins are less conspicuous, less easily disentangled from the mass of unexplained misery of which the world is so full. Cause and effect cannot be put together with any precision; for sometimes the one, sometimes the other, sometimes even both, are out of sight. There is no anticipation of the final award to be given at the judgment-seat of Christ. Not until the guilty one is placed before the throne for trial, is it at all known whether the sentence will be unfavorable or not.
Even the man himself has lived and died without being at all fully aware what the state of the case is. He has not habitually examined himself, to see whether he has been living in sin or not. He has taken no pains to remember, and repent of, and conquer, those sins of which he has been conscious. The consequences of his sins have seldom come so swiftly as to startle him and convince him of their enormity. When they have at last overtaken him, it has been possible to doubt or to forget that it was his sins which caused them. And consequently he has doubted, and he has forgotten. But for all that, "they follow after." They are never eluded, never shaken off. A cause must have its effect; and a sin must have its punishment, if not in this world, then certainly in the next. "Be sure your sin will find you out"-probably in this life, but at any rate at the day of judgment. As surely as death follows on a pierced heart or on a severed neck, so surely does punishment follow upon sin.
How is it that in the material world we never dream that cause and effect can be separated, and yet easily believe that in the moral world sin may remain forever unpunished? Our relation to the material universe has been compared to a game of chess. "The chess-board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know-that his play is always fair, just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. To the man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid, with a sort of overflowing generosity with which the strong shows delight in strength. And one who plays ill is checkmated-without haste, but without remorse." We believe this implicitly of the material laws of the universe; that they cannot be evaded, cannot be transgressed with impunity, cannot be obeyed without profit. Moral laws are not one whit less sure. Whether we believe it or not (and it will but be the worse for us if we refuse to believe it), sin, both repented and unrepented, must have its penalty. We might as well fling a stone, or shoot a cannon-ball, or send a balloon into the air, and say, "You shall not come down again," as sin, and say "I shall never suffer for it." Repentance does not deprive sin of its natural effect. We greatly err in supposing that, if we repent in time, we escape the penalty. To refuse to repent is a second and a worse sin, which, added to the first sin, increases the penalty incalculably. To repent is to escape this terrible augmentation of the original punishment; but it is no escape from the punishment itself.
But there is a bright side to this inexorable law. If sin must have its own punishment, virtue must have its own reward. The one is as sure as the other; and in the long run the fact of virtue and the reward of virtue will be made clear to all the world, and especially to the virtuous man himself. "The works that are good are evident; and such as are not evident cannot be hid." No saint knows his own holiness; and many a humble seeker after holiness does good deeds without knowing how good they are. Still less are all saints known as such to the world, or all good deeds recognized as good by those who witness them. But, nevertheless, good works as a rule are evident, and if they are not so, they will become so hereafter. If not in this world, at any rate before Christs judgment-seat, they will be appraised at their true value. It is as true of the righteous as of the wicked, that "their works do follow them." And, if there is no more terrible fate than to be confronted at the last day by a multitude of unknown and forgotten sins, so there can hardly be any lot more blessed than to be welcomed then by a multitude of unknown and forgotten deeds of love and piety. "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these My brethren, even these least, ye did it unto Me." "Come, ye: blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv19–22 19. Against an elder receive not. Accusations against bishops…
19. Against an elder receive not. Accusations against bishops might be brought before Timothy. They were not to be considered unless supported by two or three witnesses. The same rule is found in Deut. 19:15.
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.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv20–22 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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv19, 21 Do not receive an accusation
Do not receive an accusation
Paul speaks of accusations as if they were objects that could be physically accepted by people. AT: "Do not accept as true any accusation that someone speaks" (See: Metaphor)
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two or three
"at least two" or "two or more"
sinners
This refers to anyone doing anything that disobeys or displeases God, even things that other people do not know about.
before all
"where everyone can see"
so that the rest may be afraid
"so that others will be afraid to sin"
translationWords
accuse
elder
testimony
sin
fear
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 vv19–22 5:19-21 The climate created by the false teachers may…
5:19-21 The climate created by the false teachers may have led to spurious charges against the leaders of the community. This passage follows the outline of Deut 19:15-21. • two or three witnesses: See Deut 17:6; 19:15; Matt 18:16; 2 Cor 13:1; Heb 10:28.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.