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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadEzekiel, Jonah, and Pastoral Epistles by Patrick Fairbairn - 1 Timothy 5:21 - 5:21
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Ver. 21. I solemnly charge thee before God and Christ Jesus, (This is undoubtedly the correct reading, being that of à , A, D, F, Ital., Vulg., Cop., Ǣ etc., while the received text, Êõñé ́ ïõ É ̓ ç . × , has quite inferior support.) and the elect angels, that thou keep these things without prejudging, doing nothing by partiality. The rendering of äéáìáñôýñïìáé by adjure, as is done by Alford, seems rather too strong; judging from the general use of it by the apostle, a solemn charge or asseveration is what appears to be meant by it (1Th_4:6; 2Ti_2:14, 2Ti_4:1). For the purpose of enforcing upon the attention of Timothy, and impressing deeply upon his conscience, the directions which had been given respecting the right ordering of things in the house of God, the apostle now brings his disciple face to face, as it were, with the Redeeming God and Saviour, together with the holy angels in the sanctuary above, and charges him before these glorious witnesses to carry out his instructions, and do all in the sincere, earnest, conscientious manner which became a true servant of Christ. That the angels meant are holy angels, admits of no doubt; but why they should here—here and nowhere else—be designated elect, is not so easily determined. By some (for example Mosheim, Conybeare) it has been understood to denote angels of a more select class—the guardian angels of Timothy and the church of Ephesus, or such angels as were wont to be employed in fulfilling special embassies to men—an altogether fanciful notion. By much the greater number of interpreters take the epithet in the sense of good or holy, so as to make it comprehensive of all who are not fallen or apostate angels; and so, apparently, we must hold in substance, though still without losing the more distinctive import of the term elect, which implies, indeed, their holiness, but presents them rather as the select objects of God’s love (Huther), and perhaps also as His more peculiar instruments of working. As regards the nearer circle of His intelligent and willing agents, they are His chosen ones; and as such they are here brought into consideration, along with God the Father and Jesus Christ, with the view of stimulating the mind of Timothy to the conscientious discharge of his duty, and carrying him above all the sinister motives and inferior considerations which might tend to create an improper bias in his mind, and dispose him to act from respect of persons. A realizing sense of the glorious beings who were looking down upon him from the world of spirits, would be the most effectual safeguard against such a weak compliance.