so accurately u "preference." We com- the LXX. in Dan. l 12, and also in cle.1Bical monly mean by "prejurlioe" a jurlument Gr~ek. We leRm from hence the interesting- formed prior to examination, which pr;vents fact that Timothy wu, in morlem parlance, our judging rightly or fairly when we come a total 1tbstai ner; and we also leRm that, in to the examination, which, however, is not St. Paul's judgment, total abstinence wae the meaning of the Latin prmju,Udum. But not to be adhered to if injurious to the rrpowplvai means rather" to prefer" a person, health. The epithet, "a little," shoulrl not or thing, to others. And therefore 1rpo1<p1µa. be overlooked. Was Luke, the beloved means "preference," or "partialily," or, u physician, with St. Pa';ll when he wrote this the A. V. has it, "preferring one before prescription (see 2 Tim. iv. 11)? It is also another." The two mea11ings may be thus interesting to have this passing allusion expressed. " Prejuclioe," in the English to Timothy's bad health, and this instance use of the word, is when a person who has of St. Paul's thoughtful consideration for to judge a cause upon evidence prejudges it him. Infirmities (au9,v,ias); in the sense nf without evidence, and so does not give its sickne.ses, attacks of illness. proper weight to the evidence. "Prefer- Ver. 24.-Evident for open befrwehand, ence" is when he gives different measure to A. V.; unto for to, A. V.; men also for men, different persons, according u l,e is swayed A.V. Some men's Bina, etc. St. Paul- i& by partiality, or interest, or favour. St. evidently here recurTing to the topic which Paul charges Timothy to measure out he had been dealing with ever since ver. 17, exactly equal justice to all persons alike. viz. Timothy's duty as a bishop, to whom By partiality (1<a.-ra 'll'pOcT1</l.u11v). Tl,b also was entrusted the selection of persons for is an li1ra! Aeyoµ,vov as far as the New Tes- the office of elder, or presbyter, and also the lament ia concerned, and is not found in maintaining of discipline amon.g his clergy. the LXX., but is found, as well as the verb Alford sees the connection of the precept 1rpocT1<A1vw, in classical Greek. It means about drinking a little wine with what went literally the "inclination" of the scales to before, and with this twenty-fourth verse, in one side or the other, and hence I\ " bias" the supposed circumstance that Timothy's of the mind to one party or the other. The weak health had somewhat weakened the balance of justice in the hands of Timothy vigour of his rule; and that the recom- was to be equal. mendation to leave off water-drinking was Ver. 22.-Ha.Btily for suddenly, A. V. Lay given more with e. view to the firmer dis- hands, etc. Surely if we are guided by St. charge of those duties the.n merely for his Paul's own use of the phrase, ,,r[9,,,.,. x«piiw, bodily comfort. This may be so. But there in the only two places in his writings where is nothing unlike St. Paul's manner in the it occurs (eh. iv. H and 2 Tim. i. 6), we supposition that he had done with the sub- must abide by the ancient interpretation ject in band at the end of the twenty-second of these words, that they mean the laying on verse, and passed on to the friendly hiHt of hands in ordination. So also in Acts vi. with regard to Timothy's health, but then 6 and xiii. 3, ~.,,.,-r,9,va., x•ipa.s is "to ordain." subjoined the fresh remarks in vers. 24 and And the context here requires the same 25, which were an after-thought. Evident sense. The solemn injunction in the pre- (1rpo617/l.01); only found in the New Testa- ceding verse, to deal imp1t~tially in judging ment, in Heh. vii. 14 besides these two even the most influentiA: elder, naturally verses, and in the apocrypha.I books of the suggests the caution not to be hasty iu Old Testament. It is common, with the ordaining any one to be an elder. Great kindred forms, 1rpo61111.6w, 1rpo6-i,Awu,s, etc., c1tre and previous inquiry were necessary in classical Greek. It is doubted whetl,er before admitting any man, whatever might 'll'po in thia compound verb bas the force of be his preteusions or position, to a holy "beforehand," as in the A. V., and not rn ther office. A bishop who, on the spur of the that of ·• before the eyes of all," and there- moment, with improper haste, should ordain fore only intensifies the meaning of 611,\ow. one who afterwards required reproof as But the natural force of ,rpb in composition a.µapnivwv, sinning (ver. 20), would have n certainly is "before" in point of time ; and partnership in the ma11's sin, e.ncl in the evil hence in a compound like ,rp6611Aos woukl consequences th1tl flowed from it. Aud then meau" evident before it is examined," whicb it follows, Keep thyself pure; i.e. clear and of course is equivalent to "very evident." guiltless (2 Cor. vii. l I), which he would St. Paul's meaning, therefore, would be: not be if he was involved in the sin of the Some men's sins are notorious, requiring no guilty elder. Observe that the stress is oareful inquisition in order to find them out: upon " thyself." nay, they of themselves go before-before Ver. 23.-Be no longer a drinker of for the sinner himself-unto judgrneut. But drink no longer, A. V. Be . . . a drinker of there arn e.lso some whose sins follow afti-r water (J6po,r&-r«); here only in the New them. It is not till after olosc inquiry thLL t Testament. It is found in some codices of they are found out. They go up to t/.,. 10! THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. [oH. V, ]-1
.indgment-Beat apparently innooent, but after oannot be hid. " They will be seen and R while their sine come trooping up to their reoognized some time or other" (Ellioott). ~onderunation. Thie enforces the oaution, Alford seems to oatch the true spirit of the " Lay bands hastily on no mao." passage when he says, "The tendenoy of Ver. 25.-In like manner for likewue, this verse is t.o warn Timothy against he.sty A.V.; there are good ,oork, /hat, are evident oondemuation, as the former had done for the good u,ork, of some are manifest before- against ha.sty approml. Sometimes thou hand. A.\·.; 3UDh as for they that, A.V. wilt find e. man's good obare.cter go before There are good works, etc. It is much beet him, ... but whern thi~ is not so, ... be t.o undentand ·1-.vwv, as the A. V. does. and not rash to oondemn; thou me.yest on ex- render 1h,; good works of irome, Rnswering t.o amination discover if there be e.ny good TIVwv a/ a.µ.apT(a, of ver. 24. S11ob as are deeds aocompanying him: for they . , . o&herwiBe-i.e. not manifest beforehe.nd- oaunot be hidden."