Timothy to Hebrews - The Preterist Archive

112 First Timothy IV. 13,
and the other as that of the person, " which, however, is not necessary."—The
following words show how Timothy is to secure such a
respect for himself as may make his youth to be forgotten : but be
thou an examj^le, etc. He is to present in his own person a pattern
of the believers, and that in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in
purity. On rvnog., comp. Tit. ii. 7 ; Phil. iii. 17. Aoyog, in contradistinction
to the dvarpo^i], is word, speech in general. In faith and
in love denote the moral principles from which all right conduct
must proceed. As their result purity is denoted. 'Ayvem, not specially
" chastity," but purity generally, comp. 2 Cor. vi.' 6, vii. 11,
etc. On the omission of the article with the nouns, comp. Winer's
Gr., § 19, 1. 'Ev TTvevjiari = in manifestation of the Spirit, is wanting
in A.C.D.F.Gr. all. verss. pi. patt. Against Schleiermacher, who
explains the transition to the jirjSeig oov^ etc., as an imitation of Tit.
ii. 15, De Wette observes, that these and the following admonitions
have a tolerably natural connexion with what goes before, as already
from ver. 6 onwards, Timothy's conduct was spoken of.
Ver. 13.—The apostle here urges him to the diligent exercise of
his calling itself. Till I come (comp. iii. 14, scq.), he writes, attend
to reading, exhortation, instruction. The practice of reading publicly
the holy scriptures of the Old Testament had been transferred
from the Jewish synagogue to the Christian assemblies ; with the
dvdyvayaig were connected (comp. the passages first adduced) the
Xoyog TTapaKX/jaeuig and the didaoaaXia. The former is the discourse
addressed to the feelings and will of the hearers, the latter, to their
understanding ; both cori'esponding nearly to our sermon. Thus
does Justin also describe generally (Apol. I. 67, ed. Oberth, comp. in
Heydenreich, Mack) the Christian assemblies. It is impossible
definitely to say when the writings of the New Testament were
joined to this dvdyv(^oig of the Old Testament. Their publication,
as w^e gather from 1 Thess. v. 27, Col. iv. IC, was eilccted by their
being read before the church ; but the question is, at what period
this public reading became customary, for then only were they first
annexed to those of the Old Testament, as the continuation of the
canon. So much, at all events, we may suppose as certain, that the
apostle had here only the scriptures of the Old Testament in his
mind—comp. on this point Thiersch, a. a. 0., p. 344, seq. It will
not do to understand napaKXTjaig of jirivatc admonition, as the apostle
could not intend to enjoin merely the dvdyvojaig on Timothy with
reference to the public assemblies, and as the TrapaKA'qnig demonstrably
followed the uvdyvu)aig. We therefore refer the third member
also, the dL^aaKnXia^ not to privata institutio, but likewise to
public worship ;
for in this the didaoKaXia as distinct from the -apd-
K?.7]mg, was certainly no less necessary. So also Olshauseu. On
the asyndeton, Winer's Gr., § GO, 2, p 475.