CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1 Timothy 5:1. Rebuke not an elder.—I.e. do not sharply reprimand one advanced in years. The authority of St. Paul was never that of those who “lord it over God’s heritage.”
1 Timothy 5:2. As sisters, with all purity.—With severe chastity of thought and expression.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Timothy 5:1-2
The Pastor’s Treatment of Old and Young of Both Sexes.
I. Old and young are liable to err.—There are temptations and sins peculiar to all periods of life. The effervescence of youth is liable to degenerate into frivolity. The sedateness of age may breed moroseness or a dangerous self-confidence. Young and old should learn to respect one another. The old should regard the young with hope, with sympathy, with affection, with thankfulness, and not with jealousy. And the young should treat the aged with respect, with reverence, and with cheerful submission to their wise and anxious counsel.
II. Reproof should be administered with due regard to the age and relationship of the persons committing wrong (1 Timothy 5:1-2).—Timothy’s youthfulness and natural timidity might be a barrier to his undertaking the office of reprover, especially in dealing with those older than himself. Hence the apostle exhorts him to fidelity in this duty. Even in rebuking, the aged are to be treated as fathers and mothers, the young as brothers and sisters. We must not forget the reverence due to age, nor must we lose our sympathy with the tastes and hopes of the young; but we must not allow our personal predilections to interfere with dealing faithfully with the manifest errors and sins of all classes.
III. Reproof is a necessary but difficult part of a pastor’s duty.—There is an unspeakable pleasure in study, in preaching, and in social and spiritual fellowship with Christian people; but to rebuke is a hard task, and requires both tact and courage. Everything depends on the method and spirit in which reproof is administered, and we must seek to be fair and just as well as faithful. To rebuke in a sharp and arrogant temper will do more harm than good, and to shirk the duty is a loss to ourselves and a wrong to the offender. There is no part of a minister’s work that requires more caution and tenderness, and about which he needs to pray more earnestly, than in reproving evident sin with candour and fidelity.
Lessons.—
1. The minister’s teaching must be adapted to both old and young.
2. He should cultivate a generous sympathy with young life.
3. He must know how to reprove as well as encourage.