{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"1TI","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"1 Timothy","commonName":"1 Timothy","introduction":"GENUINENESS.--The ancient Church never doubted of their being canonical and written by Paul. They are in the Peschito Syriac version of the second century. MURATORI'S Fragment on the Canon of Scripture, at the close of the second century, acknowledges them as such. IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 1; 3.3.3; 4.16.3; 2.14.8; 3.11.1; 1.16.3], quotes Ti1 1:4, Ti1 1:9; Ti1 6:20; Ti2 4:9-11; Tit 3:10. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [Miscellanies, 2, p. 457; 3, pp. 534, 536; 1, p. 350], quotes Ti1 6:1, Ti1 6:20; Second Timothy, as to deaconesses; Tit 1:12. TERTULLIAN [The Prescription against Heretics, 25; 6], quotes Ti1 6:20; Ti2 1:14; Ti1 1:18; Ti1 6:13, &c.; Ti2 2:2; Tit 3:10-11. EUSEBIUS includes the three in the \"universally acknowledged\" Scriptures. Also THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH [To Autolychus, 3.14], quotes Ti1 2:1-2; Tit 3:1, and CAIUS (in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 6.20]) recognizes their authenticity. CLEMENT OF ROME, in the end of the first century, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians [29], quotes Ti1 2:8. IGNATIUS, in the beginning of the second century, in Epistle to Polycarp, [6], alludes to Ti2 2:4. POLYCARP, in the beginning of the second century [Epistle to the Philippians, 4], alludes to Ti2 2:4; and in the ninth chapter to Ti2 4:10. Hegisippus, in the end of the second century, in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.32], alludes to Ti1 6:3, Ti1 6:20. ATHENAGORAS, in the end of the second century, alludes to Ti1 6:16. JUSTIN MARTYR, in the middle of the second century [Dialogue with Trypho, 47], alludes to Tit 3:4. The Gnostic MARCION alone rejected these Epistles.\n\nThe HERESIES OPPOSED in them form the transition stage from Judaism, in its ascetic form, to Gnosticism, as subsequently developed. The references to Judaism and legalism are clear (Ti1 1:7; Ti1 4:3; Tit 1:10, Tit 1:14; Tit 3:9). Traces of beginning Gnosticism are also unequivocal (Ti1 1:4). The Gnostic theory of a twofold principle from the beginning, evil as well as good, appears in germ in Ti1 4:3, &c. In Ti1 6:20 the term Gnosis (\"science\") itself occurs. Another Gnostic error, namely, that \"the resurrection is past,\" is alluded to in Ti2 2:17-18. The Judaism herein opposed is not that of the earlier Epistles, which upheld the law and tried to join it with faith in Christ for justification. It first passed into that phase of it which appears in the Epistle to the Colossians, whereby will-worship and angel-worship were superadded to Judaizing opinions. Then a further stage of the same evil appears in the Epistle to the Philippians (Phi 3:2, Phi 3:18-19), whereby immoral practice accompanied false doctrine as to the resurrection (compare Ti2 2:18, with Co1 15:12, Co1 15:32-33). This descent from legality to superstition, and from superstition to godlessness, appears more matured in the references to it in these Pastoral Epistles. The false teachers now know not the true use of the law (Ti1 1:7-8), and further, have put away good conscience as well as the faith (Ti1 1:19; Ti1 4:2); speak lies in hypocrisy, are corrupt in mind, and regard godliness as a means of earthly gain (Ti1 6:5 Tit 1:11); overthrow the faith by heresies eating as a canker, saying the resurrection is past (Ti2 2:17-18), leading captive silly women, ever learning yet never knowing the truth, reprobate as Jannes and Jambres (Ti2 3:6, Ti2 3:8), defiled, unbelieving, professing to know God, but in works denying Him, abominable, disobedient, reprobate (Tit 1:15-16). This description accords with that in the Catholic Epistles of St. John and St. Peter, and, in the Epistle to the Hebrews. This fact proves the later date of these Pastoral Epistles as compared with Paul's earlier Epistles. The Judaism reprobated herein is not that of an earlier date, so scrupulous as to the law; it was now tending to immortality of practice. On the other hand, the Gnosticism opposed in these Epistles is not the anti-Judaic Gnosticism of a later date, which arose as a consequence of the overthrow of Judaism by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, but it was the intermediate phase between Judaism and Gnosticism, in which the Oriental and Greek elements of the latter were in a kind of amalgam with Judaism, just prior to the overthrow of Jerusalem.\n\nThe DIRECTIONS AS TO CHURCH GOVERNORS and ministers, \"bishop-elders, and deacons,\" are such as were natural for the apostle, in prospect of his own approaching removal, to give to Timothy, the president of the Church at Ephesus, and to Titus, holding the same office in Crete, for securing the due administration of the Church when he should be no more, and at a time when heresies were rapidly springing up. Compare his similar anxiety in his address to the Ephesian elders (Act 20:21-30). The Presbyterate (elders; priest is a contraction from presbyter) and Diaconate had existed from the earliest times in the Church (Act 6:3; Act 11:30; Act 14:23). Timothy and Titus, as superintendents or overseers (so bishop subsequently meant), were to exercise the same power in ordaining elders at Ephesus which the apostle had exercised in his general supervision of all the Gentile churches.\n\nThe PECULIARITIES OF MODES OF THOUGHT AND EXPRESSION, are such as the difference of subject and circumstances of those addressed and those spoken of in these Epistles, as compared with the other Epistles, would lead us to expect. Some of these peculiar phrases occur also in Galatians, in which, as in the Pastoral Epistles, he, with his characteristic fervor, attacks the false teachers. Compare Ti1 2:6; Tit 2:14, \"gave Himself for us,\" with Gal 1:4; Ti1 1:17; Ti2 4:18, \"for ever and ever,\" with Gal 1:5 : \"before God,\" Ti1 5:21; Ti1 6:13; Ti2 2:14; Ti2 4:1, with Gal 1:20 : \"a pillar,\" Ti1 3:15, with Gal 2:9 : \"mediator,\" Ti1 2:5, with Gal 3:20 : \"in due season,\" Ti1 2:6; Ti1 6:15; Tit 1:3 with Gal 6:9.\n\nTIME AND PLACE OF WRITING.--The First Epistle to Timothy was written not long after Paul had left Ephesus for Macedon (Ti1 1:3). Now, as Timothy was in Macedon with Paul (Co2 1:1) on the occasion of Paul's having passed from Ephesus into that country, as recorded, Act 19:22; Act 20:1, whereas the First Epistle to Timothy contemplates a longer stay of Timothy in Ephesus, MOSHEIM supposes that Paul was nine months of the \"three years\" stay mostly at Ephesus (Act 20:31) in Macedonia, and elsewhere (perhaps Crete), (the mention of only \"three months\" and \"two years,\" Act 19:8, Act 19:10, favors this, the remaining nine months being spent elsewhere); and that during these nine months Timothy, in Paul's absence, superintended the Church of Ephesus. It is not likely that Ephesus and the neighboring churches should have been left long without church officers and church organization, rules respecting which are giver in this Epistle. Moreover, Timothy was still \"a youth\" (Ti1 4:12), which he could hardly be called after Paul's first imprisonment, when he must have been at least thirty-four years of age. Lastly, in Act 20:25, Paul asserts his knowledge that the Ephesians should not all see his face again, so that Ti1 1:3 will thus refer to his sojourn at Ephesus, recorded in Act 19:10, whence he passed into Macedonia. But the difficulty is to account for the false teachers having sprung up almost immediately (according to this theory) after the foundation of the Church. However, his visit recorded in Acts 19:1-41 was not his first visit. The beginning of the Church at Ephesus was probably made at his visit a year before (Act 18:19-21). Apollos, Aquila and Priscilla, carried on the work (Act 18:24-26). Thus, as to the sudden growth of false teachers, there was time enough for their springing up, especially considering that the first converts at Ephesus were under Apollos' imperfect Christian teachings at first, imbued as he was likely to be with the tenets of PHILO of Alexandria, Apollos' native town, combined with John the Baptist's Old Testament teachings (Act 18:24-26). Besides Ephesus, from its position in Asia, its notorious voluptuousness and sorcery (Act 19:18-19), and its lewd worship of Diana (answering to the Phœnician Ashtoreth), was likely from the first to tinge Christianity in some of its converts with Oriental speculations and Asiatic licentiousness of practices. Thus the phenomenon of the phase of error presented in this Epistle, being intermediate between Judaism and later Gnosticism (see above), would be such as might occur at an early period in the Ephesian Church, as well as later, when we know it had open \"apostles\" of error (Rev 2:2, Rev 2:6), and Nicolaitans infamous in practice. As to the close connection between this First Epistle and the Second Epistle (which must have been written at the close of Paul's life), on which ALFORD relies for his theory of making the First Epistle also written at the close of Paul's life, the similarity of circumstances, the person addressed being one and the same, and either in Ephesus at the time, or at least connected with Ephesus as its church overseer, and having heretics to contend with of the same stamp as in the First Epistle, would account for the connection. There is not so great identity of tone as to compel us to adopt the theory that some years could not have elapsed between the two Epistles.\n\nHowever, all these arguments against the later date may be answered. This First Epistle may refer not to the first organization of the Church under its bishops, or elders and deacons, but to the moral qualifications laid down at a later period for those officers when scandals rendered such directions needful. Indeed, the object for which he left Timothy at Ephesus he states (Ti1 1:3) to be, not to organize the Church for the first time, but to restrain the false teachers. The directions as to the choice of fit elders and deacons refer to the filling up of vacancies, not to their first appointment. The fact of there existing an institution for Church widows implies an established organization. As to Timothy's \"youth,\" it may be spoken of comparatively young compared with Paul, now \"the aged\" (Plm 1:9), and with some of the Ephesian elders, senior to Timothy their overseer. As to Act 20:25, we know not but that \"all\" of the elders of Ephesus called to Miletus \"never saw Paul's face\" afterwards, as he \"knew\" (doubtless by inspiration) would be the case, which obviates the need of ALFORD'S lax view, that Paul was wrong in this his positive inspired anticipation (for such it was, not a mere boding surmise as to the future). Thus he probably visited Ephesus again (Ti1 1:3; Ti2 1:18; Ti2 4:20, he would hardly have been at Miletum, so near Ephesus, without visiting Ephesus) after his first imprisonment in Rome, though all the Ephesian elders whom he had addressed formerly at Miletus did not again see him. The general similarity of subject and style, and of the state of the Church between the two Epistles, favors the view that they were near one another in date. Also, against the theory of the early date is the difficulty of defining, when, during Paul's two or three years' stay at Ephesus, we can insert an absence of Paul from Ephesus long enough for the requirements of the case, which imply a lengthened stay and superintendence of Timothy at Ephesus (see, however, Ti1 3:14, on the other side) after having been \"left\" by Paul there. Timothy did not stay there when Paul left Ephesus (Act 19:22; Act 20:1; Co2 1:1). In Ti1 3:14, Paul says, \"I write, hoping to come unto thee shortly,\" but on the earlier occasion of his passing from Ephesus to Macedon he had no such expectation, but had planned to spend the summer in Macedon, and the winter in Corinth, (Co1 16:6). The expression \"Till I come\" (Ti1 4:13), implies that Timothy was not to leave his post till Paul should arrive; this and the former objection, however, do not hold good against MOSHEIM'S theory. Moreover, Paul in his farewell address to the Ephesian elders prophetically anticipates the rise of false teachers hereafter of their own selves; therefore this First Epistle, which speaks of their actual presence at Ephesus, would naturally seem to be not prior, but subsequent, to the address, that is, will belong to the later date assigned. In the Epistle to the Ephesians no notice is taken of the Judaeo-Gnostic errors, which would have been noticed had they been really in existence; however, they are alluded to in the contemporaneous sister Epistle to Colossians (Col. 2:1-23).\n\nWhatever doubt must always remain as to the date of the First Epistle, there can be hardly any as to that of the Second Epistle. In Ti2 4:13, Paul directs Timothy to bring the books and cloak which the apostle had left at Troas. Assuming that the visit to Troas referred to is the one mentioned in Act 20:5-7, it will follow that the cloak and parchments lay for about seven years at Troas, that being the time that elapsed between the visit and Paul's first imprisonment at Rome: a very unlikely supposition, that he should have left either unused for so long. Again, when, during his first Roman imprisonment, he wrote to the Colossians (Col 4:14) and Philemon (Plm 1:24), Demas was with him; but when he was writing Ti2 4:10, Demas had forsaken him from love of this world, and gone to Thessalonica. Again, when he wrote to the Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon, he had good hopes of a speedy liberation; but here in Ti2 4:6-8, he anticipates immediate death, having been at least once already tried (Ti2 4:16). Again, he is in this Epistle represented as in closer confinement than he was when writing those former Epistles in his first imprisonment (even in the Philippians, which represent him in greater uncertainty as to his life, he cherished the hope of soon being delivered, Phi 2:24; Ti2 1:16-18; Ti2 2:9; Ti2 4:6-8, Ti2 4:16). Again (Ti2 4:20), he speaks of having left Trophimus sick at Miletum. This could not have been on the occasion, Act 20:15. For Trophimus was with Paul at Jerusalem shortly afterwards (Act 21:29). Besides, he would thus be made to speak of an event six or seven years after its occurrence, as a recent event: moreover, Timothy was, on that occasion of the apostle being at Miletum, with Paul, and therefore needed not to be informed of Trophimus' sickness there (Act 20:4-17). Also, the statement (Ti2 4:20), \"Erastus abode at Corinth,\" implies that Paul had shortly before been at Corinth, and left Erastus there; but Paul had not been at Corinth for several years before his first imprisonment, and in the interval Timothy had been with him, so that he did not need to write subsequently about that visit. He must therefore have been liberated after his first imprisonment (indeed, Heb 13:23-24, expressly proves that the writer was in Italy and at liberty), and resumed his apostolic journeyings, and been imprisoned at Rome again, whence shortly before his death he wrote Second Timothy.\n\nEUSEBIUS [Chronicles, Anno 2083] (beginning October, A.D. 67), says, \"Nero, to his other crimes, added the persecution of Christians: under him the apostles Peter and Paul consummated their martyrdom at Rome.\" So JEROME [On Illustrious Men], \"In the fourteenth year of Nero, Paul was beheaded at Rome for Christ's sake, on the same day as Peter, and was buried on the Ostian Road, in the thirty-seventh year after the death of our Lord.\" ALFORD reasonably conjectures the Pastoral Epistles were written near this date. The interval was possibly filled up (so CLEMENT OF ROME states that Paul preached as far as \"to the extremity of the west\") by a journey to Spain (Rom 15:24, Rom 15:28), according to his own original intention. MURATORI'S Fragment on the Canon of Scripture (about A.D. 170) also alleges Paul's journey into Spain. So EUSEBIUS, CHRYSOSTOM, and JEROME. Be that as it may, he seems shortly before his second imprisonment to have visited Ephesus, where a new body of elders governed the Church (Act 20:25), say in the latter end of A.D. 66, or beginning of 67. Supposing him thirty at his conversion, he would now be upwards of sixty, and older in constitution than in years, through continual hardship. Even four years before he called himself \"Paul the aged\" (Plm 1:9).\n\nFrom Ephesus he went into Macedonia (Ti1 1:3). He may have written the First Epistle to Timothy from that country. But his use of \"went,\" not \"came,\" in Ti1 1:3, \"When I went into Macedonia,\" implies he was not there when writing. Wherever he was, he writes uncertain how long he may be detained from coming to Timothy (Ti1 3:14-15). BIRKS shows the probability that he wrote from Corinth, between which city and Ephesus the communication was rapid and easy. His course, as on both former occasions, was from Macedon to Corinth. He finds a coincidence between Ti1 2:11-14, and Co1 14:34, as to women being silent in Church; and Ti1 5:17-18, and Co1 9:8-10, as to the maintenance of ministers, on the same principle as the Mosaic law, that the ox should not be muzzled that treadeth out the corn; and Ti1 5:19-20, and Co2 13:1-4, as to charges against elders. It would be natural for the apostle in the very place where these directions had been enforced, to reproduce them in his letter.\n\nThe date of the Epistle to Titus must depend on that assigned to First Timothy, with which it is connected in subject, phraseology, and tone. There is no difficulty in the Epistle to Titus, viewed by itself, in assigning it to the earlier date, namely, before Paul's first imprisonment. In Act 18:18-19, Paul, in journeying from Corinth to Palestine, for some cause or other landed at Ephesus. Now we find (Tit 3:13) that Apollos in going from Ephesus to Corinth was to touch at Crete (which seems to coincide with Apollos' journey from Ephesus to Corinth, recorded in Act 18:24, Act 18:27; Act 19:1); therefore it is not unlikely that Paul may have taken Crete similarly on his way between Corinth and Ephesus; or, perhaps been driven out of his course to it in one of his three shipwrecks spoken of in Co2 11:25-26; this will account for his taking Ephesus on his way from Corinth to Palestine, though out of his regular course. At Ephesus Paul may have written the Epistle to Titus [HUG]; there he probably met Apollos and gave the Epistle to Titus to his charge, before his departure for Corinth by way of Crete, and before the apostle's departure for Jerusalem (Act 18:19-21, Act 18:24). Moreover, on Paul's way back from Jerusalem and Antioch, he travelled some time in Upper Asia (Act 19:1); and it was then, probably, that his intention to \"winter at Nicopolis\" was realized, there being a town of that name between Antioch and Tarsus, lying on Paul's route to Galatia (Tit 3:12). Thus, First Timothy will, in this theory, be placed two and a half years later (Act 20:1; compare Ti1 1:3).\n\nALFORD'S argument for classing the Epistle to Titus with First Timothy, as written after Paul's first Roman imprisonment, stands or falls with his argument for assigning First Timothy to that date. Indeed, HUG'S unobjectionable argument for the earlier date of the Epistle to Titus, favors the early date assigned to First Timothy, which is so much akin to it, if other arguments be not thought to counterbalance this. The Church of Crete had been just founded (Tit 1:5), and yet the same heresies are censured in it as in Ephesus, which shows that no argument, such as ALFORD alleges against the earlier date of First Timothy, can be drawn from them (Tit 1:10-11, Tit 1:15-16; Tit 3:9, Tit 3:11). But vice versa, if, as seems likely from the arguments adduced, the First Epistle to Timothy be assigned to the later date, the Epistle to Titus must, from similarity of style, belong to the same period. ALFORD traces Paul's last journey before his second imprisonment thus: To Crete (Tit 1:5), Miletus (Ti2 4:20), Colosse (fulfilling his intention, Plm 1:22), Ephesus (Ti1 1:3; Ti2 1:18), from which neighborhood he wrote the Epistle to Titus; Troas, Macedonia, Corinth (Ti2 4:20), Nicopolis (Tit 3:12) in Epirus, where he had intended to winter; a place in which, as being a Roman colony, he would be free from tumultuary violence, and yet would be more open to a direct attack from foes in the metropolis, Rome. Being known in Rome as the leader of the Christians, he was probably [ALFORD] arrested as implicated in causing the fire in A.D. 64, attributed by Nero to the Christians, and was sent to Rome by the Duumvirs of Nicopolis. There he was imprisoned as a common malefactor (Ti2 2:9); his Asiatic friends deserted him, except Onesiphorus (Ti2 1:16). Demas, Crescens, and Titus, left him. Tychicus he had sent to Ephesus. Luke alone remained with him (Ti2 4:10-12). Under the circumstances he writes the Second Epistle to Timothy, most likely while Timothy was at Ephesus (Ti2 2:17; compare Ti1 1:20; Ti2 4:13), begging him to come to him before winter (Ti2 4:21), and anticipating his own execution soon (Ti2 4:6). Tychicus was perhaps the bearer of the Second Epistle (Ti2 4:12). His defense was not made before the emperor, for the latter was then in Greece (Ti2 4:16-17). Tradition represents that he died by the sword, which accords with the fact that his Roman citizenship would exempt him from torture; probably late in A.D. 67 or A.D. 68, the last year of Nero.\n\nTimothy is first mentioned, Act 16:1, as dwelling in Lystra (not Derbe, compare Act 20:4). His mother was a Jewess named Eunice (Ti2 1:5); his father, \"a Greek\" (that is, a Gentile). As Timothy is mentioned as \"a disciple\" in Act 16:1, he must have been converted before, and this by Paul (Ti1 1:2), probably at his former visit to Lystra (Act 14:6); at the same time, probably, that his Scripture-loving mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois, were converted to Christ from Judaism (Ti2 3:14-15). Not only the good report given as to him by the brethren of Lystra, but also his origin, partly Jewish, partly Gentile, adapted him specially for being Paul's assistant in missionary work, laboring as the apostle did in each place, firstly among the Jews, and then among the Gentiles. In order to obviate Jewish prejudices, he first circumcised him. He seems to have accompanied Paul in his tour through Macedonia; but when the apostle went forward to Athens, Timothy and Silas remained in Berea. Having been sent back by Paul to visit the Thessalonian Church (Th1 3:2), he brought his report of it to the apostle at Corinth (Th1 3:6). Hence we find his name joined with Paul's in the addresses of both the Epistles to Thessalonians, which were written at Corinth. We again find him \"ministering to\" Paul during the lengthened stay at Ephesus (Act 19:22). Thence he was sent before Paul into Macedonia and to Corinth (Co1 4:17; Co1 16:10). He was with Paul when he wrote the Second Epistle to Corinthians (Co2 1:1); and the following winter in Corinth, when Paul sent from thence his Epistle to the Romans (Rom 16:21). On Paul's return to Asia through Macedonia, he went forward and waited for the apostle at Troas (Act 20:3-5). Next we find him with Paul during his imprisonment at Rome, when the apostle wrote the Epistles to Colossians (Col 1:1), Philemon (Plm 1:1), and Philippians (Phi 1:1). He was imprisoned and set at liberty about the same time as the writer of the Hebrews (Heb 13:23). In the Pastoral Epistles, we find him mentioned as left by the apostle at Ephesus to superintend the Church there (Ti1 1:3). The last notice of him is in the request which Paul makes to him (Ti2 4:21) to \"come before winter,\" that is about A.D. 67 [ALFORD]. EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.42], reports that he was first bishop of Ephesus; and [NICOPHORUS, Ecclesiastical History, 3.11], represents that he died by martyrdom. If then, St. John, as tradition represents, resided and died in that city, it must have been at a later period. Paul himself ordained or consecrated him with laying on of his own hands, and those of the presbytery, in accordance with prophetic intimations given respecting him by those possessing the prophetic gift (Ti1 1:18; Ti1 4:14 Ti2 1:6). His self-denying character is shown by his leaving home at once to accompany the apostle, and submitting to circumcision for the Gospel's sake; and also by his abstemiousness (noted in Ti1 5:23) notwithstanding his bodily infirmities, which would have warranted a more generous diet. Timidity and a want of self-confidence and boldness in dealing with the difficulties of his position, seem to have been a defect in his otherwise beautiful character as a Christian minister (Co1 16:10; Ti1 4:12; Ti2 1:7).\n\nThe DESIGN of the First Epistle was: (1) to direct Timothy to charge the false teachers against continuing to teach other doctrine than that of the Gospel (1Ti. 1:3-20; compare Rev 2:1-6); (2) to give him instructions as to the orderly conducting of worship, the qualifications of bishops and deacons, and the selection of widows who should, in return for Church charity, do appointed service (1Ti. 2:1-6:2); (3) to warn against covetousness, a sin prevalent at Ephesus, and to urge to good works (1Ti. 6:3-19). \n\n\n\nNext: 1 Timothy Chapter 1\n\n","order":54,"numberOfChapters":6,"sha256":"48b0fc452361b1836d7317bb96a56dcbac0f06c42521b3b4be1154da900d0ad7","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1TI/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1TI","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":6,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1TI/6.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1TI","chapter":6},"totalNumberOfVerses":106},"chapter":{"number":2,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["For kings--an effectual confutation of the adversaries who accused the Christians of disaffection to the ruling powers (Act 17:7; Rom 13:1-7). \n\nall . . . in authority--literally, \"in eminence\"; in stations of eminence. The \"quiet\" of Christians was often more dependent on subordinate rulers, than on the supreme king; hence, \"all . . . in authority\" are to be prayed for. \n\nthat we may lead--that we may be blessed with such good government as to lead . . . ; or rather, as Greek, \"to pass\" or \"spend.\" The prayers of Christians for the government bring down from heaven peace and order in a state. \n\nquiet--not troubled from without. \n\npeaceable--\"tranquil\"; not troubled from within [OLSHAUSEN]. \"He is peaceable (Greek) who makes no disturbance; he is quiet (Greek) who is himself free from disturbance\" [TITTMANN]. \n\nin all godliness--\"in all (possible . . . requisite) piety\" [ALFORD]. A distinct Greek word, Ti1 2:10, expresses \"godliness.\" \n\nhonesty--Greek, \"gravity\" (Tit 2:2, Tit 2:7), \"decorum,\" or propriety of conduct. As \"piety\" is in relation to God, \"gravity\" is propriety of behavior among men. In the Old Testament the Jews were commanded to pray for their heathen rulers (Ezr 6:10; Jer 29:7). The Jews, by Augustus' order, offered a lamb daily for the Roman emperor, till near the destruction of Jerusalem. The Jewish Zealots, instigated by Eleazar, caused this custom to cease [JOSEPHUS, Wars of the Jews, 2.17], whence the war originated, according to JOSEPHUS.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["this--praying for all men. \n\nin the sight of God--not merely before men, as if it were their favor that we sought (Co2 8:21). \n\nour Saviour--a title appropriate to the matter in hand. He who is \"our Saviour\" is willing that all should be saved (Ti1 2:4; Rom 5:18); therefore we should meet the will of God in behalf of others, by praying for the salvation of all men. More would be converted if we would pray more. He has actually saved us who believe, being \"our Saviour.\" He is willing that all should be saved, even those who do not as yet believe, if they will believe (compare Ti1 4:10; Tit 2:11).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["\"Imitate God.\" Since He wishes that all should be saved, do you also wish it; and if you wish it, pray for it. For prayer is the instrument of effecting such things [CHRYSOSTOM]. Paul does not say, \"He wishes to save all\"; for then he would have saved all in matter of fact; but \"will have all men to be saved,\" implies the possibility of man's accepting it (through God's prevenient grace) or rejecting it (through man's own perversity). Our prayers ought to include all, as God's grace included all. \n\nto come--They are not forced. \n\nunto the knowledge--Greek, \"the full knowledge\" or \"recognition\" (See on Co1 13:12; Phi 1:9). \n\nthe truth--the saving truth as it is in, and by, Jesus (Joh 17:3, Joh 17:17).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["For there is one God--God's unity in essence and purpose is a proof of His comprehending all His human children alike (created in His image) in His offer of grace (compare the same argument from His unity, Rom 3:30; Gal 3:20); therefore all are to be prayed for. Ti1 2:4 is proved from Ti1 2:5; Ti1 2:1, from Ti1 2:4. The one God is common to all (Isa 45:22; Act 17:26). The one Mediator is mediator between God and all men potentially (Rom 3:29; Eph 4:5-6; Heb 8:6; Heb 9:15; Heb 12:24). They who have not this one God by one Mediator, have none: literally, a \"go-between.\" The Greek order is not \"and one mediator,\" but \"one mediator also between . . . While God will have all men to be saved by knowing God and the Mediator, there is a legitimate, holy order in the exercise of that will wherewith men ought to receive it. All mankind constitute, as it were, ONE MAN before God [BENGEL]. \n\nthe man--rather \"man,\" absolutely and genetically: not a mere individual man: the Second Head of humanity, representing and embodying in Himself the whole human race and nature. There is no \"the\" in the Greek. This epithet is thus the strongest corroboration of his argument, namely, that Christ's mediation affects the whole race, since there is but the one Mediator, designed as the Representative Man for all men alike (compare Rom 5:15; Co1 8:6; Co2 5:19; Col 2:14). His being \"man\" was necessary to His being a Mediator, sympathizing with us through experimental knowledge of our nature (Isa 50:4; Heb 2:14; Heb 4:15). Even in nature, almost all blessings are conveyed to us from God, not immediately, but through the mediation of various agents. The effectual intercession of Moses for Israel (Num 14:13-19, and Deu. 9:1-29); of Abraham for Abimelech (Gen 20:7); of Job for his friends (Job 42:10), the mediation being PRESCRIBED by God while declaring His purposes of forgiveness: all prefigure the grand mediation for all by the one Mediator. On the other hand, Ti1 3:16 asserts that He was also God.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["gave himself-- (Tit 2:14). Not only the Father gave Him for us (Joh 3:16); but the Son gave Himself (Phi 2:5-8). \n\nransom--properly of a captive slave. Man was the captive slave of Satan, sold under sin. He was unable to ransom himself, because absolute obedience is due to God, and therefore no act of ours can satisfy for the least offense. Lev 25:48 allowed one sold captive to be redeemed by one of his brethren. The Son of God, therefore, became man in order that, being made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted, as our elder brother He should redeem us (Mat 20:28; Eph 1:7; Pe1 1:18-19). The Greek implies not merely ransom, but a substituted or equivalent ransom: the Greek preposition, \"anti,\" implying reciprocity and vicarious substitution. \n\nfor all--Greek, \"in behalf of all\": not merely for a privileged few; compare Ti1 2:1 : the argument for praying in behalf of all is given here. \n\nto be testified--Greek, \"the testimony (that which was to be testified of, Jo1 5:8-11) in its own due times,\" or seasons, that is, in the times appointed by God for its being testified of (Ti1 6:15; Tit 1:3). The oneness of the Mediator, involving the universality of redemption (which faith, however, alone appropriates), was the great subject of Christian testimony [ALFORD] (Co1 1:6; Co1 2:1; Th2 1:10).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["Whereunto--For the giving of which testimony. \n\nI am ordained--literally, \"I was set\": the same Greek, as \"putting me,\" &c. (Ti1 1:12). \n\npreacher--literally, \"herald\" (Co1 1:21; Co1 9:27; Co1 15:11; Ti2 1:11; Tit 1:3). He recurs to himself, as in Ti1 1:16, in himself a living pattern or announcement of the Gospel, so here \"a herald and teacher of (it to) the Gentiles\" (Gal 2:9; Eph 3:1-12; Col 1:23). The universality of his commission is an appropriate assertion here, where he is arguing to prove that prayers are to be made \"for all men\" (Ti1 2:1). \n\nI speak the truth . . . and lie not--a strong asseveration of his universal commission, characteristic of the ardor of the apostle, exposed to frequent conflict (Rom 11:1; Co2 11:13). \n\nin faith and verity--rather, \"in the faith and the truth.\" The sphere in which his ministry was appointed to be exercised was the faith and the truth (Ti1 2:4): the Gospel truth, the subject matter of the faith [WIESINGER].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["I will--The active wish, or desire, is meant. \n\nthat men--rather as Greek, \"that the men,\" as distinguished from \"the women,\" to whom he has something different to say from what he said to the men (Ti1 2:9-12; Co1 11:14-15; Co1 14:34-35). The emphasis, however, is not on this, but on the precept of praying, resumed from Ti1 2:1. \n\neverywhere--Greek, \"in every place,\" namely, of public prayer. Fulfilling Mal 1:11, \"In every place . . . from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same . . . incense shall be offered unto My name\"; and Jesus' words, Mat 18:20; Joh 4:21, Joh 4:23. \n\nlifting up holy hands--The early Christians turned up their palms towards heaven, as those craving help do. So also Solomon (Kg1 8:22; Psa 141:2). The Jews washed their hands before prayer (Psa 26:6). Paul figuratively (compare Job 17:9; Jam 4:8) uses language alluding to this custom here: so Isa 1:15-16. The Greek for \"holy\" means hands which have committed no impiety, and observed every sacred duty. This (or at least the contrite desire to be so) is a needful qualification for effectual prayer (Psa 24:3-4). \n\nwithout wrath--putting it away (Mat 5:23-24; Mat 6:15). \n\ndoubting--rather, \"disputing,\" as the Greek is translated in Phi 2:14. Such things hinder prayer (Luk 9:46; Rom 14:1; Pe1 3:7). BENGEL supports English Version (compare an instance, Kg2 7:2; Mat 14:31; Mar 11:22-24; Jam 1:6).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["The context requires that we understand these directions as to women, in relation to their deportment in public worship, though the rules will hold good on other occasions also. \n\nin modest apparel--\"in seemly guise\" [ELLICOTT]. The adjective means properly. orderly, decorous, becoming; the noun in secular writings means conduct, bearing. But here \"apparel.\" Women are apt to love fine dress; and at Ephesus the riches of some (Ti1 6:17) would lead them to dress luxuriously. The Greek in Tit 2:3 is a more general term meaning \"deportment.\" \n\nshamefacedness--TRENCH spells this word according to its true derivation, \"shamefastness\" (that which is made fast by an honorable shame); as \"steadfastness\" (compare Ti1 2:11-12). \n\nsobriety--\"self-restraint\" [ALFORD]. Habitual inner self-government [TRENCH]. I prefer ELLICOTT'S translation, \"sober-mindedness\": the well-balanced state of mind arising from habitual self-restraint. \n\nwith--Greek, \"in.\" \n\nbraided hair--literally, \"plaits,\" that is, plaited hair: probably with the \"gold and pearls\" intertwined (Pe1 3:3). Such gaud is characteristic of the spiritual harlot (Rev 17:4).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["professing--Greek, \"promising\": engaging to follow. \n\nwith good works--The Greek preposition is not the same as in Ti1 2:9; \"by means of,\" or \"through good works.\" Their adorning is to be effected by means of good works: not that they are to be clothed in, or with, them (Eph 2:10). Works, not words in public, is their province (Ti1 2:8, Ti1 2:11-12; Pe1 3:1). Works are often mentioned in the Pastoral Epistles in order to oppose the loose living, combined with the loose doctrine, of the false teachers. The discharge of everyday duties is honored with the designation, \"good works.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["learn--not \"teach\" (Ti1 2:12; Co1 14:34). She should not even put questions in the public assembly (Co1 14:35). \n\nwith all subjection--not \"usurping authority\" (Ti1 2:12). She might teach, but not in public (Act 18:26). Paul probably wrote this Epistle from Corinth, where the precept (Co1 14:34) was in force.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["usurp authority--\"to lord it over the man\" [ALFORD], literally, \"to be an autocrat.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["For--reason of the precept; the original order of creation. \n\nAdam . . . first--before Eve, who was created for him (Co1 11:8-9).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["Adam was not deceived--as Eve was deceived by the serpent; but was persuaded by his wife. Gen 3:17, \"hearkened unto . . . voice of . . . wife.\" But in Gen 3:13, Eve says, \"The serpent beguiled me.\" Being more easily deceived, she more easily deceives [BENGEL], (Co2 11:3). Last in being, she was first in sin--indeed, she alone was deceived. The subtle serpent knew that she was \"the weaker vessel\" (Pe1 3:7). He therefore tempted her, not Adam. She yielded to the temptations of sense and the deceits of Satan; he, to conjugal love. Hence, in the order of God's judicial sentence, the serpent, the prime offender, stands first; the woman, who was deceived, next; and the man, persuaded by his wife, last (Gen 3:14-19). In Rom 5:12, Adam is represented as the first transgressor; but there no reference is made to Eve, and Adam is regarded as the head of the sinning race. Hence, as here, Ti1 2:11, in Gen 3:16, woman's \"subjection\" is represented as the consequence of her being deceived. \n\nbeing deceived--The oldest manuscripts read the compound Greek verb for the simple, \"Having been seduced by deceit\": implying how completely Satan succeeded in deceiving her. \n\nwas in the transgression--Greek, \"came to be in the transgression\": became involved in the existing state of transgression, literally, \"the going beyond a command\"; breach of a positive precept (Rom 4:15).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["be saved in childbearing--Greek, \"in (literally, 'through') (her, literally, 'the') child-bearing.\" Through, or by, is often so used to express not the means of her salvation, but the circumstances AMIDST which it has place. Thus Co1 3:15, \"He . . . shall be saved: yet so as by (literally, 'through,' that is, amidst) fire\": in spite of the fiery ordeal which he has necessarily to pass through, he shall be saved. So here, \"In spite of the trial of childbearing which she passes through (as her portion of the curse, Gen 3:16, 'in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children'), she shall be saved.\" Moreover, I think it is implied indirectly that the very curse will be turned into a condition favorable to her salvation, by her faithfully performing her part in doing and suffering what God has assigned to her, namely, child-bearing and home duties, her sphere, as distinguished from public teaching, which is not hers, but man's (Ti1 2:11-12). In this home sphere, not ordinarily in one of active duty for advancing the kingdom of God, which contradicts the position assigned to her by God, she will be saved on the same terms as all others, namely, by living faith. Some think that there is a reference to the Incarnation \"through THE child-bearing\" (Greek), the bearing of the child Jesus. Doubtless this is the ground of women's child-bearing in general becoming to them a blessing, instead of a curse; just as in the original prophecy (Gen 3:15-16) the promise of \"the Seed of the woman\" (the Saviour) stands in closest connection with the woman's being doomed to \"sorrow\" in \"bringing forth children,\" her very child-bearing, though in sorrow, being the function assigned to her by God whereby the Saviour was born. This may be an ulterior reference of the Holy Spirit in this verse; but the primary reference required by the context is the one above given. \"She shall be saved ([though] with childbearing),\" that is, though suffering her part of the primeval curse in childbearing; just as a man shall be saved, though having to bear his part, namely, the sweat of the brow. \n\nif they, &c.--\"if the women (plural, taken out of 'the woman,' Ti1 2:14, which is put for the whole sex) continue,\" or more literally, \"shall (be found at the judgment to) have continued.\" \n\nfaith and charity--the essential way to salvation (Ti1 1:5). Faith is in relation to God. Charity, to our fellow man. Sobriety, to one's self. \n\nsobriety--\"sober-mindedness\" (see on Ti1 2:9, as contrasted with the unseemly forwardness reproved in Ti1 2:11). Mental receptivity and activity in family life were recognized in Christianity as the destiny of woman. One reason alleged here by Paul, is the greater danger of self-deception in the weaker sex, and the spread of errors arising from it, especially in a class of addresses in which sober reflectiveness is least in exercise [NEANDER]. The case (Act 21:9) was doubtless in private, not in public.\n\n\n\n\nNext: 1 Timothy Chapter 3\n\n"]}],"introduction":"PUBLIC WORSHIP. DIRECTION AS TO INTERCESSIONS FOR ALL MEN, SINCE CHRIST IS A RANSOM FOR ALL. THE DUTIES OF MEN AND WOMEN RESPECTIVELY IN RESPECT TO PUBLIC PRAYER. WOMAN'S SUBJECTION; HER SPHERE OF DUTY. (Ti1 2:1-15)\n\ntherefore--taking up again the general subject of the Epistle in continuation (Ti2 2:1). \"What I have therefore to say to thee by way of a charge (Ti1 1:3, Ti1 1:18), is,\" &c. \n\nthat, first of all . . . be made--ALFORD takes it, \"I exhort first of all to make.\" \"First of all,\" doubtless, is to be connected with \"I exhort\"; what I begin with (for special reasons), is . . . As the destruction of Jerusalem drew near, the Jews (including those at Ephesus) were seized with the dream of freedom from every yoke; and so virtually \"'blasphemed\" (compare Ti1 1:20) God's name by \"speaking evil of dignities\" (Ti1 6:1; Pe2 2:10; Jde 1:8). Hence Paul, in opposition, gives prominence to the injunction that prayer be made for all men, especially for magistrates and kings (Tit 3:1-3) [OLSHAUSEN]. Some professing Christians looked down on all not Christians, as doomed to perdition; but Paul says all men are to be prayed for, as Christ died for all (Ti1 2:4-6). \n\nsupplications--a term implying the suppliant's sense of need, and of his own insufficiency. \n\nprayers--implying devotion. \n\nintercessions--properly the coming near to God with childlike confidence, generally in behalf of another. The accumulation of terms implies prayer in its every form and aspect, according to all the relations implied in it.\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1TI/2.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1TI","chapter":2},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1TI/3.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1TI","chapter":3},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1TI/1.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1TI","chapter":1},"numberOfVerses":14}