1 Timothy 5
v.1-2
Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
He knew the danger which would beset a youthful minister of the gospel when it was his duty to admonish and entreat a youthful female; he knew, too, the scandal to which he might be exposed if, in the performance of the necessary duties of his office, there should be the slightest departure from purity and propriety.
v.3
Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need.
We should keep in mind that Paul addresses the values of ancient society for the sake of the church’s witness (5:7, 14; 6:1), not implying that all societies should share those values (which would, for example, look down on older women who had never married—5:10).
v.5
The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.
v.6
But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.
See more in James 5:5.
All who live in pleasure, are dead while they live, spiritually dead, dead in trespasses and sins.
There is great emphasis in this expression, and nothing could convey more forcibly the idea that true happiness is not to be found in the pleasure of sense. There is nothing in them that answers the purposes of life. They are not the objects for which life was given, and as to the great and proper designs of existence, such persons might as well be dead.
Notice the contrast in the previous verse. Paul juxtaposes the widow who is persistent in prayer to the one who lives for pleasure. Beloved, the one who prays cannot be the one who lives for pleasure. Lord, help us in Southern California.
v.8
If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
v.15
Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.
v.17
The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.
v.18
For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”
Used to affirm that New Testament is regarded as Scripture.
v.21
I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.
v.22
Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
Jewish teachers would “lay their hands” (cf. nasb) on their *disciples to “ordain” (nrsv) them (see comment on 4:14), and that is what Paul has in view here: ordaining an elder who had not first been tested (see comment on 3:10) made one responsible for his subsequent exposure if he turned out to be ungodly. Keeping oneself “pure” (literally) “from sin” was a *Stoic virtue as well as a Jewish one.
v.24-25
The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgement ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. 25In the same way, good deed are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden.
The sins that were secret or in the heart made evaluation (5:22) difficult, as many ancient writers acknowledged.
In the context about avoiding hasty ordination, Paul is saying that some people’s sins are so evident that there is no question about rejecting them as candidates. Their sins precede them to judgement—first Timothy’s judgement and finally divine judgement. The sins of others do no show up soon but careful investigation will discover them. In the same way, the good deeds of qualified candidates will be easily seen. Those that seem less obvious will still appear on further search; they cannot be hidden.