Verse 23
Paul may have realized that the process of elder discipline that he imposed on Timothy would have been hard on him physically as well as emotionally. According to this verse Timothy suffered from frequent illness. Consequently the apostle prescribed a little wine for medicinal purposes. Since Paul’s instruction was for medicinal purposes, this verse contributes nothing to either side of the debate over the use of wine as a beverage.
"The words imply that Timothy was a total abstainer from wine." [Note: Hiebert, First Timothy, p. 105.]
"We must remember that wine was one of the chief remedial agents of those times in which the science of medicine was in its infancy among Greek physicians." [Note: Wuest, p. 88.]
This verse is a personal parenthesis in the flow of Paul’s argument about sinning elders.
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