iv. 18; Eph. v. 11. By a too hasty and inconsiderate res- toration, he would condone the sins of the offenders, and would thus make common cause with them.
Keep thyself pure (ceavrov dyvov type). Comp. ch. vi. 14. Enjoining positively what was enjoined negatively in the preceding clause. For pure see on 1 J. iii. 38. For keep see on reserved, 1 Pet. i. 4. The phrase éavtov rnpeiv to keep one’s self, in Jas. i. 27; 2 Cor. xi. 9.
23. Drink no longer water (unxére vdpordre). The verb N. T.°. °LXX. Rend. be no longer a drinker of water. Timothy is not enjoined to abstain from water, but is bidden not to be a water-drinker, entirely abstaining from wine. The kindred noun dédpordrys is used by Greek comic writers to denote a mean-spirited person. See Aristoph. Knights, 349.
But use a little wine (@AX2 oivm drAlyo ypa@). The reverse antithesis appears in Hdt. i. 171, of the Persians: ov« otvw Scaypéovtat AXN vdporroréover they do not indulge in wine but are water-drinkers. Comp. Plato, Repub. 561 C, roré pev peOvav —avOts 5é bSporroTav sometimes he is drunk — then he is for total-abstinence. With a little wine comp. much wine, Chiles elit eilos
For thy stomach’s sake (da orduayov). XTéuayxos N.T.°. °LXX. The appearance at this point of this dietetic pre- scription, if it is nothing more, is sufficiently startling ; which has led to some question whether the verse may not have been misplaced. If it belongs here, it can be explained only as a continuation of the thought in ver. 22, to the effect that Tim- othy is to keep himself pure by not giving aid and comfort to the ascetics, and imperilling his own health by adopting their rules of abstinence. Observe that oivos here, as every- where else, means wine, fermented and capable of intoxicating, and not a sweet syrup made by boiling down grape-juice, and styled by certain modern reformers ‘“ unfermented wine.” Such a concoction would have tended rather to
Cu. V.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 271
aggravate than to relieve Timothy’s stomachic or other infirmities.
Thine often infirmities (ras wuvds cov acbeveias). This use of often as an adjective appears in earlier English. So Chaucer: “Ofte sythes” or “tymes ofte,” many times. Shakespeare: “In which my often rumination wraps me in a most humourous sadness” (As you like it, IV.i.19). And Ben Jonson:
“<The jolly wassal walks the often round.” The Forest, iii. Even Tennyson :
‘¢ Wrench’d or broken limb — an often chance In those brain-stunning shocks and tourney-falls.”’ Gareth and Lynette.
IIv«ves often, very common in Class. Originally, close, com- pact, comp. Lat. frequens. In this sense 3 Mace. iv. 10, 7 TuKV@ cavidapmatt the close planking of a ship’s deck. InN. T., except here, always adverbial, rv«va or mu«vdrepov often or oftener, L. v. 83; Acts xxiv. 26. "AcOévera weakness, infirm- ity, only here in Pastorals. In the physical sense, as here, L. v.15; viii. 2; J. v.53; Gal. iv. 18. In the ethical sense, Rom. vi. 19; viii. 26.
24. Open beforehand (apodndo/). A.V. wrong in giving mpo a temporal force, whereas it merely strengthens dyAoé evident, manifest. The meaning is openly manifested to all eyes. In N. T. only here, ver. 25, and Heb. vii. 14. In LXX, see Judith viii. 29; 2 Mace. iii. 17; xiv. 39.
Going before to judgment (podyovcas eis xplow). Tpo- aye, °P. InN. T. habitually with a local meaning, either | intransitive, as Matt. ii. 9; xiv. 22; Mk. xi. 9; or transitive, as Acts xii. 6; xvii. 5.* The meaning here is that these open sins go before their perpetrator to the judgment-seat like her-
* A temporal meaning is sometimes claimed for Heb. vii. 18 (so Holtz- mann), but without sufficient reason. The commandment there is repre- sented as an introduction to a greater and final ordinance.