1 Timothy 5:2

1Ti 5:2. Ὡς ἀδελφὰς, as sisters) Such respectful treatment is well fitted to promote purity.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ti 5:2 . ἐν πάσῃ ἁγνίᾳ : with the strictest regard to purity , or perhaps propriety . Christians, Athenagoras tells us ( Legat . 32), considered other Christians, according to their age, as sons and daughters; brothers and sisters; fathers and mothers. Ellicott quotes Jerome’s maxim, “Omnes puellas et virgines Christi aut aequaliter ignora aut aequaliter dilige” (Epist. 52, 5, p. 259). Compare de Imitatione Christi , i. 8, “Be not a friend to any one woman, but recommend all good women in general to God”.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

with all purity--respectful treatment of the other sex will promote "purity."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. The elder women as mothers] Treating them with the respect due to their age.

The younger as sisters] Feel for every member of the Church, old and young, male and female; consider them as fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters; treat them all with gentleness; and labour to keep them in, not to expel them from, the Church.

With all purity.] εν παση αγνεια. With all chastity. See note on 1Ti 4:12.

There are some who seem to take a barbarous pleasure in expelling members from, the Church. They should be continued in as long as possible; while they are in the Church-under its ordinances and discipline, there is some hope that their errors may be corrected; but when once driven out again into the world, that hope must necessarily become extinct. As judgment is God's strange work, so excommunication should be the strange, the last, and the most reluctantly performed work of every Christian minister.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2 The younger as sisters, with all chastity The phrase, with all chastity, relates to younger women; for at that age they ought always to dread every kind of suspicion. Yet Paul does not forbid Timothy to have any criminal or immodest conduct towards young women, (for there was no need of such a prohibition,) but only enjoins him to beware of giving to wicked men any handle for laughter. For this purpose, he demands a chaste gravity, which shall shine throughout all their intercourse and conversation; so that he may more freely converse with young persons, without any unfavorable reports.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(2) The elder women as mothers.—The same watchful care against all assumption of superiority must also be exercised in his dealings with the Christian matrons of Ephesus.

The younger as sisters, with all purity.—In the case of the younger women, St. Paul adds to his directions respecting brotherly and sisterly regard a grave word, urging upon Timothy, and all official teachers like Timothy, to add to this self-denying, loving friendship a ceaseless watchfulness in all their conversation, so as not to afford any ground for suspicion; for, above all things, the recognised teacher of Christianity must be pure. No one can read and forget the quaint words of advice of St. Jerome: “Omnes puellas et virgines Christi, aut æqualiter ignora aut ægualiter dilige.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. with all purity] Accurately in; the R.V. shews the connexion of the phrase with ‘the younger’ by a colon instead of comma after ‘mothers.’ Jerome’s rule is well quoted here ‘omnes puellas et virgines Christi aut aequaliter ignora aut aequaliter dilige.’ There is no simpler safeguard against illnatured remark and gossip than to maintain an even level of careful courteous intercourse, and what old George Herbert calls ‘grave liveliness.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The elder women as mothers,.... When they offend in any point, they are to be reasoned, and argued, and pleaded with, as children should with their mothers; see Hos 2:2 and are to be considered as mothers in Israel, and to be treated with great tenderness and respect.

The younger as sisters; using the freedom as a brother may with a sister; and considering them as sisters in Christ, and in a way becoming the relation, tell them their faults freely and privately, but

with all purity: in such manner as to preserve chastity in looks, in words, and actions.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2 The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.

Ver. 2. With all purity] Not with some only, but "with all purity," for fear of the worst, εν παση αγνεια: and lest any impure motion therewhile creep into the heart unawares. The souls of ministers should be purer than the sunbeams, saith Chrysostom. They are by their office the lights of the world: let no snuff abide in them, they are fullones animarum, fullers of men’s souls, to make and keep them white; let them take heed of a smutch. Turpe est doctori, &c. Nihil turpius est Peripatetico claudo. It is a shame for a teacher to be found faulty.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The elder women as mothers - Showing still the same respect for age, and for the proprieties of life. No son who had proper feelings would rebuke his own mother with severity. Let the minister of religion evince the same feelings if he is called to address a “mother in Israel” who has erred.

The younger as sisters - With the feelings which you have toward a sister. The tender love which one has for a beloved sister would always keep him from using harsh and severe language. The same mildness, gentleness, and affection should be used toward a sister in the church.

With all purity - Nothing could be more characteristic of Paul’s manner than this injunction; nothing could show a deeper acquaintance with human nature. He knew the danger which would beset a youthful minister of the gospel when it was his duty to admonish and entreat a youthful female; he knew, too, the scandal to which he might be exposed if, in the performance of the necessary duties of his office, there should be the slightest departure from purity and propriety. He was therefore to guard his heart with more than common vigilance in such circumstances, and was to indulge in no word, or look, or action, which could by any possibility be construed as manifesting an improper state of feeling. On nothing else do the fair character and usefulness of a youthful minister more depend, than on the observance of this precept. Nowhere else does he more need the grace of the Lord Jesus, and the exercise of prudence, and the manifestation of incorruptible integrity, than in the performance of this duty. A youthful minister who fails here, can never recover the perfect purity of an unsullied reputation, and never in subsequent life be wholly free from suspicion; compare notes, Mat 5:28.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

A just medium must be observed in the guidance of the sex, avoiding equally an indiscreet severity or an affection too tender and bordering on sensuality. A just diffidence in self is the best security. --- All chastity refers to the heart, eyes, ears, words, looks, with the precautions of times and places.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The elder women as mothers; the same prudence also is to be used to matrons and aged women.

The younger as sisters; yea, and to younger women too, considering our relation and equality in Christ.

With all purity; only as to them, (considering their sex), a further gravity and prudence is to be used, that we give no occasion to lust, or unclean motions.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. Mothers—So that all these successive terms of relation render the Church a holy family.

All purity—A caution of momentous importance to all young ministers. Toward these sisters of his own age an avoidance of coquetries, familiar freedoms, is due to his own position as a minister. Sad experiences have shown the folly and guilt of neglecting here a safe reserve.

The widows first awakened the Jerusalem Church to the need of sub-apostolic organization, (Act_6:1-6,) and called the deacons into existence. In an age when men are called to war and subjected to massacre, the widows would form a large and dependent class, and the number of claimants would require their subjection to scrutiny and sifting.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In for with, A.V Purity (ajgneia); seew 1Ti_4:12, note. See how jealously the apostle guards against any possibility of abuse of the familiar intercourse of a clergyman with the women of his flock. They are his sisters, and ajgnei is to be the constant condition of his heart and character.

What women should be.

elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity." Full of the power which comes from feminine pity. Full of motherly experiences about children. Fall of daily care and the deaconate of serving the home-tables. Full of a great heart-love that would make a roof-tree for all, as a hen that gathereth her chickens under her wings. Timothy will yet learn in the Church work the value of a mother in Israel.

1. Mothers were our first pastors.

2. Mothers were our earliest examples.

younger as sisters, with all purity." Beautiful is the holy grace of purity, and sensitive is the girl-heart to the loveliness of true virtue! Put them not into confessionals to suggest sins that they never knew, and deprave the nature under the pretence of absolving it. W.M.S.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. πρεσβυτέρας ὡς μητέρας κ.τ.λ. The elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, in all purity. ἐν πάσῃ ἀγνείᾳ (see on 1Ti 4:12) has special reference to the νεωτέρας. Ellicott appositely quotes Jerome’s prudent advice (Epist. lii. 5): ‘omnes puellas et virgines Christi aut aequaliter ignora aut aequaliter dilige.’ Cp. the corresponding passage in the Ep. to Titus (Tit 2:4), where the discipline of the younger women is to be delegated to the elders of their own sex; here the thought is not so much of the training and directing of the νεωτέραι as of Timothy’s personal relations to them.

ii 3–16. THE STATUS OF WIDOWS

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2.] Injunctions respecting his behaviour to the elder and younger of either sex.

πρεσβυτέρῳ] The reference to an office was called in question as early as Chrys. ἆρα τὸ ἀξίωμα νῦν φησιν; οὐκ ἔγωγε οἶμαι, ἀλλὰ περὶ παντὸς γεγηρακότος. This indeed is evident from the quadruple specification in these verses. So even Mack, though he maintains that the νεώτεροι of Act 5:6 were official. Leo, as cited by Wiesinger, gives well the connexion with the last chapter: “quum supra scripsisset, nemini licere ex juventute Timothei ejus despiciendi occasionem sumere, nunc jam ipsum hortatur Timotheum, ut semper memor suæ νεότητος ita se gerat erga seniores uti revera deceat virum juniorem.” But this connexion must not be too closely pressed. Some important general instructions have intervened since the μηδείς σου τῆς νεότηος καταφρονείτω.

ἐπιπλήξῃς] Thus Il. μ. 211, Ἕκτορ, ἀεὶ μέν πώς μοι ἐπιπλήσσεις ἀγορῇσιν | ἐσθλὰ φραζομένῳ.

ἀλλὰ παρακάλει] ὡσανεὶ πρὸς πατέρα, φησί, προσενεχθείης ἁμαρτάνοντα, οὕτω πρὸς ἐκεῖνον διαλέγου, Chrys.

νεωτέρους] understand παρακάλει. Thus the prohibition, μὴ ἐπιπλήξῃς, applies to all, all being included in the παρακάλει which is the other and adopted alternative.

ὡς ἀδελφούς] as on an equality with them, not lording it over them.

ὡς ἀδελφάς] ‘Hic respectus egregie adjuvat castitatem,’ Bengel. μηδὲ ὑποψίαν, φησί, δῷς. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αἱ πρὸς τὰς νεωτέρας γενόμεναι ὁμιλίαι δυσκόλως διαφεύγουσιν ὑποψίαν, δεῖ δὲ γίνεσθαι παρὰ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου καὶ τοῦτο, διὰ τοῦτο “ἐν πάσῃ ἁγνείᾳ” προστίθησι. Chrys. See similar sentiments from profane writers in Wetst. The Commentators cite the apologist Athenagoras (legat. pro christ. 32, p. 310): καθʼ ἡλικίαν τοὺς μὲν υἱοὺς κ. θυγατέρας νοοῦμεν, τοὺς δὲ ἀδελφοὺς ἔχομεν καὶ ἀδελφάς· καὶ τοῖς προβεβηκόσι τὴν τῶν πατέρων καὶ μητέρων τιμὴν ἀπονέμομεν. “The rule of Jerome (Ep. 52 (2). 5, vol. i. p. 259) is simple: ‘omnes puellas et virgines Christi aut æqualiter ignora aut æqualiter dilige.’ ” Ellic.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. ὡς μητέρας] cf. Rom 16:13 “his mother and mine.”

ἐν πάσῃ ἁγνείᾳ] cf. Mat 5:27ff. Wetstein quotes no illustration of this command.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The elder women [πρεσβυτερας] . N. T. o. Comp. presbutidav aged women, Tit 2:3. The word indicates distinction in age merelly, although some think that it points to an official position which is further referred to in the following directions concerning widows. 118

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.