1 Timothy 1:4 - Exposition

To give for give , A.V.; the which for which , A.V.; questionings for questions , A.V.; a dispensation of God for godly edifying , A.V. and T.R. ( οἰκονομίαν θεοῦ for οἰκοδομίαν θεοῦ ); so do I now for so do , A.V. Fables (see 1 Timothy 4:7 ). If the spirit which gave birth to the fables of the Talmud was already at work among the Jews, we have a ready explanation of the phrase. And that they were Jewish fables (not later Gnostic delusions) is proved by the parallel passage in Titus 1:14 , "Not giving heed to Jewish fables." The prevalence of sorcery among the Jews at this time is a further instance of their inclination to fable (see Acts 8:9 ; Acts 13:6 ; Acts 19:13 ). Endless genealogies. What was the particular abuse of genealogies which St. Paul here condemns we have not sufficient historical knowledge to enable us to decide. But that they were Jewish forms of "vain talking," and not Gnostic, and related to human pedigrees, not to "emanations of eons," may be concluded from the connection in which they are mentioned in Titus 3:9 , and from the invariable meaning of the word γενεαλογία itself. It is true that Irenaeus ('Contr. Haer.,' lib. 1.) applies this passage to the Valentinians and their succession of eons (Bythus, Nous, Logos, Anthropus, etc.—in all thirty, male and female); and so does Tertullian, who speaks of the seeds of the Gnostic heresies as already budding in St. Paul's days ('Advers Valentin.,' cap 3. and elsewhere), and Grotius supports thin explanation ('Comment.,' 1 Timothy 1:4 ). But it was very natural that Irenaeus and Tertullian, living when the heresies of Valentinus, Marcion, and others were at their height, should so accommodate St. Paul's words—which is all that Irenaeus does. On the other band, neither Irenaeus nor Tertullian shows that γενεαλογία was a word applied to the emanations of the eons in the Gnostic vocabulary. The genealogies, then, were Jewish pedigrees, either used literally to exalt individuals as being of priestly or Davidic origin (as the pedigrees of the Desposyni, or later of the princes of the Captivity), or used cabbalistically , so as to draw fanciful doctrines from the names composing a genealogy, or in some other way which we do not know of (see the writers 'Genealogies of Christ,' 1 Timothy 3:1-16 . § 1 Timothy 2:1 ; and note C at the end of the volume). Endless ( ἀπέραντος ); found only here in the New Testament and so one of the words peculiar to the pastoral Epistles, but used in the LXX . for "infinite," "immeasurable." It means either "endless," " interminable ," or, "having no useful end or purpose;" οὐδὲν χρήσιμον (Chrysostom). But the former ("interminable") is the better rendering, and in accordance with its classical use. Questionings ( ζητήσεις or ἐκζητήσεις , R.T.). (For ζητησις , see John 3:25 ; Acts 25:20 ; and below, 1 Timothy 6:4 ; 2 Timothy 2:23 ; Titus 3:9 ; and for the kindred ζήτημα , Acts 15:2 ; Acts 18:15 ; Acts 23:1-35 . 29; Acts 25:19 ; Acts 26:3 .) The reading ἐκζήτησις is only found here. A dispensation of God. This version arises from the Greek οἰκονομίαν , which is the reading of the R.T. and almost all manuscripts. The T.R. οἰκοδομίαν is thought to be a conjecture of Erasmus, which, from its much easier sense, was taken into the T.R. Taking the reading οἰκονομίαν , the phrase, "a dispensation of God which is in faith," must mean the gospel as delivered by revelation and received by faith. These fables and genealogies address themselves, the apostle says, to the disputatious, itching curiosity of men's minds, not to their faith. The substance of them is matter of doubtful disputation, not revealed truth. " The dispensation" is better English than " a dispensation." So do I now ; or, as the A.V., so do , is the conjectural filling up of the unfinished sentence which began " as I exhorted thee." But it is much more natural and simple to take verse 18 as the apodosis, and the intermediate verses as a digression caused by St. Paul's desire to show how exactly the charge was in agreement with the true spirit of the Law of God.