King James Version
1 Timothy 4
16 verses with commentary
Warning Against False Teachers
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Now the Spirit speaketh expressly</strong> (Τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ῥητῶς λέγει, <em>To de pneuma rhētōs legei</em>)—'the Spirit explicitly says.' <em>Rhētōs</em> means expressly, in stated terms, explicitly—not vague or ambiguous. The Holy Spirit has clearly warned. <strong>That in the latter times some shall depart from the faith</strong> (ὅτι ἐν ὑστέροις καιροῖς ἀποστήσονταί τινες τῆς πίστεως, <em...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
IV.
(1) **Now the Spirit speaketh expressly.**—Rather, *But the Spirit.* But (*de*) in very strong contrast to the sublime mystery of Redemption St. Paul has been speaking of as the glorious treasure contained in the Church of which Timothy and his colleagues were ministers: but in spite of that sublime truth which should occupy the thoughts and fill the hearts of Christians, men will busy themsel...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. Aristarchus--**a Macedonian of Thessalonica (Ac 27:2), who was dragged into the theater at Ephesus, during the tumult with Gaius, they being "Paul's companions in travel." He accompanied Paul to Asia (Ac 20:4), and subsequently (Ac 27:2) to Rome. He was now at Rome with Paul (compare Phm 23, 24). As he is here spoken of as Paul's "fellow prisoner," but in Phm 24 as Paul's "fellow laborer"; a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 4
Chapter Outline
Masters to do their duty towards servants.(1)
Persons of all ranks to persevere in prayer, and Christian prudence.(2-6)
The apostle refers to others for an account of his affairs.(7-9)
Sends greetings; and concludes with a blessing.(10-18)
**Verse 1**
The apostle proceeds with the duty of masters to their servants. Not only justice is required of...
Read full commentary →Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Speaking lies in hypocrisy</strong> (ἐν ὑποκρίσει ψευδολόγων, <em>en hypokrisei pseudologōn</em>)—'through the hypocrisy of liars.' <em>Pseudologos</em> appears only here in the NT—these false teachers deliberately speak falsehood. They're not merely mistaken but hypocritical deceivers.<br><br><strong>Having their conscience seared with a hot iron</strong> (κεκαυστηριασμένων τὴν ἰδίαν συνε...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Speaking lies in hypocrisy.**—The Greek words here should be translated, *through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies.* The lies that these men utter, refer to their teaching that it was pleasing to the eye of the All-seeing Creator for men and women to avoid certain meats, and to abstain from marriage. Their hypocrisy consisted in their assumption of a mask of holiness, which holiness they...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. Justus--**that is, righteous; a common name among the Jews; Hebrew, "tzadik" (Ac 1:23).
**of the circumcision--**This implies that Epaphras, Luke, and Demas (Col 4:12, 14) were not of the circumcision. This agrees with Luke's Gentile name (the same as Lucanus), and the Gentile aspect of his Gospel.
**These only, &c.--**namely, of the Jews. For the Jewish teachers were generally oppos...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 2-6**
No duties can be done aright, unless we persevere in fervent prayer, and watch therein with thanksgiving. The people are to pray particularly for their ministers. Believers are exhorted to right conduct towards unbelievers. Be careful in all converse with them, to do them good, and recommend religion by all fit means. Diligence in redeeming time, commends religion to the good op...
Read full commentary →Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats</strong> (κωλυόντων γαμεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων, <em>kōlyontōn gamein, apechesthai brōmatōn</em>)—'forbidding marriage and requiring abstinence from foods.' <em>Kōlyō</em> means to hinder, forbid, prevent. <em>Apechomai</em> means to abstain, keep away from. The false teachers imposed ascetic rules—celibacy and dietary restrictions.<...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Forbidding to marry.**—This strange and unnatural “counsel of perfection,” St. Paul, thinking and writing in the Spirit, looked forward to as a perilous delusion which would, as time went on, grow into the impious dogma of certain of the great Gnostic schools. This teaching was probably, even in those early days, creeping into the churches. The Jewish sects of Essenes and Therapeutæ had alre...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. Christ--**The oldest manuscripts add "Jesus."
**labouring fervently--**As the Greek, is the same, translate, "striving earnestly" (see on Col 1:29 and Col 2:1), literally, "striving as in the agony of a contest."
**in prayers--**Translate as Greek, "in his prayers."
**complete--**The oldest manuscripts read, "fully assured." It is translated, "fully persuaded," Ro 4:21; 14:5. In the ex...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 2-6**
No duties can be done aright, unless we persevere in fervent prayer, and watch therein with thanksgiving. The people are to pray particularly for their ministers. Believers are exhorted to right conduct towards unbelievers. Be careful in all converse with them, to do them good, and recommend religion by all fit means. Diligence in redeeming time, commends religion to the good op...
Read full commentary →For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For every creature of God is good</strong> (ὅτι πᾶν κτίσμα θεοῦ καλόν, <em>hoti pan ktisma theou kalon</em>)—'every created thing of God is good.' <em>Ktisma</em> emphasizes the product of creation. Paul affirms Genesis 1: God's material creation is inherently good, not evil. This refutes the false teachers' asceticism (4:3).<br><br><strong>And nothing to be refused</strong> (καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπό...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **For every creature of God is good.**—To teach that anything created was unclean would be an insult to the Creator. The very fact of its being *His* creation is enough. If made by God, then it *must* be good.
**And nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.**—Every kind of food and drink may become hateful in the eyes of the all-pure God if misused, if partaken of without any...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. a great zeal--**The oldest manuscripts and Vulgate have "much labor."
**for you--**lest you should be seduced (Col 2:4); a motive why you should be anxious for yourselves.
**them that are in Laodicea ... Hierapolis--**churches probably founded by Epaphras, as the Church in Colosse was. Laodicea, called from Laodice, queen of Antiochus II, on the river Lycus, was, according to the subscri...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 2-6**
No duties can be done aright, unless we persevere in fervent prayer, and watch therein with thanksgiving. The people are to pray particularly for their ministers. Believers are exhorted to right conduct towards unbelievers. Be careful in all converse with them, to do them good, and recommend religion by all fit means. Diligence in redeeming time, commends religion to the good op...
Read full commentary →For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer</strong> (ἁγιάζεται γὰρ διὰ λόγου θεοῦ καὶ ἐντεύξεως, <em>hagiazetai gar dia logou theou kai enteuxeōs</em>)—creation is 'made holy through God's word and prayer.' <em>Hagiazō</em> means to set apart, consecrate, sanctify. <em>Enteuxis</em> is intercession, petition—prayer that asks.<br><br><strong>The word of God</strong> refers either to...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.**—Not only are all created things to be considered pure, and not lightly to be put aside; but in the sight of God “every creature” is holy when received as His gift with thanksgiving and with prayer—such thanksgiving-prayer containing thoughts in exact accordance with the Spirit of God revealed in Scripture. Thus all food is sanctified, not...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
14. It is conjectured that Luke "the beloved physician" (the same as the Evangelist), may have first become connected with Paul in professionally attending on him in the sickness under which he labored in Phrygia and Galatia (in which latter place he was detained by sickness), in the early part of that journey wherein Luke first is found in his company (Ac 16:10; compare Note, see on Ga 4:13). Thu...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 2-6**
No duties can be done aright, unless we persevere in fervent prayer, and watch therein with thanksgiving. The people are to pray particularly for their ministers. Believers are exhorted to right conduct towards unbelievers. Be careful in all converse with them, to do them good, and recommend religion by all fit means. Diligence in redeeming time, commends religion to the good op...
Read full commentary →Training in Godliness
If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things</strong> (Ταῦτα ὑποτιθέμενος τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, <em>Tauta hypotithemenos tois adelphois</em>)—'if you point these things out to the brothers.' <em>Hypotithēmi</em> means to lay before, suggest, remind. Timothy must teach the truths Paul has outlined—creation's goodness, false teachers' errors, godliness through spiritual training.<br><br>...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things.**—The “things” of which he was to put the brethren in mind were those practices connected with that foolish, false asceticism alluded to in 1Timothy 4:3-5. Not a few, probably, in that Ephesian flock had been won over by the persuasive words of the false teachers to attribute a peculiar virtue to such practices—practices which, if pers...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. Nymphas--**of Laodicea.
**church ... in his house--**So old manuscripts and Vulgate read. The oldest read, "THEIR house"; and one manuscript, "HER house," which makes Nymphas a woman.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-10**
When careless, ignorant, and immoral persons are turned from their carnal pursuits and connexions, to believe in and obey the Lord Jesus, to live soberly, righteously, and godly, the matter speaks for itself. The believers under the Old Testament waited for the coming of the Messiah, and believers now wait for his second coming. He is yet to come. And God had raised him from th...
Read full commentary →But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But refuse profane and old wives' fables</strong> (τοὺς δὲ βεβήλους καὶ γραώδεις μύθους παραιτοῦ, <em>tous de bebēlous kai graōdeis mythous paraitou</em>)—'reject the profane and silly myths.' <em>Bebēlos</em> means unholy, worldly, common—opposite of sacred. <em>Graōdēs</em> (only here in NT) means 'old-womanish,' characteristic of superstitious tales. <em>Mythos</em> are myths, fables, f...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **But refuse profane and old wives’ fables.**—Here Timothy—who has been previously (see 1Timothy 4:1-6) warned against a false asceticism, against putting an unnatural interpretation on the words of Christ, against sympathising with a teaching which would unfit men and women for practical every-day life—is now urged to guard himself against the temptation to give himself up to the favourite an...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. the epistle from Laodicea--**namely, the Epistle which I wrote to the Laodiceans, and which you will get from them on applying to them. Not the Epistle to the Ephesians. See Introduction to Ephesians and Introduction to Colossians. The Epistles from the apostles were publicly read in the church assemblies. Ignatius [Epistle to the Ephesians, 12], Polycarp [Epistle to the Philippians, 3.11,12...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-10**
When careless, ignorant, and immoral persons are turned from their carnal pursuits and connexions, to believe in and obey the Lord Jesus, to live soberly, righteously, and godly, the matter speaks for itself. The believers under the Old Testament waited for the coming of the Messiah, and believers now wait for his second coming. He is yet to come. And God had raised him from th...
Read full commentary →For bodily exercise profiteth little : but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. little: or, for a little time
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For bodily exercise profiteth little</strong> (ἡ γὰρ σωματικὴ γυμνασία πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶν ὠφέλιμος, <em>hē gar sōmatikē gymnasia pros oligon estin ōphelimos</em>)—'bodily training is profitable for a little.' <em>Pros oligon</em> can mean 'for a little while' (temporary benefit) or 'in limited ways' (restricted value). Physical fitness has genuine but limited value—it benefits this life onl...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **For bodily exercise profiteth little.**—More accurately rendered, *bodily exercise is profitable for little.* St. Paul here, no doubt, was thinking of those bodily austerities alluded to in 1Timothy 4:3. The stern repression of all human passions and desires, the abstinence from all compliance with the natural impulses of the flesh—such an unnatural warfare, such an exercise, such a training...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. say to Archippus--**The Colossians (not merely the clergy, but the laymen) are directed, "Speak ye to Archippus." This proves that Scripture belongs to the laity as well as the clergy; and that laymen may profitably admonish the clergy in particular cases when they do so in meekness. Bengel suggests that Archippus was perhaps prevented from going to the Church assembly by weak health or age....
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-10**
When careless, ignorant, and immoral persons are turned from their carnal pursuits and connexions, to believe in and obey the Lord Jesus, to live soberly, righteously, and godly, the matter speaks for itself. The believers under the Old Testament waited for the coming of the Messiah, and believers now wait for his second coming. He is yet to come. And God had raised him from th...
Read full commentary →This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation</strong> (πιστὸς ὁ λόγος καὶ πάσης ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιος, <em>pistos ho logos kai pasēs apodochēs axios</em>)—'this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.' <em>Pistos</em> means faithful, reliable, trustworthy. <em>Apodochē</em> means acceptance, approval. This formula appears five times in the Pastoral Epistles (1 Timothy 1...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.**—Again we have the striking formula which always calls attention to some great truth which, in the Church of the first days, had already obtained among the congregations a broad, if not a universal currency, as one of the great watchwords of the faith. Now we find one of these taken apparently from a Christian hymn, now from one of th...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
18. Paul's autograph salutation (so 1Co 16:21; 2Th 3:17), attesting that the preceding letter, though written by an amanuensis, is from himself.
**Remember my bonds--**Already in this chapter he had mentioned his "bonds" (Col 4:3), and again Col 4:10, an incentive why they should love and pray (Col 4:3) for him; and still more, that they should, in reverential obedience to his monitions in this ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-10**
When careless, ignorant, and immoral persons are turned from their carnal pursuits and connexions, to believe in and obey the Lord Jesus, to live soberly, righteously, and godly, the matter speaks for itself. The believers under the Old Testament waited for the coming of the Messiah, and believers now wait for his second coming. He is yet to come. And God had raised him from th...
Read full commentary →For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach</strong> (εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ κοπιῶμεν καὶ ἀγωνιζόμεθα, <em>eis touto gar kai kopiōmen kai agōnizometha</em>)—'for to this end we toil and strive.' <em>Kopiaō</em> means to labor to exhaustion, work hard. <em>Agōnizomai</em> means to struggle, fight, compete (as athletes). Some manuscripts read 'suffer reproach' (<em>oneidizometha</em>) instea...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach.**—And for this end—to obtain this glorious promise, this highest blessedness *here, *that endless life with God *hereafter, *to win this glorious promise—we Christian missionaries and teachers care for no toil, however painful—shrink from no shame, however agonising.
**Because we trust in the living God.**—More accurately translated, *becaus...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 6-10**
When careless, ignorant, and immoral persons are turned from their carnal pursuits and connexions, to believe in and obey the Lord Jesus, to live soberly, righteously, and godly, the matter speaks for itself. The believers under the Old Testament waited for the coming of the Messiah, and believers now wait for his second coming. He is yet to come. And God had raised him from th...
Read full commentary →These things command and teach.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>These things command and teach</strong> (Παράγγελλε ταῦτα καὶ δίδασκε, <em>Parangelle tauta kai didaske</em>)—'command these things and teach them.' <em>Parangellō</em> is a military term meaning to order, charge, instruct authoritatively. <em>Didaskō</em> means to teach, instruct, explain. Timothy must both command with authority and teach with clarity.<br><br>Paul's instructions aren't s...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **These things command and teach.**—“These things”—*i.e., the real meaning* of “godliness,” that practical everyday piety which, in contradistinction to the severe and strained asceticism of a limited and narrow section of society, should enter into all homes and influence all lives without distinction of class or race, age or sex. “These things” in the Church of Ephesus must form a part of t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18**
Paul had differed with Barnabas, on the account of this Mark, yet he is not only reconciled, but recommends him to the churches; an example of a truly Christian and forgiving spirit. If men have been guilty of a fault, it must not always be remembered against them. We must forget as well as forgive. The apostle had comfort in the communion of saints and ministers. One is his f...
Read full commentary →Timothy's Charge
Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Let no man despise thy youth</strong> (Μηδείς σου τῆς νεότητος καταφρονείτω, <em>Mēdeis sou tēs neotētos kataphroneitō</em>)—'let no one look down on your youthfulness.' <em>Kataphroneō</em> means to think down on, despise, scorn. <em>Neotēs</em> means youth. Timothy was probably in his 30s—young for a position of authority in a culture that equated age with wisdom.<br><br><strong>But be t...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Let no man despise thy youth.**—If Timothy desired that his teaching should be listened to with respectful earnest attention, if he hoped to use a holy influence over the flock, let him be very careful that his comparative youth prove no stumbling-block. To Paul the aged, his son in the faith seemed still youthful—at this time Timothy could not have been more than forty years of age. The ol...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
INTRODUCTION
The AUTHENTICITY of this Epistle is attested by Irenæus [Against Heresies, 5.6.1], quoting 1Th 5:23; Clement of Alexandria [The Instructor, 1.88], quoting 1Th 2:7; Tertullian [On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 24], quoting 1Th 5:1; Caius in Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History [6.20]; Origen [Against Celsus, 3].
**The OBJECT OF THE EPISTLE.--**Thessalonica was at this time capital of ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18**
Paul had differed with Barnabas, on the account of this Mark, yet he is not only reconciled, but recommends him to the churches; an example of a truly Christian and forgiving spirit. If men have been guilty of a fault, it must not always be remembered against them. We must forget as well as forgive. The apostle had comfort in the communion of saints and ministers. One is his f...
Read full commentary →Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine</strong> (ἕως ἔρχομαι πρόσεχε τῇ ἀναγνώσει, τῇ παρακλήσει, τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ, <em>heōs erchomai proseche tē anagnōsei, tē paraklēsei, tē didaskalia</em>)—'devote yourself to the public reading, to exhortation, to teaching.' <em>Prosechō</em> means to give attention, devote oneself to, focus on.<br><br><strong>Reading</strong>...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Till I come, give attendance to reading.**—The words evidently imply a hope, perhaps even an expectation, on the part of St. Paul, that he would one day be enabled once more to visit the Church of Ephesus; but so long as that absence lasted, Timothy was to attend carefully to three special points in the public ministry in which he was, in the Apostle’s absence, the chief officer.
The “readi...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
2. (Ro 1:9; 2Ti 1:3.) The structure of the sentences in this and the following verses, each successive sentence repeating with greater fulness the preceding, characteristically marks Paul's abounding love and thankfulness in respect to his converts, as if he were seeking by words heaped on words to convey some idea of his exuberant feelings towards them.
**We--**I, Silvanus, and Timotheus. Ro 1:...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18**
Paul had differed with Barnabas, on the account of this Mark, yet he is not only reconciled, but recommends him to the churches; an example of a truly Christian and forgiving spirit. If men have been guilty of a fault, it must not always be remembered against them. We must forget as well as forgive. The apostle had comfort in the communion of saints and ministers. One is his f...
Read full commentary →Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Neglect not the gift that is in thee</strong> (μὴ ἀμέλει τοῦ ἐν σοὶ χαρίσματος, <em>mē amelei tou en soi charismatos</em>)—'do not neglect the spiritual gift within you.' <em>Charisma</em> is a grace-gift, a Spirit-given capacity for ministry. <em>Ameleō</em> means to be careless about, to disregard. Timothy must not ignore or fail to use his God-given gifting.<br><br><strong>Which was giv...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy.**—Here the Apostle reminds his representative in the Ephesian congregation of his special gift of teaching and exhortation—that divine gift which had been conferred on Timothy at his solemn ordination long ago, when the young son of Eunice was designated for the post which John Mark had once held with the Apostle. It wa...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. work of faith--**the working reality of your faith; its alacrity in receiving the truth, and in evincing itself by its fruits. Not an otiose assent; but a realizing, working faith; not "in word only," but in one continuous chain of "work" (singular, not plural, works), 1Th 1:5-10; Jas 2:22. So "the work of faith" in 2Th 1:11 implies its perfect development (compare Jas 1:4). The other governi...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18**
Paul had differed with Barnabas, on the account of this Mark, yet he is not only reconciled, but recommends him to the churches; an example of a truly Christian and forgiving spirit. If men have been guilty of a fault, it must not always be remembered against them. We must forget as well as forgive. The apostle had comfort in the communion of saints and ministers. One is his f...
Read full commentary →Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. to all: or, in all things
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Meditate upon these things</strong> (ταῦτα μελέτα, <em>tauta meleta</em>)—'practice these things,' 'be diligent in them.' <em>Meletaō</em> means to care for, attend to, practice, ponder—more than intellectual meditation, it's devoted practice. <strong>Give thyself wholly to them</strong> (ἐν τούτοις ἴσθι, <em>en toutois isthi</em>)—literally 'be in these things,' immerse yourself completel...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Meditate upon these things.**—Better rendered, *be diligent in these things.* With these words St. Paul closes this division of his solemn directions to his chosen disciple and representative at Ephesus. He must dwell on these things and must be diligent in their practice: he must show himself active and industrious as a public teacher, and must also order his life so as to be an example to...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. Knowing--**Forasmuch as we know.
**your election of God--**The Greek is rather, "beloved by God"; so Ro 1:7; 2Th 2:13. "Your election" means that God has elected you as individual believers to eternal life (Ro 11:5, 7; Col 3:12; 2Th 2:13).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18**
Paul had differed with Barnabas, on the account of this Mark, yet he is not only reconciled, but recommends him to the churches; an example of a truly Christian and forgiving spirit. If men have been guilty of a fault, it must not always be remembered against them. We must forget as well as forgive. The apostle had comfort in the communion of saints and ministers. One is his f...
Read full commentary →Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine</strong> (ἔπεχε σεαυτῷ καὶ τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ, <em>epeche seautō kai tē didaskalia</em>)—'pay attention to yourself and to the teaching.' <em>Epechō</em> means to hold toward, pay attention, watch carefully. Pastoral ministry requires vigilance over both personal life (character) and public teaching (content).<br><br><strong>Continue in them</strong...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them.**—*Thy teaching* is a more accurate rendering of the original Greek word than “the doctrine.” The Apostle in these words sums up the two chief pastoral requisites, and then points out the mighty consequences which will result from faithfully carrying them out. The minister of Christ must keep his attention fixed on his own dem...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. our gospel--**namely, the Gospel which we preached.
**came--**Greek, "was made," namely, by God, its Author and Sender. God's having made our preaching among you to be attended with such "power," is the proof that you are "elect of God" (1Th 1:4).
**in power--**in the efficacy of the Holy Spirit clothing us with power (see end of verse; Ac 1:8; 4:33; 6:5, 8) in preaching the Gospel, and m...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-18**
Paul had differed with Barnabas, on the account of this Mark, yet he is not only reconciled, but recommends him to the churches; an example of a truly Christian and forgiving spirit. If men have been guilty of a fault, it must not always be remembered against them. We must forget as well as forgive. The apostle had comfort in the communion of saints and ministers. One is his f...
Read full commentary →