King James Version
1 Timothy 1
20 verses with commentary
Greeting
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;</strong> Paul opens this pastoral epistle by establishing his apostolic authority, grounded not in human appointment but in divine commandment. The Greek word <em>kat' epitagēn</em> (κατ' ἐπιταγήν) indicates an authoritative command, not merely permission—Paul's apostleship der...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) **Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.**—The letter to Timothy, though addressed to a very dear and intimate friend, was sent with a two-fold purpose. It was an affectionate reminder from his old master, “Paul the Aged,” to his disciple to be steadfast in the midst of the many perils to which one in the position of Timothy would be exposed in the city of Ephesus; but it was also an official comma...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. For--**"Because." Their "philosophy" (Col 2:8) is not "after Christ," as all true philosophy is, everything which comes not from, and tends not to, Him, being a delusion; "For in Him (alone) dwelleth" as in a temple, &c.
**the fulness--**(Col 1:19; Joh 14:10).
**of the Godhead--**The Greek (theotes) means the ESSENCE and NATURE of the Godhead, not merely the divine perfections and att...
Read full commentary →Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.</strong> Paul addresses Timothy with profound affection as "my own son in the faith" (<em>gnēsiō teknō en pistei</em>, γνησίῳ τέκνῳ ἐν πίστει). The word <em>gnēsios</em> (γνήσιος) means "legitimate" or "genuine," indicating Timothy's authentic spiritual relationship with Paul and ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **My own son in the faith.**—Timothy was St. Paul’s very own son. No fleshly relationship existed between the two, but a closer and far dearer connection. St. Paul had taken him while yet a very young man to be his companion and fellow-labourer (Acts 16:3). He told the Philippian Church he had no one like-minded (with Timothy) who would care for their affairs. He wrote to the Corinthians how T...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. And--**And therefore; and so. Translate in the Greek order, "Ye are in Him (by virtue of union with Him) filled full" of all that you need (Joh 1:16). Believers receive of the divine unction which flows down from their Divine Head and High Priest (Psa 133:2). He is full of the "fulness" itself; we, filled from Him. Paul implies, Therefore ye Colossians need no supplementary sources of grace,...
Read full commentary →Warning Against False Teachers
As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus</strong> (Καθὼς παρεκάλεσά σε προσμεῖναι ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, <em>Kathōs parekalesa se prosmeinai en Ephesō</em>)—'just as I urged you to remain in Ephesus.' <em>Parakaleō</em> means to urge, exhort, encourage. <em>Prosmenō</em> means to stay, remain, continue. Timothy's assignment was Ephesus, the major city of Asia Minor where Paul had ministered three y...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **That thou mightest charge some.**—Some time *after* the first imprisonment at Rome, and consequently beyond the period included by St. Luke in the Acts, St. Paul must have left Timothy behind at Ephesus while he pursued his journey towards Macedonia, and given him the solemn charge here referred to. The false teachers who are disturbing the Church at Ephesus are not named. There is, perhaps,...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
11. Implying that they did not need, as the Judaizers taught, the outward rite of circumcision, since they had already the inward spiritual reality of it.
**are--**rather, as the Greek, "Ye were (once for all) circumcised (spiritually, at your conversion and baptism, Ro 2:28, 29; Php 3:3) with a (so the Greek) circumcision made without hands"; opposed to "the circumcision in the flesh made by ha...
Read full commentary →Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies</strong> (μηδὲ προσέχειν μύθοις καὶ γενεαλογίαις ἀπεράντοις, <em>mēde prosechein mythois kai genealogiais aperantois</em>)—'nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.' <em>Prosechō</em> means to pay attention to, occupy oneself with. <em>Mythos</em> means myth, fable, fictitious story. <em>Genealogia</em> means genealogy, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Neither give heed to fables.**—These fables ware, no doubt, purely Rabbinical. It was said in the Jewish schools that an oral Law had been given on Sinai, and that this Law, a succession of teachers, from the time of Moses, had handed down. This “Law that is upon the lip,” as it was termed, was further illustrated and enlarged by the sayings and comments of the more famous Jewish Rabbis, and...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
12. Translate, "Having been buried with Him in your baptism." The past participle is here coincident in time with the preceding verb, "ye were (Greek) circumcised." Baptism is regarded as the burial of the old carnal life, to which the act of immersion symbolically corresponds; and in warm climates where immersion is safe, it is the mode most accordant with the significance of the ordinance; but t...
Read full commentary →Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Now the end of the commandment is charity</strong> (Τὸ δὲ τέλος τῆς παραγγελίας ἐστὶν ἀγάπη, <em>To de telos tēs parangelias estin agapē</em>)—'the goal of our instruction is love.' <em>Telos</em> means end, goal, aim, purpose. <em>Parangelia</em> means charge, command, instruction. <em>Agapē</em> is self-sacrificial love—the distinctively Christian love modeled by Christ.<br><br><strong>O...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Now the end.**—The Greek word should be translated *But the end.* Though Timothy must resist and oppose these false teachers with all courage and firmness, still he must not forget what was the real end, the aim, the purpose of all Christian teaching, which, the Apostle reminds him, is Love.
**Of the commandment.**—There is no reference here to the famous commandments of the Law of Moses. “C...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. you, being dead--**formerly (Ep 2:1, 2); even as Christ was among the dead, before that God raised Him "from the dead" (Col 2:12).
**sins--**rather as Greek is translated at end of this verse, "trespasses," literally, "failings aside" from God's ways; actual transgressions, as that of Adam.
**uncircumcision of your flesh--**your not having put off the old fleshly nature, the carnal fores...
Read full commentary →From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; having: or, not aiming at
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling</strong> (ὧν τινες ἀστοχήσαντες ἐξετράπησαν εἰς ματαιολογίαν, <em>hōn tines astochēsantes exetrapēsan eis mataiologian</em>)—'from these some have wandered away and turned aside to meaningless talk.' <em>Astocheō</em> means to miss the mark, deviate. <em>Ektrepō</em> means to turn away, go astray. <em>Mataiologia</em> (onl...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) F**rom which some having swerved have turned aside.**—This sentence is rendered more accurately: *From which some, having gone wide in aim, have turned themselves aside.* These words seem to tell us that these teachers had once been in the right direction, but had not kept in it; indeed, from the whole tenor of St. Paul’s directions to Timothy it is clear that these persons not only had been, ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. Blotting out--**Greek, "Having wiped out"; coincident in time with "having forgiven you" (Col 2:13); hereby having cancelled the law's indictment against you. The law (including especially the moral law, wherein lay the chief difficulty in obeying) is abrogated to the believer, as far as it was a compulsory, accusing code, and as far as "righteousness" (justification) and "life" were sought ...
Read full commentary →Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Desiring to be teachers of the law</strong> (θέλοντες εἶναι νομοδιδάσκαλοι, <em>thelontes einai nomodidaskaloi</em>)—'wanting to be teachers of the law.' <em>Nomodidaskalos</em> means law-teacher, used of Jewish scribes who taught Torah. These false teachers aspired to authoritative positions interpreting Scripture (likely OT law, genealogies, traditions).<br><br><strong>Understanding neit...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Desiring to be teachers of the law.**—“Desiring,” though they really were not. They coveted the respect and influence which was ever paid to the acknowledged teachers of the Law of Moses; but these men utterly failed to understand the real spiritual meaning of that Law which they pretended to teach. Similar pretenders in a neighbouring Church, some years later, received from another Apostle—...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
15. Alford, Ellicott, and others translate the Greek to accord with the translation of the same Greek, Col 3:9, "Stripping off from Himself the principalities and the powers: " God put off from Himself the angels, that is, their ministry, not employing them to be promulgators of the Gospel in the way that He had given the law by their "disposition" or ministry (Ac 7:53; Ga 3:19; He 2:2, 5): God ma...
Read full commentary →But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;</strong> Paul corrects potential misunderstanding: his criticism of false teachers doesn't mean the Mosaic law itself is problematic. The law is "good" (<em>kalos</em>, καλός)—noble, excellent, morally beautiful. This affirms the law's divine origin and righteous character, echoing Paul's teaching in Romans 7:12: "the law is holy,...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **But we know.**—Better, *Now we know*: a strong expression of his knowledge, learned in the school of the Holy Ghost. He spoke with the conscious authority of an Apostle, confident of the truth of what he preached and taught.
**That the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.**—“The Law is good,” St. Paul declared with apostolic authoritative knowledge, “should a man—*i.e., *a teacher of the L...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. therefore--**because ye are complete in Christ, and God in Him has dispensed with all subordinate means as essential to acceptance with Him.
**meat ... drink--**Greek, "eating ... drinking" (Ro 14:1-17). Pay no regard to any one who sits in judgment on you as to legal observances in respect to foods.
**holyday--**a feast yearly. Compare the three, 1Ch 23:31.
**new moon--**monthly.
**...
Read full commentary →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 unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>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 unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,</strong> Paul explains the law's proper purpose: it targets not the righteous but lawbreakers. The phrase "not made for" (<em>ou keitai</em>, οὐ κεῖται) literally means "i...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Knowing this.**—The teacher of the Law, being aware of this great truth, now to be detailed—viz.:—
**That the law is not made for a righteous man.**—The stern Mosaic Law was enacted centuries before the Messiah Jesus had given to men His new Law. The Law of Moses was not, then, enacted for a “righteous man”—that is, for a Christian in the true sense of the word, who has sought and found just...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. things to come--**the blessings of the Christian covenant, the substance of which Jewish ordinances were but the type. Compare "ages to come," that is, the Gospel dispensation (Ep 2:7). He 2:5, "the world to come."
**the body is of Christ--**The real substance (of the blessings typified by the law) belongs to Christ (He 8:5; 10:1).
For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;</strong> Paul continues his catalog of sins for which law exists. "Whoremongers" (<em>pornois</em>, πόρνοις) refers to those engaged in sexual immorality generally, including fornication and adultery. "Them tha...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **For menstealers.**—After enumerating the transgressors of the Sixth and Seventh Commandments against murder and adultery, St. Paul speaks of a class well known in the Roman world of his day—perhaps the worst class of offenders against the Eighth Commandment—the “slave-dealers.”
**For liars, for perjured persons.**—In these inclusive terms St. Paul apparently reckons all who break the solemn...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**18. beguile--**Translate, "Defraud you of your prize," literally, "to adjudge a prize out of hostility away from him who deserves it" [Trench]. "To be umpire in a contest to the detriment of one." This defrauding of their prize the Colossians would suffer, by letting any self-constituted arbitrator or judge (that is, false teacher) draw them away from Christ," the righteous Judge" and Awarder of...
Read full commentary →According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.</strong> Paul identifies the standard by which all doctrine and morality must be measured: "the glorious gospel of the blessed God" (<em>to euangelion tēs doxēs tou makariou theou</em>, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς δόξης τοῦ μακαρίου θεοῦ). The gospel is characterized by glory (<em>doxa</em>, δόξα)—divine splendor, ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **According to the glorious gospel.**—All that St. Paul had been saying concerning the Law—its true work and its only work—was no mere arbitrary conception of his own; it was simply a repetition of the teaching of the gospel which his Master had intrusted to him, the gospel which taught so clearly that the Law was for the condemnation of sinners—that it was for those alone who do not accept t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19. Translate, "Not holding fast the Head." He who does not hold Christ solely and supremely above all others, does not hold Him at all [Bengel]. The want of firm holding of Christ has set him loose to (pry into, and so) "tread haughtily on (pride himself on) things which he hath seen." Each must hold fast the Head for himself, not merely be attached to the other members, however high in the body ...
Read full commentary →God's Mercy to Paul
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;</strong> Paul breaks into spontaneous thanksgiving to "Christ Jesus our Lord" for his calling to apostolic ministry. The phrase "who hath enabled me" (<em>tō endynamōsanti me</em>, τῷ ἐνδυναμώσαντί με) uses a verb (<em>endynamoō</em>, ἐνδυναμόω) meaning to strengthen, empo...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me.**—Better rendered, *who hath given me strength within.* The ancient authorities here are divided; the majority omit the first word of the verse, the connecting “and.” With or without this word, the sense is much the same; for on the words, “the gospel . . . committed to my trust,” the Apostle pauses, overwhelmed with the flood of grate...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**20. Wherefore--**The oldest manuscripts omit "Wherefore."
**if ye be dead--**Greek, "if ye died (so as to be freed) from," &c. (compare Ro 6:2; 7:2, 3; Ga 2:19).
**rudiments of the world--**(Col 2:8). Carnal, outward, worldly, legal ordinances.
**as though living--**as though you were not dead to the world like your crucified Lord, into whose death ye were buried (Ga 6:14; 1Pe 4:1, 2)....
Read full commentary →Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.</strong> Paul describes his pre-conversion character with three devastating terms. "Blasphemer" (<em>blasphēmon</em>, βλάσφημον) indicates he spoke against God, particularly against Christ and His followers (Acts 26:11). "Persecutor" (<em>diōktēn</em>, διώκτην) descr...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious.**—In these words of bitter I self-accusation, St. Paul sums up. the characteristic features of his brilliant career as a young Pharisee leader, as a popular Jewish patriot. The *object* of his intense hatred and of his burning antagonism during these never-to-be-forgotten days was *that very Lord, *from whom later he had received...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
21. Compare Col 2:16, "meat ... drink." He gives instances of the "ordinances" (Col 2:20) in the words of their imposers. There is an ascending climax of superstitious prohibitions. The first Greek word (hapse) is distinguished from the third (thiges), in that the former means close contact and retention: the latter, momentary contact (compare 1Co 7:1; Joh 20:17, Greek, "Hold me not"; cling not to...
Read full commentary →And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.</strong> Paul describes grace's superabundance using a rare Greek verb <em>hyperpleonazō</em> (ὑπερπλεονάζω)—literally "to super-abound" or "overflow exceedingly." Where sin abounded, grace super-abounded (Romans 5:20). God didn't merely forgive Paul's sin; He lavished grace upon him, transformin...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant.**—The thought of his Master’s great love to one who once reviled Him so bitterly, and who had spent his strength in trying to undo His servants’ work, seems to have pressed with overwhelming force on St. Paul, who struggled to find words which should express how deeply he felt the loving tenderness which had transformed the cruel persecutor ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**22. Which--**things, namely, the three things handled, touched, and tasted.
**are to perish--**literally, "are constituted (by their very nature) for perishing (or 'destruction by corruption') in (or 'with') their using up (consumption)." Therefore they cannot really and lastingly defile a man (Mt 15:17; 1Co 6:13).
**after--**according to. Referring to Col 2:20, 21. All these "ordinances" ar...
Read full commentary →This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.</strong> Paul introduces the first of five "faithful sayings" in the Pastoral Epistles with solemn affirmation: this truth is absolutely reliable (<em>pistos ho logos</em>, πιστὸς ὁ λόγος) and "worthy of all acceptation" (<em>pasēs apodochēs axios</em>, πάσης...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation.**—This striking formula in the New Testament, found only in the Pastoral Epistles, here and in 1Timothy 3:1; 1Timothy 4:9; 2Timothy 2:11; Titus 3:8; and the somewhat similar expression, “these sayings [*words’*] are faithful and true,” Revelation 21:5; Revelation 22:6, were formulas expressing weighty and memorable truths, well known...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**23. have--**Greek, "are having"; implying the permanent characteristic which these ordinances are supposed to have.
**show of wisdom--**rather, "a reputation of wisdom" [Alford].
**will-worship--**arbitrarily invented worship: would-be worship, devised by man's own will, not God's. So jealous is God of human will-worship, that He struck Nadab and Abihu dead for burning strange incense (Le 10...
Read full commentary →Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.
View commentary (2 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.</strong> Paul explains why God showed mercy to such a wicked sinner: to demonstrate Christ's perfect patience (<em>makrothymia</em>, μακροθυμία)—literally "long-suffering" or slow anger. The word combines...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16)**Howbeit for this cause I** **obtained mercy.**—In spite of this deep consciousness of his guilt, faith and confidence in his own salvation seem never to have wavered. He speaks of *this* with all certainty, and proceeds to tell us with great clearness why Christ saved him, the chief of sinners.
**That in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering.**—If Christ could show mercy t...
Read full commentary →Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.</strong> Paul breaks into spontaneous doxology, overwhelmed by God's mercy demonstrated in his salvation. This ascription of praise uses four magnificent titles for God. "King eternal" (<em>basilei tōn aiōnōn</em>, βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων) literally means "King of the ages"—God rules ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Now unto the King.**—The wonderful chain of thoughts (1Timothy 1:12-16) which so well illustrate the great assertion of 1Timothy 1:15—“that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners”—St. Paul closes with a noble ascription of praise and thankfulness to the great God.
This doxology is addressed to no one Person of the ever blessed Trinity, but is—as has been said with great truth—“a g...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 3 Col 3:1-25. Exhortations to Heavenly Aims, as Opposed to Earthly, on the Ground of Union to the Risen Saviour; to Mortify and Put Off the Old Man, and to Put on the New; in Charity, Humility, Words of Edification, Thankfulness; Relative Duties.
**1. If ... then--**The connection with Col 2:18, 23, is, he had condemned the "fleshly mind" and the "satiating to the full the flesh"; in cont...
Read full commentary →Charge to Timothy
This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;</strong> Paul returns to his specific instructions for Timothy, using military language. "This charge" (<em>tautēn tēn parangellian</em>, ταύτην τὴν παραγγελλίαν) refers to the authoritative commands Paul has given regarding false teachers and s...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy.**—The nature of the charge which he committed to Timothy must be gathered from the solemn words and thoughts of the foregoing passage—1Timothy 1:15-16. The sum of it was that men should put their whole trust in Him who came into the world to save sinners, and who alone was able to lead them into everlasting life. There is something very solemn in...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
2. Translate, "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things," &c. (Col 2:20). Contrast "who mind earthly things" (Php 3:19). Whatever we make an idol of, will either be a cross to us if we be believers, or a curse to us if unbelievers.
Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:</strong> Paul identifies two essentials for faithful ministry: "faith" (<em>pistin</em>, πίστιν) and "a good conscience" (<em>agathēn syneidēsin</em>, ἀγαθὴν συνείδησιν). "Faith" here likely refers both to subjective trust in Christ and objective doctrinal content—the faith once delivered...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **Holding faith, and a good conscience.**—Again, as in 1Timothy 1:5, the Apostle joins “faith” and “the conscience undefiled.” In the mind of St. Paul, “want of faith” was no mere refusal to accept a definite religions dogma, but was ever closely connected with impurity and the love of sin. If a man dares *to* do wilful violence to his better nature he must not presume to dream of *faith* sav...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3. The Greek aorist tense implies, "For ye have died once for all" (Col 2:12; Ro 6:4-7). It is not said, Ye must die practically to the world in order to become dead with Christ; but the latter is assumed as once for all having taken place in the regeneration; what believers are told is, Develop this spiritual life in practice. "No one longs for eternal, incorruptible, and immortal life, unless he...
Read full commentary →Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.</strong> Paul names two specific individuals who shipwrecked faith by rejecting good conscience: Hymenaeus and Alexander. Hymenaeus appears again in 2 Timothy 2:17-18 as teaching that the resurrection had already occurred, overthrowing some people's faith. Alexander may be the copper...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Of whom is Hymenæus** **and Alexander.**—Here the Apostle names two, as examples of the utter shipwreck of all true faith—persons evidently well known to Timothy and the members of the Church at Ephesus. Hymenæus is probably identical with the heretic of that name, charged, in the Second Epistle to Timothy, with teaching that the resurrection was already passed, thus undermining the great h...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
4. Translate, "When Christ shall be manifested who is our life (Joh 11:25; 14:6, 19), then shall ye also with Him be manifested in glory" (1Pe 4:13). The spiritual life our souls have now in Him shall be extended to our bodies (Ro 8:11).
**then--**and not till then. Those err who think to find a perfect Church before then. The true Church is now militant. Rome errs in trying to set up a Church n...
Read full commentary →