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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - 1 Timothy 4:14 - 4:14
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Neglect not (mē amelei). Present active imperative in prohibition of ameleō, old verb, rare in N.T. (Mat 22:5; 1Ti 4:14; Heb 2:3; Heb 8:9). From amelēs (a privative and melei, not to care). Use with genitive.
The gift that is in thee (tou en soi charismatos). Late word of result from charizomai, in papyri (Preisigke), a regular Pauline word in N.T. (1Co 1:7; 2Co 1:11; Rom 1:11; etc.). Here it is God’s gift to Timothy as in 2Ti 1:6.
By prophecy (dia prophēteias). Accompanied by prophecy (1Ti 1:18), not bestowed by prophecy.
With the laying on of the hands of the presbytery (meta epitheseōs tōn cheirōn tou presbuteriou). In Act 13:2., when Barnabas and Saul were formally set apart to the mission campaign (not then ordained as ministers, for they were already that), there was the call of the Spirit and the laying on of hands with prayer. Here again meta does not express instrument or means, but merely accompaniment. In 2Ti 1:6 Paul speaks only of his own laying on of hands, but the rest of the presbytery no doubt did so at the same time and the reference is to this incident. There is no way to tell when and where it was done, whether at Lystra when Timothy joined Paul’s party or at Ephesus just before Paul left Timothy there (1Ti 1:3). Epithesis (from epitithēmi, to lay upon) is an old word, in lxx, etc. In the N.T. we find it only here, 2Ti 1:16; Act 8:18; Heb 6:2, but the verb epitithēmi with tas cheiras more frequently (Act 6:6 of the deacons; Act 8:19; Act 13:3; 1Ti 5:22, etc.). Presbuterion is a late word (ecclesiastical use also), first for the Jewish Sanhedrin (Luk 22:66; Act 22:5), then (here only in N.T.) of Christian elders (common in Ignatius), though presbuteros (elder) for preachers (bishops) is common (Act 11:30; Act 15:2; Act 20:17, etc.).