Verse 14
Timothy needed further encouragement to keep using the abilities God had given him to serve the Lord. Timothy had received ordination for service to God by the laying on of Paul’s (cf. 2 Timothy 1:6) and some elders’ hands. When that happened a prophet who was present received a revelation from God that Timothy would serve Christ in a particular way. Another possibility is that these were two separate episodes in Timothy’s life. [Note: Towner, The Letters . . ., p. 325.] Paul called on Timothy here to remember that event, or those events, and the responsibility that was his in view of that special revelation (cf. 1 Timothy 1:18-19). The "presbytery" means a group of elders. The procedure described in this verse has, along with other similar instances of this practice described in Scripture, served as a pattern for the formal ordination (setting apart) of people for ministry.
"The nature of succession in the ministry was certainly present [when Paul wrote], but it was regarded as primarily a succession of teaching or tradition rather than as an ’apostolic succession’ of ordination reaching back to the apostles." [Note: Hanson, p. 37.]
"The Bible never speaks of a corresponding group identity for deacons. The notion of deacons functioning as a ’board’ is never mentioned in the Bible." [Note: Litfin, p. 741.]
This does not imply, of course, that such a group is wrong.
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