1 Timothy 5.22-Paul Prohibits Timothy From Ordaining Men Too Hastily So He Won't Be Complicit In Their Sins And Commands Him To Keep Himself Pure
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday September 6, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 5:22-Paul Prohibits Timothy From Ordaining Men Too Hastily So He Won’t Be Complicit In Their Sins And Commands Him To Keep Himself Pure
Lesson # 119
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 5:22.
The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 5:22 prohibits Timothy from ordaining men with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher too hastily so he won’t be complicit in their sins and he also commands him to keep himself pure.
1 Timothy 5:22 Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin. (NASB95)
“Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily” is composed of the accusative feminine plural form of the noun cheir (χείρ) (here-deh), “hands” which is followed by the adverb tacheos (ταχέως) (tah-yeh-hoce), “hastily” and then we have the adjective medeis (μηδείς) (mee-theese), “not” which is negating the meaning of the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb epitithemi (ἐπιτίθημι) (ehpee-teeth-ah-me), “do lay upon.”
In 1 Timothy 5:22, Paul is once again employing the figure of “asyndeton,” which emphasizes the importance of this prohibition for Timothy personally and the Christian community in Ephesus.
The verb epitithemi is referring to the ordination ceremony of a pastor by other pastors through the laying on of hands.
It refers to the ceremonial or symbolic act of ordained pastors laying their hands on those men who possess the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher.
This indicated by the fact that the congregation and the leadership of the church, through the Holy Spirit, were confirming that these men possess the gift of pastor-teacher.
It meant that these men were authorized to serve as overseers as a result of consistently manifesting the qualifications for the overseer over an indefinite period of years (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:6-9).
The laying on of hands signified public recognition of authority of these men with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher who had met the qualifications of the overseer.
It signified that they were commissioned to communicate the Word of God to the Christian community.
The present imperative form of the verb and medeis have the force of a general precept teaching that Timothy and the Ephesian Christian community must not ordain men with the spiritual gift of pastors too hastily.
It implies that they must consistently meet the qualifications of the overseer that are listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 over an indefinite period of years.
Paul is simply communicating a general precept of the Word of God and the Lord and the apostles’ teaching without reference to whether there was a violation of this prohibition or not.
His statements in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 4:6 imply that Timothy was carrying out everything he wrote in this epistle including this prohibition in 1 Timothy 5:22.
The adverb of manner tacheos is modifying the verb epitithemi and means “too hastily” teaching that Timothy and the Ephesian leadership were under no circumstances to ordain men too hastily in their community with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher.
It teaches that Timothy and the leadership in the Ephesian Christian community must only ordain those men who over an indefinite period of time consistently meet the qualifications of the overseer listed by Paul in 1 Timothy 3:1-7.
“And thereby share responsibility for the sins of others” is composed of the negative disjunctive particle mede (μηδέ) (me-theh), “and thereby” and this is followed by the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb koinoneo (κοινωνέω) (kee-no-neh-owe), “share” and then we have dative feminine plural form of the noun hamartia (ἁμαρτία) (ahmar-teeah), “the sins” and this is followed by the dative feminine plural form of the adjective allotrios (ἀλλότριος) (ah-low-tree-oce), “of others.”
The negative disjunctive particle mede is used to extend and continue the preceding prohibition and to negate the meaning of the verb koinoneo.
The statement which this word introduces is presenting the direct consequence of disobeying the previous prohibition and thus should not be rendered “neither” but rather “so not” since the latter expresses a consequence which the former does not.
So the word is not introducing a new topic but a continuation of the previous topic of ordaining men too hastily.
Further supporting this is that nowhere does Paul tell Timothy to not commit sin but rather he simply expresses concern for his spiritual well-being or to encourage his continued obedience to his commands (cf. Mounce, page 317).
Also, he is speaking in the context of the treatment of elders and thus to argue that Paul is introducing a new topic with mede in 1 Timothy 5:22 is in effect introducing a foreign idea to the text.
The verb koinoneo means “to be complicit” and its meaning is negated by mede.
It is used with reference to the ordination of men to be overseers.
These two words express Paul’s concern that Timothy and the ordained pastors in Ephesus would “not share in” the sins of those men who were ordained to hastily.
They express the consequences of Timothy and the ordained pastors in Ephesus ordaining men to hastily.
The idea of koinoneo here in verse 22 is that Timothy and the ordained pastors in Ephesus would in effect be responsible to a great degree for the sins of those pastors who were ordained too hastily and did not have the spiritual maturity and thus capacity to be overseers.
Paul presented qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 that must be consistently met over an indefinite period of time by those men with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher before they can be ordained and hold the office of overseer.
Those who don’t meet these qualifications do not have the capacity to be overseers because they lack the spiritual maturity to function in such a position.
Those who do meet the qualifications have the capacity to hold the office of overseer and have a level of maturity.
It would be irresponsible of Timothy and the leadership in Ephesus to ordain men who don’t have the spiritual maturity to function in the office of overseer.
Thus, Timothy and the leadership in Ephesus would be held responsible for ordaining these men too hastily when these men commit sins in the ministry that injure the flock or bring reproach to the cause of Christ.
Timothy and the leadership in Ephesus will be held responsible by the Lord if they ordain pastors prematurely, who later enter into apostasy and injure the flock of God and hurt the cause of Christ because of their ungodly conduct and false doctrine.
So the verb koinoneo in 1 Timothy 5:22 expresses the idea that Timothy and the leadership in Ephesus would be “complicit” in the sin of those elders who they ordained and were in apostasy.
It denotes that Timothy and the leadership of the church in Ephesus are in effect sinning by ordaining men when they have absolutely no capacity to hold the office of overseer because they do not have the spiritual maturity to hold such a position.
Consequently those who prematurely ordain men who became apostate would be disciplined for their irresponsible decision.
The present imperative form of the verb and the negative particle mede has the force of a general precept and makes no comment about whether the action is going on or not.
Therefore, the present imperative form of the verb and the negative particle mede indicate that as a general precept, Timothy and the Ephesian Christian community must not share in the sins of apostate pastors who they ordained prematurely.
Paul’s statements in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 4:6 imply that Timothy was carrying out everything he wrote in this epistle including this prohibition in 1 Timothy 5:22.
The noun hamartia is used with reference to mental, verbal and overt acts of personal sin from the perspective that these acts miss the mark of the absolute perfection of God’s character, i.e. His holiness.
It is used of the sins of apostate pastors who were ordained prematurely by the leadership of the church.
1 Timothy 5:22 Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin. (NASB95)
“Keep yourself free from sin” is composed of the accusative second person masculine singular form of the reflexive pronoun seautou (σεαυτοῦ) (say-owf-too), “yourself” and this is followed by accusative masculine singular form of the adjective hagnos (ἁγνός) (ahg-noce), “free from sin” and this is followed by the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb tereo (τηρέω) (tear-ehowe), “keep.”
In 1 Timothy 5:22, the verb tereo means “to keep” in the sense of maintaining a particular state or condition.
The word denotes that Paul wants Timothy to keep himself pure in the sense of maintaining his innocence by not ordaining men prematurely.
The present imperative form of the verb is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for Timothy to “continue making it his habit of keeping” himself pure.
Paul’s statements in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 4:6 imply that Timothy was carrying out everything he wrote in this epistle including this command in 1 Timothy 5:22.
The reflexive pronoun seautou indicates that Timothy as the subject is also the object of the verb tereo and is used to highlight or emphasize his responsibility in obeying this command.
The adjective hagnos is used of Timothy and means “pure” in the sense that he would be innocent or free from guilt in ordaining men who were not qualified.
By obeying Paul’s prohibition to not ordain men prematurely, Timothy would be keeping himself from sinning.