1. This is a true saying (acrds 6 Adyos). Better, faith- ful is the saying. See on ch. i. 15.
Desire (dpéyerar). Better, seeketh. Only here, ch. vi. 10, and Heb. xi. 16. Originally to stretch forth, to reach after. Here it implies not only desiring but seeking after. Desire is expressed by ésrvOuyet immediately following. The word implies eagerness, but not of an immoderate or unchristian character. Comp. the kindred word épefis with its terrible meaning in Rom. i. 27.
The office of a bishop (émioxomjs). CP. ’EsicKorros superintendent, overseer, by Paul only in Philip. i. 1. The fundamental idea of the word is overseeing. The term ézic- xo7ros was not furnished by the gospel tradition: it did not come from the Jewish synagogue, and it does not appear in Paul’s lists of those whom God has set in the church (1 Cor. xii. 28; Eph. iv. 11). Its adoption came about in a natural way. Just as senatus, yepovoia and mpeoBvrepos passed into official designations through the natural association of au- thority with age, so éwicKxomos would be, almost inevitably, the designation of a superintendent. This process of natural selection was probably aided by the familiar use of the title in the clubs and guilds to designate functions analogous to those of the ecclesiastical administrator. The title can hardly be traced to the O. T. There are but two passages in LXX
228 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Ca. IIL.
where the word has any connection with religious worship, Num. iv.16; 2 K.xi.18. It is applied to God (Job xx. 29), and in N. T. to Christ (1 Pet. ii. 25). It is used of officers in the army and of overseers of workmen. The prevailing O. T. sense of éxvoxomy is visitation for punishment, inquisi- tion, or numbering.*
He desireth (éOupet). See on-1 Pet. i. 12.
2. Blameless (averiAnumrov). Or without reproach: one who cannot be laid hold of (AauBavev): who gives no ground for accusation. °P. Only in 1st Timothy.
The husband of one wife (ids yuvaixds avdpa). Comp. ver. 12; Tit. i. 6. Is the injunction aimed (a) at immor- alities respecting marriage -—concubinage, etc., or (6) at polygamy, or (c) at remarriage after death or divorce? The last is probably meant. Much of the difficulty arises from the assumption that the Pastorals were written by Paul. In that case his views seem to conflict. See Rom. vil. 2, 3; 1 Cor. vii. 89; viii. 8, 9, where Paul declares that widows are free to marry again, and puts widows and virgins on the same level; and comp. 1 Tim. v. 9, according to which a widow is to be enrolled only on the condition of having been the wife of but one man. The Pauline view is modified in detail by the writer of the Pastorals. Paul, while asserting that marriage is right and honourable, regards celibacy’as the higher state (1 Cor. vii. 1, 7, 26, 34, 37, 38). In this the Pastoral writer does not follow him (see 1 Tim. ii. 15; iii. 4, 12; iv. 3; v.10, 14). The motive for marriage, namely, pro- tection against incontinency, which is adduced by Paul in 1 Cor. vii. 2, 9, is given in 1 Tim. v. 11-14. As in Paul, the married state is honourable, for Bishops, Deacons, and Presbyters are married (1 Tim. ili. 2, 12; Tit. i. 6), and the honour of childbearing conferred upon the mother of
* See Introduction, and Excursus on ‘‘ Bishops and Deacons”’ in Inter national Commentary on Philippians and Philemon.
Cx. III] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 229
our Lord is reflected in the Christian woman of later times (1 Tim. ii. 15). While Paul advises against second marriages (1 Cor. vii. 8, 9, 27, 39, 40), in the Pastorals emphasis is laid only on the remarriage of church-officers and church-widows. In the Pastorals we see a reflection of the conditions of the earlier post-apostolic age, when a non-Pauline asceticism was showing itself (see 1 Tim. iv. 3, 4,8; Tit. i. 15). The op- position to second marriage became very strong in the latter part of the second century. It was elevated into an article of faith by the Montanists, and was emphasised by Tertullian, and by Athenagoras, who called second marriage “a specious adultery ” (edmpemns pouyeta).*