Mr. D's Notes on I Timothy
Rev. Stanley L. Derickson Ph.D.
Copyright 2000

CHAPTER 25

I interviewed some folks for a job at my place of employment. There were two that caught my interest. One was a middle-aged man that was quite overweight and he had a short pony tail. The other was a young college-aged girl. Both seemed to be interested in the job, both seemed to be qualified, and both seemed to desire to work.

I opted for the young woman for no particular reason other than the last young woman that we had was an excellent employee.

The first weeks were great - she was truly energetic and quick in her work, she was easy to work with, she was a hard worker. This however changed rather quickly. She became lazy, she became quite irregular in her attendance and in general became a very poor employee.

Moral of the story? In the modern work place in America you can't select your workers as we should do in the church.

Not only that, we in America shouldn't be choosing our leaders as we choose employees at work.

Paul tells Timothy to lay hands suddenly on no man. Had I been able to observe this young woman in her previous job or possibly in her home life, I most likely would have seen signs of her inappropriateness for the job at work.

As we work in the church, we will be able to tell what type of men we are working with. It may take some time, but our lives become evident to one another, and it is on this reality that we should base our leadership decisions.

In our previous context we studied how the elders were to be treated, now we will look at the basis for Timothy's choosing of elders.

We will be looking at YOU - BE PURE in verse twenty-two, YOU - BE HEALTHY in verse twenty-three, and YOU - CHOOSE CAREFULLY in verses twenty-four and twenty-five - you meaning Timothy.

Verse 22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.

Some in the past have suggested the laying on of hands related to laying hands on the sick, however this is a specific context of church leadership and to insert healing into this passage seems very poor interpretation.

Let's consider the phrase "keep thyself pure." in relation to the believers life. What principles might you come up with to put the phrase into action?

a. Keep - something that I consciously do for myself. It will take commitment on my own part.

b. Thyself - you are your responsibility. You needn't worry about others, but only yourself. That should make our job much smaller.

c. Pure - holy, set apart, without sin, etc. are all thoughts that run through our minds.

d. This is something that we should do for ourselves as well as for our God and Saviour!

The first phrase is how you avoid the following item of trouble.

Lay hands suddenly does not mean ordination as we know it today, though that may well be an application to the thought of giving church approval to a man too quickly.

I suspect in my own mind that the two phrases concerning hands and sin were linked together in Paul's mind, but there is application for both in our own day. We ought not approve of men, be they pastors, elders, or deacons too quickly. We need to know these men well.

The second thought is that if you do approve quickly you share in any wrongdoing they are able to unleash on the church.

The application of this might run along the lines of don't be related close enough to anyone that you become entwined in the sin that is in their life. Partake is a Greek word that is closely related to the word translated fellowship. Don't be in fellowship with another man's sin.

We are to remain free of sin and we don't need to join in the sin of other men, be it directly or indirectly by giving our approval to them. We can get into enough sin on our own.

II John 11 gives a similar admonition in relation to false teaching "for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds."

I would like to speak of ordination as we have it today. The usual is a man calling pastors from surrounding churches to grill him mercilessly on his doctrine in the afternoon to see if he is qualified and then have an ordination service that evening.

The ordination is set and plans are made for it even before the man has met to see if he is qualified. There just has to be something wrong with that.

Let's turn to Acts 13:1-3 for a moment. "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. 3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid [their] hands on them, they sent [them] away"

We won't belabor this passage, but note that the Holy Spirit was definitely involved in this process of approving, while also prayer and fasting were involved. This wasn't the yearly meeting when they had to appoint a few warm bodies to the church board, this was a setting aside and sending of men that the Holy Spirit had set forward within the church to do a job.

Also we see in I Tim 3:10 "And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being [found] blameless."

This verse mentions the thought of proving elders. It would seem that as the church elders see a person that God is working with, they will help in any way that they can to assist him in his growth and knowledge of the Word. Then when the man is ready, kick him out to the mission field or whatever the Lord should lead him into.

He is approved, ordained, whatever you want to call it because you know him to be the man that you would be proud to send out into the Lord's work.

It is the local church that ordains. It is the local eldership that ordains, not the pastors of other churches. I am not opposed to having a couple pastors in for the final steps for assistance, but the approval should come from the local church and only the local church can really know the man.

Paul mentions that if you lay hands on someone and he has sin problems then you will be a part of that sin. This is when he goes out into other churches to minister you will have been part of the problem that he causes if you give the okay before you know him to be okay.

We spent nine months in a church as interim pastor and I don't really think that those people knew enough about me to say I was okay to send out. They knew of my public ministry, but very little of our private life and life away from their town.

There are some groups that actually attempt to follow ordained men through their ministries to be sure they continue on in the correct path. If for some reason the man steps out of what is wholesome, those that ordained him will call for him to give up his ordination papers. This is a good practice.

Within the local church setup Paul seems to be setting forth, it would be the elders removing an erring elder from office.

Before moving on I would like to consider the thought of Holiness for a moment.

Outwardly we can put on the look of holiness, but underneath is the condition that is in view. What God sees, determines if we are holy or not. Tricking those around us may get us through life feeling good about ourselves, but how good are we going to feel when the Lord lays all our secret sin bare for all to see?

I am a firm believer that the tears that won't be in heaven are those that will be shed at the judgment seat of the Lamb. I think many believers will cry out about all that they did not do, and all that they did do that was sin.

Holy is a state of mind as well as a state of life. It is keeping yourself from sin, from sinful ways, and from sinful thought. It is setting yourself aside totally for God's use and pleasure.

The term translated “holy” is almost always the same term. The word is used of God, the term is used of the Holy Spirit, and that should tell us a little bit about the word itself. I doesn't indicate that we can be kind of holy, nor does it indicate that we can be part time holy!

Holy is the Lord and holy should his people be. I Peter 1.16 mentions "Be ye holy ; for I am holy." If we are to be Holy as God is Holy, we ought to be FULL TIMERS IN THE HOLY CAMP! No other option is given.

This is why Christians ought to feel terrible about the lack of holiness. They should realize the hurt that it causes their Father when they walk with the Lord of this world rather than Him.

II. YOU - BE HEALTHY

Verse 23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.

What can we learn about Paul's gift of healing in this verse? (In Acts Paul healed people and in Ephesus they carried handkerchiefs that he had touched out into other areas and people were healed. Acts 19:11-12)

Evidently the gift of healing that Paul had in Ephesus earlier was no longer operational when he was writing to Timothy. This is one of the best indicators that the gift of healing is not for today as some believe.

Not only could Paul not heal Timothy, he could not heal himself (thorn in the flesh) nor could he heal Tromphius. (II Tim. 4.20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick).

This seems to be a parenthetical verse stuck in to give advice to Timothy. However it may not be - we will consider this in a moment.

Wine was used for medicinal purposes in Paul's day.

Today we spell relief R O L A I D S!

There is no need for me to take wine for my stomach’s sake, indeed it would be very inappropriate to do so in our day when there are medicines that will do better.

It crossed my mind when going over this passage, that Paul may have been addressing a problem in Timothy's life. I would never be dogmatic, but since the previous verse mentions sin, and the following verses are concerned with sin, that this verse might also relate to wrongdoing on Timothy's part.

Since we all know the water was not good in those days - in fact still isn't in much of that area of the world. Thus, the common drink for liquid was wine. Now, for Paul to tell Timothy to no longer drink water but to drink wine, makes me wonder if Timothy was being abstinent about drinking wine to gain liquid for his body's need.

As I read some commentaries, I found that this was the thought others have seen in the passage.

There is another truth to be gleaned from this text other than what we have seen. Paul suggests an alternative to drinking dirty water - thus there is a valid point: Take care of your health. If there is an alternative that is healthier then it is not wrong to take it as long as Scripture doesn't forbid it and gain better health.

Matt. 10.23 backs up this thought. "But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come." It isn't wrong to leave a dangerous situation for a safer situation.

III. YOU - CHOOSE CAREFULLY

Verses 24-25 Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some [men] they follow after. Likewise also the good works [of some] are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.

These verses seem to be linked to the thought of laying on of hands quickly.

Sin and good works can come before or after getting to know a person.

If sin appears while you are observing the man then the church should judge him according to church discipline. That sort of man has no business in church leadership.

Barnes mentions of this judgment: "Their character is well understood. There is no need of waiting for the day of judgment to know what they are. Their deeds so precede their own appearance at the judgment-bar, that the record and the verdict can be made up before they arrive there, and there will be scarcely need even of the formality of a trial. The meaning here is, that there could be no doubt about the character of such men, and Timothy should not be accessory to their being introduced into the office of the ministry. "

In others the sin will follow at a later time after you have given your approval.

This seems to be an encouragement to be very careful in okaying men for the ministry.

The good works are usually up front and never hidden so you can usually view their works and know the type of person that they are.

The thought may be here that some sins are just outward and they will be easy to view. Other sin is inward, such as lust, and that sin can go unnoticed for some time before it becomes known and outward.

Num. 32:23 states, "...be sure your sin will find you out."

Another truth that comes forth is that good works do not go unnoticed.

It was once said of a man, "He always gave freely the milk of kindness but always managed to rattle the bottles."

You don't have to rattle the bottles to be noticed, just do the good works and people will notice.

I would like to finish this study with three illustrations of men that were less than upright and pure. These three men were leaders in their own right within fundamental Christianity in the early 1990's. All three had been ordained by various churches and were currently in ministries. These men were all involved in the ministry of training young men and women for the ministry, and all were active in local churches in a teaching/preaching ministry.

One must wonder about other areas of their lives if they so blatantly disregarded right living in this area.

The first man had written a book which was being published by the company I worked for. I picked up a copy as I was making my rounds and read the forward. Within the forward he mentioned that he had picked up much of the information over the years and that he did not know where all of it came from. He apologized for not giving credit to those he had taken from. This man was pastor of one of the largest fundamental churches in the Midwest, yet he had been teaching other men's materials as his own for years and now was publishing some of it without giving credit - that to most is theft.

The second man was one of my teachers in graduate school. He had given extensive notes to the class and I had been quoting him in my theology. While writing I always attempt to give proper credit for quotes. When I decided to publish the work, I was writing all of the authors and publishers to gain permission to quote.

I wrote to my former professor and asked if it would be okay to use a few quotes from his notes and listed the items quoted.

His reply totally shocked me. He told me that most of his notes were from other men and asked that I not use the quotes. This from a pastor and leader in one of our more conservative fundamental movements.

The third man was president of a Bible college. He had been asked to give some seminars in the school where I taught. The man was well known for his seminars in the Midwest and had presented them many times around the country.

It was the practice of the school to tape all messages so that students could take copies for future reference or send them to family and friends.

Faith was in the office duplicating some of his messages when he walked in. He became very concerned when he found out that we were making copies of the message tapes.

He finally admitted to Faith that the information he had been sharing as his own great wisdom was in fact gleaned from the ministries of other men. He asked that the tapes not leave campus.

I trust that as you walk life's pathways, that you make a more pointed attempt to keep yourself holier, than these men did.

Outwardly these men were considered Godly men yet in their secret world they were ungodly.

They ought not have been in positions of leadership! Someone laid hands on too quickly.