Vy. «11-16. Silent example or mild suggestion will not do in every case. There are many occasions when it will be necessary for you to speak out, with the authority given to you at your or- dination. At the same time, do not forget that the charismatic gift will die if it be neglected. Give yourself wholly to the cultivation of your char- acter; so will you save yourself and those committed to your charge.
Ver. τι. παράγγελλε: In point of time, teaching precedes commanding. The tone of command can only be used in relation to fundamentals which have been accepted, but are in danger of being
forgotten. Similar directions recur in v. 7 and vi. 3. WS ee μηδείς---καταφρονείτω.
(‘‘ Libenter id faciunt senes inanes,”’ Ben-
126
Ὁ Gal. i. Eph.iv. 4 ΥΕ 22, Ηερ. ἐν ὃ ἁγνια. xiii. 7, x Jas. iii.13, κλήσει, τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ. 1 Pet. (6),
ΠΡΟΣ ΤΙΜΟΘΕΟΝ ἃ
, - - ~ , 3, γίνου τῶν πιστῶν ἐν λόγω, ἐν “ ἀναστροφῇ, ἐν " ἀγάπῃ. ἐν " πίστει, 13. ἕως ἔρχομαι "πρόσεχε τῇ " ἀναγνώσει, τῇ παρα-
14.
A a μὴ " ἀμέλει τοῦ ἐν σοὶ " χαρίσματος, ὃ
r Seer Tim.i. 4. s Acts xiii. 15, 2 Cor. iii. 14.
u Rom. i. 11, xii. 6, 1 Cor. i. 7, vii. 7, xii. 4, 9, 28, 30, 31, 2 Tim. i. 6, 1 Pet. iv. 1ο.
1 Add ἐν πνεύματι KLP. See 2 Cor. vi. 6.
2 Pet. (2). p See 1 Tim. i. 14. qi Tim. v.2only, N.T. t Heb. ii. 3. i i gel). Many, probably, of the Ephesian
presbyters were older than Timothy. For μηδείς in this position, cf. 1 Cor. πα τ, ex. 24: Eph: y. δ: οι αἴ rei Tit. ii, 15; Jas. i. 13. καταφρονέω connotes that the contempt felt in the mind is displayed in injurious action. (See Moulton and Milligan, Expositor, vi., viii. 432). The meaning of this direction is qualified by the following ἀλλὰ τύπος γίνουν, κ.τ.λ. It means, Assert the dignity of your office even though men may think you young to hold it. Let no one push you aside as a boy. Compare the corresponding direc- tion Tit. ii. 15, μηδείς σου περιφρονείτω. On the other hand, St. Paul shows Timothy ‘‘a more excellent way” than self-assertion for the keeping up of his dignity: Give no one any ground by any fault of character for despising thy youth.
σου depends on τῆς νεότητος. Field supports this by an exact parallel from Diodorus Siculus. The two genitives do not, in strict grammar, depend on καταφρον., despise thee for thy youth.
τῆς νεότητος: St. Paul had met Timothy on the second missionary jour- ney, dated by Harnack in Α.Ρ. 47, and by Lightfoot in A.D. 51. About the year 57, St. Paul says of Timothy, ‘‘ Let no man despise him” (1 Cor. xvi. 11). 1 Tim. may be dated not more than a year before St. Paul’s martyrdom, which Harnack fixes in Α.Ρ. 64, and Lightfoot in Α.Ρ. 67. The question arises, Could Timothy’s νεότης have lasted all that time, about fifteen or sixteen years? We must remember that we have no information about Timothy’s age when he joined St. Paul’s company. But if he had been then fifteen or sixteen, or even seventeen, νεότης here need cause no difficulty. Lightfoot (Apostolic Fathers, Part II. vol. i. p. 448) adduces evidence from Polybius and Galen to show that a man might be called νέος up to the age of thirty-four or thirty-five. In any case, the terms “‘ young” and “old” are used relatively to the average age at which men attain to positions in the world.
Forty is reckoned old for a captain in the army, young for a bishop, very young for a Prime Minister. In an instructive parallel passage, Ignatius commends the Magnesians (§3) and their presbyters for not presuming upon the youth of their bishop. For Timothy’s compara- tive youth, cf. 2 Tim. ii. 22, ras δὲ vewTepikas ἐπιθυμίας φεῦγε.