1 Timothy 5:17-25

1 Timothy 5:17-Lamentations : . Elders.— In 1 Timothy 3:1 * Paul discusses qualifications for eldership, here he gives Timothy rules for its supervision. ( a) On the principle of Scripture ( Deuteronomy 25:4, cf. 1 Corinthians 9:9) and of a well-known proverb, successful presidents ( cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:12) should receive special maintenance, particularly if to the strict functions of eldership they add that of teaching ( 1 Timothy 5:17 f.). ( b) Against an elder only legally-attested charges ( Deuteronomy 19:15) may be recognised ( 1 Timothy 5:19). ( c) Elders convicted of sinful practices should be reprimanded publicly, as a deterrent to others. In all this Timothy must exercise absolute impartiality ( 1 Timothy 5:20 f.). ( d) He may guard against scandal by making full inquiry before ordaining an elder, thus avoiding a share in responsibility for defaulters’ sins, from which he must ever keep himself unspotted ( 1 Timothy 5:22). This will prevent (i) hasty acceptance of candidates (since, while some men’ s sins are so notorious as to proclaim the necessity of judgment, others’ sins are discovered only long afterwards, 1 Timothy 5:24); (ii) hasty rejection (since not all good works, also, are immediately evident, 1 Timothy 5:25).

1 Timothy 5:17 . honour: 1 Timothy 5:3 *.

1 Timothy 5:18 . scripture: refers only to the first of the sayings that follow. Since Christ’ s words ( Luke 10:7) would not at this date be cited as “ scripture,” the second saying was probably a proverb familiar to both Lord and apostle.

1 Timothy 5:20 . them, etc: in this context “ those elders who.”

1 Timothy 5:21 . elect: i.e. Unfallen.

1 Timothy 5:22 . For the view that this verse concerns the restoration of penitents see EGT.

1 Timothy 5:23 , which deprecates Timothy’ s abstinence from wine, undertaken perhaps in protest against a prevalent danger ( 1 Timothy 3:3; 1 Timothy 3:8), breaks the connexion between 1 Timothy 5:22 and 1 Timothy 5:24, and is either an awkward parenthesis to safeguard “ keep thyself pure,” or an interpolation, possibly displaced from 1 Timothy 4:3 (Holtzmann).