τοῦτο γὰρ ἐστιν 2 ἷ ἀπόδεκτον " ἐνώπιον "τοῦ * Θεοῦ.
, not LXX.
Va
πρεσβυτέρας ὡς μητέρας, νεωτέρας ὡς 3. Χήρας τίμα τὰς “ὄντως χήρας. 4.
3 δέ / / » ew 7 / HY A δὲ εἰ δέ τις χήρα τέκνα ἢ “ἔκγονα ἔχει, μανθανέτωσαν ἰ πρῶτον τὸν
εὐσεβεῖν καὶ ὅ ἀμοιβὰς ἀποδιδόναι τοῖς " προγόνοις :
5. ἡ δὲ Ἰ ὄγτως
h 2 Tim. i. 3 only, N.T. iz Tim.
128 bere only, νεωτέρους ὡς ἀδελφούς, μια cSeer Tim. ἀδελφὰς ἐν πάσῃ ° ἁγνείᾳ. iv. 12. d Mark xi. 32, 1 Tim. 5, . ῃ ν. 5,16, ἴδιον οἶκον Vi. 19. e Here only, f 4 Macc. (5), Sus, 64, Acts xvii. 23. g Here only, N.T. ii. 3. k See 1 Tim. ii. 3. 1 See ver. 3.
1 μανθανέτω two cursives, d, f, m82, vg. (except am* = discant).
2 Ins. καλὸν καὶ 37, many others, boh., go., arm.
ἐπιπλήξῃς: Treat harshly. The more usual ἐπιτιμᾶν occurs 2 Tim. iv. 2. παρακάλει ὡς πατέρα: Respect for age must temper the expression of reproof of an old man’s misdemeanours. νεωτέρους and the following accusatives in ver. 2 are governed by some such verb as treat, behave towards, deal with, implied in ἐπιπλήξῃς and παρακάλει.
Ver. 2. ἐν πάσῃ ayvia: with the strictest regard to purity, or perhaps propriety. Christians, Athenagoras tells us (Legat. 32), considered other Chris- tians, according to their age, as sons and daughters; brothers and sisters; fathers and mothers. Ellicott quotes Jerome’s maxim, ‘‘Omnes puellas et virgines Christi aut aequaliter ignora aut aequa- liter dilige’”’ (Epist. 52, 5, p. 259). Com- pare de Imitatione Christ, i. 8, ‘‘ Be not a friend to any one woman, but recom- mend all good women in general to God”’.
Ver. 3. τίμα: It is difficult to fix pre- cisely the force of τιμάω in this con- nexion. On the one hand, the passage (vv. 3-8) is a part of the general direc- tions as to Timothy’s personal relations to his flock. Respect, honour, would, then, render the word adequately. On the other hand, vv. 4 and 8 show that the question of widows’ maintenance, as a problem of Church finance, was in the apostle’s mind; and he goes on, in ver. 9, to lay down regulations for the admission of widows to the number of those who were entered on the Church register for support. Perhaps respect was first in the writer’s mind, while the term used, τίμα, easily lent itself to the expression of the notion of support, which immediately suggested itself. Similarly Chrys. (τῆς τῶν ἀναγκαίων τροφῆς), comparing ver. 17, where τιμή has the sense of pay, cf. Ecclus. xxxviii. τ, Matt. xv. 4-6, Acts xxviii. το. Honora benefictis is Bengel’s comment.
τὰς ὄντως : Those who really deserve the name of widows are (1) those who have no younger relatives on whom they
See chap. ii. 3.
have a claim for support, (2) those who conform to certain moral and spiritual requirements detailed below. Ver. 4. ἔκγονα: offspring ought to be the best rendering of this. It has a ‘wider connotation than children and narrower than descendants. μανθανέτωσαν: It ought not to be necessary to say that the subject of this verb is τέκνα ἢ ἔκγονα, only that Chrys.. Theod. Vulg. and d agree in referring it to the class χῆραι. (‘Requite them in their descendants, repay the debt through the children,”’ Chrys.; ‘‘ Discat primum domum suam regere.’”” See critical note.) Similarly Augustine says of his mother Monica, ‘‘ Fuerat enim unius viri uxor, mutuam vicem parentibus reddiderat, domum suam pie tractaverat’’ (Confes- stones, 1x. 9). This can only be regarded: as a Curiosity in exegesis. πρῶτον: The first duty of children is filial piety. οἶκον, which is usually cor- relative to parents rather than children,. is used here ‘‘ to mark the duty as an act of family feeling and family honour” (De Wette, quoted by EIl.). εὐσεβεῖν (domum pie tractare, πα") with a direct accusative is also found in reff. Ellicott supplies an appropriate illustration from Philo, de Decalogo, § 23, ‘‘ where storks are similarly said εὐσεβεῖν and ynpotpodetv”’. προγόνοις: When the term occurs again, 2 Tim. i. 3, it has its usual mean- ing forefather. It is usually applied to forbears that are dead. Here it means parents, grandparents, or great-grand- parents that are living; and this use of it was probably suggested by Ἴκγονα, a term of equally vague reference. Plato, Laws, xi. p. 932, is quoted for a similar application of the word to the living. τοῦτο yap, κ.τ.λ.: Besides being en- joined in the O.T., our Lord taught the same duty, Mark vii. 16-13= Matt. xv.. 4-6. See also Eph. vi. 1, 2. Ver. 5. ἤλπικεν ἐπί: hath her hope set on. See on iv. to, the analogy of