1 Timothy 5.23-Paul Issues A Prohibition Followed By A Command That Address Timothy's Personal Health
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday September 7, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 5:23-Paul Issues A Prohibition Followed By A Command That Address Timothy’s Personal Health
Lesson # 120
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 5:23.
The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 5:23 issues a prohibition followed by a command that addresses Timothy’s health.
1 Timothy 5:23 No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. (NASB95)
“No longer drink water exclusively” is composed of the negative adverb of time meketi (μηκέτι) (me-ket-ee), “no longer” and this is followed by second person singular present active imperative form of the verb hudropoteo (ὑδροποτέω) (eethahrowe-poe-tehowe), “drink water.”
In 1 Timothy 5:23, Paul is once again employing the figure of “asyndeton,” which emphasizes the importance of this prohibition and command for Timothy’s personal health.
The verb hudropoteo means “to drink water exclusively” and its meaning is negated by the adverb meketi, which together form a prohibition that means that Paul is commanding Timothy to “no longer drink water exclusively.”
These two words do not indicate that Paul wants Timothy to stop drinking water altogether but rather, he is simply commanding him to not drink it exclusively but use a little water for his digestive problems.
The present imperative form of the verb hudropoteo and the adverb meketi indicates that Timothy was drinking water exclusively at the time of writing and that Paul wants him to discontinue this practice and drink a little wine for the problems with his stomach or digestion.
“But use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments” is composed of the adversative conjunction alla (ἀλλά) (ah-lah), “but” which is followed by the dative masculine singular form of the noun oinos (οἶνος) (ee-noce), “wine” and it is modifying the dative masculine singular form of the adjective oligos (ὀλίγος) (owelee-goce), “little” and this is followed by the second person singular present middle imperative form of the verb chraomai (χράομαι) (crah-oh-meh), “use.”
This strong adversative conjunction is introducing a command that stands in direct contrast with the previous prohibition for Timothy to stop drinking wine exclusively.
The verb chraomai is used of Timothy and means “to make use of, employ” a little wine.
The force of the present imperative form of the verb is ingressive meaning that Paul wants Timothy to begin to use a little wine for his digestion and frequent illnesses and implies that he was not doing so at the time of writing.
The force of the present imperative is also progressive meaning that Paul wants Timothy to not only begin to use a little wine for his digestion and frequent illnesses but also to “continue” doing so.
The middle voice of the verb is an indirect middle indicating that by obeying this command, Timothy would be acting in his own interests.
This noun oinos refers to a fermented beverage made from the juice of grapes.
There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that non-alcoholic or pasteurized wine was used in ancient times and especially in the first century when Paul wrote First Timothy.
The adjective oligos is modifying the noun oinos, “wine” and denotes that Paul wants Timothy to make use of a “little” or “small quantity” of wine to help with his digestion and frequent illnesses.
Paul employs this word here to qualify his command for Timothy to make use of wine so that neither Timothy nor anyone else in the Ephesian Christian community who heard or read this letter may not misunderstand or distort this command.
The adjective speaks of moderation.
“For the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments” is composed of the preposition dia (διά) (thee-ah), “for the sake of” and its object is the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun stomachos (στόμαχος) (stoe-mah-koce), “your stomach” which is followed by conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” and then we have the articular accusative feminine plural form of the noun astheneia (ἀσθένεια) (ahsthe-neeah), “ailments” which is modified by the accusative feminine plural form of the adjective puknos (πυκνός) (peek-noce), “frequent” and the genitive second person singular form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) (see), “your.”
Timothy’s problems with his stomach could very well possibly be due to the poor drinking water in the ancient world.
Now even though the water system in Ephesus was superior to many other cities in the ancient world, it was still inferior to the water systems in the twentieth first century.
The noun stomachos is the object of the preposition dia, which is a marker of cause denoting the basis or reason for Paul’s command that Timothy make use of a little wine.
The noun astheneia is used in a general sense meaning “illnesses” or “ailments” and does not identify either Timothy’s ailments or what the problem he had with his stomach (Knight, page 240).
In the first century and in the ancient world, wine was typically used to treat stomach problems or problems with one’s digestive system.
Wine was also prescribed to treat other illnesses that are not related to the stomach (Juvenal, Satires 5:32, 49; Hippocrates Ancient Medicine 13:23; Pliny the Younger, Letter 7:21; Plutarch, Advice About Keeping Well 19).
Puknos is modifying the noun astheneia, “illnesses” and denotes the “frequency” or how “often” Timothy was suffering from illnesses.
1 Timothy 5:23 has been a cause of great consternation for many scholars and pastors since it does not appear to fit into the flow of Paul’s discussion in 1 Timothy 5:17-25.
However, we must understand that all of Paul commands and instructions are addressed to Timothy personally.
Therefore, it is not out of place for Paul to address at this point in the pericope Timothy’s personal health and what he should do about it.
Some argue that the commands that Paul issues Timothy in verse 23 are related to the previous command at the end of verse 22.
Some think that it is implied in the commands of verse 23 that Timothy was abstaining from drinking wine as an attempt to keep himself pure but this is not the case.
First of all, in verse 22, Paul commands Timothy to keep himself pure, which is related to the previous two prohibitions that are found in this verse.
Thus, Timothy would keep himself pure by obeying these two prohibitions in verse 22, which require that he continue his habit of not ordaining men prematurely and thus not being complicit in the sins of those pastors who were ordained prematurely.
Therefore, keeping himself pure depended upon Timothy obeying these prohibitions and not abstaining from wine.
Furthermore, Paul is using the figure of asyndeton in verse 23 in order to emphasize the two commands that appear in this verse, which indicates that they are not connected to the previous instructions in verse 22, though both verses are related to Timothy personally.
Paul’s commands in verse 23 in no way imply that Timothy had a tendency towards asceticism since 1 Timothy 1:3 and 4:6 indicate that he was obeying all the instructions that he wrote in this epistle, including the instructions to avoid the asceticism of the Essene branch of the Judaizers (cf. 1 Timothy 4:1-5).
Therefore, it is better to understand Paul’s instructions in verse 23 as simply more personal instruction for Timothy which are in addition to the rest of the instructions that are addressed to him personally in verses 17-25.
Verse 23 clearly implies that he wasn’t drinking wine but only water but why?
First of all, the Bible does not prohibit the consumption of alcohol but rather drunkenness, thus, if Timothy was drinking wine, he was not sinning.
History indicates that there was a tremendous problem of alcohol abuse in the city of Ephesus and many Christian converts in this city would therefore be seeking deliverance from alcohol abuse.
Therefore, it appears that Timothy did not exercise his Christian freedom to drink alcohol so as to not cause his fellow Christians who had a problem with alcohol, to commit the sin of drunkenness (cf. 1 Corinthians 8:13; Romans 14:15, 21).
Thus, like Paul, Timothy had the conviction that consuming alcohol was not sin but for the sake of his fellow Christians who had a problem with alcohol, he abstained, even to the point of this adversely affecting his health.
Fee argues that the “mention of Timothy’s frequent illnesses helps to contribute to the picture of timidity that emerges from the various texts.” (Page 132)
This can be refuted by the fact that physical illnesses are not always the direct result of personal timidity.
Rather, many times physical illnesses are related to undeserved suffering, which is designed to advance the believer to greater spiritual growth.
Paul’s thorn in the flesh does not mean he was timid (2 Corinthians 12:1-10) but rather was used to keep him humble and further his spiritual growth.
Why should Timothy be considered timid when Paul mentions his physical illnesses?
These illnesses are more than likely a sign that Timothy was experiencing undeserved suffering and was growing spiritually.
The fact that Paul would delegate such a difficult problem to Timothy as the one in Ephesus is evidence that Timothy was a mature believer who was still growing spiritually.
So it is better to simply take Paul at his word here meaning that he was instructing Timothy to use a little wine for his health.