1 Timothy 5.24-The Sins Of Some Men Are Conspicuous However Indeed The Sins Of Others Appear Later On In Their Lives
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 8, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 5:24-The Sins Of Some Men Are Conspicuous However Indeed The Sins Of Others Appear Later On In Their Lives
Lesson # 121
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 5:24.
In 1 Timothy 5:24, the apostle Paul resumes his discussion from verse 22, in which he taught Timothy that he is not to ordain a man too hastily.
Here in verse 24, he presents the reason why this is the case teaching that the sins of some candidates are conspicuous.
However, indeed, the sins of some men do not show up until later on in their lives.
1 Timothy 5:24 The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after. (NASB95)
“The sins of some men are quite evident” is composed of the genitive masculine plural indefinite pronoun tis (τις) (teece), “some” which is modifying the genitive masculine plural form of the noun anthropos (ἄνθρωπος) (ahn-throe-poce), “men” and then we have the articular nominative feminine plural form of the noun hamartia (ἁμαρτία) (ahmar-teeah), “the sins” and then we have the nominative feminine plural form of the adjective prodelos (πρόδηλος) (proethee-loce), “quite evident” and this is followed by the third person plural present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί) (ee-mee), “are.”
In 1 Timothy 5:24, Paul is once again employing the figure of “asyndeton,” which emphasizes the importance of this statement in verse 24 with regards to the spiritual well-being of the household of God in Ephesus.
The noun hamartia is is used of those sins committed by men who aspire to the office of overseer.
They are described by Paul as very obvious and not obvious.
These sins are related to the qualifications listed by Paul in 1 Timothy 3:1-7.
These qualifications were given to help Timothy and the Ephesian church to determine which men with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher and who aspire to the office of overseer should be ordained and hold this office and which should not.
Failure to meet many, not all, of these qualifications would constitute sinning.
Therefore, the candidate who consistently does not meet these qualifications is disqualified.
The indefinite pronoun tis refers to those men with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher and who aspire to the office of overseer without further identification.
The noun anthropos refers to those men with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher who aspire to the office of overseer and have an unrepentant sinful lifestyle that is either evident to the church or is not.
The word functions as a genitive of production, which indicates that Paul is saying that the sins “produced by” or “committed by” some men are obvious.
In 1 Timothy 5:24, the adjective prodelos is used of the sins of some men with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher who aspire to the office of overseer and describes their sins as “very obvious, conspicuous” or “easy to see.”
“Going before them to judgment” is composed of the nominative feminine plural present active participle form of the verb proago (προάγω) (pro-ah-go), “going before” and then we have the preposition eis (εἰς) (eece), “to” and its object is the accusative feminine singular form of the noun krisis (κρίσις) (kree-cease), “judgment.”
The verb proago is used in a figurative, intransitive and temporal sense and means “to lead” and denotes that the sins committed by some men who aspire to the office of overseer are conspicuous “leading” to discipline from the church.
Some argue that the word means “precede” or “go before” to judgment.
This judgment for Christians is called the “Bema Seat” (2 Corinthians 5:10).
However, a believer’s sins are never brought up at that time.
Rather, this will be a time to evaluate the believer’s stewardship of their time, talent, treasure and truth to determine if they were faithful or unfaithful.
Therefore, to say that proago speaks of the conspicuous sins committed by some men who aspire to the office of overseer “going before” them to judgment is incorrect based upon the fact that the believer’s sins are never mentioned at the Bema Seat.
However, these sins would result in disciplinary action by the church against the candidate.
The verb proago means “to lead” in the sense that the sins committed by some men who aspire to the office of overseer are conspicuous “leading” to judgment, i.e. disciplinary action taken by the church against the candidate.
The verb proago functions as a result participle meaning that the sins committed by some men who aspire to the office of overseer are conspicuous, “consequently” or “with the result that” they lead to discipline.
The noun krisis is used in relation to the conspicuous sins committed by those men with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher, who aspire to the office of overseer and means “discipline” referring to the punishment that they will receive through church discipline.
It speaks of the actions taken by the church against these men for their sinful lifestyles.
It refers to discipline by the church if they do not repent after being confronted with the testimony of two or three witnesses of their sin.
It can also refer to being removed from the fellowship of the church because of not repenting from the sin after being rebuked by the entire church.
“For others, their sins follow after” is composed of the dative masculine plural form of the indefinite pronoun tis (τις) (teece), “for others” which is followed by the post-positive conjunction de (δέ) (theh) which is not translated and is followed by the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), which is also not translated and then we have the third person plural present active indicative form of the verb epakoloutheo (ἐπακολουθέω) (epah-koeloo-theh-owe), “follow after.”
The conjunctions de and kai present an emphatic contrast.
The dative masculine plural form of the indefinite pronoun tis is used as a substantive and refers to those men with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher and who aspire to the office of overseer.
It speaks of these men without further identification.
The verb epakoloutheo means “to appear later” indicating that Paul is teaching that the sins of some men who aspire to the office of overseer are conspicuous however indeed the sins of some men “show up later” or “appear later on” in their lives.
This word teaches a principle that appears in Numbers 32:23 that one’s sin will eventually find you out.
The verb teaches that eventually a sinful lifestyle will show itself in a man’s life.
As we have noted, the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 5:17-25 instructs Timothy as to the proper treatment of elders, i.e. overseers or pastor-teachers.
In this pericope, Paul is attempting to give discernment directly to Timothy and indirectly to the Ephesian Christian community who would have this letter read to them.
In verses 17-18, he addresses the subject of remuneration of elders.
Then in verses 19-21, he addresses the subject of disciplining elders.
In verse 22, the apostle commands Timothy to not ordain men too hastily thus not being complicit in their sins.
Thus by doing so, he would keep himself pure.
Verse 23 is a parenthetical note that addresses Timothy’s health.
After this parenthetical note, Paul in verse 24 returns to the subject of not ordaining men too hastily by presenting the basis for this prohibition.
In verse 24, Paul teaches that the sins of some of these men are quite evident in that they lead to discipline from the church.
However, he also teaches that the sins of some of these men follow, which means that they are not obvious but that they will eventually be disciplined by the Lord.
Therefore, Timothy and the Ephesian leadership must be cautious in ordaining men to be overseers.
Then, in verse 25, the apostle teaches that in direct contrast to the obvious sins of some men, the good deeds of some men are also obvious, which demonstrates that they are qualified to be an overseer.
However, the good deeds performed by others are not so obvious but will show up eventually in a man’s life.
Therefore, Paul is teaching Timothy and the ordained pastors in Ephesus, who would also be involved in the process of ordaining men, that some candidates might not appear to be qualified but in fact are.
Therefore, verse 25 is connected to verse 24.
In these verses, Paul is killing two birds with one stone.
First, he wants to give Timothy and the ordained pastors in Ephesus discernment with regards to choosing those who are qualified and those who are not.
Secondly, he wants to give them encouragement since it is not so obvious to determine who is qualified and who is not.
Therefore, the apostle is instructing them to be cautious in ordaining men and not ordaining men.
Being cautious in ordaining men will allow time for the sinful lifestyle of some men to surface, which disqualifies them to be overseers.
On the other hand, it would also allow time for the good deeds of some to surface as well, which would qualify them to be overseers.