1 Timothy 5
Fragments showing 1 Timothy 2:2–6 on Codex Coislinianus, from ca. AD 550.
BookFirst Epistle to Timothy
CategoryPauline epistles
Christian Bible partNew Testament
Order in the Christian part15

1 Timothy 5 is the fifth chapter of the First Epistle to Timothy in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The author has been traditionally identified as Paul the Apostle since as early as AD 180,[1][2][3] although most modern scholars consider the letter pseudepigraphical,[4] perhaps written as late as the first half of the second century AD.[5]

This chapter deals with church organisation, especially in relation to widows and elders.[6]

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 25 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

Old Testament references

New Testament references

Verse 1

Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers,[8]

The word presbuteros is used here and elsewhere in this chapter. In Greek, it is used both to designate old age and as the title of an office in Judaism and Christianity. This usage can lead to some ambiguity, but in the first verse it is best regarded as concerning older men within the community.[6]

"Real widows" and other widows (5:3–16)

The writer's advice regarding widows is more "detailed and precise" than the advice about other groups given elsewhere in the letter.[6]

Verse 16

If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do not let the church be burdened, that it may relieve those who are really widows.[9]
  • "If any believing man or woman has widows": that is, if any member of a church have mothers, grandmothers or any near relatives who are widows, and incapable of taking care of themselves.[10]
  • "Let them relieve them and let not the church be charged": the members should take care of them out of their own substance; which is what Paul previously calls to show piety at home, and requit their own parents, so not burden the church with the maintenance of them.[10]
  • "Those who are really widows" (KJV: "that are widows indeed"): so the church may be in a better capacity, to supply the needs of the widows who have neither children nor any relatives to provide for them.[10]

The rights of elders (5:17–19)

Verse 18

For the Scripture says,
"You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,"
and,
"The laborer is worthy of his wages."[11]
  • "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain": citing verbatim Deuteronomy 25:4.[12]
  • "The laborer is worthy of his wages": citing 'a saying of Jesus', according to Luke 10:7.[12]
"And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house."[13]

Verse 23

Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.[14]

Whilst this verse appears to provide some personal advice for Timothy, biblical commentator Clare Drury suggests that "it may also be a roundabout way of attacking the asceticism of the writer's opponents".[15]

See also

References

  1. See the arguments on composition of the epistle.
  2. Halley, Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook: an abbreviated Bible commentary. 24th edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1965. p. 631
  3. Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.
  4. David E. Aune, ed., The Blackwell Companion to The New Testament (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 9: "While seven of the letters attributed to Paul are almost universally accepted as authentic (Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon), four are just as widely judged to be pseudepigraphical, i.e. written by unknown authors under Paul's name: Ephesians and the Pastorals (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus)."
  5. Stephen L. Harris, The New Testament: A Student's Introduction, 4th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001), 366.
  6. 1 2 3 Drury, C., 73. The Pastoral Epistles, in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary Archived 2017-11-22 at the Wayback Machine, p. 1226
  7. 1 2 "Biblical concordances of 1 Timothy 5 in the 1611 King James Bible".
  8. 1 Timothy 5:1: New King James Version (NKJV)
  9. 1 Timothy 5:16: NKJV
  10. 1 2 3 Gill, J., John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible – 1 Timothy 5:16
  11. 1 Timothy 5:18 NKJV
  12. 1 2 Coogan 2007, p. 354 New Testament.
  13. Luke 10:7 NKJV
  14. 1 Timothy 5:23: New International Version
  15. Drury, C., 73. The Pastoral Epistles, in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary Archived 2017-11-22 at the Wayback Machine, p. 1227

Sources

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