Bible Commentaries
1 Timothy 4

Verse 1

Chapter IV

Ver. 1. But the Spirit speaks expressly, etc. The description given toward the close of the preceding chapter of the church as the pillar and basement of divine truth, and of the grand mystery which finds its evolution in connection with the interests and hopes of the church, might well have seemed to bespeak for her future condition a secure and continuous prosperity. There was, however, a shady side to the picture; and it was right that Timothy, and those who might follow after in the ministry of the word, should have timely warning of it. Here, therefore, the apostle proceeds to give some leading characteristics of this darker future, indicating by the connecting particle (the adversative δὲ ) that the things he was going to utter should form an unhappy contrast to what had been already said: Τὸ δὲ Πνεῦμα ῥητῶς λέγει . By the Spirit is undoubtedly to be understood the Holy Spirit, the immediate source of all prophetic insight into the coming dispensations of Providence, and the history of the church. And when this Spirit is affirmed to have spoken expressly ( ῥητῶς used in this sense by Polybius, iii. 23. 5, and some later Greek writers; see in Wetstein) as to the sad declensions that were in prospect, respect is obviously had to the explicit, unambiguous character of the announcements. If it is asked, however, when or by whom the announcements were made, no very definite reply can be given. There may have been, and very probably were, intimations of the coming evil given to the apostle himself, of which no record exists beyond the brief outline contained in the passage before us. But if there were such, we may naturally suppose they would be in the same line with those which have been recorded further, and probably more specific, developments of the features indicated in them. Even in Old Testament Scripture there are not wanting prophetic glimpses which seem to point in this direction; in particular what is said in Daniel, Daniel 7:25, Daniel 8:23-25, of a dark, subtle, and corrupt power which was destined apparently to arise and work with disastrous energy in Messiah’s kingdom, after this kingdom should have been formally set up. More certainly, however, may be taken into account some of our Lord’s announcements respecting the future of His church, such as the parable of the tares and the wheat, and the mention of false Christs and false prophets, who should deceive many, in His discourse of the last days (Matthew 24:11 ss.). More especially still may be included Paul’s own statements in one of his earliest epistles concerning a great apostasy which was to take place in the Christian church (2 Thessalonians 2:0); also what he said in his address to the elders of Ephesus about persons going to arise within the church who should do the part of wolves to the flock, teaching perverse things (Acts 20:29-30); and still again, the pointed reference he made in his Epistle to the Colossians to the depravations of Christian doctrine and worship, which he descried as already beginning to take shape, through the combined influence of ascetic and ritualistic tendencies (Colossians 2:0). These were all prior in point of time to the passage now under consideration, and were of a kindred nature to it, though none of them speak so expressly of the corruptions now more particularly in the eye of the apostle as he does in this warning to Timothy. We may therefore justly infer, that the explicitness of the Spirit’s utterances here given through the apostle really form an advance on the revelations hitherto communicated to the church in this particular line, one required by the circumstances of the time.

The express utterances of the Spirit were to the effect that in after times some shall depart from the faith. As to the period indicated, the expression of the apostle is somewhat indefinite; for the ἐν ὑστέροις καιροῖς may be understood of any age or time subsequent to the apostle’s own: it was merely the times which, in respect to the persons who then lived, lay somewhere in the future. The expression in 2 Timothy 3:1, the last days, and St. John’s, the last hour, or season ( ἐσχάτη ὥρα , 1 John 2:18), appear of themselves to point to a yet more remote future to what was contemplated as a closing period. But, from the habit of Jewish writers to view Messiah’s times generally as the later times of the world’s history, we cannot, perhaps, draw very sharply the distinction between these forms of expression and the one used in the passage before us. By this the apostle plainly means to denote, in a somewhat general way, the later age of the world; not absolutely its very last or closing period, but stretching, perhaps, over extensive tracks of time. The evil, indeed, was already germinating; and it was to grow into what the apostle calls a departure or apostasy from the faith faith taken objectively, as often elsewhere (Acts 6:7; Jude 1:3, etc.), for the truths or doctrines embraced by faith. Men were going to corrupt the simplicity of these by mixing with them errors and traditions of their own. Then follow indications of the erring course.

Giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons. The seducing spirits here referred to evidently stand in contrast to the Spirit mentioned immediately before that Spirit who is to the church of Christ the source of all truth and holiness. Instead of following His guidance, the parties in question were to give way to spirits of error, seducing spirits ( πνεύμασιν πλάνοις ), and teachings of demons that is, teachings which drew their inspiration from demoniacal agencies. For there can be no doubt that the genitive here ( δαιμονίων ) is the genitive of the subject (Winer, § 30), and not, as Mede laboured with great earnestness and industry to show, that of the object teachings or doctrines concerning demons demonolatry. Ample proof, indeed, exists, and was produced by Mede ( Works, p. 623), of the extensive prevalence of demonolatry in apostolic times outside the Christian church, and of the footing it ere long got within the church, under the forms of saint and martyr worship, exorcisms, incantations, and superstitious wrestlings with particular representatives of the demon world. But there is no evidence of that specific form of corruption being here in the eye of the apostle. The particular kinds of evil mentioned by him have no proper affinity with it; they belong to the sphere of ordinary life, and were such as spring from a false but aspiring asceticism, aiming at higher degrees of mortification and self-denial than consisted with the principles of the gospel. To represent teaching of this sort as the offspring of corrupt and misleading spirits the spirits that rule in the darkness of this world, and strive to keep it in alienation from the life of God was not to dissociate it from the efforts of a human instrumentality (it is presently, indeed, connected therewith), but to stamp the instrumentality as essentially evil, working under the influence, and for the interest, of the adversary of souls. Some have supposed the instrumental agents themselves to be designated seductive spirits and demoniacal teachers; but this is contrary to the usage of Scripture, and also to the connection here. It is the unseen prime movers of the mischief in the spirit-world, not the instruments employed by them, that are so characterized by the apostle.

Verse 2

Ver. 2. Ἐν ὑποκρίσει ψευδολόγων not, as in the Authorized Version, “speaking lies in hypocrisy,” which would take ψευδολόγων as in apposition with the δαιμονίων of the preceding clause, and so would identify die demons with the instrumental agents but in hypocrisy of speakers of lies: a prepositional clause, defining the manner in which the giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons was to make way, consequently describing the spirit and character of the human agents. The false teaching in question being, as to its origin, from the father of lies, the parties who were to be chiefly instrumental in insinuating its poison into the church were to be the fit representatives and agents of such a cause; not sincere, straightforward, truth-loving men, but persons living in hypocrisy as their natural element, speaking lies as their proper vocation, men, in short, of subtle and sophistical minds, who had no relish for the pure gospel, and assumed the profession of a regard to it only that they might the more advantageously propagate their transcendental views and practices. Such appears to be the natural import and bearing of the clause; it brings prominently out that dangerous characteristic in the immediate instruments of the false teaching referred to, by means of which the spirit of evil that wrought in them was to acquire ascendency in the church.

The moral condition of these corrupt teachers is further described as that of persons who have had their conscience scarred ( κεκαυστηριασμένων , (This is the form of the word given in א , A, C, and being the rarer form, is preferred by Tisch.; the greater number of Mss. and the received text have κεκαυστηριασμένων.) cauterized), that is, branded as with a καυτη ́ ρ , a marking instrument of hot iron. The application of such an instrument to any part of the human body certainly has a hardening effect renders the part so branded comparatively insensible to the touch. And this is the figurative meaning not unfrequently attached to the expression here; as in our common version, “seared as with a hot iron;” so, too, Theodoret, who founds his explanation on the physical fact, that “the part cauterized is deadened, and deprived of its former sensibility.” But this is probably laying too much stress on an incidental effect of the action, while the action itself affords both a more direct and a quite appropriate sense. Understanding it so, the persons in the eye of the apostle are represented as corrupt at the core; their conscience so far from bearing the impress of moral purity blurred and spotted, as it were, with the foul prints of former iniquities, and consequently incapable of relishing, or responding aright to, the holy doctrines of the gospel. There is a point, as well as severe emphasis, in the language: their own conscience ( τὴν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν συνείδησιν ) is affirmed to be in this corrupt state; and if themselves such in their inner being, how unfit to assume the part of teachers to others! how utterly incapable of leading them on to the heights of real purity and bliss! They professed to be guides of this description, to go even beyond the requirements of the gospel in their zeal for a self-denying and mortified life. But their zeal in this direction could not possibly spring from an unfeigned love of the pure and good; carnal self was really the mainspring of their aspirations, though clothing itself in the appearance of an angel of light.

Verse 3

Ver. 3. Here the apostle descends to particulars, indicating in one or two leading points the directions this false pietism was going to assume: forbidding to marry, [bidding (Construction by zeugma, requiring κελευο ́ ντων to be supplied to make out the sense (Winer, § 66, 1, e).) ] to abstain from meats (or kinds of food) which God made for being received with thanksgiving by the faithful, and those who have the full knowledge of the truth. The prohibition of marriage, and of the use of certain kinds of food, by which more especially animal food must be understood, was among the commoner forms of that ascetic tendency which had already taken root in the East, and, the apostle foresaw, was presently going to win for itself a place within the pale of the Christian church. The Therapeutae of Egypt, and the Essenes in the south of Palestine, were examples of the tendency in question; since not only at the gospel era, but for generations before it, they had in considerable numbers been systematically carrying out their ascetic principles in the manner indicated by the apostle. They confined themselves to the simplest diet, altogether abstaining from flesh and wine; and, without absolutely forbidding marriage, they still practically condemned and eschewed it, as inconsistent with the higher degrees of excellence in the spiritual life. If the prevalence of the Gnostic spirit had led to such ascetic developments even under Judaism (for that the parties in question were mainly, if not quite exclusively Jews, admits of no doubt), it was to be expected that the immense impulse given to spiritual thought and contemplation by the great facts of Christianity, would yet more become to many the occasion of aspiring after perfection by the same mistaken course. How far this tendency made way in the church before the rise of the more formally developed Gnostic systems, we have not the means of definitely ascertaining; but shortly after the commencement of the second century, and as the result of Gnostic teaching (more especially under Saturninus, Marcion, Tatian), parties assuming the Christian name, but known by the distinctive appellation of Encratites or Purists, openly preached against marriage, and insisted on abstinence from animal food; thereby (as Irenaeus says, i. 28) “indirectly accusing God, who made male and female for the propagation of mankind, and proving themselves ungrateful to Him who made all things.” (See Dissertation on chap. iii. 2, App. B.) It is plain, therefore, that these early heresiarchs erred on the very points specified by the apostle; and as some of them in particular, Marcion and Tatian had been reared in the bosom of the church, and afterwards separated themselves from it by thus departing from the faith, it was a perfectly legitimate application of the passage to turn it, as many of the Fathers did, against their extreme positions. Yet not a few of those Fathers themselves fell in a measure under the same misguiding influence. For they so extolled virginity, as virtually to disparage the married state: the one was with them the ideally perfect, the other the relatively defective and impure form of the Christian life; and it was only by abstinence from marriage, and by frequent fastings, always attended by the disuse of animal food, and by other ascetic exercises, that it was thought possible to become pattern saints, or to be religious in the stricter sense. But if it be wrong to forbid marriage as unholy, and proscribe the use of food which God has ordained for man’s use; if this be virtually to impeach the wisdom of the Creator, and to impute a character of evil to the bounties of His providence, then assuredly to turn those kinds of abstinence into a ground of pre-eminent virtue, and assign to the persons who practised them a place of surpassing honour, was in a most real sense to depart from the faith of the gospel, since it assumed another rule and standard of worth than what is propounded there. It had, as the apostle elsewhere said, “a show of humility, and neglecting of the body, not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh” (Colossians 2:23); but was not the less calculated to feed the pride and self-sufficiency of nature, and mar the healthfulness and simplicity of a genuine faith.

Scripture, indeed, does not deny that a person may occasionally abstain from certain meats or from marriage, with advantage to his own spiritual life or the good of the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:16-17, Matthew 17:21, Matthew 19:12; 1 Corinthians 7:32-37). But in such cases the alternative is not put as between a relatively pure and perfect state by the one course, and an impure or defective one by the other; but the one is presented merely as affording opportunities or helps for prosecuting more freely and unreservedly the work of faith than can well be done in the other. If temporary fasting should dispose and enable one to fight more successfully against the lusts of the flesh, or if by abstaining from marriage one could, in particular spheres of labour, or in certain conjunctures of the church’s history, more effectually serve the interests of the gospel than otherwise, then the higher principles of that gospel, the nobler ends of a Christian calling, will undoubtedly justify the restraint or the sacrifice. But to do this is only to subordinate a less to a greater good: it creates no factitious distinctions in respect to the allowable or forbidden, holy or unholy, in the ordinary relationships and circumstances of life; and calls for a rejection of the natural good in these only when it may be conducive as means to a definite spiritual end. This is an entirely different thing from that morbid and mawkish asceticism, which, in attempting to soar above the divinely appointed order and constitution of things, imputes a character of evil to what is in itself good, and hence withdraws men from those social environments which, as a rule, are necessary to the well-being of society, and to the full-orbed completeness of the Christian character.

When the apostle speaks, in the latter part of this verse, of the common articles of food as having been made by God, for being received with thanksgiving by the faithful, and those who have the full knowledge of the truth ( τοῖς πιστοῖς καὶ ἐπεγνωκόσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ), the most natural meaning seems to be: received thus by such persons as well as others: their faith and knowledge in the things of God had no way interfered with their relation to the common bounties of God’s providence, and ought to be coupled with a thankful, not with a fearful or doubting, spirit. The expressions might, with Ellicott and others, be taken in the sense of the dative of interest “for the faithful,” etc.; but it is more fitting to regard them as ablatives (the ablative of the agent, considered as the instrument whereby anything is done; Jelf, § 611). For it could not but appear somewhat strange, to say that God made the several kinds of food specifically for the possessors of true knowledge and faith in Christ. The teaching of Scripture on the subject rather is, that being natural gifts, they are made for the use of men simply as possessing the properties of human nature; and all that needs to be said of those who rise to a higher position in the divine kingdom is, that, as recipients of God’s grace, and heirs of His eternal glory, nothing is withdrawn from them as to the original appointments of God in things pertaining to men’s physical and social well-being. On the contrary, these now also rise into the religious sphere; they become associated with the work of grace in the experience of believers, and have a place though only an inferior place among the things which may be called theirs (1 Corinthians 3:21). This, indeed, is distinctly indicated in what follows.

Verse 4

Ver. 4. Because everything made by God (this is better than every creature of God, as creature seems to point too definitely to animated being, while by κτίσμα creation in all its parts is meant, whatever has received its being from the Creator, though the apostle’s usual term for this is κτίσις , Romans 1:25, Romans 8:39, Colossians 1:15) is good. It necessarily is such as His workmanship, and was so pronounced by God Himself at the moment of creation. The rejection of anything so made and destined for man’s use, as in itself evil, involves a Manichaean element. Therefore the apostle adds, and nothing is to be rejected, being received with thanksgiving that is, on the supposition of its being so received, but a supposition, as a matter of course, verified in the case of all true believers. What was in itself pure, might (as noted by De Wette) become impure by being received in an ungodly frame of mind. And the apostle means to say, that when the frame of mind is one of thankfulness, then in the manner also of their reception the things are pure and good.

The reason follows in 1 Timothy 4:5: for it is sanctified through God’s word and prayer God’s word to man warranting him to use the creation gift, and man’s word to God acknowledging the gift, and asking His blessing on it. So I understand the import of the expression; and I cannot see the propriety of identifying (with De Wette, Wiesinger, Ellicott, Alford) the word of God with the prayer or thanksgiving so that this should be no further contemplated than as it embodies the word of God. There appears no reason why the word of God should be taken in so exclusive a sense. It is more natural to regard it as the original utterance of God’s mind regarding the productions which are adapted to man’s use and comfort recognised, indeed, but not necessarily embraced in our address to God. The apostle had plainly, in the preceding verse, referred to the divine testimony recorded in the history of creation respecting the goodness of all that God had created and made, coupled also with the express and authoritative permission granted to man there, and still more fully at Genesis 9:3-4, freely to use whatever was fit for food in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. The word of God in those passages for ever sanctified all for man’s use; and if man on his part, taking God’s word for his warrant, gratefully acknowledges God’s hand in the gifts bestowed, and entreats His blessing on them, the sanctification is complete both ways objectively by the word of God, subjectively by prayer; by the word for all men (if they will but wisely appropriate it), by prayer for the believer. On ἐντεύξις , see at 1 Timothy 2:1.

The manner in which the apostle couples the destination of created things for man’s use with the spirit of believing prayer and thanksgiving as if the two must go together to constitute a proper title or warrant to the good is certainly very striking. It is “as if those that wanted faith and saving knowledge” (to use the exposition of Bishop Sanderson) “did but usurp the bread they eat. And indeed it is certain that the wicked have no right to the creatures of God in such ample sort as the godly have. A kind of right they have and we may not deny it to them given by God’s unchangeable ordinance at the creation, which being a branch of that part of God’s image in man which was of natural and not of supernatural grace, might be and was foully defaced by sin; but was not, neither could be, wholly lost. A right, then, they have, but such a right as, reaching barely to the use, cannot afford unto the user true comfort or sound peace of conscience in such use of the creatures; for though nothing be in and of itself unclean, yet to them that are unclean every creature is unclean and polluted, because it is not thus sanctified by the word [and by prayer]. And the very true cause of all this is the impurity of their hearts by reason of unbelief” ( Sermon V. ad Populum).

Ver. 6. By submitting these things to the brethren, thou shalt be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourishing thyself up in the words of the faith, and of the good instruction which thou hast diligently followed. Chrysostom draws attention to the mildness expressed in the governing word here ( ὑποτιθέμενος ): “not ordaining, nor commanding, did he say it, but as one giving counsel let him present these things,” with the collateral idea, perhaps, of imparting also suitable advice respecting them. The rendering of the Authorized Version, “putting them in mind,” is not absolutely wrong, but too readily suggests the notion of a rehearsing or bringing back what had already been more or less under the consideration of the brethren. This is not implied in the apostle’s expression: it simply denotes a presentation of the things in question to the minds of the disciples, with the view of conveying suitable impressions respecting them. And his doing so would be a proof of Timothy’s acquitting himself as a good servant of Christ a proof that he was not unmindful of his proper work, but nourishing himself up (the present participle denoting continuous action) in the words of faith; that is, in the faith considered as embodied in the words of Scripture; and of the good instruction that, namely, derived from the divinely commissioned servants of Christ, which he had diligently followed. His own faithful teaching after the manner enjoined by the apostle was to be the evidence how far he had profited by the peculiar advantages he had himself enjoyed. The “whereunto thou hast attained” of the English version points more than the original word ( παρηκολούθηκας ) to the result which should have grown out of the course of instruction pursued by Timothy; it is the close and persevering manner in which he had followed that course which alone is indicated. But such following could not, in his case, be without its proper fruit.

Verse 7

Ver. 7. But (expressive of a contrast to the things just mentioned and proper to be done) the profane and old wives’ fables avoid παραιτοῦ , turn aside from, shun. He gives no further description of them, nor indicates why he reckoned them profane, and such as were hatched in the brains of old wives, rather than of some other classes that might be thought of But the use of the article seems to imply that he referred to things familiarly known, or perhaps to things noticed near the beginning of the epistle (1 Timothy 1:4), under the name of “fables and endless genealogies.” We can scarcely doubt, indeed, that the fables spoken of were the same in both passages, especially as in the earlier passage they are represented as being at the time so much in vogue, that Timothy required to be on his guard against them. They were, as formerly noted, chiefly Jewish fables, but not improbably mixed with certain things also of Gentile origin, or such as were at least in spirit more allied to heathen than to properly Jewish teaching. The epithets profane and anile (old-wifish) designate them as in their character or tendency frivolous, foolish, and even ungodly; hence quite undeserving of the time and labour which some appear to have bestowed upon them.

And rather exercise thyself unto godliness. The δὲ may fitly enough be rendered by and rather, marking at once a connection and a contrast with the preceding; so that the rather should be printed as part of the proper text. The verb ( γύμναζε ) pointing to the athletic exercises so common in ancient times, especially among the Greeks, implies that the εὐσέβεια , the work of practical piety or godliness, requires, when properly cultivated, the full bent and strenuous application of the mind. It was that Timothy might be able to give this to what was really worthy of it, and could not be adequately promoted without it, that the apostle urged him to discard the senseless and disputatious fables which were likely to solicit his attention. It is needless to say that there are many things still, different indeed in form, but essentially alike in nature and tendency, which are ever apt to draw off the regard, especially of the youthful pastor, from what ought to be his main business. The spirit of Paul himself the spirit of concentrated, earnest striving in the work of the Lord is the right one, and that which alone can achieve great results: “This one thing I do.”

Verse 8

Ver. 8. The reason follows: for bodily exercise is profitable unto little, but godliness is profitable unto all things. Commentators have long been, and still are, divided as to what should be understood by the bodily exercise ( σωματικὴ γυμνασία ): whether of such exercise as pertains to the health and vigour of the bodily frame, more particularly the gymnastics of the athlete; or of the ascetic discipline spoken of before in connection with the banning of marriage and abstinence from certain kinds of food bodily restraints, but with a view to spiritual results. In this latter sense it was taken by Ambrose, many Catholic interpreters, also by Calvin, Grotius, latterly by Wiesinger and Ellicott. Two considerations especially are urged in support of it (for example by Ellicott): first, that the connection seems to demand that the contrast should lie between external observances and inward holiness; and second, that ascetic practices formed a very distinctive feature of that current Jewish theosophy which is specially alluded to in this part of the epistle. The considerations, however, are by no means decisive; and, indeed, the latter seems rather to point in the opposite direction: for, just because the ascetic practices in question had obtained such a place in the prevalent false religionism of the time, and were threatening to usurp a yet larger one in the future, we might expect the apostle to be chary of meting to them even the smallest commendation. He had already characterized things of this description as doctrines of demons, propagated by hypocrisy, and inimical to the true faith of the gospel; and could he now consistently turn round, and say that they were not altogether worthless that they did bring a little profit? The tendency of his preceding statements was to separate between ascetic notions of excellence and those of genuine Christianity to show that the one is rather the subtle counterfeit than the proper exhibition and development of the other. Besides, bodily exercise is not the natural or fitting expression for such things, at least in the incipient stage at which the apostle appears to be contemplating them. It might suit well enough for the more advanced stages pilgrimages, flagellations, laborious vigils, or the constrained positions of pillar saints; but not for the disuse of certain kinds of food, or abstinence from marriage as a relatively impure condition of life. This is too negative and quiescent a species of asceticism to be appropriately designated a corporeal gymnastics. The literal sense of the expression, therefore, seems plainly entitled to the preference, which also has the support of the three ancient Greek expositors, Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophylact, and among the moderns, besides many others, of Bengel, De Wette, Huther, and Alford. The athletic mode of expression which had just been employed by the apostle to characterize the earnest application that should be made to a life of godliness ( γύμναζε ), called up to his mind the gymnastic training which consumed so much time and energy among the ancient Greeks; and he takes occasion from the allusion to commend that higher kind of energetic striving which became the spiritual athletes of the gospel. The one had a measure of good attending it; it was profitable within a certain limited sphere, since it contributed to the healthfulness and agility of the bodily frame, and brought its successful cultivator a present recompense of honour or reward. But the sincere and strenuous cultivation of vital godliness rises immensely above this; it carries in its train the highest good of which man is capable, and that not merely for a few fleeting seasons of time, but throughout the ages of eternity. For such is the explanation the apostle himself gives in the words that follow of the all things unto which godliness is profitable.

Having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. By life is evidently meant one’s proper being and well-being, whatever goes to make up a well-conditioned and happy state of existence. Life in this higher sense is inseparably connected with godliness. The possession of it was originally suspended on the actual and unfailing exercise of godliness; and now, since the original title to the possession has been forfeited by sin, the promise of regaining what has been lost, though it cannot indeed be meritoriously secured by any amount of personal goodness, yet neither can it be realized otherwise than in connection with this; for only as men become established in the love and practice of goodness, do they become qualified for the possession and enjoyment of life. Interest in Christ goes first, then likeness to Christ; and as this grows, their meetness also increases for an inheritance in His blessedness and glory. A stimulating thought surely for the people of Christ generally, but especially for such as devote themselves to active work in His spiritual vineyard! It is work emphatically which is twice blessed: they reap even while they are sowing; lay up treasures for themselves while they are spending for the good of others; do best for themselves when they do most for God.

Verse 9

Ver. 9. Faithful is the word, and worthy of all acceptation. This form of expression, peculiar to the Pastoral epistles, has already occurred in another connection, 1 Timothy 1:15. Here it is applied to the promise of life now and hereafter, as connected with the earnest pursuit of holiness, which the apostle not only sets forth, but commends as entitled to implicit confidence, and worthy of cordial acceptance. He proceeds also to confirm what he thus says of it by a reference to his own aim in the work of the ministry, and that of his fellow-labourers in the gospel.

Verse 10

Ver. 10. For to this ( εἰς τοῦτο , with a view to it, in order that we may in our own case realize the good contained in the promise) we toil ( κοπιῶμεν , which is somewhat stronger than ἑργάζομεν , labour) and strive ( ἀγωνιζόμεθα ), (This is undoubtedly the best supported reading, being that of א , A, C, F, G, K, while the ὀνειδιζο ́ μεθα of the received text is found in only three uncials at first hand, D, L, P, though it has the support of the Vulg., Greek, Syr., Cop., Arm., and Ethiop. versions. The unanimity of the versions is certainly entitled to weight, yet is scarcely sufficient to counterbalance the evidence of so many of the most important MSS. The omission of the first καὶ has the support of all the versions, and that also of N, A, C, D, P.) because we have hoped upon the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those who believe. This statement being presented as a reason or ground of procedure in respect to the promise of life mentioned immediately before, clearly enough shows in what sense the apostle understood the life; for, so far from aiming at mere animal existence or corporeal satisfaction and repose, as if this were the summum bonum of life, he and his fellow-labourers readily parted with the things pertaining to that lower sphere, cheerfully encountered hardships, and persevered in a great life-conflict, that they might become partakers of life in that higher and nobler sense which the grace of God in Christ had rendered it possible for them to attain. They felt, in short, that their grand interest, alike for time and eternity, lay in the service and blessing of God; and without disparaging anything naturally pleasant or advantageous which the course of divine providence might place within their reach, or shunning as unclean what God had given to be used, they still showed that they were prepared to undergo any sacrifice of fleshly ease or worldly honour that might be required by their devotion to the cause of Christ, assured that thereby they gained more than they lost that they advanced their interest in what alone is of supreme and imperishable moment. The ground of this assurance is made to rest in God: it was because they had hoped upon the living God (the ἐπὶ , with the dative, indicative of the solid basis they had obtained for their expectations), that they could so confidently reckon on an endless heritage of peaceful and blessed life, and so willingly submit to all privations and toils that might meet them in the pursuit of it; for He who is Himself the living One, having the very fountain of life in perpetual freshness and inexhaustible sufficiency, is in this case the surety and the promiser. Such a hope, therefore, must be one that shall not make ashamed.

In this direction also points the further description given of God: who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those who believe. The term Saviour ( σωτὴρ ) represents Him as the deliverer and preserver of life; but in what sense, or to what effects, must be inferred from the connection. As the living God, He may be said to be the Saviour of all men, since by His watchful and beneficent providence they are constantly delivered from destruction and preserved in being. Actually He is not more to all men, although more in manifestations of goodwill and acts tending toward salvation, since He sets before men generally, and often even presses on their acceptance, the benefits of a work of reconciliation, which, from its essential nature, is perfectly sufficient to meet the necessities of all, and recover them to life and blessing. As it is in the character of a Saviour-God that He does this, there seems no valid reason why it should not be comprised in the sense we put upon the apostle’s language. Yet, as the language indicates rather what God actually is to men, what they actually receive from Him, than what He reveals Himself as ready and willing to give them, we are led by the natural and unconstrained import of the words to think mainly of the relation in which God stands to men indiscriminately as the Author and Preserver of their present life. And from this as the less, the apostle rises to the greater. From what God is and does in behalf of such as are dependent on Him for the common bounties of providence, he proceeds to indicate what God is and does besides, in respect to those who are related to Him as His redeemed in Christ the Saviour, especially of those who believe: in them the character of God as Saviour reaches its proper culmination. Put in the form of an argument, the idea might be thus expressed: If in that character God does so much for sinful and unbelieving men, how much may He not be justly expected to do for His own chosen people, who are partakers of His grace, and have trusted in His word! In their case there is nothing to hinder the outgoings of His loving-kindness, or to restrain the riches of His beneficence, but everything rather to encourage them to expect all from His hand. Expressing the Father’s mind towards them in this respect, our Lord said, “I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Verse 11

Ver. 11. From the beginning of this new section to the end of the chapter, we have a series of practical exhortations to Timothy respecting his personal bearing and character: Charge these things, and teach; the things, namely, which had been mentioned in the immediately preceding verses, and which concerned the whole church of Christ involving serious dangers to be guarded against, and lines of duty to be resolutely pursued. On Timothy’s part, therefore, there were both charges to be given respecting them, and principles as to truth and error to be taught.

Verse 12

Ver. 12. Let no one despise thy youth. This is, doubtless, the proper rendering, although the position of the pronoun is somewhat peculiar, σου τῆς νεότητος καταφρονείτω ; but it again occurs in 1 Timothy 4:15, where also the governing substantive follows. The sense plainly is, “Let no one despise thee on account of thy youth,” as Chrysostom expressly puts it. The youth of Timothy, as mentioned in the Introduction, must be understood relatively: though a person in the full vigour of manhood, he still was young for such a charge as had been devolved on him much younger, in all probability, than some on whom he had to exercise disciplinary treatment; and if the apostle himself, who was not only considerably older than Timothy, but invested also with higher official dignity, found it difficult at times to maintain his authority in the face of the aspiring and disputatious spirits that sought to have pre-eminence in the church, we can easily understand how persons of that description would be ready to take advantage of Timothy’s comparative youth. The natural’ disposition of Timothy, also, formed rather for helping and obeying than commanding, could scarcely fail to aggravate the danger; so that against this, as a weak point in his position, he was fitly called by the apostle to guard. Respect for the sacred interests entrusted to him, required that he should be manly and firm.

But become thou a pattern of the believers in word, in behaviour, in love, (The ἐν πνευ ́ ματι after this in t he received text is wanting in the best authorities.) in faith, in purity. A sort of counteractive to the danger indicated in the preceding clause; as much as to say. If thou wouldst properly retain thy place, and overcome the disadvantage connected with thy youth, take heed that thou be such an exemplar of Christian excellence and worth, that all true believers will be disposed to esteem and love thee. The specific points, though not mentioned in any logical order, comprise all the leading characteristics that should distinguish a Christian minister: in word, careful of what he might say, whether in the assemblies of the faithful or in his private intercourse with individuals, in behaviour equally careful as to what he might do in the general course and tenor of his life; in love, in faith, showing that, with the form, he also knew and exercised the two grand motive powers of a Christian life; finally, in purity ( ἁγνείᾳ ), such in his bearing toward the female portion of society, as to prevent even the suspicion from entering that he was otherwise than scrupulously observant of the rules of chastity. It is of incalculable importance for the youthful minister that he establish for himself a character in these respects; a palpable failure in any one of them will be fatal to his success.

Verse 13

Ver. 13. Till I come (the present, ἔρχομαι , probably to express the purpose of an early return to Ephesus), give attention to the reading, the exhortation, the teaching. The definiteness indicated respecting these things by the use of the article, seems to point to them as well known: stated employments connected with ministerial agency. The reading, therefore, will most naturally be taken for that kind of reading which formed part of the public service of the church, namely, the reading of Scripture, chiefly as yet, if not entirely, Old Testament Scripture. Chrysostom appears to have thought of Scripture, and nothing else, as indicated by the expression ( πρόσεχε τῇ ἀναγνώσει , τῇ τω ͂ ν θει ́ ων γραφω ͂ ν ); and so, undoubtedly, the expression is used at Acts 13:15, also 2 Corinthians 3:14, with reference to the regular reading of the Old Testament Scriptures in the Jewish synagogues. The exhortation and the teaching are understood by Chrysostom, the former of social or mutual interchange of sentiments with a view to edification, the other of public discourse. We should rather, perhaps, suppose the apostle to be referring throughout to the service of the sanctuary; so that he shall here be advising Timothy in regard to the things which belonged to his ministrations in public, as he had previously counselled him regarding his more strictly personal character and deportment. But to try to distinguish exactly between the exhortation and the teaching is superfluous, except that, from the import of the terms, the one may be supposed to have had respect more especially to practice, and the other to instruction.

Verse 14

Ver. 14. Neglect not the gift (the charism) that is in thee, which was given thee through (or by means of) prophecy, with laying on of the hands of the presbytery. There can be no reasonable doubt that this is the correct rendering, and that the attempts which have at various times been made to give another sense to the preposition ( διὰ ) than that of expressing the medium or instrumental cause, have entirely failed. Prophecy and imposition of hands by the presbytery are represented as the concurrent means through which the gift in question came to Timothy: prophecy the first and highest hence having the preposition of the instrument coupled with it; imposition of hands by the presbytery the secondary or subordinate hence presented as an accompaniment of the other. But what is to be understood by the gift itself, which thus came to Timothy’s possession? The word χαρίσμα , which occurs altogether fourteen times in the writings of St. Paul, but nowhere else in the New Testament, except in 1 Peter 4:10, always means an endowment or gift of grace, bestowed by the Holy Spirit for some special ministration or official service. Timothy had in tender youth been destined to peculiar evangelistic work under the direction and oversight of St. Paul, and he had received from above a measure of grace proportioned to his calling and responsibilities. This qualifying grace had somehow been indicated through the spirit of prophecy as a gift destined for him, authoritatively certified to be awaiting him therefore in a sense conferred through that; and then, acting on this divine certification or assurance, the presbytery gave him the imposition of hands, an act which always formed “an appropriation of the gift of the Spirit in prayer through the instrumentality of others for a definite object” (Wiesinger). The prophecy, therefore, is to be viewed as the distinct enunciation of God’s will in respect to Timothy’s qualifications his spiritual as well as natural qualifications for the evangelistic office; and the formal designation of him by the presbytery was the church’s response to the declared mind of God, and appropriate action to carry it into effect. The presbytery is to be taken in the natural and obvious sense, for the body of presbyters or elders in the particular place where Timothy was set apart to the work of the Lord. It means bishops here, says Chrysostom, since only such could ordain by imposition of hands: true in one sense, but not certainly in that meant by Chrysostom; that is, not as denoting the presence and co-operation of officers of a higher grade than presbyters. The language of the apostle, neither here nor elsewhere, furnishes any warrant for such a supposition. Bengel’s explanation is still more arbitrary; he would couple προφητείας with πρεσβυτερίον , and throw the intervening words into a parenthesis thus: “which was given thee through the prophecy of the presbytery, with the laying on of hands.” And the hands laid on he would understand to be those of the apostle’s, on the supposed ground that imposition of hands was the act of one person, and that a person of higher dignity than he on whom the act was performed. Such, however, was not the case at Antioch, when Paul and Barnabas were by imposition of hands designated to special ministerial work (Acts 13:1); nor have we any reason to think it was necessarily or even ordinarily so, except when the gift conferred had respect to the exhibition of miraculous agency. The conferring of this gift by imposition of hands belonged exclusively to an apostle. But in appointments to ministerial employ it was otherwise; and when, in another place (2 Timothy 1:6), the apostle speaks of this same gift having come to Timothy through the laying on of his hands, this no way prejudices the supposition of a more general concurrence in the act. The part taken by the apostle in the matter could not but be the most assuring circumstance to Timothy of an external kind, and a very special consideration prompting him to the exercise of the gift; but it did not preclude the official action of the presbytery, nor render this unimportant in its own place.

Verse 15

Ver. 15. Be mindful of these things ( μελέτα , found only here and at Acts 4:25, but signifying to care for, attend to, or be mindful of): let them have their proper place in the regard and application of thy soul. Be in them; have your very life, as it were, in such things. On which Bengel remarks: “He who is in them will be less in worldly companies, in other kinds of pursuits, in collecting books, shells, coins, in which many pastors unconsciously spend a great part of their life.” In order that thy progress may be manifest to all: implying, first, that a perceptible advance in the things which constitute a faithful and effective ministry is what may justly be expected even in the most qualified servant of God; and then, that the way to effect this is by a sincere and devoted application to the work itself Here also it is the hand of the diligent which maketh rich though only, of course, when the hand is the instrument of an earnest and willing mind.

Verse 16

Ver. 16. Give heed to thyself and to the teaching: not precisely doctrine, though doubtless including what is understood by that, but the whole matter of teaching in relation to Christianity; hence, in the first place, making due preparation for the work of public discourse, and then, when actually employed in it, seeing that it be of the right sort, that it embrace the great principles of truth and duty as unfolded in the gospel, and press these in the proper manner and spirit. Continue in them; that is, in the various parts of evangelistic and pastoral duty enjoined in the preceding sentences: let there be, not a fitful, but a steady and persevering application to them. Then follows the twofold blessed result: for by so doing thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee. The direct object of the ministry of the gospel is the salvation of those who come within the circle of its operations; but along with this the apostle happily combines another, the saving of one’s own soul. Nothing is so well fitted for bringing us safely to heaven as engaging in good earnest “to be instruments in God’s hand of bringing others thither. For, as an old and, in the best sense, spiritual writer has excellently noted on the words, “the work of Christianity is woven in with the right discharge of the office of the ministry. Many ministers can say, that if they had not been ministers they had in all appearance lost their souls. The subject of the minister’s work is the same with that of a Christian’s; and above all men should he be careful of his heart and intentions, that all be pure and spiritual. No man is under so strict a necessity of dependence on the influence and assistance of the Holy Ghost, both for gifts and grace. And are not all these great helps to one’s own salvation?” (Sermon by Robert Traill.)