[65] Strom., vii. 12; Ad Uxor., I. iv.; De Exh. Cast., 1.
[66] Ancient Law, p. 224.
CHAPTER XV.
THE PASTOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES IN ORDAINING AND JUDGING PRESBYTERS.—THE WORKS THAT GO BEFORE AND THAT FOLLOW US.
“Lay hands hastily on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure. Be no longer a drinker of water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities. Some men’s sins are evident, going before unto judgment; and some men also they follow after. In like manner also there are good works that are evident; and such as are otherwise cannot be hid”—1 Tim. v. 22–25.
The section of which these verses form the conclusion, like the preceding section about behaviour towards the different classes of persons in the congregation, supplies us with evidence that we are dealing with a real letter, written to give necessary advice to a real person, and not a theological or controversial treatise, dressed up in the form of a letter, in order to obtain the authority of St. Paul’s name for its contents. Here, as before, the thoughts follow one another in an order which is quite natural, but which has little plan or arrangement. An earnest and affectionate friend, with certain points in his mind on which he was anxious to say something, might easily treat of them in this informal way just as they occurred to him, one thing suggesting another. But a forger, bent on getting his own views represented in the document, would not string them together in this loosely connected way: he would disclose more arrangement than we can find here. What forger again, would think of inserting that advice about ceasing to be a water-drinker into a most solemn charge respecting the election and ordination of presbyters? And yet how thoroughly natural it is found to be in this very context when considered as coming from St. Paul to Timothy!
We shall go seriously astray if we start with the conviction that the word “elder” has the same meaning throughout this chapter. When in the first part of it St. Paul says “Rebuke not an elder, but exhort him as a father,” it is quite clear that he is speaking simply of elderly men, and not of persons holding the office of an elder: for he goes on at once to speak of the treatment of younger men, and also of older and younger women. But when in the second half of the chapter he says “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour,” and “Against an elder receive not an accusation, except at the mouth of two or three witnesses,” it is equally clear that he is speaking of official persons, and not merely of persons who are advanced in years. The way in which the thoughts suggested one another throughout this portion of the letter is not difficult to trace. “Let no man despise thy youth” suggested advice as to how the young overseer was to behave towards young and old of both sexes. This led to the treatment of widows, and this again to the manner of appointing official widows. Women holding an official position suggests the subject of men holding an official position in the Church. If the treatment of the one class needs wisdom and circumspection, not less does the treatment of the other. And therefore, with even more solemnity than in the previous section about the widows, the Apostle gives his directions on this important subject also. “I charge thee in the sight of God, and Christ Jesus, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality.” And then he passes on to the words which form our text.
It has been seriously doubted whether the words “Lay hands hastily on no man” do refer to the ordination of the official elders or presbyters. It is urged that the preceding warnings about the treatment of charges made against presbyters, and of persons who are guilty of habitual sin, point to disciplinary functions of some kind rather than to ordination. Accordingly some few commentators in modern times have treated the passage as referring to the laying on of hands at the readmission of penitents to communion. But of any such custom in the Apostolic age there is no trace. There is nothing improbable in the hypothesis, imposition of hands being a common symbolical act. But it is a mere hypothesis unsupported by evidence. Eusebius, in speaking of the controversy between Stephen of Rome and Cyprian of Carthage about the re-baptizing of heretics, tells us that the admission of heretics to the Church by imposition of hands with prayer, but without second baptism, was the “old custom.” But the admission of heretics is not quite the same as the readmission of penitents: and a custom might be “old” (παλαιὸν ἦθος) in the time of Eusebius, or even of Cyprian, without being Apostolic or coeval with the Apostles. Therefore this statement of Eusebius gives little support to the proposed interpretation of the passage; and we may confidently prefer the explanation of it which has prevailed at any rate since Chrysostom’s time, that it refers to ordination.[67] Of the laying on of hands at the appointment of ministers we have sufficient evidence in the New Testament, not only in these Epistles (1 Tim. iv. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6), but in the Acts (xiii. 3). Moreover this explanation fits the context at least as well as the supposed improvement.