1 Timothy 1:3 - Exposition

Exhorted for besought , A.V.; tarry for abide still , A.V.; was going for went , A.V.; certain men for some , A.V.; not to teach a different for that they teach no other , A.V. Exhorted ( παρεκάλεσα ). In about sixty places this word has the sense of "beseech," "entreat," "desire," "pray," which is more suitable to this passage than the R.V. exhort . It is a strong expression, and seems to imply that Timothy had been anxious to go with St. Paul to Macedonia, to share his labors and wait upon him; but that St. Paul, with that noble disinterestedness which characterized his whole life, had, not without difficulty, persuaded him to abide at Ephesus. Tarry . Here again the R.V. is unfortunate. The exact sense of προσμεῖναι is "to stay on," or, as in the A.V., "to abide still." The word tells us that Timothy was already at Ephesus when he received the request from St. Paul to stay on there instead of going to Macedonia. There is nothing in the phrase that implies that St. Paul was at Ephesus himself when he made the request to Timothy. It may have been made by message or by letter. When I was going. Some commentators have endeavored to explain πορευόμενος as applying to Timothy, or as if the order were ἵνα πορευόμενος παραγγείλῃς ; but the Greek will not admit of it. Charge ( παραγγείλῃς ); a word implying authority, almost invariably rendered "command" or "charge." It is taken up in 1 Timothy 1:18 ( ταύτην τὴν παραγγελίαν ), "This charge," etc. Teach a different doctrine ( ἑτεροδιδασκαλεῖν ). This is one of the many words peculiar to the pastoral Epistles. It only occurs here and 1 Timothy 6:3 . It is formed from ἑτεροδιδάσκαλος , a teacher of other than right doctrine, and means "to play the part of a teacher of other than right doctrine," just as in ecclesiastical language ἐτερόδοξος means "one who holds opinions contrary to that which is orthodox," and such as do so are said ἑτεροδοξεῖν . The classical sense is a little different, "one who holds a different opinion"—"to be of a different opinion." The introduction of the word into the vocabulary of Scripture is a sign of the somewhat later age to which this Epistle belongs, when heresies were growing and multiplying. Other similar compounds are ἑτερόγλωσσος ( 1 Corinthians 14:21 ) and ἑτεροζυγεῖν ( 2 Corinthians 6:14 ).