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| 1 Timothy 5:01 |
Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him
as a father; and the younger men as brethren;
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before doing a study on any
single verse, read all the verses from the beginning
of the chapter to this point and maybe a verse or
two beyond. Do this so you have the verse in context
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We will begin in the Barclay Commentary.
THE DUTY TO REPRIMAND
If you have occasion to reprimand an older man, do
not do so sharply, but appeal to him as you would to
a father. Treat the younger men like brothers; the
older women as mothers; the younger women as
sisters, in complete purity.
IT is always difficult to reprimand anyone with
graciousness; and to Timothy there would sometimes
fall a duty that was doubly difficult – that of
reprimanding someone older than himself. The
fourth-century Church father John Chrysostom writes:
‘Rebuke is in its own nature offensive particularly
when it is addressed to an old man; and when it
proceeds from a young man too, there is a threefold
show of forwardness. By the manner and mildness of
it, therefore, he would soften it. For it is
possible to reprove without offence, if one will
only make a point of this; it requires great
discretion, but it may be done.’
Rebuke is always a problem. We may so dislike the
task of speaking a warning word that we may avoid it
altogether. Many people would have been saved from
sorrow and disaster if someone had only spoken a
word of warning in time. There can be no more
poignant tragedy than to hear someone say: ‘I would
never have come to this, if you had only spoken in
time.’ It is always wrong to hold back from speaking
the word that needs to be heard.
We may reprimand a person in such a way that there
is clearly nothing but anger in our voice and
nothing but bitterness in our minds and hearts. A
rebuke given solely in anger may produce fear, and
may cause pain, but it will almost inevitably arouse
resentment; and its ultimate effect may well be to
drive those who are rebuked even more firmly into
their mistaken ways. The rebuke of anger and the
reprimand of contemptuous dislike are seldom
effective and are far more likely to do harm than
good.
It was said of Florence Allshorn, the great
missionary teacher, that, when she was principal of
a women’s college, she always rebuked her students,
when the need arose, as it were with her arm around
them. The rebuke which clearly comes from love is
the only effective one. If we ever have cause to
reprimand anyone, we must do so in such a way as to
make it clear that we do this not because we find a
cruel pleasure in it, not because we want to do it,
but because we are under the compulsion of love and
seek to help, not to hurt.
THE RELATIONSHIPS OF LIFE
THESE two verses lay down the spirit which the
relationships between different age groups should
display.
(1) To older people, we must show affection and
respect. An older man is to be treated like a father
and an older woman like a mother. The ancient world
knew very well the deference and respect which were
appropriate to age. The Roman orator and statesman
Cicero writes: ‘It is, then, the duty of a young man
to show deference to his elders, and to attach
himself to the best and most approved of them, so as
to receive the benefit of their counsel and
influence. For the inexperience of youth requires
the practical wisdom of age to strengthen and direct
it. And this time of life is above all to be
protected against sensuality and trained to toil and
endurance of both mind and body, so as to be strong
for active duty in military and civil service. And
even when they wish to relax their minds and give
themselves up to enjoyment, they should beware of
excesses and bear in mind the rules of modesty. And
this will be easier, if the young are not unwilling
to have their elders join them, even in their
pleasures’ (De Officiis, 1:34). Aristotle writes:
‘To all older persons too one should give honour
appropriate to their age, by rising to receive them
and finding seats for them and so on’ (Nicomachean
Ethics, 9:2). It is one of the tragedies of life
that youth is so often apt to find age a nuisance. A
famous French phrase says with a sigh: ‘If youth but
had the knowledge, if age but had the power.’ But
when there is mutual respect and affection, then the
wisdom and experience of age can co-operate with the
strength and enthusiasm of youth, to the great
profit of both.
(2) To our contemporaries, we must show
brotherliness. The younger men are to be treated
like brothers. Aristotle has it: ‘To comrades and
brothers, one should allow freedom of speech and
common use of all things’ (Nicomachean Ethics, 9:2).
With our contemporaries, there should be tolerance
and sharing.
(3) To those of the opposite sex, our relationships
must always be marked with purity. The Arabs have a
phrase for a man of honour; they call him ‘a brother
of girls’. There is a famous phrase which speaks of
‘Platonic friendship’. Love must be kept for one; it
is a fearful thing when physical matters dominate
the relationship between the sexes, and a man cannot
see a woman without thinking in terms of her body.
~Barclay's Commentary
Now to the commentaries...
The verse is in three parts:
1] Rebuke not an elder
2] But intreat him as a father
3] And the younger men as brethren
I want to read the Jamieson, Fausset, Brown on the
first two verses first as it should help us to
understand the rest of the commentaries.
Here the apostle gives rules to Timothy, and in him
to other ministers, in reproving. Ministers are
reprovers by office; it is a part, though the least
pleasing part, of their office; they are to preach
the word, to reprove and rebuke, 2 Timothy 4:2. A
great difference is to be made in our reproofs,
according to the age, quality, and other
circumstances, of the persons rebuked; thus, and
elder in age or office must be entreated as a
father; on some have compassion, making a
difference, Jude 1:22. Now the rule is,
1. To be very tender in rebuking elders - elders in
age, elders by office. Respect must be had to the
dignity of their years and place, and therefore they
must not be rebuked sharply nor magisterially; but
Timothy himself, though an evangelist, must entreat
them as fathers, for this would be the likeliest way
to work upon them, and to win upon them.
2. The younger must be rebuked as brethren, with
love and tenderness; not as desirous, to spy faults
or pick quarrels, but as being willing to make the
best of them. There is need of a great deal of
meekness in reproving those who deserve reproof.
3. The elder women must be reproved, when there is
occasion, as mothers. Hosea 2:2, Plead with your
mother, plead.
4. The younger women must be reproved, but reproved
as sisters, with all purity. If Timothy, so
mortified a man to this world and to the flesh and
lusts of it, had need of such a caution as this,
much more have we.
~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
Quoted verses:
2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of
season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all
longsuffering and doctrine.
Jude 1:22
And of some have compassion, making a difference:
Hosea 2:2
Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my
wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore
put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her
adulteries from between her breasts;
Now to the rest of the commentaries.
1] REBUKE NOT AN ELDER
Rebuke not an elder -
The word “elder” here is not used in the sense in
which it often is, to denote an officer of the
church, a presbyter, but in its proper and usual
sense, to denote an aged man. This is evident,
because the apostle immediately mentions in
contradistinction from the elder, “the younger men,”
where it cannot be supposed that he refers to them
as officers. The command to treat the “elder” as a
“father,” also shows the same thing. By the
direction not to rebuke, it is not to be supposed
that the minister of the gospel is not to admonish
the aged, or that he is not to show them their sins
when they go astray, but that he is to do this as he
would to a father. He is not to assume a harsh,
dictatorial, and denunciatory manner. The precepts
of religion always respect the proprieties of life,
and never allow us to transgress them, even when the
object is to reclaim a soul from error, and to save
one who is wandering. Besides, when this is the aim,
it will always be most certainly accomplished by
observing the respect due to others on account of
office, relation, rank, or age.
~Barnes Notes
Rebuke not an elder -
That is, an elderly person; for the word πρεσβυτερος
is here taken in its natural sense, and signifies
one advanced in years. At 1 Timothy 5:17, it is
taken in what may be termed its ecclesiastical
meaning, and signifies, an officer in the Church,
what we commonly call a presbyter or bishop; for
sometimes these terms were confounded. There are but
few cases in which it at all becomes a young man to
reprove an old man, and especially one who is a
father in the Church. If such a one does wrong, or
gets out of the way, he should be entreated as a
father, with great caution and respect. To this at
least his age entitles him. The word επιπληξῃς
signifies, do not smite; i.e. do not treat them
harshly, nor with magisterial austerity.
~Adam Clarke
Quoted verse:
1 Timothy 5:17
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of
double honour, especially they who labour in the
word and doctrine.
Rebuke not an elder -
By whom is meant, not an elder in office, but in
age; for elders by office are afterwards spoken of,
and particular rules concerning them are given, 1
Timothy 5:17. Besides, an elder is here opposed, not
to a private member of a church, but to young men in
age; and the apostle is here giving rules to be
observed in rebuking members of churches, according
to their different age and sex, and not according to
their office and station; and this sense is
confirmed by a parallel text in Titus 2:2. Now an
ancient man, a member of a church, is not to be
rebuked in a sharp and severe way; the word here
used signifies to smite or strike; and so the Arabic
version renders it, "do not strike an elder";
meaning not with the hand, but with the tongue,
giving hard words, which are as heavy blows; reproof
is a smiting, and there is a gentle and a sharp one,
Psalm 141:4. It is with the former [gentle],
and not the latter [sharp],
that man in years is to be reproved, when he is in a
fault, whether with respect to doctrine or practice,
as such persons may be as well as younger ones; and
when they are observed to err, they should not be
roughly and sharply dealt with:
~John Gill
Quoted verse:
1 Timothy 5:17
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of
double honour, especially they who labour in the
word and doctrine.
Titus 2:2
That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound
in faith, in charity, in patience.
Psalm 141:4
Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise
wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me
not eat of their dainties.
Rebuke not an elder (presbuterōi
mē epiplēxēis) - Dative case presbuterōi used in
the usual sense of an older man, not a minister
(bishop as in 1 Timothy 3:2) as is shown by “as a
father.” First aorist (ingressive) active
subjunctive with negative mē (prohibition
against committing the act) of epiplēssō,
to strike upon, old verb, but here only in N.T. and
in figurative sense with words rather than with
fists. Respect for age is what is here commanded, an
item appropriate to the present time.
~Robertson's Word Pictures.
2] BUT INTREAT HIM AS A
FATHER
But entreat him as a father
- As you would a father. That is, do not harshly
denounce him. Endeavor to persuade him to lead a
more holy life. One of the things for which the
ancients were remarkable above most of the moderns,
and for which the Orientals are still distinguished,
was respect for age. Few things are enjoined with
more explicitness and emphasis in the Bible than
this; Leviticus 19:32; Job 29; Proverbs 20:20;
Proverbs 30:17; compare Daniel 7:9-10; Revelation
1:14-15. The apostle would have Timothy, and, for
the same reason, every other minister of the gospel,
a model of this virtue.
~Barnes Notes
Quoted verses
Leviticus 19:32
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour
the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the
LORD.
Job 29
...I will let you read this
one
1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days
when God preserved me;
3 When his candle shined upon my head, and when by
his light I walked through darkness;
4 As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret
of God was upon my tabernacle;
5 When the Almighty was yet with me, when my
children were about me;
6 When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock
poured me out rivers of oil;
7 When I went out to the gate through the city, when
I prepared my seat in the street!
8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the
aged arose, and stood up.
9 The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand
on their mouth.
10 The nobles held their peace, and their tongue
cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and
when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:
12 Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the
fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came
upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for
joy.
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my
judgment was as a robe and a diadem.
15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the
lame.
16 I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I
knew not I searched out.
17 And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked
the spoil out of his teeth.
18 Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall
multiply my days as the sand.
19 My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew
lay all night upon my branch.
20 My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed
in my hand.
21 Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept
silence at my counsel.
22 After my words they spake not again; and my
speech dropped upon them.
23 And they waited for me as for the rain; and they
opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
24 If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and
the light of my countenance they cast not down.
25 I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt
as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the
mourners.
Proverbs 20:20
Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp
shall be put out in obscure darkness.
Proverbs 30:17
The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to
obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick
it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
Daniel 7:9-10
9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the
Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as
snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool:
his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels
as burning fire.
10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before
him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten
thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the
judgment was set, and the books were opened.
Revelation 1:14-15
14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as
white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they
burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of
many waters.
but entreat him as a father
- as a child should entreat a father, when he is
going out of the way; give him honour and respect,
fear and reverence, and persuade him to desist;
entreat and beseech him to return to the right path
of truth and holiness; use him as a father in
Christ, that has known him that is from the
beginning, and as of long standing in the church:
this must be understood of lesser crimes, and not of
atrocious and flagitious ones, obstinately continued
in, to the great scandal of religion, and dishonour
of the Gospel; for then severer methods must be
used; see Isaiah 45:20. But though this is the sense
of the passage, yet the argument from hence is
strong, that if an elder in years, a private member,
who is ancient, and in a fault, is not to be roughly
used, but gently entreated, then much more an elder
in office. ~John Gill
Quoted verse:
Isaiah 45:20
Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye
that are escaped of the nations: they have no
knowledge that set up the wood of their graven
image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
3] AND THE YOUNGER MEN AS
BRETHREN
And the younger men as
brethren - That is, treat them as you would
your own brothers. Do not consider them as aliens,
strangers, or enemies, but entertain toward them,
even when they go astray, the kindly feelings of a
brother. This refers more particularly to his
private conversation with them, and to his personal
efforts to reclaim them when they had fallen into
sin. When these efforts were ineffectual, and they
sinned openly, he was to “rebuke them before all” 1
Timothy 5:20, that others might be deterred from
following their example.
~Barnes Notes
Quoted verse:
1 Timothy 5:20
Let us read from verse 19-21:
1 Timothy 5:19-21
19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but
before two or three witnesses.
20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also
may fear.
21 I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe
these things without preferring one before another,
doing nothing by partiality.
The younger men as brethren
- Showing humility, and arrogating nothing to
thyself on account of thy office. Feel for them as
thou oughtest to feel for thy own brethren.
~Adam Clarke
And the younger men as
brethren - the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic
versions read, "as thy brethren". Timothy was a
young man himself; and as he was to consider an
elderly man as his father, and use him accordingly;
so he was to consider young men as equal with him,
at least in age, and take the more freedom with
them, in reproving them for their faults, and use
somewhat more authority with them; and yet consider
them as brethren in Christ, and reprove them in a
brotherly way, and with brotherly love.
~John Gill
The younger men as brethren
(neōterous hōs adelphous) - Comparative adjective
neōteros from neos (young).
No article, “younger men.” Wise words for the young
minister to know how to conduct himself with old men
(reverence) and
young men (fellowship, but
not stooping to folly with them).
~Robertson's Word Pictures
Let us finish in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1a] Rebuke
1 Timothy 5:19-20
19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but
before two or three witnesses.
20 Them that sin [openly
despite having it pointed out] rebuke
before all, that others also may fear.
Leviticus 19:32
...referenced above
Deuteronomy 33:9
Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have
not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his
brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have
observed thy word, and kept thy covenant.
Galatians 2:11-14
11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood
him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
12 For before that certain came from James, he did
eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he
withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which
were of the circumcision.
13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him;
insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with
their dissimulation.
14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly
according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto
Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest
after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the
Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do
the Jews?
1b] not an elder
1 Timothy 5:17
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of
double honour, especially they who labour in the
word and doctrine.
Acts 14:23
And when they had ordained them elders in every
church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended
them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
Acts 15:4, 6
4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were
received of the church, and of the apostles and
elders [preachers],
and they declared all things that God had done with
them.
6 And the apostles and elders came together for to
consider of this matter.
2] But intreat him
as a father
Romans 13:7
Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom
tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom
fear; honour to whom honour.
Galatians 6:1
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which
are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of
meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be
tempted.
2 Timothy 2:24-25
24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but
be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
25 In meekness instructing those that oppose
themselves; if God peradventure will give them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
Philemon 1:9-10
9 Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being
such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a
prisoner of Jesus Christ.
10 I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have
begotten in my bonds:
James 3:17
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated,
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality,
and without hypocrisy.
1 Peter 5:5-6
5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the
elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another,
and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the
proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand
of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
3] And the younger
men as brethren
Matthew 18:15-17
15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against
thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him
alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy
brother.
16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee
one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it
unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the
church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a
publican.
Matthew 23:8
But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master,
even Christ; and all ye are brethren [spiritual
relationship]. |
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