1 Timothy 3:3 - Exposition

No brawler for not given to wine , A.V.; the R.T. omits the clause μὴ αἰσξρερδη ; gentle for patient , A.V.; contentious for a brawler , A.V.; no lover of money , for not covetous , A.V. No brawler ( μὴ πάροινον ); only here and Titus 1:7 ; but, as well as παροίνιος , common in classical Greek, in the sense of "quarrelsome over wine." In Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:34 "wine-bibber" is οἰνοπότης . In 1 Peter 4:3 the word for "excess of wine" is οἰνοφλυγία . No striker ( μὴ τλήκτην ); only here and Titus 1:7 . It is used, though rarely, in classical Greek for a "striker," "brawler." There is but weak manuscript authority for the reading in the T.R., μὴ αἰσχροκερδῆ , not given to filthy lucre , which is thought to have been derived from Titus 1:7 ( q . v .). The internal evidence, however, is in its favor, as something is wanted to correspond to ἀφιλάργυρον , just as πάροινον and πλήκτην correspond to ἐπιεικῆ and at, ἄμαχον respectively. Gentle ( ἐπιεικῆ ); as Titus 3:2 . So also it is rendered in the A.V. of James 3:17 ; 1 Peter 2:18 . It is very common in classical Greek, in the sense of " fair ," " meet ," "suitable," of things; and of " fair ," " kind ," " gentle ," of persons. The substantive ἐπιεικεία means "clemency," " gentleness ," ( Acts 24:4 ; 2 Corinthians 10:1 ). Not contentious ( ἄμαχον ); only here and Titus 3:3 in the New Testament, and in Ecclus. 19:5 in the Complutensian edition. It is also used in this sense in AE schylus, 'Persse,' 955, though its more common meaning in classical Greek is "invincible." No lover of money ( ἀφιλάργυρον ); only here and Hebrews xiii, 5. ἁφιλαργυρία occurs in Hippocrates. The positive φιλάργυρος , φιλαργυρία , occurs in 1 Timothy 6:10 ; 2 Timothy 3:2 ; Luke 16:14 . Neither the A.V. nor the R.V. quite preserves the form of the original sentence, where the three negative qualities ( μὴ πάροινον μὴ πλήκτην μὴ αἰσχροκερδῆ , T.R.) are followed by three positive qualities ( ἐπιοικῆ ἄμαχον ἀφιλάργυρον — " gentle ," " peaceful ," and " indifferent about money").