1 Timothy 5:22 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Timothy 5:22

Comments

‘Lay hands suddenly on no man.’ This, plainly, is still in the context of elders. We can interpret it of office bearers of all kinds. Do not hurriedly appoint anyone to special office, ‘neither be partaker of other men's sins.’ Those two instructions are related. The implication is that if we hurriedly appoint a person to office in God's sight, we will be equally to blame for the sins, the errors, the omissions, the bad service rendered by that person who was hurriedly appointed. Never be in a hurry to ordain a man, says J.B. Phillips. Neither be partaker of other men's sins. If you appoint an elder who isn't worthy of it, who sins, and you knew that he was so inclined, you are a partaker in his sin. The old writers, the old commentaries, were very firm to say to the people, if God has given you wealth and you invest in the slave trade, you are a partaker of their sins. If God has given you the means and you invest in a liquor-producing company, you are a partaker of their sins and all the tragedies they create. And we could say the same today. If you sit there indolently watching a television program that is full of filth, you are a partaker in their sins. Have you thought of that? You are responsible with them for their sin. Neither be partaker of other men's sins. Keep thyself pure. Keep your thoughts pure. A little while ago, fairly recently, a preacher in the United States who was very well known, among reformed evangelicals, it became known that he had been having an extramarital affair for some five years. One of the last messages he preached was to young people and to pastors, telling them how to avoid a fall. I saw some of that video, and I was astonished at the kind of counsel that was being given. There were one or two spiritual points, but not much. Most of the counsel was quite carnal. ‘If you are stupid enough to fall, you'll lose your ministry and your self-respect. Maybe you'll have to be an ice cream salesman. You'll go down in the world.’ Is that the way to avoid sin? It may make a contribution, but is that the way to go? Simply to alarm yourself with the possibilities if you're caught out? This is not an inadequate piece of counsel.

Application

The Scripture says, keep thyself pure in your thought life. Battle with rising sin from the old nature. Pray for deliverance. The great biblical word, mortify it. Kill it. Put it to death. Substitute with wholesome and spiritual thinking. He that does these things, says the Apostle Peter in another context, shall never fall. Stay close to the Saviour. That is the way to do it. That's the way to resist sin. Keep thyself pure.

Quick appointment is quite common, sadly, among the churches of Christ in these days, not only to office, but to any task. You hear of churches where somebody has no sooner professed the faith, than they are doing things which really a young believer should not be called upon to do. They are teaching, they are preaching, they are perhaps appointed straight into a Sunday School class much too quickly. No wonder it goes all the way up the scale. I was speaking only a few weeks ago to a man who was a deacon in a particular church, and it turned out he had been saved three months. Incredible, amazing, staggering, but the Scripture says this shouldn't be. People should mature in the faith and deepen and they should be proven. It is the same with young people put into ministry. So we have to observe these things. Lay hands suddenly on no man. Perhaps our translation is a little quaint. It does look as though the apostle is advocating that Timothy shouldn't go after them physically. It doesn't mean that, of course. It means do not ordain them in too much of a hurry.

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1 Timothy 5:22 Commentary and Bible Study

Explain meaning of 1 Timothy 5:22