Early Access will be the full game with the entire game and all content . The social drinker often claims that a drink or two really does nothing to alter the bodys ability to function. In the first section--verses 1-2. Second, Paul was known to have the gift of healing and had proven so on various occasions. There is no virtue--rather the reverse--in neglect of or contempt for the body. Now it is evident that Timothy was not only frugal, but even austere, in his mode of living; so much so as even not to take care of his health; and it is certain that this was done, neither through ambition nor through superstition. And you've denied the faith if you refuse to take care of your elderly parents and grandparents. "Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. 23 Verses to Encourage Dad This Fathers Day. The water may have been causing him the trouble. 1. 105. You ought to drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach because you are sick so often. "According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." 4. So let us not be guilty of judging wrongly. And here Paul is telling him not to rebuke an elder. That he was above such desires himself, trusting in the living God, who affords us all things richly for enjoyment. Do not go on drinking only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. God can employ the most feeble member of the assembly; but still ordinarily one looks for better guides. It may be a very little sin that is allowed, but this, where it is unjudged in God's sight, becomes the beginning of a very great evil. God knows the good deed also, and he will repay, for he is never in any man's debt. In days of persecution it was no small thing to help Christians who were suffering for their faith. Prayer is the expression of dependence on God; and wrangling on the one hand, and all angry feeling on the other, even supposing it might have some righteousness about it, still are unsuitable to prayer. For as Paul said in verse fifteen, how that he has written these things in order that he might know how he ought to behave in the house of the Lord.So as we get to chapter five, he deals first of all with Timothy's behavior towards the elders, men, the younger men, the elder women, and the younger women. This very epistle is the witness of it. And it was as common, as water as far as a drink was concerned, because in many of the areas the water was polluted. Let a person sort of prove themselves, don't be quick to ordain people to a particular task. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. But why does he not simply advise him to drink wine? Then the apostle sums up these regulations, and says, These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God," (may we, too, profit by his words, beloved brethren!) NLT Dont drink only water. This was their notion of bringing in some "higher life," superior to anything that the apostles had taught How does he meet them? It is repaying love received in time of need with love given in time of need; and only with love can love be repaid. It is to be noted what kind of elders are to be specially honoured and rewarded. With just days before the 5 June default deadline, president Joe Biden has indicated he will sign the bill as soon as it reaches his desk The Senate narrowly passed a bill to suspend the debt . ", A weighty sentence, and eminently characteristic also of these epistles. how one could easily recount one name after another, if it would become any so to do! There were certainly widows who had become widows in the normal way by the death of their husbands. Timothy was evidently unmarried. In later times Church regulations laid it down that the two witnesses must be Christian, for it would have been easy for a malicious heathen to fabricate a false charge against a Christian elder in order to discredit him, and through him to discredit the Church. It is plain on the face of it that this is more particularly insisted on for the deacons than for the elders. Thus, if a person takes wine, or anything else, except to please God, and is not in danger on the score of morality, certainly he has lost all adequate sense of his own place as a witness of the glory of God. Eusebius tells us that it was the ancient custom that repentant sinners should be received back with the laying on of hands and with prayer. Thus Libanius, Epist. A passage like this reflects the situation in society in which the early Church found itself. It is a most important duty, therefore, and one requiring continual watchfulness. In the last chapter (1 Timothy 6:1-21) comes the question of servants and their masters, which also it was important to regulate; for we all know that a servant might turn to a selfish account that his master and himself were brethren in Christ. No, he's talking now in the laying on of hands for the ordaining of a person for a ministry within the body of Christ. Whoever thought differently (and such have never been wanting) was puffed up, and could only suggest evil. In 1 Timothy 5:1-25 the apostle gives needful directions to Timothy as regards an elder. As we have already said, if not as early as the time of the Pastoral Epistles, certainly in later days, the widows became an accepted order in the Christian Church. ii., edit. There are some whose good deeds are plain for all to see, and who have already won the praise and thanks and congratulations of men. ix. We can hardly descend to anything lowlier than this. Then he proceeds: "For every creature of God is good," etc. And so then, as remarked already, far from leaving the smallest reason for any perversely to confound this with the law, the apostle instantly turns to that perverting of the law, which is so natural to the heart of man. Hence he says: "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men." In fact, immediately after this he calls what he preached the "gospel of the glory" ("the glorious gospel," as it is styled in our version,) "of the blessed God." 1 Timothy 5:23 in all English translations. No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. (4) The exhortation extended only to a very moderate use of wine. Timothy was a younger man. But the Holy Spirit by such an injunction applied a principle which was destined to undermine, as in fact it did undermine, polygamy in every form. The ancient world knew well the deference and respect which were due to age. Bip., vol. The restriction "little wine," of course refutes that notion. For a moment he just touches on the wholesome thought, then turns to a higher one. The elder whose service consisted only in words and discussion and argument is not in question here. The rebuke which clearly comes from love is the only effective one. The wine that they drank was a mixture of water and wine, three parts of water, two parts of wine. "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." 1 Timothy 5:23 - Adam Clarke Bible Commentary Verse 23. Excellent desires, zeal, honesty, are in no way sufficient for the purpose. Appointment must always raise the question, who they are that appoint. A man's reward must always be proportioned to a man's toil. 5:3-8 Honour widows who are genuinely in a widow's destitute position. If that be the meaning here, it will be a warning to Timothy not to be too quick to receive back the man who has brought disgrace on the Church; to wait until he has shown that his penitence is genuine, and that he is truly determined to mould his life to fit his penitent professions. The overseer then must be blameless, husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity." Is that the road by which we rise to heaven? In order to meet jeers of this kind, he declares that he provides only for a case of necessity; and at the same time he recommends moderation. That is not for a moment to say that such a man is to be held at arms' length and treated with suspicion; he has to be treated with all sympathy and with all help and guidance in his period of probation. Aristotle has it: "To comrades and brothers one should allow freedom of speech and common use of all things" (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 9: 2). It reveals Timothy as a total abstainer from alcohol; but it is amazing what the commentators make of this. Paul had many miracles wrought through his ministry. It is always wrong to shirk the word that should be spoken. The reminder to Timothy to keep himself pure does not mean he must no longer drink wine, for if he takes it in reasonable amounts it may help him enjoy better health (23). Amidst the affairs of the Church and the problems of administration, Paul finds time to slip in a little bit of loving advice to Timothy about his health. And one of the saddest things is to see in Las Vegas these old ladies standing there at these one-armed bandits just working those things all day long, with a cigarette hanging out of their mouth, you know. Hence the necessity of St. Pauls warning against allowing the bodily power to be weakened through abstinence and extreme asceticism. "The words imply that Timothy was a total abstainer from wine." (1) How to treat the men in the church. RULES FOR PRACTICAL ADMINISTRATION ( 1 Timothy 5:17-22 continued). There again we find the same mingling of the faith and good conscience as we had earlier. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid ( 1 Timothy 5:24-25 ). The charity of the Church does not exist to make people lazy and dependent. Timothy is to take care in rebuking offenders, in ordaining ministers, and as to his own health. A lot of churches feel that you got to lock the person into a job, you know, get them involved, you know, and hold them. He told him don't let any man despise thy youth. 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