Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - 1 Timothy 3:10 - 3:10
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
1Ti_3:10. Καὶ οὗτοι δὲ δοκιμαζέσθωσαν πρῶτον ] The particles καὶ … δέ mean and also, καί being purely copulative; δέ , however, opposing and emphasizing[127] something new. Since this new thing, which is necessarily emphatic, always stands between καί and ΔΈ , ΟὟΤΟΙ , as van Oosterzee has rightly seen, must be opposed to those before named, i.e. to the presbyters; it is to be explained: “and these too, i.e. not only the presbyters, but also the deacons, are first to be proved.” It is wrong, therefore, to make δοκιμαζέσθωσαν emphatic, and to explain ΟὟΤΟΙ without reference to those before named (“and these are further to be proved”), as was done in the former editions of this commentary.[128] Had he wished to say that, the apostle could not but have written ΚΑῚ ΔΟΚΙΜΑΖΈΣΘΩΣΑΝ ΔῈ ΟὟΤΟΙ ; comp. Joh_8:16. It is true that nothing has been said hitherto about an examination in regard to the office of presbyter; but, of course, such an examination must have preceded the election. The examination for the office of deacon would certainly refer to the life and stedfastness in the faith. He does not say who was to undertake the examination, but it is natural to suppose that it was to be undertaken by those who elected. At the first institution of the diaconate the election was made by the church, the installation to the office by the apostles. It is not known how it was managed later in the apostolic age. Heydenreich makes the examination too formal when he says: “They are to be examined first by Timothy, with the aid of the presbytery; the votes of the members of the church are to be taken concerning his worthiness,” etc. On the other hand, the force of δοκιμαζέσθωσαν must not be weakened by such explanations as: “Paul wishes only those to be made ΔΙΆΚΟΝΟΙ regarding whom a definite opinion had already been formed in the church” (so in the second edition of this commentary); or: “it is the moral testing which naturally took place when they lived for some time under the eyes of the church and its leader;” or: “it is in substance the same thing as ΜῊ ΝΕΌΦΥΤΟΝ , used regarding the choice of presbyters” (Hofmann).
It is quite wrong, with Luther (“and these are first to be tried”) and others, to understand the words as if they meant that candidates were first to be tried in the affairs of the diaconate.
ΕἾΤΑ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΕΊΤΩΣΑΝ , ἈΝΈΓΚΛΗΤΟΙ ὌΝΤΕς ] The participle expresses the condition under which they are to be admitted to the office of deacon. ΔΙΑΚΟΝΕῖΝ , as applied definitely to the office of deacon, occurs only here, at 1Ti_3:14, and in 1Pe_4:11.
[127] Comp. Meyer on Joh_6:51; Hartung, Lehre von den Partik. d. gr. Spr. I. pp. 181 ff.; Buttmann, p. 312.
[128] Wiesinger, too, seems to take it in this way: “These, however, also are first to be proved, then they may serve.”