{"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 PhÅ“nician 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":4,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["Rather translate, \"Through (literally, 'in'; the element in which the apostasy has place) the hypocrisy of lying speakers\"; this expresses the means through which \"some shall (be led to) depart from the faith,\" namely, the reigned sanctity of the seducers (compare \"deceivers,\" Tit 1:10). \n\nhaving their conscience seared--Greek, \"having their own conscience,\" &c., that is, not only \"speaking lies\" to others, but also having their own conscience seared. Professing to lead others to holiness, their own conscience is all the while defiled. Bad consciences always have recourse to hypocrisy. As faith and a good conscience are joined (Ti1 1:5); so hypocrisy (that is, unbelief, Mat 24:5, Mat 24:51; compare Luk 12:46) and a bad conscience here. THEODORET explains like English Version, \"seared,\" as implying their extreme insensibility; the effect of cauterizing being to deaden sensation. The Greek, however, primarily means \"branded\" with the consciousness of crimes committed against their better knowledge and conscience, like so many scars burnt in by a branding iron: Compare Tit 1:15; Tit 3:11, \"condemned of himself.\" They are conscious of the brand within, and yet with a hypocritical show of sanctity, they strive to seduce others. As \"a seal\" is used in a good sense (Ti2 2:19), so \"a brand\" in a bad sense. The image is taken from the branding of criminals.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["Sensuality leads to false spiritualism. Their own inward impurity is reflected in their eyes in the world without them, and hence their asceticism (Tit 1:14-15) [WIESINGER]. By a spurious spiritualism (Ti2 2:18), which made moral perfection consist in abstinence from outward things, they pretended to attain to a higher perfection. Mat 19:10-12 (compare Co1 7:8, Co1 7:26, Co1 7:38) gave a seeming handle to their \"forbidding marriage\" (contrast Ti1 5:14); and the Old Testament distinction as to clean and unclean, gave a pretext for teaching to \"abstain from meats\" (compare Col 2:16-17, Col 2:20-23). As these Judaizing Gnostics combined the harlot or apostate Old Testament Church with the beast (Rev 17:3), or Gnostic spiritualizing anti-Christianity, so Rome's Judaizing elements (Ti1 4:3) shall ultimately be combined with the open worldly-wise anti-Christianity of the false prophet or beast (Ti1 6:20-21; Col 2:8; Jo1 4:1-3; Rev 13:12-15). Austerity gained for them a show of sanctity while preaching false doctrine (Col 2:23). EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 4.29] quotes from IRENÆUS [1.28] a statement that Saturninus, Marcion, and the Encratites preached abstinence from marriage and animal meats. Paul prophetically warns against such notions, the seeds of which already were being sown (Ti1 6:20; Ti2 2:17-18). \n\nto be received--Greek, \"to be partaken of.\" \n\nof them--literally, (created and designed) \"for them,\" Though all (even the unbelieving, Psa 104:14; Mat 5:45) are partakers in these foods created by God, \"they which believe\" alone fulfil God's design in creation by partaking of them with thanksgiving; as opposed to those who abstain from them, or in partaking of them, do not do so with thanksgiving. The unbelieving have not the designed use of such foods by reason of their \"conscience being defiled\" (Tit 1:15). The children of God alone \"inherit the earth\"; for obedience is the necessary qualification (as it was in the original grant of the earth to Adam), which they alone possess. \n\nand know the truth--explanatory and defining who are \"they which believe.\" Translate as Greek, \"and have full knowledge of the truth\" (see on Phi 1:9). Thus he contradicts the assumption of superior knowledge and higher moral perfection, put forward by the heretics, on the ground of their abstinence from marriage and meats. \"The truth\" stands in opposition to their \"lies\" (Ti1 4:2).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["Translate as Greek, \"Because\" (expressing a reason resting on an objective fact; or, as here, a Scripture quotation)--\"For\" (a reason resting on something subjective in the writer's mind). \n\nevery creature . . . good-- (Gen 1:31; Rom 14:14, Rom 14:20). A refutation by anticipation of the Gnostic opposition to creation: the seeds of which were now lurking latently in the Church. Judaism (Act 10:11-16; Co1 10:25-26) was the starting-point of the error as to meats: Oriental Gnosis added new elements. The old Gnostic heresy is now almost extinct; but its remains in the celibacy of Rome's priesthood, and in its fasts from animal meats, enjoined under the penalty of mortal sin, remain. \n\nif . . . with thanksgiving--Meats, though pure in themselves, become impure by being received with an unthankful mind (Rom 14:6; Tit 1:15).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["sanctified--\"hallowed\"; set apart as holy for the use of believing men: separated from \"the creature,\" which is under the bondage of vanity and corruption (Rom 8:19, &c.). Just as in the Lord's Supper, the thanksgiving prayer sanctifies the elements, separating them from their naturally alien position in relation to the spiritual world, and transferring them to their true relation to the new life. So in every use of the creature, thanksgiving prayer has the same effect, and ought always to be used (Co1 10:30-31). \n\nby the word of God and prayer--that is, \"by means of intercessory prayer\" (so the Greek)--that is, consecratory prayer in behalf of \"the creature\" or food--that prayer mainly consisting of \"the word of God.\" The Apostolic Constitutions [7.49], give this ancient grace, almost wholly consisting of Scripture, \"Blessed art thou, O Lord, who feedest me from my youth, who givest food to all flesh: Fill our hearts with joy and gladness, that we, having all sufficiency, may abound unto every good work in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom glory, honour, and might, be to thee for ever. Amen.\" In the case of inspired men, \"the word of God\" would refer to their inspired prayers (Kg1 17:1); but as Paul speaks in general, including uninspired men's thanksgiving for meals, the \"word of God\" more probably refers to the Scripture words used in thanksgiving prayers.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["If thou put . . . in remembrance--rather as Greek, \"If thou suggest to (bring under the notice of) the brethren,\" &c. \n\nthese things--namely, the truths stated in Ti1 4:4-5, in opposition to the errors foretold, Ti1 4:1-3. \n\nminister--\"servant.\" \n\nnourished up--The Greek is present, not past: \"continually being nourished in\" (Ti2 1:5; Ti2 3:14-15). \n\nthe words of faith--rather, \"the words of the faith\" (compare Ti1 4:12). \n\ngood doctrine--\"the good teaching.\" Explanatory of \"the faith,\" in opposition to the \"teachings of demons\" (English Version, \"doctrines of devils,\" Ti1 4:1) which Timothy was to counteract. Compare \"sound doctrine\" (Ti1 1:10; Ti1 6:3; Tit 1:9; Tit 2:1). \n\nwhereunto thou hast attained--\"the course of which thou hast followed\"; hast followed along by tracing its course and accompanying it [ALFORD]. Thou hast begun to follow up [BENGEL]. The same Greek occurs, \"thou hast fully known\" (Ti2 3:10), \"having had perfect understanding\" (Luk 1:3). It is an undesigned coincidence that the Greek verb is used only by Paul and Paul's companion, Luke.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["refuse--reject, avoid, have nothing to do with (Ti2 2:23; Tit 3:10). \n\nold wives' fables--anile myths (Ti1 1:4, Ti1 1:9; Tit 1:14). They are \"profane,\" because leading away from \"godliness\" or \"piety\" (Ti1 1:4-7; Ti1 6:20; Ti2 2:16; Tit 1:1-2). \n\nexercise thyself--literally, \"exercise thyself\" as one undergoing training in a gymnasium. Let thy self-discipline be not in ascetical exercises as the false teachers (Ti1 4:3, Ti1 4:8; compare Ti2 2:22-23; Heb 5:14; Heb 12:11), but with a view to godliness or \"piety\" (Ti1 6:11-12).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["profiteth little--Greek, \"profiteth to (but) a small extent.\" Paul does not deny that fasting and abstinence from conjugal intercourse for a time, with a view to reaching the inward man through the outward, do profit somewhat, Act 13:3; Co1 7:5, Co1 7:7; Co1 9:26-27 (though in its degenerate form, asceticism, dwelling solely on what is outward, Ti1 4:3, is not only not profitable but injurious). Timothy seems to have had a leaning to such outward self-discipline (compare Ti1 5:23). Paul, therefore, while not disapproving of this in its due proportion and place, shows the vast superiority of godliness or piety, as being profitable not merely \"to a small extent,\" but unto all things; for, having its seat within, it extends thence to the whole outward life of a man. Not unto one portion only of his being, but to every portion of it, bodily and spiritual, temporal and eternal [ALFORD]. \"He who has piety (which is 'profitable unto all things') wants nothing needed to his well-being, even though he be without those helps which, 'to a small extent,' bodily exercise furnishes\" [CALVIN]. \"Piety,\" which is the end for which thou art to \"exercise thyself\" (Ti1 4:7), is the essential thing: the means are secondary. \n\nhaving promise, &c.--Translate as Greek, \"Having promise of life, that which now is, and that which is to come.\" \"Life\" in its truest and best sense now and hereafter (Ti2 1:1). Length of life now so far as it is really good for the believer; life in its truest enjoyments and employments now, and life blessed and eternal hereafter (Mat 6:33; Mar 10:29-30). \"Now in this time\" (Psa 84:11; Psa 112:1-10; Rom 8:28; Co1 3:21-22, \"all things are yours . . . the world, life . . . things present, things to come\"). Christianity, which seems to aim only at our happiness hereafter, effectually promotes it here (Ti1 6:6; Pe2 1:3). Compare Solomon's prayer and the answer (Kg1 3:7-13).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["(Ti1 1:15). This verse (Greek), \"faithful is the saying, \" &c. confirms the assertion as to the \"promise\" attached to \"godliness,\" Ti1 4:8, and forms a prefatory introduction to Ti1 4:10, which is joined to Ti1 4:9 by \"For.\" So Ti2 2:11. Godly men seem to suffer loss as to this life: Paul hereby refutes the notion [BENGEL]. \"God is the Saviour specially of those that believe\" (Ti1 4:10), both as to \"the life that now is,\" and also as to \"the life which is to come\" (Ti1 4:8).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["therefore--Greek, \"with a view to this.\" The reason why \"we both ('both' is omitted in the oldest manuscripts) labor (endure hardship) and suffer reproach (some oldest manuscripts read 'strive') is because we have rested, and do rest our hope, on the living (and therefore, life-giving, Ti1 4:8) God.\" \n\nSaviour--even in this life (Ti1 4:8). \n\nspecially of those that believe--Their \"labor and reproach\" are not inconsistent with their having from the living God, their Saviour, even the present life (Mar 10:30, \"a hundred fold now in this time . . . with persecutions\"), much more the life to come. If God is in a sense \"Saviour\" of unbelievers (Ti1 2:4, that is, is willing to be so everlastingly, and is temporally here their Preserver and Benefactor), much more of believers. He is the Saviour of all men potentially (Ti1 1:15); of believers alone effectually. \n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["These truths, to the exclusion of those useless and even injurious teachings (Ti1 4:1-8), while weighing well thyself, charge also upon others.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["Let no man despise thy youth--Act so as to be respected in spite of thy youth (Co1 16:11; Tit 2:15); compare \"youthful\" as to Timothy (Ti2 2:22). He was but a mere youth when he joined Paul (Act 16:1-3). Eleven years had elapsed since then to the time subsequent to Paul's first imprisonment. He was, therefore, still young; especially in comparison with Paul, whose place he was filling; also in relation to elderly presbyters whom he should \"entreat as a father\" (Ti1 5:1), and generally in respect to his duties in rebuking, exhorting, and ordaining (Ti1 3:1), which ordinarily accord best with an elderly person (Ti1 5:19). \n\nbe thou an example--Greek, \"become a pattern\" (Tit 2:7); the true way of making men not to despise (slight, or disregard) thy youth. \n\nin word--in all that thou sayest in public and private. \n\nconversation--that is, \"behavior\" the Old English sense of the word. \n\nin charity . . . faith--the two cardinal principles of the Christian (Gal 5:6). The oldest manuscripts omit, \"in spirit.\" \n\nin purity--simplicity of holy motive followed out in consistency of holy action [ALFORD] (Ti1 5:22; Co2 6:6; Jam 3:17; Jam 4:8; Pe1 1:22).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["Till I come--when Timothy's commission would be superseded for the time by the presence of the apostle himself (Ti1 1:3; Ti1 3:14). \n\nreading--especially in the public congregation. The practice of reading Scripture was transferred from the Jewish synagogue to the Christian Church (Luk 4:16-20; Act 13:15; Act 15:21; Co2 3:14). The New Testament Gospel and Epistles being recognized as inspired by those who had the gift of discerning spirits, were from the first, according as they were written, read along with the Old Testament in the Church (Th1 5:21, Th1 5:27; Col 4:16), [JUSTIN MARTYR, Apology, 1.67]. I think that while public reading is the prominent thought, the Spirit intended also to teach that Scripture reading in private should be \"the fountain of all wisdom from which pastors ought to draw whatever they bring before their flock\" [ALFORD]. \n\nexhortation--addressed to the feelings and will with a view to the regulation of the conduct. \n\ndoctrine--Greek (ministerial), \"teaching\" or instruction. Addressed to the understanding, so as to impart knowledge (Ti1 6:2; Rom 12:7-8). Whether in public or private, exhortation and instruction should be based on Scripture reading.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["Neglect not the gift--by letting it lie unused. In Ti2 1:6 the gift is represented as a spark of the Spirit lying within him, and sure to smoulder by neglect, the stirring up or keeping in lively exercise of which depends on the will of him on whom it is bestowed (Mat 25:18, Mat 25:25, Mat 25:27-28). The charism or spiritual gift, is that of the Spirit which qualified him for \"the work of an evangelist\" (Eph 4:11; Ti2 4:5), or perhaps the gift of discerning spirits, specially needed in his function of ordaining, as overseer [BISHOP HINDS]. \n\ngiven thee--by God (Co1 12:4, Co1 12:6). \n\nby prophecy--that is, by the Holy Spirit, at his general ordination, or else consecration, to the special see of Ephesus, speaking through the prophets God's will to give him the graces needed to qualify him for his work (Ti1 1:18; Act 13:1-3). \n\nwith . . . laying on of . . . hands--So in Joshua's case (Num 27:18-20; Deu 34:9). The gift was connected with the symbolical act of laying on hands. But the Greek \"with\" implies that the presbyter's laying on hands was the mere accompaniment of the conferring of the gift. \"By\" (Ti2 1:6) implies that Paul's laying on his hands was the actual instrument of its being conferred. \n\nof the presbytery--In Ti2 1:6 the apostle mentions only his own laying on of hands. But there his aim is to remind Timothy specially of the part he himself took in imparting to him the gift. Here he mentions the fact, quite consistent with the other, that the neighboring presbyters took part in the ordination or consecration, he, however, taking the foremost part. Paul, though having the general oversight of the elders everywhere, was an elder himself (Pe1 5:1; Jo2 1:1). The Jewish council was composed of the elders of the Church (the presbytery, Luk 22:66; Act 22:5), and a presiding rabbi; so the Christian Church was composed of apostles, elders, and a president (Act 15:16). As the president of the synagogue was of the same order as his presbyters, so the bishop was of the same order as his presbyters. At the ordination of the president of the synagogue there were always three presbyters present to lay on hands, so the early Church canons required three bishops to be present at the consecration of a bishop. As the president of the synagogue, so the bishop of the Church alone could ordain, he acting as the representative, and in the name of the whole presbytery [VITRINGA]. So, in the Anglican Church, the bishop ordains, the presbyters or priests present joining with him in laying on hands.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["Meditate--Greek, \"Meditate CAREFULLY upon\" (Psa 1:2; Psa 119:15; compare \"Isaac,\" Gen 24:63). \n\nthese things-- (Ti1 4:12-14). As food would not nourish without digestion, which assimilates the food to the substance of the body, so spiritual food, in order to benefit us, needs to be appropriated by prayerful meditation. \n\ngive thyself wholly to--literally, \"BE in these things\"; let them engross thee wholly; be wholly absorbed in them. Entire self-dedication, as in other pursuits, so especially in religion, is the secret of proficiency. There are changes as to all other studies, fashionable to-day, out of fashion to-morrow; this study alone is never obsolete, and when made the all-engrossing aim sanctifies all other studies. The exercise of the ministry threatens the spirit of the ministry, unless it be sustained within. The minister must be first his own scholar before he can be another's teacher. \n\nprofiting--Greek, \"progress\" towards perfection in the Christian life, and especially towards the fullest realization of the ideal of a Christian minister (Ti1 4:12). \n\nmay appear to all--not for thy glory, but for the winning of souls (Mat 5:16).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["Take heed--Give heed (Act 3:5). \n\nthyself, and . . . doctrine--\"and unto thy teaching.\" The two requisites of a good pastor: His teaching will be of no avail unless his own life accord with it; and his own purity of life is not enough unless he be diligent in teaching [CALVIN]. This verse is a summary of Ti1 4:12. \n\ncontinue in them-- (Ti2 3:14). \n\nin doing this--not \"by doing this,\" as though he could save himself by works. \n\nthou shalt . . . save thyself, and them that hear thee-- (Eze 33:9; Jam 5:20). In performing faithfully his duty to others, the minister is promoting his own salvation. Indeed he cannot \"give heed unto the teaching\" of others, unless he be at the same time \"giving heed unto himself.\"\n\n\n\n\nNext: 1 Timothy Chapter 5\n\n"]}],"introduction":"PREDICTION OF A COMING DEPARTURE FROM THE FAITH: TIMOTHY'S DUTY AS TO IT: GENERAL DIRECTIONS TO HIM. (1Ti. 4:1-16)\n\nNow--Greek, \"But.\" In contrast to the \"mystery of godliness.\" \n\nthe Spirit--speaking by the prophets in the Church (whose prophecies rested on those of the Old Testament, Dan 7:25; Dan 8:23, &c.; Dan 11:30, as also on those of Jesus in the New Testament, Mat 24:11-24), and also by Paul himself, Th2 2:3 (with whom accord Pe2 3:3; Jo1 2:18; Jde 1:18). \n\nexpressly--\"in plain words.\" This shows that he refers to prophecies of the Spirit then lying before him. \n\nin the latter times--in the times following upon the times in which he is now writing. Not some remote future, but times immediately subsequent, the beginnings of the apostasy being already discernible (Act 20:29): these are the forerunners of \"the last days\" (Ti2 3:1). \n\ndepart from the faith--The apostasy was to be within the Church, the faithful one becoming the harlot. In Th2 2:3 (written earlier), the apostasy of the Jews from God (joining the heathen against Christianity) is the groundwork on which the prophecy rises; whereas here, in the Pastoral Epistles, the prophecy is connected with Gnostic errors, the seeds of which had already been sown in the Church [AUBERLEN] (Ti2 2:18). Apollonius TyanÃ&brvbrus, a heretic, came to Ephesus in the lifetime of Timothy. \n\ngiving heed-- (Ti1 1:4; Tit 1:14). \n\nseducing spirits--working in the heretical teachers. Jo1 4:2-3, Jo1 4:6, \"the spirit of error,\" opposed to \"the spirit of truth,\" \"the Spirit\" which \"speaketh\" in the true prophets against them. \n\ndoctrines of devils--literally \"teachings of (that is suggested by) demons.\" Jam 3:15, \"wisdom . . . devilish\"; Co2 11:15, \"Satan's ministers.\"\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1TI/4.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1TI","chapter":4},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1TI/5.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1TI","chapter":5},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1TI/3.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1TI","chapter":3},"numberOfVerses":15}