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THE FIRST EPISTLE

OF PAUL TO TIMOTHY.

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PAUL,

CHAPTER I.

an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the appointment of 2 God our Saviour and Christ Jesus', our hope, to Timothy my own son in the faith; favour, mercy, and peace9 from God [our] Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 As I besought thee to remain at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some not to 4 teach other doctrines, nor give heed to fables, and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than the dis5 pensation of God which is by faith; so do. Now the end of this charge to thee is love out of a pure heart, and of a good 6 conscience, and of faith unfeigned: from all which some 7 having erred, have turned aside to vain talk; desiring to be teachers of the law, yet not understanding what they say, 8 nor concerning what they strongly affirm. But we know that the law is good, if a man use it as the law requireth3; 9 knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murtherers of fathers and murtherers of mothers, for murtherers of man

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1 and the Lord Jesus Christ, R. T. who is our hope, N. 3 Gr. lawfully. 4 Or, that no law is made, N. m.

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* peace be to him, N.

This is the reading of all the ancient manuscripts except the Clermont. The meaning is, that idle questions concerning the fabulous genealogies of the Oriental philosophy would rather lead to trifling and endless disputes than to a practical knowledge of the gospel dispensation. The Primate adopts the received text, and renders the passage " rather than that godly edifying which is by faith."

10 kind, for fornicators, for those who defile themselves with

males, for man-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doc 11 trine, according to the glorious gospel1 of the blessed God 12 which hath been committed to my trust. And I thank Christ

Jesus our Lord, who hath given me strength, that he count 13 ed me faithful, and put me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I acted ignorantly through un14 belief: and the favour of our Lord was exceedingly abun dant, with that faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 15 These are true words, and worthy to be received by all, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of 16 whom I am a chief sinner. However, for this cause I ob tained mercy, that in me a chief sinner Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for an example to those who 17 should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

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This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before concerning thee, that 19 by them thou mightest war a good warfare; holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away, have 20 made shipwreck as to their faith': of whom are Hymenéus and Alexander; whom I have delivered to Satan, that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

CH. II. I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all 2 men; for kings, and for all that are in high station; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and

1 Gr. the gospel of glory. 2 happy, N. 3 i. e. gratuitous goodness, N. m. 4 Or, by, N. m. 5 Or, great long-suffering, N. m. 6 the only wise God, R. T. 7 Or, of their faith, N. m.

"That is, he had excommunicated them," Dr. Priestley. See I Cor. v.3. He had expelled them from that community of which Christ was the head and ruler, to the kingdom of heathenism and darkness, of which Satan was the supposed chief,

3 gravity. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God 4 our Saviour; who desireth' that all men should be saved, 5 and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man 6 Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all *, a doc7 trine to be testified of in its proper time; of which I have been appointed a preacher and an apostle, (I speak the truth, I speak not falsely,) an instructor of the gentiles in faith and truth 3.

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I will therefore that men pray in every place, lifting up 9 holy hands, without anger and disputing+: in like manner that women also adorn themselves in decent apparel, with modesty and soberness of mind; not with plaited hair, or 10 gold, or pearls, or costly array: but (which becometh wo11 men professing the worship of God) by good works. Let 12 the woman learn in silence, with all subjection. But I suf

fer not the woman to teach, or to usurp authority over the 13 man; but command her to remain in silence. For Adam 14 was formed first, and Eve afterward: and Adam was not

deceived; but the woman, having been deceived, was in the 15 transgression. Notwithstanding, she shall be preserved

in + child-bearing; if they continue in faith, and love, and holiness, with soberness of mind.

CH. III. These are true words: "If a man wish for the office 2 of a bishop, he desireth an honourable employment." A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife §, 3 sober, self-governed, decent, hospitable, apt to teach; not

Or, willeth, N.m. 2 I speak the truth in Christ, R.T. 3 Or, in the faith and in the truth. N. m. 4 disputings, Mss. 5 Or, was guilty of transgression. Or, was deceived and transgressed. N. m. 6 Or, orderly, N.m.

* i. e. a means of deliverance from the bondage of the ceremonial law and of heathen idolatry.

+"See dia, in the state of, Rom. ii. 27; iv. 11. 2 Cor. v. 10. I am apt to consider din rns Texvoyowas as an ancient marginal note; though I do not find any external authority for such a supposition." Newcome.

Or, an overseer, a superintendant of the church, the same as a presbyter, or elder. See Acts xx. 17. 28.

"not guilty of polygamy, or of causeless divorce." Newcome.

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a continuer at wine, not a striker; but mild, not conten4 tious, not covetous; one that ruleth his own family well, 5 having his children in subjection with all gravity; (but ifa

man know not how to rule his own family, how can he take 6 care of the church of God?) Not a new convert, lest he be lifted up with vanity, and fall into the condemnation of the 7 accuser*. Moreover [he] must have a good testimony from those that are without: lest he fall into reproach, and the snare of the accuser *.

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In like manner the deacons must be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of base gain: 9 holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. 10 And let these first be proved; then let them use the office 11 of deacon, being found irreproachable. In like manner the

women + must be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all 12 things. Let the deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling 13 their children and their own families well. For those that have used the office of a deacon well, acquire to themselves an honourable rank, and great freedom of speech in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

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I write these things unto thee, hoping to come unto thee 15 shortly; but if I delay, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, as a pillar and support of the

truth.

16 And, without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great3: He who was manifested in the flesh § was justified

not given to filthy lucre," R. T. 2 Or, showing fidelity, N. m. And the mystery of the true worship is confessedly great. N. m.

3 Or,

*“devil.” N. “lest he be justly condemned by those who watch for an oc casion to calumniate and accuse Christians." Newcome. "Accuser" is the Primate's marginal version. His text is," such condemnation as that of the devil' + "who were deaconesses, Rom xvi. 1." Newcome.

The Primate adopts the received text, "God was manifested." But in the margin he gives the reading retained here; which is also the reading in the text of Griesbach's second edition. This is supported by the Alexandrine and Ephrem Mss. The Vatican is mutilated. The Clermont reads (3) that which. Later copies have sos, God. "All the old versions," says Dr. Clarke, (Doct. of Tria.

by the spirit*, seen by messengers †, preached to the gentiles, believed on in the world ||, received in glory ¶. CH. IV. But the spirit saith expressly that, in latter times,

some will fall away from the faith, giving heed to deceitful 2 spirits, and to doctrines concerning demons; through the hypocrisy of those who speak falsehoods, of those whose 3 conscience is seared with a hot iron; who forbid to marry, and command to abstain from kinds of food, which God created to be partaken of with thanksgiving by those who are 4 believers, and who know this truth, that every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused, if it be received 5 with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God, 6 and by prayer. If thou tell the brethren these things*, thou wilt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine to which thou hast attained.

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1 Yet, N. * know the truth. For, &c. N. See Wakefield and Macknight: 3 i. e. made lawful by a divine warrant. 4 Or, "suggest these things to the brethren," N. m. Or, "laying these things before the brethren." 5 that, N.

No. 88, 89)" have who or which. And all the ancient fathers, though the copies of many of them have it now in the text itself Osos, God: yet from the tenor of their comments upon it, and from their never citing it in the Arian controversy, it appears that they always read it (is) who, or (3) which.—Note, it must not be judged from the present copies of the text in Nyssen and others, but from their manner of commenting upon the place, how the text was read in their days." Abp. Newcome observes, that if we read (is) he who, we have a construction like Mark iv. 25. Luke viii. 18. Rom. viii. 32.

was evidently a real man, a proper human being, and not a man in appear. ance only, as the Gnostics and Docetæ taught, to whom the apostle seems to allude ch. i. 4; vi. 20. Compare 1 John iv. 2, 3; 2 John, ver. 7.

* "declared to be righteous, and the Christ, by the attestation of the holy spirit." Newcome.

+"by the apostles, who were his angels or messengers to the world," Benson. angels," N.

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"This mystery St. Paul particularly insists on, Eph. iii. 4,5, 6." Newcome. among distant nations, as well as among the Jews." Newcome.

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I met with a glorious reception," Benson, who refers to Acts xx. 13, 14; xxiii. 31; Eph. vi. 15 2 Tim. iv. 11, in support of this sense of the word anλndly. He interprets the apostle's language of the multitudes which in the apostolic age embraced the Christian religion. Newcome renders the clause "taken up into glory," explaining it of the consequences of Christ's ascension.

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