Chapter 5

The doctrine of the royal family of God

1. Definition. The royal family is the family of the King, Jesus Christ. As God and as deity He is a sovereign King. As humanity, by physical birth He is a King; He is the son of David. He is descended from the royal family — the tribe of Israel, the family of Jesse, the son of David. As the God-Man seated at the right hand of the Father as a result of the ascension He is spiritual royalty. There are many who are descended from the human royalty of David, many ancestors in the human royalty of David, but only those who are born again in the Church Age are a part of the spiritual royalty which comes from the strategic victory which comes from the right hand of the Father. So the royal family is the family of the King. The family of God includes all persons in human history who have believed in Jesus Christ. The royal family of God is made up of believers from Pentecost to the Rapture or believers in the Church Age only.

To whom much is given much is expected. Everything has been given to us and therefore everything is expected from us under God’s plan. We are royal family, we have been given things that no-one ever possessed before — spiritual blessings, temporal blessings. Our briefing day by day in Bible class is the means by which we fulfil the expectations of grace in the establishing of a royal family of God. The principle is that regeneration means to be born again. While regeneration has occurred in every dispensation it is only in the Church Age that the royal family of God is actually formed. All believers of the Church Age are then known as royal family.

2. The setting for the royal family of God.

a) The first advent of Christ occurred in the dispensation of Israel. This includes the death, burial, resurrection, ascension and session of Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father.

b) Ten days after Christ was seated at the right hand of the Father the Age of Israel was interrupted before its conclusion and a new dispensation was started. The Age of Israel was brought to a halt in order to insert a dispensation whose sole purpose was to call out a royal family for Jesus Christ. So a royal family is in the process of being called out today.

c) Jesus Christ was royalty by birth, royalty by deity, and He became royalty by strategical victory — session at the right hand of the Father.

d) The spiritual royalty of Christ occurred as a result of His ascension — His death on the cross for our salvation, followed by His physical death, followed by His resurrection, ascension and session. All of these things occurred in order to provide a spiritual royalty.

e) Seated at the right hand of the Father Jesus Christ has a new title — King. That makes Him King of all kings, a super royalty. He is Lord of all lords. Because He is King of all kings and Lord of all lords, as a man, He is a new type of royalty, a superior royalty, a permanent royalty, and a spiritual royalty. At this moment His title of King of kings and Lord of lords means that even though Satan rules this world, and even though Satan often administers through various world rulers, the Lord Jesus Christ is superior to all of these as the God-Man and that He is now a new type of royalty and a permanent type of royalty.

f) Therefore as the King of kings and Lord of lords Jesus Christ must have a royal family to share His reign. It is unthinkable that a royal family would exist with only one person in it.

g) Therefore the Age of Israel had to be halted in order to introduce a dispensation in which the specific objective is to form a royal family for Jesus Christ, a royal family forever.

3. The documentation for this royal family. The documentation is so extensive that it covers the entire book of Ephesians as well as Hebrews. It covers many passages of the scripture but two areas of documentation alone pretty well cover it. Ephesians emphasises the position of the royal family forever; Hebrews emphasises the priesthood of the royal family forever.

4. The formation of the royal family of God. There are three basic principles in the formation of the royal family. The first of these is the baptism of the Spirit, the second is positional truth, the third is some of the principles found in sanctification. The formation of the royal family from the standpoint of its inception, i.e. the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There are many different kinds of baptisms in the scripture. Seven are mentioned specifically. The baptism of the Holy Spirit as a forming principle is the unique activity of God. It occurred for the first time with those who were adult believers beginning the new dispensation. Only in one spot did it occur and God took Jerusalem, the place of the crucifixion, and took a group of believers — the eleven disciples to Israel plus about 200 other people — to fulfil the prophecy of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. These believers were taken by God the Holy Spirit, totally apart from their human merit, and entered them into union with Christ. Immediately the royal family went from one to roughly two hundred and something. So now the royal family is off to a start. This took place on the day of Pentecost and at that time the Age of Israel came to a halt. The thing that causes everyone to be royal family is the baptism of the Holy Spirit which enters everyone into union with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ Himself foretold the baptism of the Holy Spirit — John 14:20; Acts 1:5. The Bible takes time to explain the mechanics of the baptism of the Spirit — 1 Corinthians 12:13. The baptism of the Spirit occurs at salvation — Colossians 2:12. Positional truth means that we are royal family of God. This is also known as salvation or phase one sanctification which enters us into the royal family of God.

5. The royal family relationship then becomes an issue. The spiritual royalty of Jesus Christ is unique. As God He is sovereign, as man He is Jewish royalty, but as the God-Man seated at the right hand of the Father in His resurrection body of His humanity He is a new type of royalty — spiritual royalty, permanent royalty, King of kings, Lord of Lords. Jesus Christ in hypostatic union at the right hand of the Father was also alone when he arrived there. There was no royal family. He had no royal family at the moment of His session and so God the Father makes provision ten days later to establish a royal family for the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the first Adam in the garden was alone and God provided a help meet, so the last Adam was alone and God the Father provides a bride for the Lord Jesus as King of kings. That bride is made up of the entire royal family, believers of the Church Age. The Age of Israel was interrupted and the purpose of forming a royal family then becomes obvious. There are two designations of this royal family used in a technical sense in the Bible. The word “body” is for the royal family on earth, the word “bride” is for the royal family in resurrection body in heaven prepared to return with our Lord. The first term is a pre-Rapture term, the second is a post-Rapture term. When the body of the royal family is completed the dispensation is terminated with the Rapture of the Church, the resurrection of the royal family, both living and dead. During the Tribulation the bride will be getting her new dress, the removal of all human good, all legalism, and so on. The Tribulation will continue its course, finishing the Age of Israel, and when Christ returns we return as His bride, royal family.

Positional truth is the result of the baptism of the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit occurs at salvation, we enter into union with Christ by means of the ministry of the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit means the Holy Spirit enters us into union with Christ; that is called our position in Christ. The baptism of the Spirit is the mechanics, positional truth is the result. Our position belongs to all kinds of believer, the carnal as well as the spiritual believer, to the mature believer and the immature believer, to the reversionist, to the believer under the influence of evil. It belongs to all believers regardless of their category in time, every believer is in union with Christ. This positional truth makes it possible for us to be royal family. It never existed before the Church Age, it will never exist after the Church Age. Positional truth, then, belongs to all believers, it guarantees that there will be no judgment for any of us in eternity — Romans 8:1. It guarantees that we have eternal life and also explains the mechanics by which the righteousness of God is imputed to us in this dispensation. It is the key to election and predestination, both of which are related to positional truth and to nothing else. It also explains why we are new creatures in Christ Jesus and even though we are new creatures in Christ Jesus we are still very sinful and we fail many times. Being a new creature is strictly a positional concept, it is a synonym for the royal family. When it says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature” is has no experiential connotation.

Positional truth makes us new creatures, says 2 Corinthians 5:17. It also guarantees eternal security, it means that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It has all kinds of implications. But when you take the baptism of the Holy Spirit and its results in positional truth and put it all together you have to note certain characteristics.

a) For example, the baptism of the Spirit and positional truth is never an experience. It is not an emotional experience, it is not ecstatics, it is not speaking in tongues, etc.

b) It is not progressive, you can’t improve upon your salvation, you can’t improve on what God does; and the implications are that these people who give up everything are improving on what God has done.

c) It is not related to human merit, ability, or good. It is not related to getting involved in anything by way of social action. The implications of retroactive positional truth indicate that there is no place in the plan of God for “getting involved.”

d) It is eternal in nature. Once you believe in Jesus Christ the baptism of the Spirit occurs and you will be a member of the royal family of God forever, nothing will ever change it. You are royal family of God and there is no act on your part, no sin, no failure, no power in this world or in heaven that could ever change that.

e) The whole concept of the baptism of the Spirit and positional truth that causes us to be members of the royal family is taught by the Word of God. It is known only by the Word of God, it is a part of divine revelation. It is obtained all at the moment of salvation so that what you do after salvation has nothing to do with the fact that you are royalty forever. It is obtained en tot at that moment and is one of the 36 things at salvation and nothing is ever going to change it.

5. The royal family relationship. The spiritual royalty of Jesus Christ is unique. As God He is sovereign, at the point of physical birth He was royalty because He was related to David, but as the God-Man seated at the right hand of the Father He is a new type of royalty. In eternity past Jesus Christ as sovereign God was royalty. At the moment of the virgin birth He was human royalty — the son of David. The Son of God and the son of David is a double royalty system. He went to the cross, was resurrected, ascended, seated at the right hand of the Father, and there is where He had the unique royalty as spiritual royalty. But He was alone and that is where we come in. The Age of Israel was halted, the Church Age was begun so that a royal family of God might be formed. This is the royal family of God concept. Jesus Christ in hypostatic union at the right hand of the Father is alone, there is no royal family with Him at the moment He was seated at the right hand, and therefore the Church Age was begun with the baptism of the Spirit and from that point on the royal family is being formed. We are a part of the formation of that royal family.

6. The escutcheon or coat of arms of the royal family. Inasmuch as the royal family lives in the holy of holies [the royal palace] forever God the Holy Spirit sets up an escutcheon for us. He indwells the body of every believer — 1 Corinthians 6:19,20. Never before in human history has God the Holy Spirit made His residence in the body of any believer. This is the escutcheon or the coat of arms of the royal family of God. And again, we must distinguish between the indwelling of the Spirit and the filling of the Spirit. They are different concepts. The scripture never commands indwelling but the scripture does command the filling of the Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit means the Holy Spirit controls the soul. When the believer is out of fellowship we grieve the Holy Spirit, we quench the Holy Spirit; He doesn’t control the soul. But He is always in the body. The coat of arms will not be removed because you and I are royal family forever. Once royal family, always royal family; doctrine of eternal security, you cannot lose your royalty. It is the work of God and the work of God is permanent, it is never dependent upon us.

7. The security of the royal family. The 36 things accomplished at the point of salvation provide perfect security for every member of the royal family. God is perfect; His plan is perfect. That is the basis of our security. The perfection of God’s grace plan is seen in the fact that there is nothing man can do to gain salvation, there is nothing man can do to lose salvation. Positional sanctification and the sealing of the Holy Spirit are the testimony to this principle. God the Holy Spirit not only indwells us but He seals us to the day of redemption — receiving a resurrection body.

8. The royal family in time — phase two.

a) The objective of the royal family in time is to follow the colours to the high ground of the super-grace life, establishing a command post of Bible doctrine resident in the soul. Or, if you prefer, it is to grow in grace until you reach spiritual maturity.

b) The believer must move to maturity through the daily function of GAP. This is the tactical victory of the angelic conflict and it is achieved not by works or even Christian service, it is achieved by cognisance. We must have maximum doctrine in the soul.

c) God is glorified when he can provide each believer his paragraph SG². This is where He pours into the cup. The categories are three: i) the spiritual blessings of occupation with Christ, sharing God’s happiness, the inner residency of doctrine to meet every exigency in life, capacity for life, for love, for happiness, for blessing; ii) temporal blessings — promotion, success, wealth, prosperity of every kind, leadership dynamics; iii) dying blessing. These are all a part of paragraph SG² and every believer who is consistent in taking in the Word of God eventually reaches the point of where he reaches the high ground and God provides these things.

9. The royal family of God in eternity is also an important principle. After the Rapture every member of the royal family of God will possess a resurrection body exactly like that of Christ. This resurrection body will be minus the old sin nature, minus human good, minus the lake of fire or any condemnation. The royal family will return with Christ and share in His coronation, His millennial reign, as well as His eternal rule. Those members of the royal family who reach maturity through the daily function of GAP will have great rewards and decorations through all eternity. There is a wide variation among believers in eternity. While all have a resurrection body that is where all common things stop. Some will be highly decorated and blessed to a greater intensity than those who failed in time. There is a vast difference in rewards.

The outline of chapter five is very simple:

Verses 1-7 — royal family relationships

Verses 8-16 — royal family responsibility.

Verses 17-25 — royal family authority.

In royal family relationships, which is the first paragraph, we not in verses 1 and 2 that relationship is among varying age groups. Most people seek those of their own age for any kind of social life, relaxation, or fellowship of any kind. It is only in the royal family where fellowship can actually exist between people of wide age variations and people of vastly different personalities. It does not exist anywhere else.

Principles

1. It is inevitable that every local congregation of believers will be composed of varying age groups of both sexes.

2. Variation is personality, variation in activity of life, and variation in age could lead to personality conflicts. These conflicts would distract from the consistent function of GAP which is the major factor of the local church.

3. Consequently certain procedures are set up by the scripture to anticipate these problems.

4. General concepts are found in other passages dealing with academic discipline, recognition of then pastor’s authority, loving the brethren and other functions of the royal priesthood when gathered together or assembled.

5. In this context reference is made to age variation.

6. Male and female members of the royal family of God are handled separately in this context.

7. In anticipation of verse 1 dealing with male variations notice the parallelisms that are set up as guidelines . In verse 2 in the variations of age between women notice that guidelines are set up which are familiar — father, brother; mother, sister.

Verse 1 — “Rebuke not” is the aorist active subjunctive from e)piplhssw. The word means to punch, to rebuke, to reprove, to reprimand. It means to reprimand here — “Do not reprimand.” Sons do not reprimand their fathers. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. The active voice: this is a general concept for members of the congregation. The subjunctive mood is the subjunctive of prohibition with the negative mh. An elder is not a pastor here. The word is presbuteroj but it is non-technical presbuteroj. It refers to anyone who is older than you are.

“but entreat” — the adversative conjunction a)lla which sets up a contrast between a younger person and an older person, plus the present active imperative of the verb parakalew which means here to appeal. The present tense is a customary present which denotes what should habitually occur when a younger man is in some kind of a conflict with an older man. There should be some deference with regard to age where certain little problems will arise. The active voice: the young person is free from blind arrogance and so he easily produces the action of the verb. The imperative mood is a command to younger people, and a command to youthful pastors.

“as a father” — the adverb o(j is used as a conjunction of comparison to set up a standard, plus pathr which is correctly translated “father.”

“Do not reprimand an older man [in a congregation], but appeal to him as a father.” Here is a principle of respect for age. Humility and grace orientation provide the younger set with objectivity toward the older members of the congregation.

Principles

1. The possession of authority should never be abused.

2. Thoughtfulness and courtesy toward older men keep them concentrating on Bible teaching in the critical sunset years of their life.

3. Young people full of ambition and arrogance often distort their own importance into a system of bullying and abusing older people in the congregation.

4. Unless the older man is just a total ass he is entitled to a certain amount of respect and veneration because of his advancing years.

“and the younger men” — the accusative masculine plural from newteroj. It is the comparative of neoj, meaning young or youthful, and so this should be translated “younger men.”

“as brethren” — the accusative plural of a)delfoj, used here for members of the family. This means in the presence of authority, and you are in the presence of authority when you come to church. Therefore you treat men who are your contemporaries as you would treat men in your own home when the parents are present. In other words, everyone has a right to their privacy, everyone has a right to be here without someone making fun of them, someone ridiculing them, someone making life miserable for them.

This emphasises the importance of several things. First, as far as Timothy is concerned, the importance of a young pastor establishing his authority by consistent Bible teaching rather than by being a rank-happy martinet. This also provides the emphasis on grace since God has provided the authority of the pastor-teacher. No pastor ever earns or deserves the authority given to him by God in grace, therefore he is to use the authority in a grace manner. Therefore since the authority of a pastor is the only authority in the devil’s world it should be guarded by grace function rather than by taking ego trips and being carried away by one’s own self-importance. In the case of one’s own contemporaries in youthful vigour in the congregation, if you have avoided blind arrogance and have listened to Bible teaching then you are going to respect the privacy and individuality of the other members of the royal family present in such a way as not to interfere with their life or in any way cause them harm or concern.

Translation: “Do not reprimand and older man [in the congregation], but appeal to him as a father; younger men as brothers.”

Verse 2 — “The elder women” is really “the older women.” It is the accusative feminine plural of presbuteroj and it refers to the fact that women also get old. How should the older women in the congregation be treated? Here again we set up standards to make it clear that this is over and above loving the brethren. Loving the brethren doesn’t mean to even pay any attention to them, it just means that you are free from any mental attitude sins toward them.

“as mothers” is o(j denoting a comparison, setting up a parallel standard to help us out; plus mhter which means “mother.”

So what is the real suggestion here? Mothers should always be treated with respect by their children. Whether they are good mothers or bad mothers is totally inconsequential.

“the younger as sisters” — the accusative plural feminine from newteroj is the comparative of neoj which means “youth,” and in the feminine gender it means “the younger ladies” or “the younger women”; “as sisters” means to treat them with respect.

The passage says so far, “Older women as mothers; younger women as sisters.” Notice that we have the absence of the definite article emphasising the quality of the royal family in the eyes of God. It must be remembered, then, that what this is saying by the absence of the definite article in front of “older” and “younger” is calling attention to quality, and whatever you think of older ladies or younger ladies in the congregation God says they are the highest quality in His eyes. Therefore you treat ladies in the congregation through the eyes of God, not through your own judgment. God views each lady in the congregation as being of supreme value. You treat them the same way, they are valuable to God. If they are valuable to God then you are to show them the same deference, that is what it is all about. Remember that it is the divine viewpoint that counts in everything. This principle of doctrine must be kept in mind for true royal family sensitivity. It is being sensitive to the divine viewpoint. It is not only looking at life from the divine viewpoint but operating from that basis.

The final phrase has to do with women; men toward women: “with all purity” is e)n plus the instrumental singular of paj plus the instrumental singular of a)gneia. Paj is the word “all” ; a)gneia is used primarily for purity of mind. Your attitude should be purity of mind. This often causes people to stumble a bit because they don’t really understand what purity of mind is. Purity of mind is integrity and honour in the soul of a man that gives him enough poise to be a gentleman under every circumstance of life where the ladies are concerned. Ladies can be obnoxious, ladies are often obnoxious, but it takes a lot of character, poise, honour and integrity to maintain a calm relaxed attitude toward ladies when they get that way. In the Attic Greek this noun a)gneia always refers to a state of purity. But we are dealing with the Koine Greek where it came to mean purity of mind in the sense of integrity of the individual’s soul, based on Bible doctrine resident. Actually in the Koine Greek there are two words for purity. We also have kaqaroj which is used for purity of life; a)gneia is used for purity of soul in the sense of integrity of soul, honour of soul. Kaqaroj can apply to believers or unbelievers, and often does, but a)gneia applies to believers only. It is Bible doctrine in the soul that produces the integrity, the attitude.

Translation: “Older women as mothers; younger women as sisters, with all purity [integrity].”

This is not only a generalisation for the congregation but it has to do with Timothy too. These two verses have another application, they emphasises the importance of mutual respect between a pastor and his congregation as well as congregation and congregation.

Principles

1. Mutual respect is not based on social life, sexual life, legalistic bullying, or austere fanatical leadership. Mutual respect between a pastor and his congregation is based upon the consistent function if GAP.

2. Mutual respect is centred in the most important function of the royal priesthood, the daily assembly of the church for the purpose of transferring Bible doctrine from the printed page of the canon to the right lobe of the Church Age believer.

3. The pastor respects the believers who are positive toward doctrine, those who consistently show up for the intake of the Word and who demonstrate that academic discipline that indicates inner positive volition.

4. The congregation respects the pastor who through diligent study presents Bible doctrine which nourishes the soul and produces the spiritual growth necessary to glorify God in time.

5. Therefore mutual respect is centered in the communication and reception of the Word of God.

6. No church program, no effervescent pastor or personality, no system of gimmicks, no display of emotion, will ever replace the primary system of worship in the royal family of God. The primary system of worship is the function of GAP. Remove expository Bible teaching from the local church and the local church has no excuse for existence. It becomes a hollow shell of religionism.

7. Insert expository Bible teaching into the local church and the church becomes the basis for both personal and national blessing. It becomes the basis for national blessing without interfering in national government.

8. Therefore, as goes the function of GAP so goes the historical trend in any generation. The mutual respect portrayed in these two verses has an application to the pastor, his communication of doctrine, the congregation, and their response to doctrine.

The doctrine of old age

1. Definition. Old is a term of time, it connotes having exited a long time, having advanced far in years and having lost the vigour of youth. The age of sixty is the line of demarcation as a general principle — 1 Timothy 5:9.

2. Old people are to be respected — Leviticus 19:32; Proverbs 23:22; 1 Timothy 5:1,2. There is one category who will never respect older people: invading armies. That is why the military must always exist to keep them out. Invading armies destroy older people — Deuteronomy 28:50; 2 Chronicles 36:17.

3. The problems of old age. a) Old age is a time of being unteachable (generally, though there are exceptions) — Ecclesiastes 4:15; b) Old people are also helpless — John 21:18; c) Old people are more vulnerable to disease — 1 Kings 15:23; d) Old people become security conscious — Psalm 71:9.

4. Divine discipline makes people old before their time — Psalm 6:7; 32:3.

5. However doctrine learned in youth is profitable in old age — Proverbs 22:6; Psalm 71:17,18.

6. The blessings of old age. These blessings are primarily to the super-grace believer. The believer who has followed the colours to high ground of maturity and has established a command post in the soul not only has dying grace when dying comes but he has a marvellous and wonderful old age. Therefore there are many blessings set up for him. For example, old people join all categories of super-grace believers in praising the Lord and occupation with Christ. Old people with maximum doctrine have fantastic capacity to enjoy the Lord in their sunset years — Psalm 148:12-14. Old people in super-grace status have great security and blessing from that super-grace status — Psalm 37:25. Old people in super-grace status also have honour — Proverbs 17:6. Grandchildren are the crown of old men and the glory of the sons of their fathers — Proverbs 20:29. Old men in super-grace have blessing in dying — Job 42:17, “full of days” means full of blessing; 1 Chronicles 23:1; 29:28. Old age is used as an analogy for blessing in Isaiah 46:4.

7. Old age is blessed in the Millennium — Isaiah 65:20; Joel 2:28; Zechariah 8:4.

8. Those in authority have been ruined by ignoring the advice of older people — 1 Kings 12:6-8,13.

9. Standards for old people in the royal family are found in many passages. E.g. Titus 2:2,3.

In verses 3-6 we have relationship with widows in the local church.

Verse 3 — “Honour” is the present active imperative of the verb timaw. The present tense is the present tense of duration, it has the connotation of linear aktionsart, and it means a continuous function throughout the Church Age. The active voice: the royal family in the local church produces the action of the verb. The specific reference to authority in the local church, like Timothy as pastor-guardian, is very much in view. It is not just Timothy but the entire that fulfils this function. The imperative mood is a command.

“widows” — the accusative plural of direct object from the noun xhra. There is a place for honouring of one of the more helpless categories in the human race.

“that” — the accusative plural of the definite article used as a relative pronoun. The antecedent to the pronoun is the word “widows” or xhra. So we now change the word “that” to “who.” “Honour widows who.”

“are” is the present active indicative of e)imi, the state of being verb. The word is not actually found in the text but it definitely is implied. The adverb o)ntwj demands the existence of the verb to be. It means “really.” And then we have the word “widows” again.

Translation: “Honour widows who are really widows.”

The adverb implies that all widows are not widows. Some women are divorced and not really widows. As will be pointed out in verse 6 these women are troublemakers. The verb timaw means more than just to honour in this passage, it means also to treat graciously as well as to honour. It also demands charity from the “shepherding committee” under certain conditions. At the time of writing widows were often destitute and helpless because of the persecution to the early church. So in the following verses Paul categorises those who can legitimately claim support and those who cannot. Every local church should have what could be called a charity fund.

The doctrine of widows

1. Definition. A widow is a woman who has lost her husband by death. A widow is also a woman who has legitimately divorced her husband under one of four kinds. A widow is also someone who has divorced her husband under no legitimate count. But a widow is a woman who has had at least one husband. She is then the female survivor of a marriage. In our context she represents a very helpless situation on the one hand and a very dangerous situation on the other.

2. The principles of protection of the helpless apply to widows and children — Exodus 22:22. God Himself protects widows and orphans in the helpless category — Psalm 68:5,6; 146:9. God punishes those who attack or abuse the helpless — Psalm 94:6-12. Divine judgment is pronounced on those who bully and abuse the helpless — Malachi 3:5.

3. The law of the levirate marriage.

a) It was considered a tragedy in Israel for a man to die without an heir.

b) It was desirable to perpetuate the name of everyone in Israel and avoid the inheritance transferring to another family.

c) Therefore a law. The law is derived from the Latin word levir which means the dead man’s brother or the husband’s brother.

d) It was the custom when a Jew died without male issue or male heir that his nearest relative, generally his brother, should marry his widow and continue the family of the deceased man so that every family in Israel would be perpetuated.

e) The firstborn son of the marriage between the deceased man’s brother and his widow would be the man’s heir to perpetuate his line.

f) Therefore the family name is perpetuated through this stated law which is found in some detail in Deuteronomy 25:5-10.

g) A pre-Mosaic law illustration. The levirate marriage actually occurred before the law was stated — Genesis 38:6-11. This same levirate law of marriage was used by the Sadducees to attempt to discredit the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 22:23-33. The Sadducees did not believe in resurrection so they used the levirate law to try to trip up our Lord regarding resurrection.

4. Widows are used in the condemnation of the Pharisees. The Pharisees who were highly religious and full of all kinds of pious activity had abused the most helpless class, the widows. So: Matthew 23:14. The same principle is found in Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47.

5. Widows and the origin of deacons. The origin of deacons in the local church came out of a problem regarding widows — Acts 6:1-6.

6. The apostle Paul advises widows to remain unmarried — 1 Corinthians 7:8,9.

7. Paul indicates widows qualified for support in the local church — 1 Timothy 5:3-16.

Verse 4 — “But if” is e)i de. These are two conjunctive particles. The first one, e)i, introduces a first class condition. The second, de, emphasises a contrast between widows in the local church who are honoured and supported by the charity list, and those who are exceptions because they are troublemakers, and so on.

“any widow” — an enclitic indefinite pronoun tij, it is used to represent a specific category of widows who are not to be supported. They are instead troublemakers. With this we have the nominative singular again of xhra for widows, and the two together means “if any widow by category.”

“have” is the present active indicative of e)xw and should be translated “has.” The present tense is a customary present to denote what ordinarily occurs. The active voice: a certain category of widows produce the action of the verb, namely those with children or grandchildren in this particular verse. The indicative mood indicates the first class condition.

“children” — the accusative plural direct object of teknon; “nephews” is an incorrect translation. It is the accusative plural direct object from e)kgonaj and it means “grandchildren.”

“let them learn” — present active imperative third person plural of monqanw. Monqanw means to learn by practice or experience, to learn from someone as a teacher, and sometimes just to learn by hard knocks. Here it means to learn by practice from someone who passes on this great tradition. The present tense is a customary present from what may reasonably be expected to occur under the circumstances. A woman is a widow, she is helpless, she is over sixty, she has no means of support; her children or grandchildren should provide that for her. The active voice: the children or grandchildren learn from the experience of supporting the widowed mother or grandmother — a very wonderful principle. The imperative mood: this is a command, so this particular category is not to be enrolled on the charity list of the local church.

“first” is an adverb, prwton. It is used three ways in the Greek. It is used of time, of sequence, and of degree. Degree is the meaning here. Therefore it should be translated, “above all.”

“to shew piety” — present active infinitive of e)usebew, the verb for godliness. There is the balance of residency again. First of all, the body is always indwelt by the Holy Spirit, this is a sign of royal family. The Holy Spirit does not indwell the soul, only the body. The relationship to the soul is called the filling of the Holy Spirit. The first function is to assimilate Bible doctrine. All believers start out minus doctrine, so there is no balance. But when this minus becomes a plus you have balance of residency. To show piety means devoutness, but it means because one is occupied with Christ he is willing to assume responsibility where even establishment demands responsibility. In other words, the believer who has reached spiritual maturity assumes all of his obligations and responsibilities, whether it is the fact that his word is his bond or whether it is the fact that someone in his family is helpless and needs help, he assumes responsibility for his own. It can be translated, “let them learn above all to assume responsibility [or to show respect].” The present tense of duration or the retroactive progressive present denotes something begun in the past and continues into the present time. This is something that all super-grace believers do, they take responsibility wherever they have to no matter what the conditions. The active voice: the children and grandchildren of the widows actually produce the action here. The infinitive is an infinitive of result. However, there are three categories of infinitive of result. There is the infinitive of actual result, there is the infinitive of conceived result [assuming as a consequence], there is the infinitive of intended result which fulfils a deliberate aim. We have here number three, this is an intended result. It also blends purpose and result. And since this is the protasis of a first class condition it is fulfilled.

“at home” means “to their own family,” literally — ton i)dion o)ikon.

“and to requite” is the present active infinitive of a)podidomi. A)podidomi means to give back, to recompense, to give out. It has the connotation here of charity. It has with it the accusative plural from a)moibh which means remuneration, monetary support. Put the infinitive and the noun together and you have, “and to provide monetary support.”

“to their parents” — progonoj which means both parents or grandparents. This is a dative of indirect object which indicates the ones in whose interest the action of charity or remuneration is performed.

Then we have an explanatory word, the conjunctive particle gar is used to explain why all of this.

“that” is the nominative neuter singular from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj and it should be “this deed [of remuneration].” The demonstrative pronoun always emphasises something near in the context, and that something near in the context is providing support for a widowed mother or widowed grandmother. It demonstrates the respect for parents or grandparents, mother or grandmother who is widowed. So the demonstrative pronoun places a tremendous emphasis on providing charity or support for those in your own family who are helpless.

“is” — present active indicative of e)imi, “keeps on being.” The word “good” is not found in the original MSS, the word “acceptable” is — predicate nominative, neuter singular from a)podektoj, and it means to be pleasing.

“before God” is literally, “in the sight of God,” the improper preposition e)nwpion plus the genitive of qeoj.

The principle is quite obvious. God is pleased with children or grandchildren who support that widow. Here is a place where doctrine and establishment actually meet. This shows that the welfare state is totally rejected by the Word of God. Charity is acceptable but the welfare state is completely and totally out and, in effect, evil. It destroys the population, it destroys the mortal fibre or the character and the integrity of the population of a national entity. Welfare states either produce slaves or degenerate people.

It is both evil and sinful for the believer to neglect destitute members of his own family. The Bible always rejects socialism. Socialism inevitably leads to the intrusion upon the privacy of the national entity and therefore destroys its freedom.

Translation: “But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn above all to show respect to their own family, and to provide monetary support: for this deed [function] is pleasing in the sight of God.”

Summary

1. While not apparent on the surface this verse has a dynamic impact on the field of Bible doctrine.

2. Not only does this verse recognise the principle of divine establishment (laws of establishment from God) but it emphasises the importance of charity as originating not even in the church. Charity originates in the family. Divine Institution #3 is the origin of true charity.

Charity spreads to other places. Charity and welfare are not the same. Welfare stems from socialism; charity stems from truly helping the helpless. There is never anything wrong with helping the helpless but someone who can get out and work for five cents an hour is not helpless.

3. The responsibility for the members of one’s own family providing charity is a principle of Christian doctrine as well as a principle of divine establishment.

4. Where the widow has no surviving family she becomes the responsibility of the local church — that is, the believing widow. If not a believer then she becomes a legitimate ward of the state, she is truly a helpless person. Remember in Israel every third year they took up an additional tithe as a tax for the poor of the land, so that is a bona fide function.

5. This is bona fide charity in contrast to socialism or the welfare state.

6. There are three areas of responsibility in charity. a) The immediate family; b) The local church for believers in its local church; c) The state government for truly helpless people.

7. This principle is clearly understood by certain ethnic groups, such as the Jews, the Japanese.

8. This passage deals only with the responsibility of the family in charity.

.Verse 5 — “Now she that is a widow indeed.” The adversative use of the post positive conjunctive particle de should be translated “But.” This is to indicate a contrast. Then we have a word that is very deceptive, it is actually an adverb, o)ntwj. It looks like a participle but it is actually an adverb based on present active participle of e)imi, and it should be translated “really.” Then there is a definite article used as a relative pronoun, and finally the nominative singular of the word xhra for “widow.”

“But the one who is really a widow.”

“and desolate” — the ascensive use of the conjunction kai and it is always translated “even.” The perfect passive participle of the verb memow is the word for “desolate,” but “even the one who has been left alone” is what it really means. The perfect tense is an intensive perfect which emphasises the results of the action in that here is a real widow past her peak who has no one to support her, she has really been left desolate. The passive voice: through no fault of her own the widow receives the action of the verb which is aloneness. The participle is circumstantial.

“trusteth” — the perfect active indicative of verb e)lpizw which is this particular tense means to have confidence. The word generally means to hope but in the perfect tense it means to have very strong confidence. Again, it is an intensive perfect indicating the fact that her confidence in doctrine is more real than the adversity of her aloneness. The active voice: the widow in super-grace status produces the action of the verb from doctrine resident in her soul. She demonstrates a strong faith-rest.

“in God” is a prepositional phrase, e)pi plus the accusative of qeoj.

“and continueth” — she occupied with a great ministry of prayer. One of the things that is so dynamic in the life of many older people is their prayer ministry. We have proj menw in the present active indicative meaning to persist. The present tense is the present tense of duration, it that it started in the past and has continued right up to the present time. It has strong linear aktionsart. The super-grace widow cut off from the mainstream of life actually produces the action of the verb. The declarative indicative mood is reality for absolute reality in the dynamics of her prayer life.

“in supplications and prayers” — both of these words are locative plurals indicating the sphere of her effectiveness. The first one is dehsij which is a prayer for her own personal needs. It means that she legitimately has the right to bombard the throne of grace on behalf of whatever needs she has at the moment. The rest of it is strictly intercessory — proseuxh.

Translation: “But the one who is really a widow, even the one who has been left alone, has confidence in God, and persists in petitions and intercessions night and day.”

Principles

1. The widow represents those believers who have matured spiritually and at the same time have been cut off from the normal social life and normal function of life, out of the mainstream of life.

2. However, being a super-grace believer she is occupied with Christ, she has maximum doctrine resident in the soul and is using it with maximum effectiveness.

3. It becomes obvious that when a person is in this state of maturity she does not depend upon people or things or circumstances for her happiness.

4. She has passed the point of useless lust for life and things but she has not passed the point of capacity for life or capacity for happiness; she has both.

5. Such people as the widow here are neither to be pitied nor deprecated.

6. They are not the subjects for condolence but congratulation.

7. Their priestly life is occupied with persistent, effective, dynamic prayer.

8. Her service in the royal priesthood is maximum, her recognition by others minimum. Which all goes to point out that recognition by others doesn’t mean a thing. It is what God thinks that counts.

9. But these widows are totally content. They have won the greatest victory of old age. God is the total source of their blessing and no person on planet earth can contribute an iota to their happiness.

10. Therefore they have reached old age and helplessness without being obnoxious. They have avoided all the problems of old age.

What are some of the problems of old age — especially if you fail to take in doctrine?

1. No capacity for life. Old people minus doctrine lose the power of thinking and concentration. They have a tendency to doze and dream and become vegetables.

2. Old people are disoriented to life, they have no capacity for love, for blessing, for happiness or grace; they seem to have passed all these things and become indifferent to them.

3. They have intensification of mental attitude sins with emphasis on vindictiveness and implacability.

4. They have a lack of a sense of security, they are unstable and poorly motivated.

5. In old age one of the problems is thoughtlessness, selfishness in demanding attention.

6. Old age is a time of being critical and unteachable.

7. Old people are defeated by time, become bored, and in some cases even troublemakers.

— but not this widow.

Verse 6 — we have the post positive conjunction de again, used as an adversative conjunction to set up a contrast between this widow qualified for financial help from the local church and one who is not qualified for help from the local church.

“she that liveth in pleasure” — present active participle from spatalaw. The word means to live voluptuously, to live riotously, to live in indulgence. With it is the definite article used as a feminine pronoun, and it should be translated, “But the widow who constantly indulges is sensual or wanton pleasure.” The participle is circumstantial. The active voice refers to any widow who spends her time in sensual, sexual pleasures to the exclusion of everything else. This is a retroactive progressive present, it denotes what has begun in the past and has continued into this point of old age.

“is dead” — the perfect active indicative of the verb qneskw, used here for that category known as reversionistic death, the believer under the influence of evil.

The doctrine of the classification of death

1. Spiritual death, the first death we experience. We experience it when we are born. Spiritual death is no fellowship with God in time. It means no relationship with God in time because we are born with an old sin nature, born with the imputation of Adam’s sin. Spiritual death is the original penalty of sin — Genesis 2:17. Cf. Ephesians 2:1,5; Romans 5:12.

2. Physical death which is separation of the soul from the body — Matthew 8:22, Let those who are spiritually dead bury the ones who are physically dead. Cf. Philippians 1:20,21.

3. The second death is the perpetuation of spiritual death into eternity. It is eternal separation from God in the lake of fire. The second death is for unbelievers only in the human race, plus fallen angels in the angelic sphere — Hebrews 9:27. The act of judgment is the second death. Cf. Revelation 20:12-15. The second death perpetuates spiritual death.

4. Positional death. Through the baptism of the Holy Spirit the Church Age believer or the royal family of God is identified with Christ in His death. This is known also as retroactive positional truth, it is the subject of Romans chapter 6 and it is mentioned briefly in Colossians 2:12. Cf. Colossians 3:3.

5. Reversionistic death. This is the believer in reversionism under the influence of evil — James 2:26; Ephesians 5:14; Revelation 3:1.

6. Carnal death. This is the believer out of fellowship through sin or being in the status of carnality, but it is not the same as reversionistic death even as evil and sin are not the same. It must be distinguished, then, from operational death which is the believer in reversionism. Romans 8:6,13; James 1:15. The prodigal son is an illustration of this. he was a son when he started, he was a son when it was all over. There never was a time when he wasn’t a son and there never wasn’t a time when his father wasn’t his father. But when he recovered from his carnality the father said in Luke 15:24, “For this son of mine was dead, he has now come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” Carnal death is in view here.

7. Sexual death which is the inability to copulate — Romans 4:17-21 is the illustration of this.

“is dead” — the perfect tense is a consummative perfect, it recognises the completed action and the existing results but emphasises the process which was consummated. In other words, she has gone through a process of being out of fellowship, carnality through reversionism, until she is totally under the influence of evil. This widow is saved, she is negative toward doctrine, she is under the influence of evil, she is under reversionistic death. The active voice: the reversionistic widow produces the action of the verb in the function of reverse process reversionism. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality that certain widows become reversionistic in their frustration of widowhood and eventually come under the tremendous influence of evil.

“while she lives” — present active participle of the verb zaw. Zaw is used for the function of life. The descriptive present tense indicates what is now going on. It presents to the mind a picture of an event in the process. The woman so involved is in wanton pleasure. In other words, she has totally given herself up to a completely selfish idea that excludes doctrine and actually destroys her life so that she is dead while she is living. The active voice: the reversionistic widow produces the action of the verb. The participle is a temporal one.

Translation: “But the widow who constantly indulges in wanton pleasure has died while she is still alive.”

Summary

1. This not only applies to the specific case in context of a widow but this also applies in other areas of the spiritual life which runs parallel to this. Believers who live for pleasure and self-gratification are in effect the living dead.

2. In this passage the category is widow, but the principle applies to all categories of the royal family of God who become involved in reversionism.

3. Reversionism involves a frantic search for happiness and coupled with the influence of evil results in the Christian zombie or the living dead believer.

4. Without Bible doctrine in the soul, the believer has no capacity for life, no capacity for love, no capacity for happiness or prosperity. So no capacity to appreciate God, no capacity for grace and all the other capacities produces a zombie.

5. The sooner that life becomes occupation with Christ the better life is. Occupation with Christ is maximum category #1 love, the experience of the super-grace believer.

6. Occupation with Christ is the status of the mature believer, the royal family with maximum doctrine resident in the soul.

7. Obviously the Christian zombie has both rejected and neglected the principle of the daily function of GAP. 8. We might call this, as stated in this verse, zombie reversionism.

9. Zombie reversionism is a believer so glutted with pleasure in the status of reversionism, and so under the influence of evil, that any pleasure in life or all accumulated pleasure in life leaves him totally dissatisfied.

10. To be minus Bible doctrine and its accompanying capacities is to be the living dead, waiting under divine discipline for the inevitable maximum discipline of the sin unto death. So the living dead are waiting to die miserably.

This brings us in verse 7 to the pastor’s responsibility in the field of human relationships.

Verse 7 — “And these things” is the adjunctive use of the word kai which means also, plus the accusative neuter plural from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj. O(utoj emphasises the field of human relationships as portrayed in this passage. The demonstrative pronoun is the direct object of the verb.

“give in charge” — present active imperative of paraggellw which means to command. When things get bad Timothy has to use his authority, he has to step in and command. As the pastor-guardian he has the authority to straighten things out and it demands giving commands. The present tense is a customary present, it denotes what habitually occurs and what should be expected to occur. The active voice: Timothy as the pastor must produce the action, he must straighten things out by the use of his authority. The imperative mood is a command. So we translate this, “Also be commanding.”

“that” is the conjunction i(na used in the final sense to denote a purpose, a gain, a goal, objective.

“they may be” — present active subjunctive of the verb e)imi. The present tense is a static present, it represents a condition taken for granted as a fact. The active voice: the royal family of God in Timothy’s congregation produces the action of the verb. The subjunctive mood goes with i(na to form the final clause.

“blameless” — a predicate nominative plural from the adjective a)nepileptoj, and it means to be irreproachable. This has to do with the administration of the deacons with regard to widows.

Translation: “Also be commanding these things in order that they may be irreproachable.”

Once again the emphasis is placed on the pastor taking command of the local church, enforcing biblical principles, whether they have to do with privacy or good manners or administration. A pastor must inevitably be responsible for his own congregation.

Verse 8 — “But if” is e(i de. E(i is a conjunction introducing a first class condition; de is a post positive particle used in a rare way as an emphatic particle. It should be translated “If however.”

Next is an enclitic indefinite pronoun tij which always refers to a category. A negative category is coming up — reversionism.

“provide not” — present active indicative from the compound pronoew — made up of pro which means before, and noew which means to think. It means to think beforehand, to foresee something, to provide beforehand, to anticipate, to provide something ahead of time. (There is a cognate noun that goes with it: pronoia which means foresight, forethought, vision, and providence) With this is a negative o)uk. “If anyone does not provide.” The present tense is retroactive progressive present, plus the negative denoting that here is a head of a family, the man of the house, and he has not provided for his family. The active voice: certain reversionistic male believers under the influence of evil have failed to provide for their families. This evil can be operation bleeding heart altruism. The indicative mood indicates that this is a first class condition.

“for his own” — a genitive plural of the definite article used as a possessive pronoun, plus the genitive plural of relationship from i)dioj used here for family.

“and especially” is the ascensive use of kai plus the adverb malista which is the superlative of mallon, and it should be “and most of all those of his own family.” This is a first class condition, this actually occurs among believers. All of this is a protasis of a first class condition, it is known as a supposition from the viewpoint of reality. In every generation of born again believers this actually occurs. The indicative mood of a verb assumes the premise the premise is true. The protasis which began with e)i and includes the indicative mood is the protasis of a first class condition. It is assumed to be true and it is true in every generation that certain believers in reversionism under the influence of evil, for one reason or another, do not support their immediate family because they’re involved in something that prevents them from doing it, something that is evil, something that is related to reversionism. Christian giving was never designed to cause one’s family to be starved or poorly clothed.

So what is the divine attitude toward men who are responsible for providing for their wife and family and they fail to do so?

“he hath denied” is the perfect middle indicative of a)rneomai which means to deny, to refuse, to repudiate. The perfect tense here is the intensive perfect, it represents a completed action with existing results. This is the emphatic way in the Greek of presenting a fact or a condition. It is a strong way of saying that a thing is. The believer in view has rejected or repudiated Bible doctrine with the result that his reversionism leads to his rejection of responsibilities to his family. The middle voice describes the subject as participating in the results of the action. The active voice emphasises the action, the middle voice emphasises the agent. The middle voice relates the action, therefore, very intimately to the subject and this is what is called an intensive middle. It emphasises the part taken by the subject in the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of both reversionism and the influence of evil in the life of some male believer who is married, who has children. For some reason or another — emotional giving, compulsive gambling, a drunkard, etc. — his family is deprived and destitute.

“faith” — the accusative singular direct object from pistij refers to doctrine.

Principles

1. Two doctrines are pertinent to understanding this verse: reversionism and evil. Both explain why men come to this situation.

2. These two doctrines are two sides of the same coin. The coin is called apostasy. One side is reversionism, the other side is the influence of evil.

3. Reversionism is the mechanics of apostasy while the influence of evil is the result of apostasy.

4. This believer has entered into some stage of reversionism where he is giving or spending money which deprives his family of food, shelter, and clothing.

5. In the second stage of reversionism it could be exhausting his financial resources in a frantic search for happiness.

6. In the second or fourth stages of reversionism it could be emotional — emotional giving, compulsive gambling, which exhausts the family treasury and causes starvation.

7. The influence of evil always results in one man either giving or gambling or spending his money so that his entire family is impoverished, starving, in rags, suffering because of his stupidity in the handling of money.

8. This is why compulsive gamblers should never marry.

9. This is why emotional revolt is incapable of any relationship in life, incapable of taking responsibility.

10. On the other side is the fact that insurance programs give poor and moderate income men a chance to provide for their families.

“and is worse” is wrong. The word “and” [kai] is adjunctive — “also” present active indicative of e)imi, “he keeps on being; plus the comparative xeirwn, it is the comparative of kakoj which means “evil.” It should be translated, “also he is more evil.”

“than an infidel” — a)pistoj is an unbeliever.

Translation: “If, however, anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for the members of his own family, he has denied the doctrine with the result that he has repudiated Bible doctrine; also he is more evil than an unbeliever.”

Principles

1. There are numerous cases within the framework of reversionism where believers under the influence of evil are more evil than the unbeliever. There are at least seven cases that we have already observed:

a) Emotional giving from emotional appeals. Emotional giving from an emotional basis keeps a man from providing for his own.

b) Evil altruism which deprives a family of needs. Operation bleeding heart.

c) A frantic search for happiness by spending in a way that deprives the family of necessities.

d) Compulsive gambling, compulsive drinking and drug addiction.

e) Loss of a sense of responsibility through reversionism.

f) Irresponsible stupidity in getting married when you shouldn’t and then making a botch of it after you do — a sexual relationship that produces more children than you can afford.

g) Overextension in business or business investment without using capital for making provision for family or loved ones.

2. Whatever the mechanics the cause is always the same. A male believer is involved, he rejects Bible doctrine, enters into some stage of reversionism, comes under the influence of evil and does not provide for his own.

3. The growing believer or the mature believer never falls into this rat race.

4. The reversionistic believer practicing any form of evil becomes more evil than an unbeliever — says verse 8.

5. Why? Because the believer has more safeguards against evil than the unbeliever. The believer has doctrine as well as the laws of establishment to protect him from this. While the unbeliever is limited to his own integrity and the laws of establishment the believer who repudiates Bible doctrine always becomes more evil than any unbeliever. Note that while this believer is more evil than the unbeliever he does not lose his salvation, he cannot lose his salvation.

Verses 9 and 10: the enrolment of qualified widows. Remember that the widow is taken as a category of helpless individual. However, we have noted that some widows are not helpless at all, they are totally capable of taking care of themselves.

Verse 9 — “Let not a widow be taken.” The present passive imperative of katalegw doesn’t mean anything about taking at all, it is an incorrect translation here. The subject is xhra, widow. What it is actually saying is “Widows may be enrolled on the church charity list.” The present tense is a futuristic present, it denotes an event which has not yet occurred but widows enrolled for support is regarded as so certain in thought that there will be a need for it and therefore a principle must be passed in favour of certain qualified widows. The passive voice: qualified widows receive the action of the verb. The imperative mood is the mood of command. “Widows may be enrolled on the charity list.”

“into the number” is not found in the original, it was just an attempt on the part of the early translators to indicate the fact that the Word of God for the Church Age authorises a charity list.

“under threescore years old” — mh e)latton e)twn e(ckonta which means “not less than sixty years old.”

Notice:

1. This passage does not teach the existence of deaconesses.

2. The enrolment is for charity or support of widows over sixty who are otherwise destitute.

3. The age of sixty indicates that by that time all other sources of income have disappeared and in the case of a believing widow who is otherwise qualified she become a ward of her local church.

4. Her helplessness which requires financial help from the charity committee of the local church would only occur after sixty.

5. This also implies that women under sixty should not be given charity as they will up to that time have other means of support.

6. Widows to be qualified for the charity list, then, must be over sixty years of age.

“having been” is the perfect active indicative of ginomai. The verb goes with the previous paragraph. It should be translated, “Widows may be enrolled on the charity list having become not less than sixty years of age.” The perfect tense is an intensive perfect which means that they must arrive at sixty before they are eligible.

“the wife of one man” — the nominative singular of gunh plus the descriptive genitive singular from e(ij, plus a)nhr for husband. Literally, “the wife of one husband.” It is an idiom that means married only once. Apparently some women had more than one husband. This qualification is obviously designed to indicate some stability factor. The principle was that a widow who had been married once and had successfully served a housewife under that marriage had a certain amount of stability. She had the stability to stay with it whether it was a good or a bad marriage. Secondly, this would imply also maturity, lack of promiscuity or approbation lust. The enrolment of widows on the charity list implied some function around the local church which required stability. A widow can have just as wonderful life as anyone else, and under the principles of Bible doctrine and capacity for life all of these things add up to the fact that no one should feel sorry for a widow, that in effect a widow can have just as wonderful a life as anyone else.

Verse 10 — “Well reported” is a present passive participle from the verb marturew, and this doesn’t mean “martyr.” In the active voice means to bear witness in a trial. In the passive voice it means to be approved, to be well attested, to be verified, or to be certified. The present tense is retroactive progressive present which denotes what was begun in the past and continues into the present time, the time of her enrolment. She is well certified as a mature believer. The passive voice: the qualified widow receives the action of the verb — verification of her dynamic spiritual life. The participle is circumstantial, it acts as the apodasis of five first class conditions which are in the passage. “She is certified” is the apodasis. To certify means to endorse as a part of administration as being under the right standard for qualification.

“for good works” is the preposition e)n plus the instrumental of e)rgon which refers to occupation or deed or accomplishment. With it is the adjective kaloj, modifying e)rgon, and kaloj means here “honourable accomplishments.” In other words, her honourable super-grace production from maximum doctrine resident in her soul is certification of her qualification. Honourable accomplishment or occupation is a sign of maturity in the spiritual realm. Maximum doctrine in the soul will reveal itself over the long haul by kaloj or integrity.

The standards for certification are based on the content of the following first class conditions. The word “if” brings the prodasis in last instead of the usual first. It starts out with the conjunction e)i. This introduces a first class condition.

A conditional clause is always a statement in the Greek of supposition, the fulfilment of which is assumed to secure the realisation of a potential fact. The clause containing the supposition is called the protasis. It generally occurs first and is introduced by the English word “if.” There are four different types in the New Testament: 1st class — if and it is true; second class — if and it is not true; 3rd class — if, maybe yes, maybe no; 4th class — if, I wish it were but it isn’t true. Always they have a great deal to do with the understanding of a given passage where they are used.

So the clause containing the supposition is called the protasis. This is the introduction of a protasis. The clause containing the statement based on the supposition is called the apodasis. This is where we get our conclusion. This rarely ever comes first. Here is verse 10 we have one of the cases where it does.

We have here a first class condition, it is a supposition from the viewpoint of reality. In other words, these five realities must be fulfilled before being qualified to be helped financially by the local church. It is a legitimate function but there are certain administrative standards which are set up in the Word of God, indicating a principle: Administration is not some helter skelter emotional activity. The key to understanding conditional clauses, then, is not just the conjunction here, e)i which introduces it but the mood of the verb. The mood of the verb is indicative which indicates reality.

“if she have brought up” is the aorist active indicative of a hapax legomena verb teknotrofew. This is made up of two words: teknon is a child; trepw means to support, educate, or to rear. It means, “if she has reared children well.” The aorist tense is a constative aorist and it gathers together into one entirety her rearing of a family. She doesn’t have to have children but this particular one comes in if she does have children. The active voice: the widow over sixty must have been at some time in her life a good mother. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the first class condition.

What does it mean to be a good mother? It means training, teaching, influencing, inculcating in both physical and spiritual areas of life. That means a lot of things. It means, for example, that where the son is concerned, when a woman has a male child that man’s attitude toward the female of the species for the rest of his life is going to depend upon how well he respected his mother and how beautifully she trained him in those first years of his life when he was highly impressionable. Many men are not born gentlemen but they grow to be gentlemen because their mothers did such a magnificent job.

Again, the constative aorist gathers into one entirety her rearing of the family. The active voice: the widow over sixty must have been a good mother. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality.

“if” — this time we have e)i, the conjunction introduces the first class condition; “she have lodged strangers” — the aorist active indicative of cenodoxew which actually means to exercise hospitality, to show hospitality. Here in the aorist tense it means to demonstrate hospitality. This is a constative aorist which covers her adult life from the time that she began as a wife or a mother or as a woman in her home, and right up to the point of her qualification for being on the charity list of the local church. The qualified widow produces the action of the verb. This is a declarative indicative mood for the first class condition. What does it really mean? It means the type of character which is outgoing. (Inhospitable people are subjective people) Hospitality is an attitude of soul. It is integrity of soul, it is an attitude of being outgoing, thoughtful of others, and sensitive to the needs of others without being subjective in any way or without seeking to gain anything from it.

“if she have washed the feet of saints” — “if” is a first class condition and is a qualification; “she have washed” is the aorist active indicative of niptw which means to wash, to bath. It is a constative aorist, it would cover the entire the entire realm of her life, it is a general characteristic. The active voice: she must do it. The indicative mood: first class condition; “the saints” refers to the royal family of God, male and female — the possessive genitive of a(gioj; “feet” is the accusative plural direct object from pouj — “if she has washed the feet of the saints.”

Summary

1. This does not refer to the foot washing ceremony practised by the River Brethren, a famous German group.

2. The foot washing ceremony accomplished by our Lord in John 13:4-20 has nothing to do with the Church Age. It was to teach a principle of doctrine for every dispensation but it was not a command to continue the process of washing the feet of believers.

3. In John 13 the disciples had been guilty of a breach of etiquette. They had been guilty of entering the upper room where they would hear one of the greatest messages ever with unwashed feet. That means that they went through the streets of the city where they accumulated dust and dirt on their feet. They came to the upper room where they were about to observe the Passover in this condition. They had what might be classified as stinking feet. They were an offensive group to the Lord, not only from the standpoint of etiquette but they were also malodorous.

4. Consequently the disciples were also occupied with a debate as to which of them was the greatest, that none of them would wash anyone else’s feet when they came in. They refused to take the place of a servant and wash the feet of anyone else before entering. Cf. Luke 22:24.

5. So Jesus washed their feet demonstrating the principle of doctrine that greatness cannot exist apart from flexibility, grace humility. Great people are never degraded. In their souls they have those principles of doctrine, character and integrity so they cannot be degraded. Even degrading circumstances cannot degrade a great person. Only blind arrogance is degraded by degrading circumstances.

6. Furthermore, there was an analogy in our Lord’s washing of the disciples’ feet. The disciples are bathed before coming to the last supper — a picture of salvation. The idea in salvation is once bathed, always bathed.

7. It was customary to wash one’s feet before entering a home or a hall in the ancient world. This is analogous to rebound. The principle by analogy: one salvation, many rebounds.

8. In coming to the upper room the filth of the streets has accumulated on the feet of the disciples, analogous to carnality.

9. The disciples could not have fellowship with the Lord and have dirty feet simultaneously. So Jesus washed their feet. This is analogous the provision for rebound on the cross.

10. Therefore the analogy which emerges: One bath — salvation; many foot washings — rebound.

11. Jesus commanded rebound in John 13:15, not literal foot washing. The heritage of grace is perpetuated through rebound is the principle of the foot washing ceremony.

12. If the significance of foot washing had been in the literal ceremony then Peter would have understood the Lord’s command.

13. But Peter did not understand because the significance of foot washing is not in the literal ceremony, it is in the doctrinal analogy to the rebound technique.

14. Jesus, in John 13:16, emphasised the importance of grace orientation, taking the place of the servant.

15. To the widow, “if she has washed the feet of the saints” refers purely the fact of her grace orientation. Her grace orientation refers to the content of doctrine in her soul — if she has taken a place of serving without feeling degradation, if she has maintained her poise through degrading circumstances of life. These could never be degrading because they could never touch her soul when she has doctrine.

“for” — e)i for the first class condition; “she has relieved” is the aorist active indicative of e)parkew which means to help or aid someone, to be of assistance. The constative aorist gathers into one entirety all the help given to others in distress, whether it is a mental distress or a physical distress. The active voice: the qualified widows produce the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of a supposition from a first class condition.

“the afflicted” — present passive participle from qlibw which means to be oppressed or to be afflicted. The present tense of qlibw is an iterative present, it describes what recurs occasionally at certain intervals, it is the present tense of repeated action. The passive voice: believers receive suffering, pressure, affliction. The participle is circumstantial. It is in the dative case which is the dative of advantage. It is to our advantage to have adversity, pressure, and difficulty. This is also the dative of indirect object indicating that the one’s in affliction for whom she performed the acts of aid were benefited by this.

“if she have diligently followed” — e)pakolouqew which means to devote one’s self to something. The aorist tense is the constative aorist, it gathers into one entirety the application of resident doctrine in the soul producing devotion to all intrinsic good production. The active voice: the qualified widow produces the action of the verb.

“every good work” should be “every intrinsic good production.” This does not means that there is any such thing as a perfect widow for there is no such thing as a perfect person. These are administrative guidelines.

What does it mean?

1. This means production totally divorced from every form of evil and every stage of reversionism.

2. It means production based on Bible doctrine resident in the soul under the principle of balance of residency.

3. It means production from the super-grace life — the filling of the Spirit plus maximum doctrine.

4. It means production which is sacrifice on the altar of the royal priesthood. The altar itself is doctrine in the soul. The sacrificing is the actual offering on the altar — production.

5. This means production totally divorced from any form of apostasy, religionism, legalism, reversionism.

Translation: “Certified by honourable accomplishments; if she has reared children well, if she has demonstrated hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the feet of the saints, if she has helped those being afflicted, if she has devoted herself to every intrinsic good production.”

Verse 11 — “But” is the adversative use of the conjunctive particle de to set up a contrast between qualified widows and young widows not qualified for the shepherding fund of the local church.

“the younger widows” — the accusative feminine plural direct object of newteroj; it is taken from neoj which means young, and this is the comparative.

“refuse” — present middle imperative of paraiteomai which means to excuse one’s self, to avoid, to decline, to reject, to refuse. The present tense is a pictorial present which actually depicts refusing certain ones. The middle voice is a deponent verb, it is actually active in meaning. It means that the deacon board must definitely refuse non-qualified types. The must be no emotional involvement, it must be based upon biblical principles. The imperative mood is a command. “But keep rejecting younger widows.”

“for” is an explanatory use of gar — “for you see.”

“when they have begun to wax wanton” — the aorist active subjunctive of katastrhniaw which means “when they have maximum libido.” It means to have strong or unusually strong sexual impulses. The present tense is a constative aorist for a pattern of strong libido, intense sexual desire. The active voice: younger widows have waves of strong, intense desire. The subjunctive mood is potential.

With this is a temporal particle, o(tan, it is used for an action which is conditional, which is repeated; it is always used with the aorist active subjunctive for a subordinate clause which precedes the main clause and it is temporal in its connotation.

“against Christ” is wrong. It is the ablative of separation for Xristoj used here for alteration in status of occupation with Christ. It should be translated, “which separates them from Christ.” That is, the younger widows and their maximum libido become so distracted by their sexual impulses that they become apathetic toward doctrine, toward Christ and they enter into the worst thing that could ever happen to an older woman: an adult stage of being man-crazy. The whole principle is that they lose occupation with Christ , they enter into reversionism, they become involved in the adult stage of being man-crazy.

“they will marry” is not what the Greek says: “they will” is a present active indicative of qelw and it means a strong emotional desire here. It is not a rational desire because they under the condition of being man-crazy, but it is a strong emotional desire. The present tense is a static present representing perpetual libido which makes the woman emotional instead of rational. The active voice: many young widows produce the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for perpetual desire from intense libido — “they keep desiring.” Then there is the present active infinitive of gamew which means to marry. The present tense is a perfective present, it means the continuation of existing results. The result is the fulfilling of a deliberate aim on their part.

Translation: “But keep rejecting younger widows: for you see when they have maximum libido which is separating them from Christ, they keep desiring to marry.”

Principle

1. Category #2 love can be a distraction to category #1 love. This is true in the category of young widows.

2. The young widow in the stage of man-craziness is the worst of all.

3. The widow so afflicted loses all of her perspective and discernment from doctrine or from common sense.

4. She usually makes a mistake in marriage or has an affair with a total jackass.

5. However, the only reason for category #2 distraction from category #1 love is reversionism, neglect of doctrine.

Verse 12 — “Having” is the present active participle from e)xw, meaning as a rule to have and to hold. The present tense is a present tense of duration which denotes reversionism begun in the past and continuing into the present time, resulting in the extreme libido and the desire to marry. The active voice: women under the influence of reversionism under the influence of evil, and having intense libido, produce the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial.

“damnation” — the accusative singular direct object from the noun krima which refers to judgment, and here it refers to the various stages of divine discipline for the reversionists.

The doctrine of divine discipline

1. Definition. Divine discipline is the sum total of punitive measures by which God corrects and judges the believer in time. All believers receive a certain amount of divine discipline administered from God Himself. Discipline is always the alternative to blessing in the Christian way of life. Two areas of discipline actually exist in phase two. There is discipline for carnality and there is discipline for reversionism. Discipline for carnality is always temporary, it is cancelled by the rebound technique. Discipline for reversionism is a permanent type of discipline, it always terminates in the sin unto death. Divine discipline never implies loss of salvation no matter how severe the discipline may be. The purpose of divine discipline in time is to correct the believer, to bring the believer to the point of reality with regard to either carnality or reversionism, to produce rebound for carnality and to produce recovery for reversionism.

2. The principle of divine discipline is found in Hebrews 12:5,6. The punitive action from God is for the believer only. Divine discipline is actually an extension of God’s love to the believer, it is an indication of relationship. Discipline is for children — “my son.” Proverbs 3:12 — “For whom the Lord loves he judges by punitive action; therefore like a father to a son in whom he delights.”

3. The purpose of divine discipline — Revelation 3:19. “Those whom I love I punish and correct...” The purpose of the discipline there is to get them to change their mind about doctrine and recover from reversionism. This is called the warning stage of divine discipline.

4. Divine discipline never implies loss of salvation — Galatians 3:26. Once a child, always a child.

5. Divine discipline is confined to time — Revelation 21:4. No one will ever be disciplined in eternity.

6. Discipline, therefore, is designed to turn cursing into blessing — 1 Corinthians 11:30,31. Rebound generally cancels discipline which is related to carnality. However, if the believer and suffering continues the purpose of that suffering is blessing, it no longer has any punitive connotation — Job 5:17,18.

7. Divine discipline or reversionism includes self-induced misery — Psalm 7:14-16.

8. The principle of triple-compound discipline where there is self-induced misery with divine discipline. Remember that everything that happens to you which can be regarded as punitive is not necessarily from God. Much punitive activity is self-imposed. First of all in triple-compound discipline you have three areas of failure and there is discipline in each area. The first is in the area of mental attitude sins. These sins always motivate verbal sins. Verbal sins are of a very peculiar nature in that if you gossip or malign or speak disparagingly about someone else — speaking in terms of sins which you allege they have committed — you have committed ma verbal sin for which there is divine discipline. But more than that, your verbal sins have mentioned sins which you have ascribed to others — they may be real or imagined. Whether you have told the truth or have told a lie you are the one who is out of line and therefore whatever sins you mention in your judging of others, each one of them carries a divine discipline which is also added to you. The first stage of triple-compound discipline — mental attitude sins, some reaction to someone mentally. Secondly, the verbal sins are the basis for further punitive action from God — Matthew 7:1; Psalm 64:7,8; James 4:11; 5:9. The third category: whatever sins are attributed to the victim of your maligning or judging carry a discipline which is transferred to the maligner, the gossipper, the judge. God has a perfect sense of justice.

9. Three categories of discipline in reversionism. a) The warning stage — Revelation 3:20. This is a warning that the judge is standing at the door ready to judge, as per James 5:9. The warning stage has a relatively simple recovery involving rebound and the persistent function of GAP. In this warning stage too much doctrine has not been lost in the right lobe; b) The intensive stage — Psalm 7:14; Psalm 38:1-14; c) The dying stage — Revelation 3:16.

“Constantly having discipline” — the worst thing that can happen is to get to the sin unto death.

The sin unto death

1. Definition. The sin unto death is the means by which the reversionistic believer is transferred from time to eternity. It is dying by means of maximum punitive measures from God. Dying is horrible, painful, miserable, the obvious exception to dying grace which is the way the super-grace believer is transferred from time to eternity. There will be no rewards in eternity.

2. Documentation. Psalm 118:17,18; 1 John 5:16 — “there is a sin unto death.”

3. The cause of the sin unto death: Prolonged and unchecked reversionism is always the cause. When you get into prolonged and unchecked reversionism you are also under the influence of evil. The combination of things leads to the sin unto death — Jeremiah 9:13-16; 44:12; Philippians 3:18,19.

4. The sin unto death does not mean loss of salvation — 2 Timothy 2:11-13.

5. There are only four ways to transfer from time to eternity: a) The sin unto death; b) Dying grace which is for super-grace believers only; c) PCS under paragraph SG³ — e.g. Enoch, the illustration in Hebrews 11:5; Elijah. This means crossing the high golden bridge between time and eternity without dying physically. The Rapture generation will have that opportunity; d) Resurrection, as the Rapture generation.

6. Case histories of the sin unto death. Monetary reversionism took Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-10. Phallic reversionism took the incestuous Corinthian in 1 Corinthians 5. (He repented). Ritual reversionism took the carnal Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 11:30-31. Mental attitude reversionism such as Saul refusing to kill the enemy — 1 Samuel 13:9-14, and his neglect of the Word — 1 Chronicles 10:13,14. Hymenaeus and Alexander through verbal reversionism — 1 Timothy 1:19,20. Anti-establishment reversionism such as King Hezekiah was guilty of — Isaiah 30:1-3; Isaiah 38. He, too, repented. In most of these cases the people were able to reverse it once they were under the sin unto death by repentance and by reversion recovery.

7. Rebound is also a factor in reversion recovery — 1 Corinthians 11:30-31; James 5:20.

8. The consistent function of GAP is absolutely necessary for reversion recovery — James 4:4-8.

“because” — the causal conjunction o(ti, explaining why they are constantly having discipline. “they have cast off” — aorist active indicative of the verb a)qetew which means to declare invalid, to set aside or reject, to swerve from. It is a verb of negative volition toward doctrine as related to reversionism. The constative aorist gathers up into one entirety the various stages of reversionism involved in the phrase “they have cast off.” The active voice: the reversionistic widows produce the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for the fact that these widows are in reversionism and they have swerved from something.

“their first faith” — the accusative singular of the definite article used as a possessive pronoun; the accusative singular direct object of prwtoj. Prwtoj is a superlative of pro connoting rank or degree meaning first, foremost, or most important. And finally we have the accusative singular direct object of pistij used here for Bible doctrine.

Translation: “Constantly having divine discipline because they have swerved from [or rejected] their previous doctrine [resident in their souls].”

Verse 13 — “And withal” is a post positive conjunction particle de, it should be translated, “And at the same time.” With it is the adverb a(ma which indicates the coincidence of two actions in time.

“they learn” is the present active indicative of manqanw which means to learn from someone else. This verb emphasises reversionists associating with reversionism and when this occurs it intensifies the reversionism.

“idle” is a predicate nominative from the adjective a)rgoj with the infinitive understood. The infinitive would be from e)imi and the predicate adjective is correctly translated “idle,” it means lazy or nothing to do, or useless. In fact they have to learn to be idle or useless and this indicates that at one time they were in super-grace, they were productive, and they did have great capacity for life and blessing. Now they have retrogressed into reversionism associated with others who are reversionistic, and they have learned from their association to be idle and useless. From idleness and uselessness they become very harmful. No one ever stands still, you are either moving forward or moving backward. Here is a picture now of those moving backward.

“wandering about” — the present middle participle of perierxomai. It means to wander without having any objective or goal, merely trying to find someone to please you or to make you happy. It has to do with a life of no direction. The present tense is a present tense of duration, it denotes something begun in the past and continuing into the present time. It is generally associated with the adverb a(ma and when it is it is always translated like a perfect tense and should be translated “having wandered around.” The middle voice is the indirect middle emphasising the reversionistic widows as producing the action of the verb rather than participating in the results of the action. The participle is circumstantial. With it is the accusative plural direct object of the definite article used as a demonstrative pronoun, plus the accusative plural of o)ikia. With this verb o)ikia means from house to house. Literally in the English it would be “houses.”

Principle

1. The demonstrative pronoun is not translated in the idiom, it emphasises the identity of the houses where the idle widows are moving to and from. It indicates that they have associated with those who are reversionistic. Like associate with like kind, and when this occurs they influence each other. They have inbred idleness.

2. The wandering indicates a life without direction or purpose or definition.

3. There is no preposition here, the idiom is rendered into the English “from house to house” rather than “houses.”

4. It is inevitable that people whose life has become meaningless and without purpose become idle, have nothing to do, and inevitably become trouble makers.

5. There is never enough time in a day for those who have a meaningful life. For the super-grace believer with doctrine in the soul he has the capacity for life, for happiness, for blessing and there never is enough time in the day.

“and not only idle — this is the first step in retrogression from uselessness. They are not only idle. Idleness is merely a status quo, a temporary place from which they go down. The circumstances for every kind of trouble making always are based upon idleness or uselessness — no enthusiasms in life of any kind. Idleness becomes a supply base or support base. It becomes a fire support base for both mental attitude and verbal sins as well as a variation in the function of evil.

In this case these widows who have now come to this stage of reversionism are now declared to be “tattlers also” — the conjunction a)lla for once is not used in its usual adversative sense, but it is used here when a whole clause is compared. So we have a comparison on the downward trend. There is also the adjunctive kai to indicate that this is retrogression. It is translated “also.”

“busybodies” — the nominative plural of fluaroj and it means “gossips.” The verb fluarew is the source of this noun and it means to throw up bubbles. From there it came to mean empty and foolish talk. It finally came to be a more serious type of thing — maligning, gossiping, unjustified charges or motivated by mental attitude sins to run down someone else. We translate this, “but also gossips.”

The doctrine of the sins of the tongue

1. Definition.

a. Sin is defined as transgression of the law of God.

b. A known sin is a transgression or violation of divine law.

c. An unknown sin is likewise a transgression of divine law.

d. In both cases the violation is involved. Whether you know it or not you’ve done it and your volition is involved.

e. The difference between an known and unknown sin is cognisance of divine law [Bible doctrine], especially in the field of hamartiology.

f. Whether the divine law is known or not human volition is involved in transgression of the law.

g. All sin, therefore, combines the function of the old sin nature’s area of weakness with human volition.

h. Three categories of sin exist in the human race:

i) The imputation of Adam’s sin to each member of the human race directly.

ii) The perpetuation of the old sin nature through physical birth, causing the individual to be physically alive at birth and simultaneously spiritually dead.

iii) Personal sin which occurs after birth and before physical death.

i. There are three categories of personal sin:

i) Mental sins such as envy, pride, arrogance, jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, hatred, etc.

ii) Verbal sins such as gossip, slander, maligning, judging, lying.

iii) Overt sins such as adultery, murder, stealing, drunkenness, and so on.

j. All personal sins originate from the old sin nature involving the human volition.

k. This means that verbal sins originate from the old sin nature and are activated by human volition.

l. Human volition is involved in all sins.

m. The instrument of verbal sins is that portion of the human anatomy called the tongue — James 3:6.

2. Out of the list of the seven worst sins three of the worst sins are sins of the tongue — Proverbs 6:16-19.

3. Verbal sins and reversionism. Verbal sins are always motivated by mental sins. Sins of the mental attitude which motivate verbal sins are generally pride, jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, pettiness — Psalm 5:8,9; James 4:11.

4. The sins of the tongue produce triple compound discipline. First of all there is discipline for the mental attitude sins, there is discipline for the verbal sins which result, and whatever sins are mentioned with regard to the victim whatever the judgment is for that sin it is transferred to the one who judges.

5. God protects the super-grace believer from verbal sins — Job 5:19-21.

6. The congregation and the tongue.

a) Control of the tongue plus avoidance of verbal sins is a sign of spiritual maturity — James 3:2.

b) Verbal sins can destroy an entire congregation — James 3:5,6.

c) Since the sins of the tongue can destroy an entire congregation of believers it is the solemn duty of the pastor-teacher to warn against them — 2 Timothy 2:14-17.

d) Trouble makers in the congregation are characterised by sins of the tongue — Psalm 52:1-4.

e) Separation from those guilty of the sins of the tongue is commanded — Romans 16:17,18.

7. Blessing from the avoidance of the sins of the tongue is mentioned in Psalm 34:12,13. The “lips from speaking deceit” refers to gossiping, maligning or judging.

“and busybodies” — the nominative plural from the compound adjective periergoj [peri: around; e)rgon: work], hence working around someone in a sneaky way is what it connotes. It means to be meddlesome, to intrude into things that do not concern you. it means violating the privacy of others. We can translate this, “and invaders of privacy.”

Every believer is protected by a double privacy. First of all being a member of the human race he is protected by divine institution #1. He is entitled to his privacy as long as he is not a criminal. Secondly, as a member of the royal priesthood he is entitled to privacy to live his life as unto the Lord. All born again believers have a double privacy.

The doctrine of privacy

1. Privacy is a state of being apart from observation and the company of others.

2. Privacy is the innate right of the human race to seclusion.

3. Privacy is that principle of freedom whereby the individual member of the human race has the right to retire from the company of others, remaining in seclusion from the knowledge or observation of others.

4. Privacy and property and life are the basic concepts of human freedom.

5. The laws of divine establishment guarantee the privacy of every member of the human race so that he can exercise his freedom uncoerced. Exception: criminals.

6. In addition to freedom and establishment every believer has additional privacy from his royal priesthood to fulfil the principle of living his life as unto the Lord.

The principle of privacy and the royal priesthood — 1 Peter 2:9.

The royal priesthood must have privacy to fulfil its mission in phase two. It must be able to function so as to live individually as unto the Lord — Colossians 3:17 demands privacy.

No believer has the right to intrude into the privacy of another believer.

Violation of privacy means judging. When you judge other people you are violating their privacy — Romans 14:4,10.

Privacy includes, then, the principle of live and let live — 2 Thessalonians 3:11,12.

Reversionists always violate the privacy of others — 1 Timothy 5:13.

Violaters of the privacy of others is comparable to other freedom violations. In other words, when you stick your nose into someone else’s business you are violating the very principle by which you live — freedom. Property is violated by stealing. Intrusion into the privacy of others in effect is compared to murder and stealing in 1 Peter 4:15.

“speaking” is the present active participle of the verb lalew which means to speak. It includes here sins of the tongue as well as nosiness and other soul kinks. The present tense in the Greek is a customary present, indicating what habitually occurs when a busybody starts trying to live some one else’s life. The active voice: the meddler or the busybody produces the action of the verb through violation of privacy by means of the sins of the tongue. The participle is circumstantial.

“things” is the accusative plural of the definite article which is used here as a demonstrative pronoun. The demonstrative pronoun emphasises the sinful and evil content of gossip.

“which they ought not” — present active participle from the impersonal verb dei. With it is the negative mh. The participle is in the accusative, it is a direct object, and it should be translated, “those things which ought not to be spoken [mentioned].”

Translation: “And at the same time also they learn to be idle, having wandered around from house to house; and not only idle, but also gossips and invaders of privacy, constantly saying those things which ought not to be mentioned.”

Verse 13 — “And withal” should be “And at the same time.” The word “withal” is a post positive conjunction de used as a transitional particle, translated “and,” plus an adverb a(ma meaning “at the same time.” We also have an adjunctive kai, translated “also.”

“they learn” — present active indicative of the verb manqanw which means to learn from someone else, to learn by imitating someone else, to learn by association. The present tense means that they are in bad company and learning rapidly from them. They are concentrating on their bad company instead of concentrating on doctrine. The active voice means that these widows are producing the action. The indicative mood is for the historical reality of their condition. The verb emphasises reversionists associating with reversionists.

“to be idle” — the verb to be is the infinitive that follows manqanw and it doesn’t actually occur, but in the idiom it demands it. We have a predicate nominative adjective a)rgoj. It should be translated “idle, useless.” The fact that they have to learn to be idle or useless indicates that at one time these ladies were in super-grace, were productive, were enjoying a life full of blessing and activity. Now they have retrogressed from that point into reversionism, are associated with other reversionists, and they are learning from their association to be idle and to be useless — idle in the sense of having nothing constructive to do and useless in the sense of having no capacity for life, so no matter what they do they don’t enjoy it. From idleness and useless they also become harmful. Remember the principle: No believer ever stands still.

Verse 14 — “I will” is the present active indicative from the verb boulomai. This is a verb used for the decision of the will after careful deliberation. Always when used by an apostle, as it is in this case, it is tantamount to a strong command decision. The present tenses is a static present for circumstances which perpetually exist. The active voice: the apostle Paul under the ministry of the Holy Spirit produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is the reality of such a command decision.

“therefore” is a post positive inferential conjunction, o)un. It refers back to the younger widows and states a conclusion about them. Since they are not qualified for charity from the local church, since they have their own brand of problems, since some of them are in reversionism, we have now reached a decision about them, says the apostle. “Therefore it is my decision that” is the way it should be translated.

“the younger women” — the accusative feminine plural from newteroj. This is an accusative of general reference and it acts as the subject of the infinitive. The infinitive is the verb “marry,” the present active infinitive of gamew. This is a customary present, what is reasonably expected for some woman who is out of line; a man has to straighten her out. The active voice: the younger widows produce the action of the verb by getting under their right man — authority. The infinitive expresses purpose.

Principles

1. It is assumed that the younger widows have not necessarily married their right man. If they had they wouldn’t be in the shape they are in now that they are widows. They would have learned something from their first husband.

2. They are commanded to marry again for several reasons. The first reason is obviously to avoid the influence of evil described in verses 11-13.

3. It is obvious that they needed to be under the authority of a man who is a man.

4. This also helps them to recover from reversionism because a reversionist is always in conflict, even with his right pastor.

5. Having accepted the authority of her husband who is either her right man or a real man who assumes the spiritual leadership of the family she will also accept the authority of and the teaching of the pastor from whose messages she recovers.

6. They will enjoy all of the benefits and all of the blessings of category #2 love which keeps a woman out of trouble.

7. Therefore here is a case where it is beneficial to the spiritual as well as the physical life of a certain category of woman to get married.

8. This command has exceptions of all kinds in widowhood. It also has exceptions for anyone who has the gift of celibacy or the law of supreme sacrifice.

“bear children” is the present active infinitive from the compound teknogonew. The present tense is a customary present for what would be reasonably expected to occur. The active voice: obviously these are younger widows, they produce the action of the verb in their second marriage. This is the antithesis of verses 11-13. It is an infinitive of purpose. We do not say “bear children” any more, we say “have children.”

“guide the house” — present active infinitive from o)ikodespotew. Despotew means to rule, to administer; o)ikoj is “house.” Together they mean “manager of the house,” but it doesn’t mean that at all here, it means “be mistress of the home.” The present tense is a customary present for what is reasonably expected to occur in the second marriage. The active voice: the younger widows produce the action of the verb, instead of the action in verses 11-13. Again, it is an infinitive of purpose. She is now going to advance spiritually instead of retrogress.

“give none occasion” — the word “give” is a present active infinitive of didomi. The present tense is a customary present for what may be reasonably expected to occur. The active voice: again the younger widow produces the action. The infinitive is not the infinitive of purpose this time, it is the imperative infinitive. In other words, added to the authority of a real man whom she marries or a right man there is an additional authority, this is a command to those ladies in case they do not quite catch on as to what that second marriage is all about. “None occasion” is the accusative singular direct object from mhdeij, which can be not, none or no; and with it is the accusative feminine singular direct object a)formh, and it means “opportunity” — “give no opportunity.”

“to the adversary” — dative singular from the articular present active participle a)ntikeimei. A)nti means against; keimai means to occupy against, and it comes to mean “enemy.” The participle should be translated like a noun. This is a dative of reference referring to Satan himself.

The doctrine of the devil

1. The person of the devil.

a) The devil is the highest of all angelic creatures — Matthew 8:28; 9:34; 12:26; Luke 11:8,19.

b) The devil is the prehistoric super creature — Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:11-19.

c) The devil has three falls — Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28; Revelation 12 and Revelation 20. His first fall was his revolt; he led the angelic revolt. His second fall is when he loses rulership of the world, and his third fall is when he is cast into the lake of fire forever.

d) The devil also has two advent. In his first advent he came into the garden, found man in perfect environment and led him astray. The second advent of the devil: again he comes in perfect environment at the end of the Millennial reign of Christ and he leads another revolution. These two advents are related to two revolts against God.

e) The devil is the central antagonist of the angelic conflict. He is the enemy; all demons are enemies; all unbelievers are the enemies of God; all reversionists are the enemies of God; but the devil is the enemy — Hebrews chapters 1 & 2; Genesis 6; 1 Peter 3:18-22.

f) The devil has an organisation — Ephesians 6:10-12.

g) The devil is a murderer — John 8:44.

h) The devil is the opponent to Bible doctrine — Matthew 13:9,39.

i) The devil is the enemy of the Church, the royal family of God — Revelation 2:9,13,24.

2. The principle that the devil is the ruler of this world — Luke 4:5-7; John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2. He took over the rulership at the fall of man and will continue to rule until the second advent.

3. Therefore the devil has a strategy regarding the nations of the world — Revelation 12:9; 20:3,8. The strategy generally makes him the opponent of doctrine and the opponent of establishment. He either tries to duplicate in a pseudo way what God has accomplished or he is directly opposed to what God has given.

4. Therefore the devil has a strategy regarding unbelievers in the world. This is stated in many passages — 2 Corinthians 4:4, to blind the unbeliever to the true principles of the gospel. This is illustrated in 2 Peter 2. His strategy regarding the unbeliever is found also in Luke 8:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:7-10; Colossians 2:8; the entire 17th chapter of Revelation. Religion is the devil’s ace trump. It isn’t his only system, every system of evil is a part of Satan’s strategy in blinding the unbeliever but the ace trump of all and the worst thing that ever happened to this world is religion.

5. Therefore the devil has strategy regarding the believer as well. We are a challenge to Satan in this Church Age. We are the royal family of God, we are the ambassadors of Jesus Christ. Therefore he has a sevenfold strategy:

a) To accuse us — 2 Corinthians 2:11; Job 1:6-11; Zechariah 3:1,2; Revelation 12:9,10; 1 John 2:1,2.

b) He is the sponsorer of reversionism — 1 Corinthians 10:19-21; 2 Corinthians 11:3,13-15.

c) To frustrate the will of God under 3 categories. He frustrates the mental will of God by means of the influence of evil in one’s life — Ephesians 4:14; he frustrates the geographical will of God — 1 Thessalonians 2:18; he frustrates the operational will of God — James 4:7,8.

d) To neutralise doctrinal application, especially in the field of worry and anxiety — 1 Peter 5:7-9.

e) To destroy the believer’s focus as a believer, to destroy the believer’s perspective — Jeremiah 17:5, getting eyes on people; 1 Kings 19:10,14, getting eyes on self; Hebrews 13:5,6, getting eyes on things.

f) To get the believer to become involved in some form of evil, especially the improvement of the devil’s world. The believer under the influence of evil becomes humanistic, occupied with temporal solutions to life, altruistic, advocating systems to improve man’s environment, he becomes socialistic, becomes involved in social action, and becomes a bleeding heart.

g) The inculcation of fear regarding physical death — Hebrews 2:14,15. This only works with the reversionist and/or the believer under the influence of evil.

6. Religion is a part of the devil’s strategy. Basically religion has been created by the devil to

counterfeit the plan of God. Christianity is not a religion; Christianity is a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. It is always a grace relationship, a relationship by which the believer enters the royal family of God forever through the baptism of the Spirit. Religion, by way of contrast, is man seeking to gain the approbation of God through his own plans, his works, his merits, his systems, his deeds. While religion as a principle represents the evil genius of Satan it is viewed here from the standpoint of its many counterfeits. Religion has a counterfeit gospel — 2 Corinthians 4:3,4; it has a counterfeit system of ministers [clergy] — 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; it has counterfeit doctrines — 2 Timothy 4:1; it has a counterfeit communion table — 2 Corinthians 10:19-21; it has a system of counterfeit spirituality — Galatians 3:2,3; it has a counterfeit righteousness — Matthew 19:16-28; it has a counterfeit modus vivendi — Matthew 23:13-26; it has a counterfeit power, dynamics [tongues] — 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10; it has counterfeit gods — 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4.

7. False teachers are a part of the devil’s strategy. Most of the clergy today are false teachers.

a) False teachers always have a phoney and hypocritical facade. You will never meet a false teacher but what he will give you the impression that you are the most important person in the world. He’ll make you feel wanted, he will stimulate your ego to the point where you will be arrogant until you will think he is the nicest man! But he does that to all of the people and you are just one of the many victims of his con-artistry. Matthew 7:15; Romans 16:18.

b) False teachers use human public relations systems and legalistic flirtations to court believers — “I never do it that way, I think that’s wrong.” In this way they always court the legalistic. “You know Reverend, you’re right,” and they form a mutual admiration society; and they’re both full of hot air.

c) False teachers appeal to human pride — 2 Corinthians 10:12.

d) False teachers promote idolatry as a part of the devil’s communion table — Habakkuk 2:18,19.

e) False teachers promote legalism and self-righteousness — 1 Timothy 1:7,8.

f) False teachers continue throughout the intensive period of the angelic conflict, which is the Church Age — 1 John 4:1.

“to speak reproachfully” — a descriptive genitive singular from loidoria which means abusive, abuse, or reproach; plus the accusative singular from xarin which is not an adverb. It is erroneously translated in the KJV and it should be, to reproach or abuse grace.”

Translation: “Therefore it is my decision that the younger widows marry, have children, be mistress of the home, give no opportunity to the enemy to abuse grace.”

The doctrine of Grace

1. Definition.

a) Grace is all that God is free to for man on the basis of the work of Christ on the cross.

b) Grace is God’s freedom and God’s consistency to express His love to mankind without compromising or jeopardising His essence.

c) No one can truly give and rightly give apart from freedom, total freedom without compromising His character. All of this is because of the cross.

d) Consequently grace is the plan of God on behalf of man beginning at the cross.

e) Grace is both God’s plan and God’s policy regarding mankind.

g) Grace therefore is the plan, the policy, the function, the mechanics of divine modus operandi.

h) Under grace God does all the work, all the providing. Man does all the receiving and all the benefiting, totally apart from merit.

Concept:

Grace depends on the essence or character of God, therefore grace always depends on who and what God is. Grace is what God can do for man and be consistent with His own essence. Grace is God’s relationship with the believer as well as God’s way of salvation. Grace is all that God can do for man from salvation to eternity, totally apart from man’s merit, ability, his talent or his plan. Grace in the genius of God and grace is the manifestation of that genius. The issue, then, is God doing it [grace] versus man doing it [legalism]. Legalism is man’s intrusion into the plan of God by his ability, works, talent, schemes, etc. The believer must learn therefore to sort out the difference between grace and legalism. The believer often clings to something that he thinks will impress God because so many people are impressed by it. Grace and legalism cannot exist together. They are mutually exclusive, antagonistic.

2. Grace and the new contract for the Church. The church is under a special contract, this is a special dispensation. The Age of Israel was interrupted, so the glorification of Jesus Christ by resurrection, ascension and session — the strategic victory of the angelic conflict — was the victory which interrupted the Jewish Age in order that the royal family of God might be formed. The royal family of God is formed by means of the baptism of the Spirit, and the new covenant or the new contract to the Church is related to Bible doctrine in the field of sanctification. Grace found a way to take man created inferior to angelic creatures and make them superior. This is accomplished in the three phases of sanctification.

First of all, there is positional sanctification that makes us in union with Christ higher than angels. Paragraph one of the new contract (the entering paragraph) provides for royalty the fact that every member of the royal family is positionally higher than angels. This is grace, we didn’t earn it. In addition the royal family have signs of that royalty in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the sealing ministry of the Spirit, and so on.

The second stage is experiential sanctification, the second paragraph of the new contract, and here again we have strictly grace provision. God in His grace has provided numerous things for the tactical victory. He has provided, for example, living grace by which we remain alive and well in the devil’s world. He has provided a pastor-teacher, the local church which is the classroom, and the Bible as the textbook. He has provided a grace apparatus for perception of doctrine so that no matter what a person is by way of human IQ he can receive the Word. He has also provided the ministry of the Holy Spirit to take the doctrine in the soul, put it in its proper categories and relate it to life and application. He has provided the perpetuation of wonderful blessings which glorify God. So experiential sanctification is actually the balance of residency between the filling of the Spirit and maximum doctrine in the soul.

The third paragraph deals with eternity where we have the believer in a resurrection body, living under perfect environment forever and ever. This is a place of grace and blessing even though we do not earn it or deserve it, and even though some will not be decorated.

3. Review of the concept.

a) Saving grace. Every believer has tasted grace at least once — Hebrews 6:4; 1 Peter 2:3. The moment a person believers, not matter how he felt or where he was, he believes 36 irrevocable things.

b) Living grace. Because of propitiation every believer is also under maximum love from God — 1 John 2:2. This maximum love frees God to pour out maximum grace, and grace can only benefit where there is capacity for grace. Living grace falls into two categories. God can express His love to you in grace in one of two ways, thanks to propitiation. He can express His love in blessing or He can express His love in discipline. It all depends whether the believer is influenced by doctrine or influenced by evil. Living grace means that God keeps us alive in order to provide blessing and in order to be glorified. When God can bless any believer totally apart from cosmos diabolicus, this glorifies Him.

c) Super-grace or reaching the high ground. This is the point of maturity where we receive various categories of blessing — Paragraph SG², spiritual blessings: occupation with Christ, capacity for category #1 love based on doctrine, the sharing of the happiness of God, maximum application of doctrine, great capacity for love and happiness blessing in life; temporal blessing: wealth, success, promotion, various types of prosperity; dying blessing. The only way to reach maturity is maximum doctrine in the soul. Paragraph SG³ is the area of eternity.

4. The modus vivendi of grace.

a) Grace is the means of growth — 2 Peter 3:18. Grace is the basis for stability — Hebrews 12:28; 13:9; 1 Peter 5:12.

b) Grace is the basis for production — 1 Corinthians 15:10; 2 Corinthians 6:1.

c) Failure to utilise grace means discipline — Galatians 5:4; Hebrews 12:15. That discipline falls in three categories: warning, intensive and dying.

d) Grace is also related to blessing in suffering — 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

5. The axioms of grace.

a) God is perfect, His plan is perfect.

b) A perfect plan can only originate and function from the source of a perfect person — members of the Godhead.

c) If mankind can do anything meritorious in the plan of God it is no longer perfect. Man is imperfect, he cannot therefore contribute to a perfect plan.

d) A plan is no stronger than its weakest link. There is no weak link in God’s plan because God does all the work.

e) Grace excludes all human merit and ability, all human good and legalism, all self-righteousness and arrogance.

f) Legalism is the enemy of grace. There is no place for legalism or human good in the plan of God. g) All legalism and human good is associated with the greatest of mental attitude sins, the original sin of Satan himself which is pride or arrogance.

6. Therefore there are four areas in which pride or arrogance rejects grace.

a) The pride of the believer who rejects the doctrine of eternal security. Anyone who rejects eternal security has to be arrogant, he always assumes that his sins are greater than the grace of God and greater than the plan of God.

b) The pride of the believer who succumbs to pressure or adversity. He always thinks that his sufferings, his adversities, his difficulties are greater than the grace provision of God.

c) The pride of reversionism. The reversionist assumes that his form of reversionism is greater than super-grace blessing. He assumes that his ecstatic experiences, his functions of legalism, are more important than Bible doctrine.

d) The pride of pseudo spirituality, the pride of the believer who thinks that his system of spirituality is greater than the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 15 — “For” is the explanatory conjunction gar, “For you see”; “some” — the nominative plural of the indefinite pronoun tij. This pronoun is always used to emphasise a special category, a certain category of believers. This category might be classified by the rest of the verse as reversionistic believers, believers under the influence of evil.

“already” — the adverb of time h(dh, indicating that these people are already in reversionism.

“are turned aside” is the aorist passive indicative of the verb e)ktrepw. It means to turn away, to turn away from, to swerve, to avoid. The implication is that some believers have already swerved away from doctrine and therefore are in some stage of reversionism. The aorist tense is a constative aorist which always contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, regardless of its extent or duration, and gathers it up into a single whole. The passive voice: this is a deponent verb, passive in form, middle in connotation. It emphasises the reversionistic believer as producing the action. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality. In every generation there will be certain believers who swerve from doctrine and enter into reversionism, coming under the influence of evil. When they do they have turned aside to Satan.

“turned aside after Satan” — they are Satan’s servants even though they are born again and are members of the royal family of God. Technically they are the Lord’s servants but they are actually serving Satan.

The word “after” is an adverb, o)pisw. This is an adverb used as an improper preposition. The object of the improper preposition is the genitive of the word satanaj, referring to the devil/Satan. The prepositional phrase implies the present active participle of the verb a)kolouqew. It has great linear aktionsart — “following after Satan.” In other words, all reversionists come under the influence of evil. Evil is the policy of Satan. A person may be a believer but if he is functioning under Satan’s policy he is Satan’s servant.

Translation: “For certain believers [reversionists] already have turned aside [from doctrine], following after Satan.”

Verse 16 — the division of responsibility. “If” is the conjunction e)i, it introduces a first class condition. This is the protasis and it assumes it to be true; “any man or woman that believeth” is not really what the Greek says. It says “if any believer” — tij pisth. Tij is the indefinite pronoun and pisth is only one word, so obviously we don’t have any man or woman in here. Tij is the nominative masculine singular of the indefinite pronoun, and the indefinite pronoun represents a specific category. This category may be classified as those having widows in their family. The word pisth is the nominative feminine singular of the adjective pistoj. The adjective actually means believers male or female. “If any believer.” We see a potential failure coming up. There are widows and there are believers related to them.

“have” — present active indicative of e)xw which means to have and to hold. The present tense of duration denotes what has begun in the past and continues into the present time. The active voice: certain believers produce this action. They have related to them widows. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality.

“widows” is the accusative plural of direct object of xhra. “If any man has widows [dependent on them].”

“let them relieve them” — present active imperative of e)parkew which means to aid, to help financially, to assist. The present tense is a customary present. This is what you would expect from someone with a sense of responsibility in this field. The active voice: the believer with dependent widows produces the action. The dependent widows may be members of his own family, or it may be an aunt, or a servant who is a widow and who has faithfully served over the years. The imperative mood is a command and it should be translated, “be assisting them financially.” We also have the accusative plural direct object of the intensive pronoun a)utoj for these helpless widows. The intensive pronoun is in the feminine gender referring here to widows, it empahsises the identity of these helpless and dependent people.

“and let not the church be charged” — in other words the church will always have certain people who have no relatives. We have a connective conjunction kai, the nominative singular e)kklhsia for the local church, the negative mh, the present passive imperative of barew which means to be burdened and this is a customary present for what may be reasonably expected not to occur. In other words, if a widow has relatives they should assist financially and the church should not have to carry that extra burden, the church will have sufficient who are totally dependent upon the charity list. The passive voice: the local church receives the action of the verb of not being burdened. The imperative plus the negative becomes an imperative of prohibition. It should be translated, “do not let the local church be burdened.”

“that” introduces an important final clause — i(na, “in order that.” This final clause always denotes a purpose, an objective, an aim or a goal.

“it may relieve” — e)parkew, meaning to help financially, but this time it is in the aorist. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, which means that from the time the widow qualifies until the time that she dies it is gathered up into one entirety. The active voice: the church produces the action. The subjunctive mood introduces a purpose.

“them that are widows indeed” — this is actually, “those who are really widows.

Translation: “If any believers has widows dependent on him, be helping them financially, and do not permit the local church to be burdened; in order that it [the local church] may help financially those who are really widows.”

Verse 17 — “Let the elders that rule well” — the nominative plural of presbuteroj, “pastor-guardian.” There are a lot of pastors, but only one per church. The definite article in Greek is used as a demonstrative pronoun and should be translated, “Those pastor-guardians.” The verb: “that rule well” — proisthmi which means to rule or to govern. This is a perfect tense, perfect active participle. The perfect tense is a dramatic perfect, the rhetorical use of the intensive perfect. It describes the existing state of honourable rule by a pastor in an unusual and dramatic way. It emphasises both the existing state and the results of the action of the verb. This is the status quo and this is the way it will always be. You will never grow unless you are in a local church, and in a local church there is only one final authority and that is the pastor. There is in essence only one teacher, only one declarer of policy, and that is the pastor and he communicates it all through Bible doctrine. He communicates with authority, he has a spiritual gift which makes it possible for him to teach doctrine. Scripture must be transferred to the soul as categorical doctrine and there is only one person who can do it, your right pastor. He does it by study and teach, study and teach. That is the perfect tense. He rules, he has to rule to communicate, to be the policy-maker. The active voice: certain pastors in each generation produce the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial. “Well” is the adverb kaloj which means “honourably” or “well.” “Those pastor-guardians who have ruled well with the result that they keep ruling honourably.” That is the intensive perfect.

“be counted worthy of double honour” — present passive imperative of a)ciow. The present tense is a retroactive progressive present or the present tense of duration denotes what has begun in the past and continues into the present time. In other words, in every generation pastor guardians must be given double honour. They are the highest authority extant in the Church Age and therefore they are worthy of double honour. The passive voice: the pastor-guardians who have ruled well produce the action of the verb. The imperative mood is a command to the congregation whose pastor has ruled well. It should be translated “be considered worthy of”; the word “double” is the adjective diplowj, and with it the noun timh. Both are in the objective genitive. The translation so far: “Those pastor-guardians who have ruled well with the result that they keep ruling honourably, they must be considered worthy of double honour.” Double honour is “respect” which goes with authority, “remuneration” which is how their time is liberated to do their job.

Remuneration: The pastor’s income must come from congregational giving. This is the primary purpose for the worship function of the royal priesthood called giving.

Respect: The pastor has the highest authority and the purest authority in the world today. Respect for the pastor’s authority is related to positive volition toward his teaching. What you think of him personally is of no consequence. What God thinks of him personally is of every consequence. So respect for the pastor’s authority is related to your attitude toward the Word. From here evolves the positive volition principle into respect for the policy which emerges from Bible teaching. From the divine viewpoint this phrase has another connotation by way of application. The pastor receives double blessing when he is straight and double discipline when he is out of line.

“especially” — malista is the superlative of the adverb mala and it means “above all.” The pastor who should receive double honour is “above all.”

“they who labour” — is defining the pastor who is worthy of double honour. His function is the issue here — study and teach. This is the articular present active participle from kopiaw which means to work to exhaustion. The present tense is a customary present for what may be reasonably expected of an honourable pastor. His honour comes from his hard work. The definite article is used as a relative pronoun referring to pastors only. The active voice: the pastors produce the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial. It should be translated, “those who work hard.” That means study and teach, not visiting hospitals, calling on people, counselling, etc. It is the teaching of doctrine that counts.

“in the word” is the preposition e)n plus the locative of logoj, and it means “in the sphere of the word” or in the sphere of doctrine.”

“and doctrine” is a continuation of the prepositional phrase — didaskalia. What is the difference between logoj and didaskalia? The word is where you find it, the textbook. Logoj refers to the page of the book. But didaskalia is having it in your soul. Doctrine in the page of the Bible must be transferred to your soul, the only place it is any good — “in the study of the word and teaching.”

This is the story of the pastor’s life, his primary function to which all other activities are totally secondary. The pastor much be a student and communicator of the Word of God.

Translation: “Those pastor-guardians who have ruled well with the result that they keep ruling honourably, must be considered worthy of double honour, most of all those who work hard to the point of exhaustion in the study of the word and the teaching of doctrine.”

Principles

1. The two basic functions of the pastor are mentioned in this verse: ruling honourably, which is the exercise of his authority; studying and teaching, which is the exercise of his spiritual gift.

2. Both the gift and the authority were sovereignly given by the grace from God.

3. Therefore the entire life of the pastor is based on grace gifts from God plus grace provision for his daily life.

4. The pastor, then, is the maximum product of grace in the Church Age.

5. To whom much is given much is expected. Therefore we have the principle of double honour, double blessing, as well as double discipline.

Verse 18 — We have here biblical documentation for that part of the pastor’s double honour known as remuneration. The double honour of the previous verse is respect and remuneration. “For” is the explanatory use of the conjunctive particle gar which elaborates one of the two points of double honour. Double honour is really the subject of the next few verses and gar is going to give us an elaboration.

“the scripture” — the nominative singular of grafh refers to the canon of scripture as it existed at that time in writing. The canon was not completed, it was in the process of being completed and so at this particular moment it is referring actually to the Old Testament scriptures. The citation recognises the fact that the Old Testament has the same honour as the New Testament as far as being canonical.

“saith” is the present active indicative of the verb legw. The present tense is the static present and recognises the eternity of the scripture. The active voice: the subject produce the action of the verb, and the subject is the Old Testament canon now in writing and now recognised by the Church as a part of their holy scripture. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal action from the viewpoint of dogmatic reality. Paul quotes from the Old Testament and he also quotes something that has already been quoted in other passages in the New Testament. Part of the New Testament has already been formed and in this way the New Testament is considered on a par with the Old Testament and the Old Testament is considered on a par with the New Testament, and that satisfies both the Old and the New dispensations. It also verifies the fact that the Old Testament and the New Testament together form the sacred canon of scripture.

There are two quotations actually given in this passage. The first is taken from Deuteronomy 25:4 but it is also quoted in 1 Corinthians 9:9. The very fact that Paul uses a word that he has already quoted in a previous epistle indicates that Paul himself was aware that what he was writing was a part of the scripture.

“Thou shalt not muzzle” — future active indicative of qimow plus the strong negative o)uk. The future tense is called the imperative future and with the negative it means the imperative future of prohibition. In other words, in the Greek it carries the same strength as the decalogue “Thou shalt nots.”

“the ox” is the accusative singular direct object of the masculine gender of the noun bouj which is a bull, a hardworking bull around the farm.

“that treadeth out the corn” is wrong. it is a present active participle of a)loaw which means to thresh. We have a threshing bull, he is actually pulling an instrument for threshing. The present tense is the aoristic present for punctiliar action in present time. The active voice: the owner of the bull produces the action, he remunerates him by not muzzling him. The participle is temporal and it should read: “For the scripture says, You shall not muzzle the bull while he is threshing.” This is the principle of remuneration. The same thing is true of the congregation. The church releasees the time of the pastor so he can study and teach, and as a result he feeds himself while he studies. He feeds himself spiritually by taking in the Word and he feeds himself by being remunerated for studying the Word.

The second quotation is also found in Deuteronomy 24:15. It is quoted in Luke 10:7. The word “and” is incorrect. This is the adjunctive use of the conjunction kai which should be translated “also.” In other words, also from the two references where this is previously used.

“the labourer” — the nominative singular e)rgathj which means a person who is working for someone else for wages. It means “labour” as a principle.

“is worthy of his reward” — “worthy” is a predicate adjective of a)cioj; “reward” is misqoj which means wages. This indicated that in the ancient world management set up standards and then paid on the basis of the standards being fulfilled. The word “worthy” means that there were previous standards which were fulfilled.

Translation: “For the scripture says, You will not muzzle the bull while he is threshing. Also, the labourer is worthy of his wages.”

Summary

1. The passage teaches, first of all from its surface examination, the principle of fair remuneration. This principle is quoted here as documentation for remuneration of the pastor-guardian of the local church.

2. However, the principle applies to every facet of life. The dignity of humanity, the poise of mankind, is related to productive capacity.

3. In other words, man must work for a living since the fall of Adam.

4. Management must apply this principle in dealing with labour.

5. People must apply this principle in paying their doctor bills, their dentist bills, their plumber bills, or any profession or trade where knowledge or skill is required. In other words, we are not only talking about remuneration of the pastor, we are talking about remuneration as a principle in life.

6. This means paying your bills to doctors, lawyers, dentists, engineers, or any professional category where years have been spent in acquiring this knowledge or profession. They have a right to charge.

7. In effect, this bill should pay for knowledge and education of the professional type, his skill, his honour, his integrity.

8. This means that the Government should pay well its honourable profession, such as the military category.

9. This means that local government should pay well its professional employees — police and fire-fighters, for example.

10. This means that the individual should pay well the tradesman, the professional, who has acquired both technical knowledge and skill in a specific field. The abuses of labour do not change the principle of remuneration.

Verse 19 — the principle of reprimand of the pastor. “Against an elder” — the words “plurality of elders” equals apostasy. There is no such thing as plurality of elders in a local church. There was a plurality of elders in Ephesus but there were numbers of local churches. There is only one elder for a local church. So we start out with a prepositional phrase, kata plus the genitive of presbuteroj, and it means a pastor-guardian of a local church. This is minus the definite article, and the absence of the definite article says you may have a complaint against the pastor but not to push it too much. The absence of the definite article refers to the high authority of the individual involved, and if you are just wrong in one count then you are going to get the whole thing right back in your face. The reprimand from the congregation must be handled in such a way so as not to bring discipline on the congregation or any individual. But there is a way to handle this. Since the pastor-guardian is responsible to God, God disciplines him. Reprimand or censorship would only exist where someone in the congregation has been wronged.

“receive not” is incorrect. It is the present middle imperative of paradexomai and is addressed to the representatives of the congregation which would be the board of deacons. This is a command to the board of deacons since it is in the imperative mood, but it is in the imperative mood plus a negative. The imperative plus the negative means a prohibition. Paradexomai means to acknowledge or to accept. The present tense is an aoristic present for something that might occur at some time, so it is a punctiliar concept in present time. The middle voice is the direct middle which refers the results of the action directly back to the agent.

“an accusation” — the accusative singular direct object from katagoria. It does mean accusation. The congregation or some portion of the congregation may approach the administrative representatives of the congregation, the board of deacons. They are never to acknowledge or entertain an accusation against the pastor from one person in the congregation. This is a principle that also applies to law.

Principle

1. There is always someone in the congregation who is dissatisfied. There are two very real types of antagonism: a) He is doing a good job and yet steps on someone’s toes; b) He is doing a very bad job.

2. These antagonisms should never be permitted by the congregation as a means of rejecting the authority of the pastor.

3. Again the principle: The pastor is responsible to God who knows all the facts in the case and not only disciplines him in a just manner but where you get single discipline he gets double discipline.

4. In fact, from God the pastor receives double discipline.

5. Those who seek to malign or accuse a pastor receive intensified discipline for their efforts.

6. Therefore in the normal course of action in the congregation maligning, gossiping, judging, accusing, condemning a pastor is prohibited by the Word.

7. The exception is stated in the rest of this verse but first there must be some emphasis on the actual prohibition.

8. Remember that the pastor should receive double honour — respect and remuneration. In the previous verse remuneration is covered, in this verse respect is covered by this prohibition.

9. A liar, an implacable or jealous person, may malign a pastor to someone else. This someone else may be impressed with the person who maligns and believes the lie. This someone else has no discernment or common sense to detect the vindictiveness or the jealousy. Therefore this someone else believes what is said.

10. This causes someone in the congregation to lose respect for the pastor, thus depriving the pastor of half of his double honour — respect.

11. Furthermore, this is the half of the double honour which produces spiritual growth in you. Therefore maligning and gossiping about the pastor of any local church, whether he is good or bad, is forbidden in very strong terms.

“but” is the Greek e)i mh and should be translated “except.”

“before two or three witnesses” — the preposition e)pi plus the genitive, and it should be translated “except of the basis of testimony of two or three witnesses.” As soon as we get into the “two or three witnesses” we get into the biblical laws of evidence as stated in Deuteronomy 19:15 — “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of his iniquity, or any sin which he sins; on the evidence of two or three witnesses an indictment will be rendered.” One person saying it makes it hearsay, and hearsay is not admissible as evidence. The testimony of one person is never conclusive. The reprimand or discipline of a pastor demands a formal procedure in which true evidence is introduced by a group of witnesses.

Verse 20 — now we come to the discipline of the congregation. We all understand that the discipline is first of all from the Lord but when a congregation comes together and there is someone who is disruptive as far as the function of the local church is concerned, then that person is disciplined within the framework of the local church. This is a biblical principle.

“Them that sin” — the accusative plural of the definite article is used as the direct object of the verb. The definite article is used for a relative pronoun to indicate the congregation of the local church. The congregation in assembly are students without portfolio. Their purpose in assembly is to take in the Word of God, there is no other objective. This intake and perception of the Word results in spiritual growth. Spiritual growth results in glorifying God as well as receiving blessings designed in eternity past. God knew that in this stage of human history Satan would be the ruler of the world. Therefore it is God’s objective to provide blessing for you totally apart from the Satanic system. The Satanic policy is called in the Bible, evil; and totally apart from evil and apart from any system under evil, you can receive wealth, success, prosperity, every type of material blessing and spiritual blessing. “Those in the congregation who continually sin” is the meaning of the present active participle of a(martanw. This is not referring to the general realm of carnality which is divided into three categories: mental sins, verbal sins, overt sins. So we have all categories of personal sin but they are not involved in the function of this particular verb. The present tense here is a retroactive progressive present or a present tense of duration, and it indicates what has begun in the past and continues into the present time. The active voice: the believers in the congregation produce the action of the verb through maligning and gossiping about people in the congregation or the pastor or someone. In other words, this particular type of sin is the invasion of the privacy of other members of the royal family of God. The principle that applies to this area is the principle of live and let live. Everyone has a right to his privacy.

The sinning that is in this passage is related to the general context. It has to do with the violation of someone’s privacy — either gossiping or maligning or judging them, or some intrusion upon their privacy.

The participle is circumstantial for various sins committed by the congregation in rejection of the pastor’s authority and teaching. In other words, members of the congregation who continually sin in this matter is what is being said. That is. the congregation who rejects one half of the pastor’s double honour, respect and remuneration. This particular section is dealing with respect for the pastor, for when you respect his authority you respect the privacy of the congregation as well as the privacy of the pastor. Mental sins which reject the pastor’s authority include arrogance, jealousy, vindictiveness, implacability, bitterness, hatred, antagonism. Verbal sins such as gossip, maligning, judging, accusing, are all included as being sinning in this matter. Since the pastor’s double honour includes respect it is his responsibility to use his authority for the maintenance of the privacy of the royal priesthood.

“rebuke” is a present active imperative from e)legxw synonymous with our English word “reprimand” or to expose to discipline. It is the pastor’s responsibility to discipline anyone in the congregation who is intruding upon the privacy of someone else. This is talking about privacy as it relates to the assembly of the local church. The word should be translated “be reprimanding.” This is an aoristic present for punctiliar action in present time. The active voice: Timothy must now begin a counter attack. He is on the floor, he has been trampled by everyone in his congregation, he is a “mouse” and now he must suddenly become a roaring lion. Every pastor-guardian of the local church in every generation must be aggressive. He must be aggressive in studying the Word of God, he must be aggressive in teaching the Word of God, and he must be aggressive in his counterattack of any type of bullying. A congregation must be protected by the aggressiveness of the pastor in cutting off this type of thing. The imperative mood is a command to all pastors.

“before all” — when the pastor’s authority is challenged it must be handled in public. This is an improper preposition, e)nwpion plus the genitive plural of paj. E)nwpion is an adverb used as a preposition so it is called an improper preposition — “reprimand [or discipline] before all [the entire congregation].” The pastor must reprimand or discipline recalcitrants before the congregation or lose his authority over the congregation. No pastor can fulfil his ministry of study and teach without the double honour principle, and this is an attack upon the first phase of double honour which is respect. No pastor can teach without authority just as no pastor can devote his time to study without remuneration. Therefore to study the pastor must be paid; the pastor must have respect or authority to teach. The recalcitrant not only undermines the pastor but he undermines others as well.

“that” — the conjunction i(na introduces a final clause stating the purpose for the objective, “in order that.”

“others” — o(i loipoi is a nominative plural and it means the rest of the congregation. Then we have the adjunctive use of the conjunction kai which means “also.”

“may fear” — this isn’t even there. First of all is the present active subjunctive of e)xw which means to have something. The present tense of e)xw is the perfective present, it denotes continuation of results from the present reality. The active voice: the o(i loipoi, the rest of the congregation, produced the action. The subjunctive mood goes with i(na as a potential subjunctive for future reference, and also to denote the objective. They must have something. The accusative singular direct object of the substantive foboj is what they must have. It not only means fear but it means respect. The subjunctive mood indicates that this is the purpose.

Translation: “Those of the congregation who continually sin in this matter reprimand {discipline] them before the entire congregation, in order that the rest of the congregation also may have respect.”

What does this mean?

1. We have now come to a full explanation of the double honour of verse 17.

2. Double honour refers to respect and remuneration. The pastor must have respect from the congregation to communicate doctrine to them. The reason is that doctrine is controversial, it cuts like a knife. Doctrine challenges, rips apart and rebuilds.

3. The pastor must have respect in order to effectively communicate doctrine to the congregation. He cannot do so otherwise.

4. Any attack upon the authority of the pastor from the congregation must be met with emphatic, vigorous, aggressive reprimand.

5. Timothy had lost control of his congregation, therefore he could not teach them the many wonderful doctrines which he knows.

6. Every revolution, every conspiracy in the congregation must be vigorously suppressed if the pastor is to continue having a ministry with the congregation.

7. No taper or member of this congregation should ever be guilty of revolt wherever he goes, no matter how bad the pastor is.

8. It is true that many pastors are ineffective in their teaching. This does not give tapers the right to malign or revolt, it gives them only the option of quiet departure without stirring up any fuss, without detracting from the authority of the pastor.

9. God must discipline such a pastor. Leave that to God! He does a better job. Do not bring discipline on yourself by starting a conspiracy, a revolution, or appointing yourself to be a committee to discipline the pastor.

10. This means that the matter of double honour has been settled at this point. There must be double honour for effective leadership in any local church.

Verse 21 — the objectivity of leadership. “I charge” is the present active indicative of diamarturomai, it means to solemnly warn or to solemnly charge. The present tense is a descriptive present to indicate what is now going on. The form is middle voice but it is middle in form, active in meaning — a deponent verb. The apostle Paul is now using all of his authority as an apostle to command Timothy to a course of action. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the fact that Paul is pulling his rank on Timothy. This is a verb of command.

The command is made in three categories: before God, before the Lord Jesus Christ, and before the elect angels.

“before” is the same improper preposition having three objects in the genitive case, e)nwpion, which is an adverb used as a preposition; “God” — the genitive of qeoj refers to God the Father. He is mentioned because He is the author of the divine plan. As the author of the divine plan called grace He is often mentioned in this connection. Furthermore, He is the ultimate source of all provision to the royal family of God; “the Lord Jesus Christ” — literally, “and Christ Jesus,” who is the second person of the Trinity and the prince ruler of the Church. He is the head of the royal family of God. He is the high priest. So why don’t we have the Holy Spirit and round out the entire Trinity? Because the Holy Spirit remains in the background during the Church Age. His objective is to glorify Jesus Christ, to form the royal family, to shape up the royal family, to empower the royal family. Therefore it is the ministry of god the Holy Spirit to stay in the background and not be mentioned in order to glorify Jesus Christ. This is why many times only the two members of the Trinity are mentioned in the epistles.

“and the elect angels” is also in the genitive and is a reference to the angelic observation of mankind during the course of human history, and especially during the intensified stage of the angelic conflict in which we find ourselves today.

“that” — again we have that same conjunction i(na which introduces a final clause. The final clause is used in a periphrastic sense for the infinitive to denote the purpose, the objective, and it can be translated like an infinitive.

“thou observe” — the aorist active subjunctive of fulassw which means to guard, to be alert as a sentry. It should be translated “guard” — in the sense of protect and preserve or in the sense of alertness. The aorist tense is a constative aorist, it gathers the action of the verb into one entirety. It takes the entire ministry of Timothy and demands that that ministry be characterised throughout his lifetime as a ministry of alertness, a ministry of protection and preservation of the Word of God. The active voice: Timothy as the pastor-guardian produces the action. The principle is that in every generation pastor-guardians are to produce the action. The mood is subjunctive. It is potential and is used with the conjunction to denote the objective of the pastor’s leadership.

“these things” — the accusative plural direct object of the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj which emphasises the principles of leadership in context.

“without preferring one before another” is not correct. There is here another adverb used as an improper preposition — xwrij which means “apart from” or “without.” The object in the genitive case is prokrima which means “prejudice.”

What does this mean?

1. No one can have the extensive authority possessed by the pastor of a local church and be guilty of prejudice.

2. Authority demands maximum objectivity in dealing with personnel. Authority is abused when pride intrudes. Pride means prejudice.

3. The pastor can never allow his personal feelings, his likes or his dislikes, to influence him in the function of his ministry.

4. The pastor can never judge cases or administer discipline or handle false doctrine when he has the attitude “my friends, right or wrong.” He must also be free from doctrinal prejudice, legalism.

5. His sole criteria for everything includes the principles of Bible doctrine as he has studied them and as he has taught them, and as they become the grace policy of the local church. This, in effect, is the quintessence of objectivity in spiritual leadership.

“doing nothing” — the present active participle of poiew. It is linear aktionsart, it means habitually doing. The word “nothing” is the accusative neuter singular the direct object from mhdeij, a compound: e)ij is one; mh is not, and it comes to mean nothing.

“by partiality” — preposition kata plus the accusative proskrisij, and it should be, “doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.”

Principle

1. There is no function in the ministry that calls for partiality or bias or prejudice. The life of the pastor is the Word and what the Word says is the only thing that counts.

2. While a minister may be closer to some members of the congregation than others he must exercise his authority in fairness and justice to all members of the congregation.

3. Personal relationships or friendships must never be a factor in policy, in command decision in the function of authority. That is true for life anywhere.

4. The greater the authority in leadership the greater the freedom from bias, the greater the freedom from partiality and prejudice. In other words, the higher the leader goes the more he must be absolutely stripped of any kind of prejudice.

5. No decision, judgment, policy, is made on the basis of influence by friends, loved ones, or relatives.

6. A pastor must use his authority, make his decisions, establish his policy, on the basis of what the Bible teaches.

7. Personal friendships have nothing to do with policy or the administrative functions of the local church.

8. People should never underrate the influence of doctrine.

Translation: “I solemnly charge you before the God, and Christ Jesus, and the elect angels, that you guard [protect, preserve] these principles [of leadership] without prejudice, habitually doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.”

Verse 22 — “Lay hands suddenly on no man” has to do with the fact that a pastor is often conned by other people into thinking they are something that they are not. “Lay hands” is the present active imperative of the verb e)pitiqhmi. The present tense is a customary present for what habitually occurs in recognition of a young man who is now qualified to enter the ministry. The active voice tells us that Timothy must avoid the action of the verb — not hurriedly ordaining young men. It must be done after proper and careful deliberation. This verse, therefore, is the result of the previous verse where impartiality is commanded. The imperative mood plus the negative is the imperative of prohibition, and Timothy is prohibited from ordaining unqualified in Ephesus from entering into the ministry.

“suddenly” is the adverb taxewj which means “too quickly,” and it is used in an unfavourable sense. “Do not ordain anyone too hastily.”

“on no man” is the dative singular masculine of the adjective mhdeij, “no one” or “anyone.” The dative case is the indirect object.

This means:

1. This is the first sign of instability in the pastor’s leadership when on the basis of partiality, on the basis of emotional appeal, on the basis of a smoke screen of sincerity, the pastor feels compelled to ordain someone. This is really partiality and on the basis of partiality he is too hasty in the ordination of someone in his congregation.

2. Stability of leadership demands that all personnel administration in the local church be accomplished from good judgment without prejudice and without partiality.

3. Timothy had been over impressed with some of the young men in the Ephesian congregation. This is because he has a strong trend toward asceticism and because he is ordaining those who are just like he is. He has been over impressed with the wrong people in the congregation and some of them have been ordained too soon. Therefore the first area in which he is attacked for being unstable in this context is in his personnel selection. Ordination is taken as an illustration but personnel selection can go to any facet of a local church.

“neither” is a negative disjunctive particle mhdh, and it goes from one negative to another — the purpose of the disjunctive particle. Each prohibition is a sign of instability in some area of leadership. The first prohibition was the sign of poor judgment in the field of personnel. The second prohibition is a sign of instability by being erroneously influenced, by being led instead of leading — “and stop.”

“be partaker” is the present active imperative from koinwnew, a verb meaning to participate, to contribute, to share in — “and stop participating.” The present tense is retroactive progressive present, it denotes something that happened in the past and continues into the present time. The active voice plus mhdh means to stop participating. The imperative mood is a command to Timothy and all unstable pastors in every generation of the Church Age.

“of other men’s sins” — literally, “the sins belonging to others.” It means don’t participate in someone else’s sins. Timothy indicates that he is unstable as a leader because he is easily influenced by others. No one in leadership can be influenced by anything but Bible doctrine and grace policies which are found in the scripture. To be influenced by others is a sign of weakness. To be influenced by the sins of others so as to participate in them is a sign of maximum instability.

The third prohibition is also related to instability in leadership:

“keep” is the present active imperative of terew which means to guard. It is the customary present for what may be reasonably expected of a pastor. The active voice: Timothy as a pastor must produce the action. It is the imperative mood of command, and also a prohibition.

“thyself pure” — the word “thyself” is the accusative singular direct object of the reflexive pronoun seautou. In the reflexive pronoun the action of the verb is referred back to the subject. It bounces back on Timothy. “Pure” is the adverbial accusative masculine singular a)gnoj which has to do with mental pureness. There is no such thing as a pastor or anyone else refraining from sin. There is no such thing as sinless perfection in this life, we have and we carry to the grave and old sin nature, and this means that we are going to sin as long as we live. But a pastor must be pure in one area, and he must have sinless perfection in this one area. It refers to mental pureness in the sense of freedom from mental attitude sins. The adverbial accusative performs a limited function which does not directly complement the verb, it qualifies it instead. It qualifies it in an indirect way. In other words, Timothy is to guard himself but he is to guard himself in a certain way which implies that he has been failing. Inadequate people always move to mental attitude sins. Mental attitude sins compensate for their inadequacies. Mental attitude is definitely related to leadership qualification. No one can exercise authority and be impure in the field of mental attitude sins.

Translation: “Do not ordain anyone to hastily, and stop participating in sins belonging to others: be guarding yourself with reference to a pure mental attitude.”

Summary

1. There are three weakness in Timothy which form a triad of leadership weakness, leadership instability.

2. Each one of these sentences relates to a different problem of instability in leadership, and also a different problem in the life of Timothy.

3. Timothy had strong partiality resulting in rashness with regard to hasty ordination of unqualified persons.

4. Weak Timothy was attracted to weak persons who impressed him as qualified for the ministry.

5. Timothy was creating a clergy of weak sisters, unstable legalists, an order of ascetic wimps.

6. Though obviously avoiding overt sins Timothy was petty, small, vindictive, prone to mental attitude sins which he shared with his weak, wimpy clique.

7. In his clique he accepted the attitudes and evaluations of his friends, resulting in more pettiness and more ascetic legalism.

8. Timothy needed to become alert with regard to the fact that he had an Achilles heel.

9. His mental attitude sins were destroying his leadership in the local church.

10. He needed to be a guardian and a watch dog on his own soul because of his vulnerability to mental attitude sins.

11. Timothy was, in fact, much like a person with the sword of Damocles dangling over his head, while walking on the edge of a volcano and nursing a viper in his bosom.

Verse 23 — prescription. This is not a prescription for all. “Drink no longer water” — a very strong negative adverb mhketi which means “no longer”; plus the present active imperative of a compound verb, u(dropotew: potew means to drink; u(dror is water. Timothy has been drinking water all of his life, he was a total abstainer from alcohol. The present tense is a descriptive present to indicate what is now going on. The active voice: Timothy who had been abstaining from alcohol and drinking only water is now prohibited from water. The imperative mood is an imperative of prohibition.

“but” is the strong adversative conjunction a)lla which sets up a contrast between drinking water and drinking alcoholic beverage.

“use” — present active imperative from the verb xraomai which means to employ, to make use of. The present tense is an iterative present, it describes what recurs at certain intervals, hence the present tense of repeated action. In other words, this is not linear aktionsart. The active voice: Timothy must drink moderately. The imperative mood is a command to drink moderately.

“a little wine” — the dative singular advantage from o)inoj which is alcoholic beverage, not grape juice; plus the quantitative adjective o)ligoj which means a small amount.

“for thy stomach’s sake” — dia plus the accusative of stomaxoj. This is the area of the stomach and it can be translated “stomach.” It is translated “stomach” here but it is really a transliteration. Apparently it is referring to the central nervous system in the solar plexus which is above the stomach.

“and thine often infirmities” — the connective kai which continues the prepositional phrase plus the accusative plural of the definite article used as a possessive pronoun, plus the accusative plural of the adjective puknoj which means “frequent.” He is not a relaxed person.

Translation: “No longer be a water drinker, but be making use of a small amount of wine because of your central nervous system and your frequent illnesses.”

The doctrine of drinking

1. The importance of objectivity.

a) We are interested in this study in what the Bible says about drinking and alcoholic beverage.

b) Those who have had personal problems because of drinking or are related to those with drinking problems have difficulty in approaching this subject objectively.

c) Those who have been reared in the atmosphere of Christian legalism will be shocked by what the Bible teaches.

d) Those who are looking for an excuse to get off the wagon will think they have smelled a cork.

e) No subject has more prejudice and less reason than the subject of drinking alcoholic beverage.

f) What we are about to study is not a booze sermon, nor is it an excuse for some weak sister to start drinking again. It is none of these things.

g) The objective is not to get believers on or off the wagon but to teach what the Bible says about drinking.

h) The fact that the Bible has a lot to say on the subject merely proves that drinking has long been an issue in the history of the human race.

2. The classification of 20th century beverage.

a) We live in a time of human history when there are numerous categories of alcoholic beverage, beverage which is not only available but made use of in many different ways for many different purposes. For example, medicine. Or, on the other hand, seduction. Or, escape or frantic search for happiness. Or stimulation. Also relaxation and celebration.

b) It should be pointed out immediately that alcohol is both toxic and beneficial; it is both destructive and helpful; it is both a curse and a blessing.

c) Therefore a classification of 20th century alcohol is helpful.

i) Medicine. Alcohol is very good in compounding prescriptions, it is an excellent solvent and it is a preserving agent.

ii) It also comes in the form of a whiskey, and alcoholic liquor which is distilled from serial grains. The term is derived from the Celtic “usquebaugh” and it means the plain spirit derived from grain. Later it included compounded beverages which added both sugar and flavourings, and finally it came to be called whiskey. Whiskey is often classified by geographical location. There are three general classifications: Scotch, Irish, and American.

All whiskeys are manufactured by very much the same process. First of all there is the preparation of the liquor known as wart, the mashing. Then there is the fermentation of the wart to produce the wash, and thirdly there is the separation of the spirit from the wash by distillation. Irish whiskey uses both malted and unmalted barley, oats, wheat, rye. Scotch whiskey uses malted barley. These fall into four categories. The highland malts which have been cured over peat fires. There are lowland malts which have a full flavour but are not as distinctive as the highland so they’re used for blends. A third category is the Islay malts, used primarily for blends. Then there is the Campbelltown malts which have a more pronounced flavour. Three categories are used for blends, the highland is not. US whiskey falls into two categories: Bourbon and Rye. There is also a corn whiskey.

iii) Vodka. It is an alcoholic beverage manufactured from potatoes and maze.

iv) Gin. It gets its name from the juniper berry used as the principle flavouring. Gin is 76 per cent maze, 15 per cent malt, 10 per cent rye. Sweetened gin is obtained by adding sugar or syrup.

v) Wine. This is the fermented juice of the grape. There are four general categories of wine today: Table wine, sherry, the fortified wines like port and Madeira, and then there are the sparkling wines like Champaign.

vi) Brandy, which is fermented juice of grapes and other fruits, aged for some time in wood. The most famous brandies come from a district in France called Cognac. Brandy does not age in a bottle, it has to age in wood.

vii) Liqueurs — flavoured spirits sweetened by the addition of sugar or syrup.

viii) Beer. One of the oldest forms of alcoholic beverage. It is fermented of malted serials, usually barley malt, to which hops have been added. There is a record of Babylonian beer going back to 4000 BC. Ramses III of Egypt consecrated to the god of Egypt 466,303 jugs of beer. Historians like Herodotus, Pliny, Tacetus comment on beer in the ancient world. The art of brewing became well-known throughout the ancient world. The Chaldeans had it. The art spread to Egypt, Greece, and Rome, so that beer became quite a famous alcoholic beverage.

3. The Bible condemns drunkenness and makes it very clear that drunkenness is a sin — Isaiah 5:11,22; 28:7,8; Proverbs 20:1; 23:20; Romans 13:13; 1 Corinthians 5:11; Ephesians 5:18. Drunkenness is a handicap to those who are in authority, temporal authority such as kings — Proverbs 31:4,5; spiritual authority such as pastors — 1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:7; or deacons — 1 Timothy 3:8. None of these categories are forbidden alcoholic beverage but all must be very temperate in keeping with the authority that they exercise. Those is authority, then, are not forbidden alcohol but they are warned against drunkenness as a possibility of abusing their authority. Not only is drunkenness a sin but people in that status abuse their authority.

Drunkenness is also condemned in certain Bible characters. Noah in Genesis 9:21; Nabal in 1 Samuel 25:36,37; Lot is Genesis 19:32-36; the tribe of Ephraim in Isaiah 28:1.

4. The adverse effects of alcohol.

a) Drunkenness or excessive use of alcohol leads to crime, suicide, divorce, traffic accidents, economic and industrial losses, loss of health, miserable circumstances, poverty, national disaster.

b) It should be remembered that alcohol is not a stimulant, it is a depressant. As a depressant it lowers inhibitions, dulls the reflexes, destroys common sense and good judgment, and it stimulates mental attitude sins.

c) But drunkenness also produces more than impulsive behaviour and social tragedy, it is the source of quite a number of diseases. It is also weakening of the health which leads to diseases not directly induced by alcohol.

d) Excessive alcohol affects the brain in numerous ways, including cerebral hemorrhage, delirium tremens which produce mental confusion, anxiety, terror, auditory and visual hallucinations as well as delusions. Alcohol in excess also attacks the liver. It is the cause of vernicese disease: a paralysis of the eyes, uncoordinated walk, the clouding of consciousness, final coma and death. As a depressant alcohol cooperates with the old sin nature to lower standards of resistance to sins in all categories. This means that excessive drinking or drunkenness is not only a sin in itself but has dire spiritual consequences as well as physical. The Bible gives no encouragement and no excuse for excessive drinking.

There are two types, however, of excessive drinkers. The first type is the type who drinks a large amount at one time. The other one goes for days and days, the one who drinks constantly day in and day out. There are two kinds of people who have a drinking problem. Those who can’t stop from the steady drinking and those who can’t stop from heavy drinking in a short period of time. Both of these types should avoid any use of alcohol except in medicine. The chemistry of the blood and individual metabolism is related to how much a person can assimilate — how much alcohol content in the blood, how much can your body take out per hour as to how much you are taking in. Inebriation is a sin and there is no benefit from having an alcoholic problem.

5. Proper and improper uses of alcohol. Proverbs 34:4-7 — wine attacks authority of leadership; wine attacks the function of leadership; the correct use of wine (Give strong drink to him who is dying); to those whose life is bitter.

1 Timothy 5:23 —

a) This passage indicates that wine or certain alcoholic beverages had both a relaxing and beneficial effect on Timothy.

b) Paul is prescribing a moderate amount of alcohol to relax the nervous high-strung Timothy.

c) A limited amount of wine acts as a sedation; too much wine has a toxic effect.

d) Wine stimulates the appetite through the increase of gastric juices while at the same time relaxing the solar plexus, the area of the central nervous system, the stomach muscles, and so on.

e) The benefits of wine, then, can be summarised as follows: beneficial to brain and nervous system as a depressant producing sedation; beneficial to the stomach in terms of appetite, digestion; beneficial to the circulation, especially in the case of older people.

Psalm 104:15 — “And the wine which makes man’s heart glad, maketh his well-nourished face radiant, and food which sustains man’s right lobe.” To have the heart glad refers to a limited amount. The passage is actually saying a little wine with food is a good thing.

6. The incident where Jesus turned the water to wine — John 2:1-11.

a) Jesus was invited to a wedding in Cana of Galilee, along with His disciples — verse 2.

b) A crisis occurred when they ran out of wine — verse 3.

c) Jesus replied to His mother in verse 4. “What is this to me or to you?” I.e. What difference does it make to us. Neither Jesus nor Mary were in any way hurt by the fact that they arrived late and hadn’t had any wine.

d) However, Mary implied that Jesus should have left before the wine ran out.

e) Jesus said to her, So what! You and I do not have to depend on wine for anything.

f) Then Jesus challenged Mary’s subtle hint about departure by saying, “Mine hour has not yet come.”

g) This was a reference to His saving work on the cross, and it is mentioned on numerous occasions: John 7:30; 820; 12:23,27; 16:32; 17:1. In other words, He begins with a very strong vocative of rebuke. It states that neither Jesus nor His mother depended upon wine for a good time. This verse states that His departure from the wedding and from this life had not yet come. This is a double entendre. Furthermore, Jesus implied that He would stay and rectify the situation. So His mother understood that He would stay and that He would do something about it.

h) His mother said to the servants, “… do it.”

What about the wine? It was a wedding feast and they were serving alcoholic beverage, which was the custom. They ran out of wine which did create a crisis for hospitality. So Jesus, to indicate that drinking wine was not an issue with regard to eternal salvation, now performs a miracle. Wine isn’t an issue. Now He provides more wine, and the best wine that anyone ever had. Jesus truly turned water into wine. The miracle, however, neither condones nor condemns drinking. Like all miracles, its purpose is to focus attention on who and what Christ is. it is to point out that Christ is the God-Man, the unique person of the universe. He is the son of David. This is the first advent. The issue is salvation, not whether you drink wine or not. The issue is Christ, not social crisis and not a social problem.

There were six water pots, each one held 20-30 gallons. At 20 gallons that would be 120 gallons of water. Wine is composed of 70-80 per cent water. There is 12-30 per cent grape sugar, 12-14 per cent ethyl alcohol, there are other alcohols. Wine has carbon dioxide, organic acids, glycerin, organic colouring, microorganisms for fermentation. So water into wine is unexplainable, it is not a miracle if you can explain it. It was a miracle in which at least 120 gallons of water were turned into 120 gallons of wine.

Christ, not wine, is the issue here. The miracle gave everyone in Cana a chance to be saved, for the miracle presents God’s plan of grace in the person of Jesus Christ, the God-Man, the only saviour. It was a miracle to focus attention on who and what Christ is.

7. Drinking should also be related to the divine laws of modus operandi.

a) The law of liberty. Every believer has the right to drink a moderate amount of alcoholic beverage, it is not a sin. But then there are other laws that supersede at certain times.

b) There is the law of expediency. It is expedient not to drink under certain conditions: witnessing, and so on. Or when drinking becomes an issue to an unbeliever.

c) The law of love. It becomes necessary to refrain from drinking when it becomes a means of leading astray a weaker believer.

d) The law of supreme sacrifice. Drinking is forbidden when it hinders a specific ministry or leadership function in life.

8. Alcohol is also a part of national disaster — Joel 1:4-6; Isaiah 28:1-9; Jeremiah 13:12-17.

9. The principle of common sense in drinking. Not only does the Bible have a lot to say about drinking — pro and con, when you should and when you shouldn’t — but even an unbeliever with an average amount of common sense ought to be able to handle the problem.

a) Alcohol is wasted on young people. Young people ought not to drink. They are neither smart enough or wise enough to derive any benefit from drinking.

b) Young people pick up all the pitfalls and none of the benefits of drinking.

c) Do not drink while frustrated or unhappy. When you link emotion with drinking you are going to have a problem.

d) Young ladies who date strangers should be non-drinkers (on that date). Never drink with a stranger, never drink at a strange place.

e) Never drink alone. Moderate drinking is for social life.

f) Never drink on the job or whole doing work.

g) Never drink while operating a motor vehicle, flying an airplane, operating any type of machinery.

h) Never mix gunpowder and alcohol. Never drink while hunting, plinking, shooting.

i) When you get a little older drink moderately with friends whom you trust.

j) Drunkenness and dissipation is a waste of time as well as life. While drinking is not forbidden by the Bible drunkenness is stupidity as well as a sin.

k) The Christian lush is a reversionist who has failed to utilise the grace provision for learning doctrine, growing in grace, advancing to the objective.

Verse 24 — “Some men’s sins” is the nominative plural of a(martia, plus the possessive genitive plural of the indefinite pronoun tij used to define a category, plus the possessive genitive plural from the noun a)nqrwpoj. Literally, it is “The sins of certain men.” This is a general principle but it applies specifically to Timothy. It means, first of all by interpretation, the sins of pastor-teachers. The indefinite relative pronoun here simply shows the fact that pastor-teachers are the category, are in the public eye, and therefore their failures and weaknesses as well as their strengths are obvious to all. All pastor’s sin.

“are open” — the present active indicative of e)imi. With it is a predicate nominative plural from the adjective prodhloj which means “conspicuous, obvious.” Everyone sins, so immediately we see two categories: those whose sins are obvious and those whose sins are hidden.

Principles

1. Some pastors have conspicuous, prominent, and obvious sins. Their congregations know their area of weakness as well as they know it themselves. By application, many people have obvious sins known to many; others have sins that are unknown.

2. You will note that this does not hinder the ministry or the teaching of the pastor-teacher of the local church. He has the gift of teaching, he recovers from his carnality, and under the filling of the Spirit he goes right on in his function — just like anyone who learns the grace principle of rebound and uses it.

3. Everyone knew Timothy’s failures and weaknesses, and many believers in the Ephesian congregation took advantage of them.

4. All believers after salvation continue to have an old sin nature and all believers after salvation continue to sin. Spiritual growth leads to change in the type of sins that are committed but they continue to sin.

5. Through the grace provision of rebound any believer can recover from carnality.

6. Sin is not the issue in the Christian way of life, evil is the issue — doctrine versus evil. The battleground is the soul and the devil seeks to control your soul through evil; the Lord seeks to control your soul through doctrine. In both cases volition is not in any way tampered with. You can choose what you wish to think and you can choose the content of your soul.

7. Sin was resolved at the cross. Evil and sin are not the same, though they occasionally overlap.

8. While the sins of the pastor may be obvious to the congregation, just as certainly certain sins of the congregation may be obvious to the pastor. This discernment of others’ sins does not deter the function of GAP and does not deter the spiritual life.

9. The pastor’s ministry depends on the Lord and no carnality has ever ruined a pastor’s ministry.

10. So while the pastor’s sins may be obvious it does not hinder the royal family from learning doctrine from that same pastor.

11. Again, sin is not the issue, evil is the issue in phase two. A pastor can sin and still have a wonderful ministry, courtesy of rebound. But he cannot be evil and have a ministry at all.

12. You can learn from sinful people. Everything you have ever learned you have learned from sinful people. 13. Everything you have ever learned in any realm of knowledge or category of life you have learned from sinful people, all people are sinful.

The word “beforehand” does not occur in the original.

“going before” is a present active participle from the verb proagw. It is a compound verb. Pro means before; agw means to lead. It comes to mean to precede, to lead forward, to go forward. The present tense is a futuristic present, it denotes divine discipline which has not yet occurred, but because of obvious carnality it is anticipated as already occurring. The active voice: obvious carnality on the part of a pastor, or anyone else who is a believer, produces the action of the verb leading to divine discipline. The participle is circumstantial. It should be translated, “The sins of certain men are obvious, leading him.”

“to judgment” — prepositional phrase, e)ij plus the accusative of krisij, correctly translated “judgment” or “discipline.” It refers to divine discipline.

The doctrine of divine discipline

1. Divine discipline is the sum total of punitive measures from God which are used to correct and also to judge the believer in time. Discipline is for time only. Discipline is the alternative to blessing. Two areas of discipline exist in phase two: discipline for carnality and discipline for reversionism, being under the influence of evil. Discipline for carnality is temporary and is cancelled by the rebound technique. Discipline for reversionism is permanent and terminates with the sin unto death. Divine discipline, however, never implies loss of salvation. The purpose of divine discipline in time is really to correct the believer, to bring the believer to the point of rebound or reversion recovery. Therefore to bring the believer to the place of blessing, for God is only glorified in the believer’s life when he reaches the high ground and he receives paragraph SG².

2. Discipline as a principle. The principle of divine discipline is stated, for example, in Hebrews 12:5,6. Note that punitive action from God is for the believer only. Divine discipline is based on God’s love for the believer plus His relationship — He is our Father, we are His sons. Proverbs 3:12 says the same thing.

3. The purpose of divine discipline is stated in Revelation 3:19.

4. Divine discipline does not imply loss of salvation — Galatians 3:26 approaches this from the family viewpoint. Once you are in a family you cannot get out. Cf. 2 Timothy 2:11-13.

5. Divine discipline is confined to time — Revelation 21:4.

6. Discipline is designed, however, to turn cursing into blessing. Job 5:17,18.

7. Divine discipline of reversionism includes self-induced misery — Psalm 7:14-16.

8. The principle of triple compound discipline — Matthew 7:2.

9. There are three categories of discipline for reversionism. a) The warning stage — Revelation 3:20; b) The intense stage — Psalm 7:14; 38:1-14; c) The dying stage — Revelation 3:16; Jeremiah 9:16; 44:12; Philippians 3:18,19.

“and some” — the dative plural of reference to the indefinite pronoun tij. There is nothing indefinite about this, it merely means a category of individuals is involved and the word “indefinite” comes from the fact that they are not named. Tij is emphasising a category of believers. Here, by interpretation, the category is pastors like Timothy, but by application all believers.

“and” is a post positive enclitic particle de and it has an adversative connotation. It should be translated “on the other hand.”

“they follow after” — the present active indicative of e)pakolouqew which means to follow after, to appeal in sequel.

Notice

1. In the second category of pastors who are especially involved, and all believers really, his sins are hidden from the congregation. Their sins are not obvious.

2. He sins but the congregation is not aware how he sins. They regard him as a plaster saint.

3. The congregation first become aware of the pastor’s carnality through his discipline from God in this case.

4. While his sins are obscure his discipline is perspicuous.

5. The point is, it does not make any difference whether you are cognisant or ignorant of someone else’s sins.

6. You are not the judge; you are not the disciplinarian.

7. In the case of the pastor he is responsible to God, just as you are responsible to God.

8. Therefore the pastor teaches you whether his sins are obvious or hidden.

9. You learn doctrine from the pastor whether you know his sins or not.

Translation: “The sins of certain pastors are obvious, leading to divine discipline; on the other hand, with regard to another category of pastors they follow after.”

“They follow after”

1. This is an evaluation of time or phase two. This evaluation refers to a specific category of the royal family — pastors. By application it refers to all believers.

2. The principle applies to all categories of the royal family of God.

3. The evaluation deals with carnality in time, it has nothing to do with eternity.

4. Where their sins and failures are well-known this requires patience, occupation with Christ, correct application of doctrine.

5. The concern of the congregation should never be over the sins of the pastor but over the content of his message.

6. The congregation must concentrate on the message, never on the person. No believer can have capacity for life and have his eyes on the pastor or someone else.

Verse 25 — “Likewise also” is an adverb, w(sautwj, which means “In the same manner.” With it is an adjunctive kai, correctly translated “also.” “In the same manner also.”

“the good works” — the nominative plural of e)rgon which means production, plus the nominative plural of the definite article used as a possessive pronoun, plus the adjective kaloj which means noble. “In the same manner also their noble production.”

“are manifest” — an implied present active indicative of e)imi, which doesn’t actually occur here but is put in because next we have prodhloj as a predicate nominative, and it means “obvious.” What makes it obvious? Growth. When believers start to grow then it is obvious that the ministry of teaching the Word is having its proper effect. Noble production is the spiritual growth of the congregation.

“and they that are otherwise” — it should be “and those deeds [production] which are otherwise.”

“cannot be hid” — the negative o)uk plus the present active indicative of dunamai, is correctly translated “is not able.” The words “be hid” is the aorist passive infinitive of kruptw means really to be concealed [from God].

Translation: “In the same manner also their noble production is obvious; and that production which is otherwise cannot be concealed [from God].”

Summary

1. The evaluation of the ministry of the pastor-teacher in the local church is God’s responsibility.

2. The congregation, therefore, should avoid judging or maligning a pastor.

3. This is an attack upon the sovereignty of God, upon God’s divine prerogative to evaluate His own slave.

4. Do not get out of fellowship by confusing the man with the message.

5. Objectivity concentrates on the message, subjectivity focuses on the person.

6. The pastor is a sinner but you can learn from sinners.

7. God has provided the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher. He does the providing, the congregation does the concentrating, and everyone grows up together and avoids any problems.