3 As I urged you when I was going into Macedonia, stay at Ephesus that you might command certain men not to teach a different doctrine,
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
As I besought thee Either the syntax is elliptical, or the particle hina is redundant; and in both cases the meaning will be obvious. [1] First, he reminds Timothy why he was besought to remain at Ephesus. It was with great reluctance, and through hard necessity, that he parted with a companion so dearly beloved and so faithful, in order that he might laboriously hold the part of his deputy, which no other man would have been competent to fill; and, therefore, Timothy must have been powerfully excited by this consideration, not only not to throw away his time, but to conduct himself in an excellent and distinguished manner. I wish that thou shouldst forbid any. Thus, by way of inference, he exhorts him to oppose the false teachers who corrupted pure doctrine. In the injunction given to Timothy, to occupy his place at Ephesus, we ought to observe the holy anxiety of the Apostle; for while he labored so much to collect many churches he did not leave the former churches destitute of a pastor. And indeed, as an ancient writer remarks, "To keep what has been gained is not a smaller virtue than to make new acquisitions." The word forbid denotes power; for Paul wishes to arm him with power to restrain others. Not to teach differently The Greek word (heterodidaskalein) which Paul employs, is a compound, and, therefore, may either be translated, "to teach differently," or after a new method, or, "to teach a different doctrine." The translation given by Erasmus, (sectari,) "to follow," does not satisfy me; because it might be understood to apply to the hearers. Now Paul means those who, for the sake of ambition, brought forward a new doctrine. If we read it, "to teach differently," the meaning will be more extensive; for by this expression he will forbid Timothy to permit any new forms of teaching to be introduced, which do not agree with the true and pure doctrine which he had taught. Thus, in the Second Epistle, he recommends hupotuposis, [2] that is, a lively picture of his doctrine. (2-Timothy 1:13.) For, as the truth of God is one, so is there but one plain manner of teaching it, which is free from false ornament, and which partakes more of the majesty of the Spirit than of the parade of human eloquence. Whoever departs from that, disfigures and corrupts the doctrine itself; and, therefore, "to teach differently," must relate to the form. If we read it, "to teach something different," it will relate to the matter. Yet it is worthy of observation, that we give the name of another doctrine not only to that which is openly at variance with the pure doctrine of the gospel, but to everything that either corrupts the pure gospel by new and borrowed inventions, or obscures it by ungodly speculations. For all the inventions of men are so many corruptions of the gospel; and they who make sport of the Scriptures, as ungodly people are accustomed to do, so as to turn Christianity into an act of display, darken the gospel. His manner of teaching therefore, is entirely opposed to the word of God, and to that purity of doctrine in which Paul enjoins the Ephesians to continue.
1 - "The construction here is tortuous and elliptical. Poreuomenos eis Makedonian must be construed between kathos and parekalesa, and the protasis at kathos is without its apodosis, houtos, which must be supplied. The simplest and most natural method is to understand houto kai nun parakalo." -- Bloomfield.
2 - "Il ne recommande pas simplement a Timothee de retener sa doctrine, mais il use d'un mot qui signifie le vray patron, ou vif portraict d'icelle." -- "He does not merely advise Timothy to hold by his doctrine, but employs a word which denotes the true pattern or lively portrait of it."
As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus - It is clear from this, that Paul and Timothy had been laboring together at Ephesus, and the language accords with the supposition that Paul had been compelled to leave before he had completed what he had designed to do there. See the Intro. Section 2.
When I went into Macedonia - Having been driven away by the excitement caused by Demetrius and his fellow-craftsmen; Acts 20:1. See the Intro. Section 2, 3.
That thou mightest charge some - The word charge here - παραγγειλης parangeilēs - seems to mean more than is commonly implied by the word as used by us. If it had been a single direction or command, it might have been given by Paul himself before he left, but it seems rather to refer to that continuous instruction which would convince these various errorists and lead them to inculcate only the true doctrine. As they may have been numerous - as they may have embraced various forms of error, and as they might have had plausible grounds for their belief, this was evidently a work requiring time, and hence Timothy was left to effect this at leisure. It would seem that the wrath which had been excited against Paul had not affected Timothy, but that he was permitted to remain and labor without molestation. It is not certainly known who these teachers were, but they appear to have been of Jewish origin, and to have inculcated the special sentiments of the Jews respecting the law.
That they teach no other doctrine - That is, no other doctrine than that taught by the apostles. The Greek word here used is not found in the classic writers, and does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament, except in 1-Timothy 6:3 of this Epistle, where it is rendered "teach otherwise." We may learn here what was the design for which Timothy was left at Ephesus.
(1) it was for a temporary purpose, and not as a permanent arrangement. It was to correct certain errors prevailing there which Paul would have been able himself soon to correct if he had been suffered to remain. Paul expected soon to return to him again, and then they would proceed unitedly with their work; 1-Timothy 4:13; 1-Timothy 3:15.
(2) it was not that he might be the "Bishop" of Ephesus. There is no evidence that he was "ordained" there at all, as the subscription to the Second Epistle declares (see the notes on that subscription), nor were the functions which he was to perform, those of a prelatical bishop. He was not to take the charge of a "diocese," or to ordain ministers of the "second rank," or to administer the rite of confirmation, or to perform acts of discipline. He was left there for a purpose which is specified, and that is as far as possible from what are now regarded as the appropriate functions of a prelatical bishop. Perhaps no claim which has ever been set up has had less semblance of argument than that which asserts that Timothy was the "Bishop of Ephesus." See this clause examined in my "Inquiry into the Organization and Government of the Apostolic Church," pp. 84-107.
I besought thee - The apostle had seen that a bad seed had been sown in the Church; and, as he was obliged to go then into Macedonia, he wished Timothy, on whose prudence, piety, and soundness in the faith he could depend, to stay behind and prevent the spreading of a doctrine that would have been pernicious to the people's souls. I have already supposed that this epistle was written after Paul had been delivered from his first imprisonment at Rome, about the end of the year 64, or the beginning of 65. See the preface. When, therefore, the apostle came from Rome into Asia, he no doubt visited Ephesus, where, ten years before, he had planted a Christian Church, and, as he had not time to tarry then, he left Timothy to correct abuses.
That thou mightest charge some - He does not name any persons; the Judaizing teachers are generally supposed to be those intended; and the term τισι, some, certain persons, which he uses, is expressive of high disapprobation, and at the same time of delicacy: they were not apostles, nor apostolic men; but they were undoubtedly members of the Church at Ephesus, and might yet be reclaimed.
(2) As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
(2) This whole epistle consists in admonitions, in which all the duties of a faithful pastor are plainly set out. And the first admonition is this, that no innovation is made either in the apostle's doctrine itself, or in the manner of teaching it.
As I besought thee to abide, still at Ephesus,.... Where it seems he now was, being left here by the apostle, and where he was desired by him to continue:
when I went into Macedonia; not when he went his first journey there, for Timothy was then along with him, Acts 16:3 and so he seems to be in his journey through it, in Acts 20:3. It may be this may refer to a journey which Luke has given no account of:
that thou mightest charge some, that they teach no other doctrine; than the doctrine of Christ and his apostles; than what had been preached by the apostle at Ephesus, and the saints there had received; than what was agreeably to the Scriptures of truth, and was according to godliness; for all other doctrines must be divers and strange ones: nor would he have them teach in another way, in new words, but hold fast the form of sound words; for new words often produce new doctrines: the apostle perhaps by other doctrine chiefly respects the doctrine of justification by the works of the law. It seems as if there were some teachers in this place the apostle was suspicious of, or he had heard that they began to innovate in the doctrine of faith; wherefore he desires Timothy to continue a while, in order to be a check on these persons, and to charge them not to introduce any new doctrine; for it was only "some", and not all that taught there, he was so to charge. Some refer this to hearers; and render, the words, "that they follow no other doctrine"; but it seems best to understand it of teachers; the Syriac and Arabic versions render the words as we do.
Timothy's superintendence of the Church at Ephesus was as locum tenens for the apostle, and so was temporary. Thus, the office of superintending overseer, needed for a time at Ephesus or Crete, in the absence of the presiding apostle, subsequently became a permanent institution on the removal, by death, of the apostles who heretofore superintended the churches. The first title of these overseers seems to have been "angels" (Revelation 1:20).
As I besought thee to abide still--He meant to have added, "so I still beseech thee," but does not complete the sentence until he does so virtually, not formally, at 1-Timothy 1:18.
at Ephesus--Paul, in Acts 20:25, declared to the Ephesian elders, "I know that ye all shall see my face no more." If, then, as the balance of arguments seems to favor (see Introduction), this Epistle was written subsequently to Paul's first imprisonment, the apparent discrepancy between his prophecy and the event may be reconciled by considering that the terms of the former were not that he should never visit Ephesus again (which this verse implies he did), but that they all should "see his face no more." I cannot think with BIRKS, that this verse is compatible with his theory, that Paul did not actually visit Ephesus, though in its immediate neighborhood (compare 1-Timothy 3:14; 1-Timothy 4:13). The corresponding conjunction to "as" is not given, the sentence not being completed till it is virtually so at 1-Timothy 1:18.
I besought--a mild word, instead of authoritative command, to Timothy, as a fellow helper.
some--The indefinite pronoun is slightly contemptuous as to them (Galatians 2:12; Jde 1:4), [ELLICOTT].
teach no other doctrine--than what I have taught (Galatians 1:6-9). His prophetic bodings some years before (Acts 20:29-30) were now being realized (compare 1-Timothy 6:3).
As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus. Paul, it is presumed, seeing on the occasion of his last visit the need of a trusty evangelist at Ephesus to counteract the errors which were arising, had left Timothy behind. He was not left there as a bishop, as has been sometimes claimed, for we find that a part of his business was to appoint bishops; but as the representative of the apostle, an evangelist. The office of Titus in Crete was similar.
That they teach no other doctrine. Than the gospel which they had been taught. Some of the errors which he was to correct are stated in 1-Timothy 1:4.
Neither give heed to fables. In Titus 1:14, the fables are called "Jewish." It is likely such fables as those of the Talmud are meant, legends which have been added to the history of the Old Testament, additions to the Scriptures. Though the Talmud was committed to writing a little later, it aimed to collect the legends and traditions which had been long in existence.
Endless genealogies. Philo, a learned Alexandrian Jew who wrote a little before Paul's time, built up a whole system on genealogies. The names in the genealogies with him represented the various conditions of the soul. Some have supposed that Paul refers to some foolish fancies of the Gnostics, but those were of later date.
Which minister questions. Raise discussions.
Charge some to teach no other doctrine - Than I have taught. Let them put nothing in the place of it, add nothing to it.
*More commentary available at chapter level.