1 Timothy 5.21-Paul Solemnly Charges Timothy To Carry Out The Commands In 1 Timothy 5.19-20 And Do Absolutely Nothing On The Basis Of Partiality
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 1, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 5:21-Paul Solemnly Charges Timothy To Carry Out The Command In 1 Timothy 5:19 Without Prejudging And The Command In 1 Timothy 5:20 On The Basis Of Partiality
Lesson # 118
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 5:21.
The apostle Paul in verse 21 solemnly charges Timothy in the presence of the Father and Christ Jesus and His elect angels to carry out the commands in 1 Timothy 5:19-20 without prejudging and to do absolutely nothing on the basis of partiality.
1 Timothy 5:21 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality. (NASB95)
“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels” is composed of the first person singular present middle indicative form of the verb diamarturomai (διαμαρτύρομαι) (theeah-mahtear-owe-meh), “I solemnly charge” and this is followed by the preposition enopion (ἐνώπιον) (ennopee-own), “in the presence of” and then we have the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), “of God” and this is followed by the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” and then we have the genitive masculine singular form of the proper name Christos (Χριστός) (cree-stoce), “Christ” and the genitive masculine singular form of the proper noun Iesous (Ἰησοῦς) (yee-soose), “Jesus” and this is followed by the the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” and then we have articular genitive masculine plural form of the noun angelos (ἄγγελος) (ang-yell-loce), “angels” which is modified by the genitive masculine plural form of the adjective eklektos (ἐκλεκτός) (ek-lek-toce), “chosen.”
In 1 Timothy 5:21, Paul is once again employing the figure of “asyndeton,” which emphasizes the importance of this warning for the Christian community in Ephesus and for Timothy to administrate the household of God in Ephesus.
The verb diamarturomai means “to solemnly charge” with the implication of imposing on someone a duty or responsibility.
Here it is used with Paul as its subject and the commands that appear in 1 Timothy 5:19-20 as its object.
It denotes that Paul is “solemnly charging” Timothy to put into practice these commands with the implication that the apostle is imposing this upon Timothy as his duty and responsibility as Paul’s delegate to the Ephesian Christian community.
The term expresses Paul’s apostolic authority and a degree of formality because he mentions the Father, Son and the elect angels as his witnesses emphasizing with Timothy that it is imperative that he is faithful in putting into practice these commands in 1 Timothy 5:19-20.
It emphasizes with Timothy that he will be held accountable in the matter.
It indicates that Timothy will have to give an account of his service in Ephesus and in particular with regards to these two commands in verses 19-20.
It also emphasizes that these commands come ultimately from the Father and the Son and that the elect angels are observing his actions to testify to his faithfulness or unfaithfulness, which will be determined by his observance of these commands or failure to do so.
The verb emphasizes the gravity of the situation.
The word also emphasizes how important that Timothy carry out these commands with impartiality in that the testimony of the church before the unsaved is at stake and thus the cause of Christ.
Also the spiritual growth of the church is at stake because the pastor-teachers, i.e. elders or overseers are those who communicate doctrine to the church and if these men are not functioning in their spiritual gift due to a unrepentant lifestyle of sin, then the church’s growth will suffer.
The verb diamarturomai also implies that Timothy represents the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The improper preposition enopion means “in the presence of” and is used with reference to God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels.
It emphasizes with Timothy that he is living and acting in the presence of these three.
It emphasizes with Timothy that he will be held accountable in the matter.
It also emphasizes that these commands come ultimately from the Father and the Son and that the elect angels are observing his actions to testify to his faithfulness or unfaithfulness, which will be determined by his observance of these commands or failure to do so.
The noun theos means “God” and refers to the Father, which is indicated by the fact that the articular construction of this noun in the New Testament commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity.
Also, it is not the Spirit because He is the one who is giving this charge to Timothy through Paul.
It of course cannot refer to the Son since He is mentioned as well in this prepositional phrase.
Christos signifies that Jesus of Nazareth served God the Father exclusively and this was manifested by His execution of the Father’s salvation plan which was accomplished by His voluntary substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the Cross.
The word signifies that Jesus of Nazareth has been given authority by God the Father to forgive sins, give eternal life, and authority over all creation and every creature as a result of His execution of the Father’s salvation plan.
It denotes that Jesus of Nazareth was perpetually guided and empowered by God the Holy Spirit during His First Advent.
Lastly, Christos signifies that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised deliverer of the human race from the bondage of Satan, his cosmic system and the old Adamic sin nature.
The proper name Iesous refers to the human nature of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.
The noun angelos refers to the elect angels and not the non-elect angels, which is indicated by the adjective eklektos, “elect,” which signifies that these angels are members of the kingdom of God in contrast to Satan’s angels, which are non-elect.
The adjective eklektos signifies a particular group of angels who are members of the kingdom of God in contrast to those angels who are members of Satan’s kingdom.
These elect angels will testify to Timothy’s faithfulness or unfaithfulness in carrying out Paul’s commands in 1 Timothy 5:19-20.
1 Timothy 5:21 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality. (NASB95)
“To maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality” is composed of the conjunction hina (ἵνα) (ee-nah), “to” and then we have the accusative neuter plural form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος) (oo-toce), “these things” and this is followed by the second person singular aorist active subjunctive form of the verb phulasso (φυλάσσω) (fee-lahsoe), “maintain” and then we have the improper preposition choris (χωρίς) (hore-eece), “without” and its object is the genitive neuter singular form of the noun prokrima (πρόκριμα) (pro-kreemah), “bias” and then we have the accusative neuter singular form of the adjective medeis (μηδείς) (mee-theese), “nothing” which is followed by the nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb poieo (ποιέω) (pee-eh-owe), “doing” and then we have the preposition kata (κατά) (kah-tah), “in” and its object is the accusative feminine singular form of the noun prosklisis (πρόσκλισις) (prose-kleecease), “partiality.”
The verb phulasso is used in active sense meaning “to carry out, to execute” Paul’s commands in 1 Timothy 5:19-20.
The immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos refers to Paul’s commands in 1 Timothy 5:19-20.
This is indicated by the fact that each time Paul uses this word in the accusative plural form in 1 Timothy (1:18; 3:14; 4:6, 11, 15; 5:7), it sums up the immediate preceding paragraph.
This is also indicated by the manner in which Timothy is to carry out these commands, which is to be with impartiality.
Therefore, because these commands deal with accusations against elders and administering church discipline to those who are unrepentant apostates and that Timothy is to carry out these commands with impartiality indicates that houtos is referring to these commands in verses 19-20.
The noun prokrima means “prejudgment, prejudice” and is directly related to the commands in 1 Timothy 5:19-20.
It is the object of the improper preposition choris, which means “without” indicating that Timothy was to carry out Paul’s commands in verses 19-20 “apart from” or “independently of” or “without” prejudging or prejudice.
The verb poieo means “to do” in the sense of carrying out Paul’s commands in verses 19-20.
The emphatic negative adjective medeis functions as a substantive and means “absolutely nothing” and refers to any action in relation to the commands in 1 Timothy 5:19-20 that would be the result of partiality.
The noun prosklisis denotes giving preferential treatment to a person or persons.
Thus, Paul is telling Timothy that he is to do nothing that is according to partiality.
The word is the object of the preposition kata, which functions as a marker of a norm of similarity introducing the basis for Timothy’s actions in relation to the execution of the commands in verses 19-20.
This indicates that Timothy was to do absolutely nothing “based upon” or “because of” partiality.