Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Timothy 1:4

Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: [so do.]

4. fables and endless genealogies ] Ellicott following Chrysostom and the early Greek commentators regards the false teaching as arising from Jewish, perhaps Cabbalistic sources, and only an affluent afterwards of the later and more definite Gnosticism Rabbinical fables and fabrications in history and doctrine, and vague rambling genealogies in the proper sense, but very possibly combined with wild speculative allegories. See Introduction, pp. 45 sqq.; Appendix, B.

which minister questions ] Rather with R.V. the which minister questionings ‘the which’ implying the force of the pronoun ‘which are of such a kind as to’; and ‘questionings’ suggesting better the process and state of questioning which the form of the noun conveys. The compound noun which is the right reading implies painful, elaborate questionings, so the verb 1Pe 1:10 ‘searched diligently.’

godly edifying ] Read with the best mss. (and the Received Text which the A.V. has not followed here) a dispensation of God the divine economy or scheme of salvation to be apprehended by faith. They whom Timothy was thus to correct had or might have learnt exactly what St Paul meant by this dispensing of grace on God’s part from the eloquent passage in his own letter to them, Ephesians 3; ‘the dispensation of that grace of God,’ 1Ti 1:2; ‘to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery,’ 1Ti 1:9.

in faith ] That is, as Theod. Mops. puts it, we lay hold of the plan of salvation by ‘a historic faith’ ‘getting our proof of its truth from the facts themselves of the life of God incarnate.’

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Neither give heed to fables – That is, that they should not bestow their attention on fables, or regard such trifles as of importance. The fables here referred to were probably the idle and puerile superstitions and conceits of the Jewish rabbies. The word rendered fable ( muthos) means properly speech or discourse, and then fable or fiction, or a mystic discourse. Such things abounded among the Greeks as well as the Jews, but it is probable that the latter here are particularly intended. These were composed of frivolous and unfounded stories, which they regarded as of great importance, and which they seem to have desired to incorporate with the teachings of Christianity. Paul, who had been brought up amidst these superstitions, saw at once how they would tend to draw off the mind from the truth, and would corrupt the true religion. One of the most successful arts of the adversary of souls has been to mingle fable with truth; and when he cannot overthrow the truth by direct opposition, to neutralize it by mingling with it much that is false and frivolous.

And endless genealogies – This also refers to Jewish teaching. The Hebrews kept careful genealogical records, for this was necessary in order that the distinction of their tribes might be kept up. Of course, in the lapse of centuries these tables would become very numerous, complicated, and extended – so that they might without much exaggeration be called endless. The Jews attached great importance to them, and insisted on their being carefully preserved. As the Messiah, however, had now come – as the Jewish polity was to cease – as the separation between them and the pagan was no longer necessary, and the distinction of tribes was now useless, there was no propriety that these distinctions should be regarded by Christians. The whole system was, moreover, contrary to the genius of Christianity, for it served to keep up the pride of blood and of birth.

Which minister questions – Which afford matter for troublesome and angry debates. It was often difficult to settle or understand them. They became complicated and perplexing. Nothing is more difficult than to unravel an extensive genealogical table. To do this, therefore, would often give rise to contentions, and when settled, would give rise still further to questions about rank and precedence.

Rather than godly edifying which is in faith – These inquiries do nothing to promote true religion in the soul. They settle no permanent principle of truth; they determine nothing that is really concerned in the salvation of people. They might be pursued through life, and not one soul be converted by them; they might be settled with the greatest accuracy, and yet not one heart be made better. Is not this still true of many controversies and logomachies in the church? No point of controversy is worth much trouble, which, if it were settled one way or the other, would not tend to convert the soul from sin, or to establish some important principle in promoting true religion. So do. These words are supplied by our translators, but they are necessary to the sense. The meaning is, that Timothy was to remain at Ephesus, and faithfully perform the duty which he had been left there to discharge.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Ti 1:4

Neither give heed to fables.

Old doctrines enduring

At Cudham, in Kent, is an old church. Walking round it on one occasion, I observed a portion of the roof falling to decay and needing to be propped up with a timber stay. On closer investigation, however, I discovered that the decaying portion was none of the old structure, but a modern addition. We need not fear for the ancient fabric of Christian truth. The new-fangled doctrines will fall to the ground, while the old gospel endureth for ever. (J. Halsey.)

Modern gospels false

The very commendations which some people give of the so-called gospel they preach arouse our suspicion. When we hear of its recent and human origin, we at once begin to doubt its validity. We are reminded of the boy who went into a shop to change a sovereign. Are you sure it is a good one? asked the man behind the counter. Oh, yes, quite sure, sir; for I seed father make it this morning. We do not believe in a gospel which was coined but this morning. We preach a gospel which was minted in heaven, which bears the image and superscription of Christ, which has the ring of true metal, and which will pass current in all the dominions of the King. (C. W. Townsend.)

Self-made gospels useless

When some men come to die, the religion which they have themselves thought out and invented will yield them no more confidence than the religion of the Roman Catholic sculptor who, on his death-bed, was visited by his priest. The priest said, You are now departing out of this life! and, holding up a beautiful crucifix, he cried, Behold your God, who died for you. Alas! said the sculptor, I made it. There was no comfort for him in the work of his own hands; and there will be no comfort in a religion of ones own devising. That which was created in the brain cannot yield comfort to the heart. The man will sorrowfully say, Yes, it is my own idea; but what does God say? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Unprofitable speculations

In reviewing some of the questions: which occupied my attention at an early period, I have seen reason to bless God for preserving me at a time when my judgment was very immature. When I have seen the zeal which has been expended in maintaining some such peculiarities, I have thought it a pity. Bunyan would have called them nuts which spoil the childrens teeth. They have appeared to me as a sort of spiritual narcotics, which, when a man once gets a taste for them, he will prefer to the most wholesome food. A man who chews opium, or tobacco, may prefer it to the most wholesome food, and may derive from it pleasure, and even vigour for a time; but his pale countenance and debilitated constitution will soon bear witness to the folly of spending his money for that which is not bread. (A. Fuller.)

Unprofitable disputes to be avoided

Avoid disputes about lesser truths, and a religion that lies only in opinions. They are usually least acquainted with a heavenly life, who are violent disputers about the circumstantials of religion. He whose religion is all in his opinions, will be most frequently and zealously speaking his opinions; and he whose religion lies in his knowledge and love of God and Christ, will be most delightfully speaking of that happy time when he shall enjoy them. He is a rare and precious Christian who is skilful to improve well-known truths. Therefore let me advise you, who aspire after a heavenly life, not to spend too much of your thoughts, your time, your zeal, or your speech upon disputes that tess concern your souls; but when hypocrites are feeding on husks and shells, do you feed on the joys above. I would have the chief truths to be chiefly studied, and none to cast out your thoughts of eternity. (Richard Baxter.)

The groundwork of Christianity

In his confidential letter to Timothy, he struck very hard blows, and more nearly in language of contempt than I remember his using in any other of his writings. He made a distinction in this way: he warned against that method of teaching which led to discussions, questions, janglings, disputes, envyings, and urged Timothy to pursue that line of teaching which had in it the power of building men up, of edifying them–this being the architectural word for building. Those doctrines which tended to educate men in a noble manhood he told him to preach; but those other doctrines which resulted not in the change of mens dispositions, but in debates and questionings, he counselled him to avoid. That which tends to develop right sentiments he declares to be gospel teaching and preaching, whereas that which tends to develop nice distinctions, nice arguments, nice points of orthodoxy, and to make men think that they know ever so much, so that they are proud of their knowledge, though they are fools all the time, is false teaching and preaching. And here we have the foundation on which men should be united. Unity is not to exist in governments, ordinances, and doctrines, but in things that pertain to godliness of life. It is said, If a man is sincere his convictions do not make any difference. Dont they? A man says to you, I saw you break into a bank. Oh, no, you say, That is only a joke. Yes I did. And not only that, I saw you pick a mans pocket. He sticks to it that he saw you do these things; and the more sincere he is the worse it is for you. Do not you think it makes any difference what a mans convictions are when he is talking about you? You demand that a man shall think right when he talks about you, and your wife, and your daughter, and your credit, and your interests. Everybody holds in regard to certain technical speculative ideas which lie outside of positive knowledge, that men should believe right. In the great realm of which we are speaking, and in reference to things which relate to manhood and character, everybody holds that right believing is essential. We hold every man responsible for his beliefs so far as his conduct is affected by them: not for his speculative beliefs, but for those of his beliefs which pertain to human life in the family, in business, and in government. Of the great laws to which men are accountable, spiritual laws are the highest, civil laws are next, social laws are next, and physical laws are next; and belief in the existence of these laws is important. A belief that men are accountable to them, and that obedience to them brings happiness, while disobedience to them brings unhappiness, is also important. You may leave out mens beliefs in regard to certain philosophical views of responsibility, and that which is woven in the loom of apprehension may be scattered, and no harm may result; but the great fact remains that men are accountable to those laws; and every man stands on that. Men are accountable; and if they do right they are rewardable; but if they do wrong they are punishable; and the greatest danger would result from teaching that it made no difference what men thought and did. It would be a fatal blow at morality. It would reduce man to the level of the animal, that acts according to instinct and not according to reason. There could be no greater mistake than that. While there may exist differences of opinion in regard to minor points connected with this fact, it is all-important that men should recognize the fact itself, that under the Divine government, and under the laws that belong to that government, men are held accountable for their conduct, for their feelings, and for their thoughts in life. Men are also in agreement with regard to the ideal of character–that is, in regard to the architectural plan, which is laid down in the New Testament for godliness, or true Christian manhood. They believe that the New Testament requires that the whole man shall be shaped and educated into a perfect obedience to all the laws of his condition here and hereafter. They believe that the body must be wholesome in a perfect Christian man. They believe that where there is a perfect Christian manhood, the intellect must be healthy and regulated. They believe that a mans disposition must be perfectly developed and harmonized before he can be a ripe Christian man. We hear a great deal about the way being obscure, so that one cannot tell what the truth is. Men complain that if you go to one church they tell you one thing, if you go to another church they tell you another thing, and if you go to another church they tell you still another thing. It is true that churches differ on various minor points; but they agree on great essential points. In those things in which they are at agreement, they are like the body of a shawl; and in those things in which they differ they are like the fringe of that shawl. The body of the shawl is solid; and there is division only in the fringe. It is the outer edge of truth about which men quarrel more than about anything else. In regard to the great central truths there is substantial unity. A man might better go into a desert in a sand-storm, or he might better put his glass into a blinding mist, in the hope of getting a view of the stars, than attempt to come to an understanding of the interior nature of the Divine life and government, by means of philosophical thought or discussion. That is a subject about which there is no controversy. It is here that the Christian world agree. About the ineffable love of God, about His inconceivable excellence, about His wondrous goodness and mercy, men are all agreed. Secondly, what is called orthodoxy in each sect falls, for the most part, into that category about which men differ, and may differ; as also do what are called fundamental doctrines. Fundamental to what? That is the question. The doctrines which are fundamental to right living, to reverence and love toward God, and to love and self-sacrifice toward man; the doctrines, in other words, which are necessary to build up godliness in each particular man–about those doctrines there is no variation of belief. They are fundamental to conduct, fundamental to character, fundamental to duty; and about them men do not squabble. But what is fundamental to Calvinism in another thing. Fore-ordination is necessary to Calvinism; but it is not necessary to higher piety. Being irresistibly called by efficacious grace is essential to the Calvinistic scheme; but it is not necessary to true Christianity. Though such things as these may be fundamental to the forms, and ceremonies, and rituals, and usages, and governments of Churches, they are not fundamental to piety in its highest sense. I do not say that these outward elements have no value: that is not the point; I say that whatever their value may be, no man has any right, in the face of Christendom, to call them fundamental to Christianity when they are only fundamental to a side-issue–to something on either side of which a man may stand in his belief, and yet be a Christian and go to heaven. (H. W. Beecher.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 4. Neither give heed to fables] Idle fancies; things of no moment; doctrines and opinions unauthenticated; silly legends, of which no people ever possessed a greater stock than the Jews. Their Talmud abounds with them; and the English reader may find them in abundance in Stehlin’s Jewish Traditions, 2 vols. 8vo.

Endless genealogies] I suppose the apostle to mean those genealogies which were uncertain-that never could be made out, either in the ascending or descending line; and, principally, such as referred to the great promise of the Messiah, and to the priesthood. The Jews had scrupulously preserved their genealogical tables till the advent of Christ and the evangelists had recourse to them, and appealed to them in reference to our Lord’s descent from the house of David; Matthew taking this genealogy in the descending, Luke in the ascending, line. And whatever difficulties we may now find in these genealogies, they were certainly clear to the Jews; nor did the most determined enemies of the Gospel attempt to raise one objection to it from the appeal which the evangelists had made to their own public and accredited tables. All was then certain; but we are told that Herod destroyed the public registers; he, being an Idumean, was jealous of the noble origin of the Jews; and, that none might be able to reproach him with his descent, be ordered the genealogical tables, which were kept among the archives in the temple, to be burnt. See Euseb. H. E., lib. i. cap. 8. From this time the Jews could refer to their genealogies only from memory, or from those imperfect tables which had been preserved in private hands; and to make out any regular line from these must have been endless and uncertain. It is probably to this that the apostle refers; I mean the endless and useless labour which the attempts to make out these genealogies must produce, the authentic tables being destroyed. This, were all other proofs wanting, would be an irresistible argument against the Jews that the Messiah is come; for their own prophets had distinctly marked out the line by which he was to come; the genealogies are now all lost; nor is there a Jew in the universe that can show from what tribe he is descended. There can, therefore, be no Messiah to come, as none could show, let him have what other pretensions he might, that he sprang from the house of David. The Jews do not, at present, pretend to have any such tables; and, far from being able to prove the Messiah from his descent, they are now obliged to say that, when, the Messiah comes, he will restore the genealogies by the Holy Spirit that shall rest upon him. “For,” says Maimonides, “in the days of the Messiah, when his kingdom shall be established, all the Israelites shall be gathered together unto him; and all shall be classed in their genealogies by his mouth, through the Holy Spirit that shall rest upon him; as it is written, Mal 3:3: He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi. First he will purify the Levites, and shall say: ‘This man is a descendant from the priests; and this, of the stock of the Levites;’ and he shall cast out those who are not of the stock of Israel; for behold it is said, Ezr 2:63: And the Tirshatha said-they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim. Thus, by the Holy Spirit, the genealogies are to be revised.” See Schoettgen.

Some learned men suppose that the apostle alludes here to the AEons, among the Gnostics and Valentinians, or whom there were endless numbers to make up what was called their pleroma; or to the sephiroth, or splendours of the Cabalists. But it is certain that these heresies had not arrived to any formidable head in the apostle’s time; and it has long been a doubt with me whether they even existed at that time: and I think it the most simple way, and most likely to be the intention of the apostle, to refer all to the Jewish genealogies, which he calls Jewish fables, Tit 1:14, to which we know they were strongly and even conscientiously attached and which, at this time, it must have been extremely difficult to make out.

Instead of , genealogies, some learned men have conjectured that the original word was , empty words, vain speeches; but this conjecture is not supported by any MS. or version.

Which minister questions] They are the foundation of endless altercations and disputes; for, being uncertain and not consecutive, every person had a right to call them in question; as we may naturally suppose, from the state in which the genealogical tables of the Jews then were, that many chasms must be supplied in different lines, and consequently much must be done by conjecture.

Rather than godly edifying] Such discussions as these had no tendency to promote piety. Many, no doubt, employed much of that time in inquiring who were their ancestors, which they should have spent in obtaining that grace by which, being born from above, they might have become the sons and daughters of God Almighty.

Instead of , godly edifying, or the edification of God, , the economy or dispensation of God, is the reading of almost every MS. in which this part of the epistle is extant, (for some MSS. are here mutilated,) and of almost all the versions, and the chief of the Greek fathers. Of the genuineness of this reading scarcely a doubt can be formed; and though the old reading, which is supported by the Latin fathers and the Vulgate, gives a good sense, yet the connection and spirit of the place show that the latter must be the true reading. Griesbach has received this reading into the text.

What had Jewish genealogies to do with the Gospel? Men were not to be saved by virtue of the privileges or piety of their ancestors. The Jews depended much on this. We have Abraham to our father imposed silence on every check of conscience, and every godly reproof which they received for their profligacy and unbelief. In the dispensation of God, FAITH in Christ Jesus was the only means and way of salvation. These endless and uncertain genealogies produced no faith; indeed they were intended as a substitute for it; for those who were intent on making out their genealogical descent paid little attention to faith in Christ. They ministered questions rather than that economy of God which is by faith. This dispensation, says the apostle, is by faith, . It was not by natural descent, nor by works, but by faith in Christ; therefore it was necessary that the people who were seeking salvation in any other way should be strictly informed that all their toil and labour would be vain.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Neither give heed to fables: by fables he probably meaneth the Jewish fables, and commandments of men, mentioned Tit 1:14; or more generally, all vain and idol speculations.

And endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying; whatsoever tendeth not to build men up in godliness, which is the end of preaching. The Jews had many unwritten fables, about what God did before he made the world, &c., and many unwritten endless genealogies, which were as so many labyrinths, intricate, without an issue out of them: and it is probable that some of them (converted to the Christian faith) still busied their heads about them, according to their education and the practice of the Jewish doctors, and made the subject of their sermons and discourses to the assemblies of Christians; which is the thing the apostle here declareth a corruption of the ordinances of preaching, and inveigheth against, 1Ti 6:4; 2Ti 2:23; Tit 1:14; 3:9; and willeth preachers to avoid, and people to give no heed to them, as nothing tending to the building Christians up in holiness, which he here calleth , the building up of God, either so objectively, or efficiently, or by his command, because it is in God, viz. in the knowledge of God, and an increase in the love of God, and other spiritual habits; or from God, being wrought by him, and serving for his honour and glory, or according to his will.

Which is in faith: he tells us this edifying can be no otherwise than in faith, preaching the doctrine of the gospel, and embracing that which is the doctrine of faith, a doctrine of Divine revelation, to which men must give their assent, because of the authority of God revealing it. So as no discourses which are not founded in a Divine revelation, and to be proved from thence, can possibly tend to any bnilding of God, which cannot stand in the wisdom of men, but must stand in the power of God. From this text we may observe the vanity and proneness of some persons, even from the infancy of the church, to make up what they call sermons of discourses about fables, idle questions, and speculations, and genealogies of which there is no end; the teachers being able to bring the minds of hearers to no rest about them, nor they tending to any good and saving use, but merely to show mens wit and parts; and we may also learn, that this is no religious preaching or hearing, it being impossible men should be under any religious obligations to hear any but prophets, that is, such as reveal the Divine will. For other discourses, men in their seasons may hear them, or let them alone, and credit or not credit them as they see reason.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

4. fableslegends about theorigin and propagation of angels, such as the false teachers taughtat Colosse (Col 2:18-23).”Jewish fables” (Tit1:14). “Profane, and old wives’ fables” (1Ti 4:7;2Ti 4:4).

genealogiesnot merelysuch civil genealogies as were common among the Jews, whereby theytraced their descent from the patriarchs, to which Paul would notobject, and which he would not as here class with “fables,”but Gnostic genealogies of spirits and aeons, as they called them,”Lists of Gnostic emanations” [ALFORD].So TERTULLIAN [AgainstValentinian, c. 3], and IRENUS[Preface]. The Judaizers here alluded to, while maintainingthe perpetual obligation of the Mosaic law, joined with it atheosophic ascetic tendency, pretending to see in it mysteries deeperthan others could see. The seeds, not the full-grownGnosticism of the post-apostolic age, then existed. This formed thetransition stage between Judaism and Gnosticism. “Endless”refers to the tedious unprofitableness of their lengthy genealogies(compare Tit 3:9). Paul opposesto their “aeons,” the “King of the aeons (sothe Greek, 1Ti 1:17),whom be glory throughout the aeons of aeons.” The word“aeons” was probably not used in the technical sense of thelatter Gnostics as yet; but “the only wise God” (1Ti1:17), by anticipation, confutes the subsequently adopted notionsin the Gnostics’ own phraseology.

questionsof merespeculation (Ac 25:20), notpractical; generating merely curious discussions. “Questions andstrifes of words” (1Ti 6:4):”to no profit” (2Ti2:14); “gendering strifes” (2Ti2:23). “Vain jangling” (1Ti 1:6;1Ti 1:7) of would-be “teachersof the law.”

godly edifyingTheoldest manuscripts read, “the dispensation of God,”the Gospel dispensation of God towards man (1Co9:17), “which is (has its element) in faith.” CONYBEAREtranslates, “The exercising of the stewardship of God”(1Co 9:17). He infers that thefalse teachers in Ephesus were presbyters, which accords with theprophecy, Ac 20:30. However,the oldest Latin versions, and IRENUSand HILARY, supportEnglish Version reading. Compare 1Ti1:5, “faith unfeigned.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Neither give heed to fables,…. Old wives’ fables, 1Ti 4:7 or Jewish fables, Tit 1:14 the traditions of the elders; anything that was not true; or if it was, yet idle, vain, trifling, and unprofitable:

and endless genealogies; not of deities, as the Theogony of the Gentiles, or the ten Sephirot or numbers in the Cabalistic tree of the Jews, or the Aeones of the Gnostics and Valentinians, which are said to proceed from one another, as some have thought; but both the public and private genealogies of the Jews, which they kept to show of what tribe they were, or to prove themselves priests and Levites, and the like; of which there was no end, and which often produced questions and debates. By reason of their captivities and dispersions, they were much at a loss to distinguish their tribes and families. Some care Ezra took of this matter, when the Jews returned from the Babylonish captivity. It is said a, that

,

“ten genealogies (or ten sorts of persons genealogized) came out of Babylon; priests, Levites, Israelites, profane (or unfit for the priesthood, though they sprung from priests) proselytes, freemen (servants made free), bastards, Nethinim or Gibeonites, such whose father was not known, and those that were took up in the streets.”

These Ezra brought up to Jerusalem thus distinguished, that they might be taken care of by the sanhedrim, and kept distinct; but these would often intermix and cause disputes; and sometimes these mixtures were connived at through partiality or fear b

“Says R. Jochanan, by the temple, it is in our hands, (the gloss adds, to discover the illegitimate families of the land of Israel,) but what shall I do? for lo, the great men of this age are hid (or impure): in which he agreed with R. Isaac, who said, the family that is hid, let it be hid. Abai also saith, we have learned this by tradition, there was a family of the house of Tzeriphah, beyond Jordan, and a son of Zion, (a famous man, a man of authority,) set it at a distance, (proclaimed it illegitimate,) by his authority. And again, there was another, and he made it near (or pronounced it right) by his power. Again, there was another family, and the wise men would not discover it.”

By which we may see what management there was in these things, and what a foundation was laid for questions and debates. Of these public and private genealogies, [See comments on Mt 1:16], to which may be added what R. Benjamin says c of some Jews in his time, who were the Rechabites, and were very numerous, and had a prince over them of the house of David; and, adds he, they have a genealogical book,

, “and extracts of questions”, which I should be tempted to render “clusters of questions”, which are with the head of the captivity; and this comes very near to what our apostle here says. And when it is observed, that Herod, that he might hide the meanness of his descent and birth, burnt all the genealogical writings in the public archives d, it must be still more difficult to fix the true account of things; and for the loss of the genealogical book, the public one, the Jews express a very great concern: for they say e, that

“from the time the book of genealogies was hid, the strength of the wise men was weakened, and the light of their eyes grew dim. Says Mar Zutra, between Azel and Azel, (that is, between 1Ch 8:38 and 1Ch 9:44) there is need of four hundred camel loads of commentaries.”

So intricate an affair, and such an endless business was this. And this affair of genealogies might be now the more the subject of inquiry among judaizing Christians, since there was, and still is, an expectation among the Jews, that in the times of the Messiah these things will be set aright. Says Maimonides f,

“in the days of the King Messiah, when his kingdom shall be settled, and all Israel shall be gathered to him,

, “they shall all of them be genealogized”, according to his word, by the Holy Ghost, as it is said, Mal 3:3 he shall purify the sons of Levi, and say, this is a genealogized priest, and this is a genealogized Levite; and shall drive them away who are not genealogized (or related) to Israel, as it is said, Ezr 2:63. Hence you learn, that by the Holy Ghost they shall be genealogized, those that arrogate and proclaim their genealogy; and he shall not genealogize Israel but by their tribes, for he shall make known that this is of such a tribe, and this is of such a tribe; but he shall not say concerning such an one he is a bastard, and this is a servant; for so shall it be, that the family that is obscure shall be obscure.”

Or else the genealogical account of their traditions may be meant, which they trace from Moses to Joshua, from Joshua to the elders, from the elders to the prophets, from the prophets to the men of the great synagogue, and from one doctor to another g, which to pursue is endless, tedious, and tiresome:

which minister questions; as the traditions of the elders, and the genealogical account of them did; the Talmud is full of the questions, debates, contentions, and decisions of the doctors about them:

rather than godly edifying, which is in faith; and which is the principal end of preaching, hearing, and conversation; and that may be called “godly edifying, or the edification of God”, as it may be rendered, which he is the author of, and which he approves of, and is by, and according to his word; or that in which souls are built up an habitation for God, and are built up in faith and holiness, and by an increase of every grace: and this is “in faith”, not only in the grace of faith, but by the doctrine of faith, on which the saints may build one another, and by which they are edified through the faithful ministration of it by the ministers of the word; when fabulous stories and disputes, about genealogies, are useless and unedifying: not that the apostle condemns all genealogies, such as we have in the writings of the Old Testament, and in the evangelists, nor all inquiries into them, and study of them, which, rightly to settle, is in some cases of great importance and use, but the private and unprofitable ones before mentioned. Some copies read, “the dispensation of God, which is in faith”; meaning the dispensation of the mysteries of grace, which are in the doctrine of faith, which becomes a faithful steward of them, and not fables and genealogies, which issue in questions, quarrels, and contentions.

a Misn. Kiddnshin, c. 4. sect. 1. b T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 71. 1. & Hieros. Kiddushin, fol. 65. 3. c Massaot, p. 83. d Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 1. c. 7. e T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 62. 2. f Hilchot Melacim, c. 12. sect. 3. g Pirke Abot, c. 1. sect. 1, &c.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

To give heed (). With understood. Old and common idiom in N.T. especially in Luke and Acts (Ac 8:10ff.). Not in Paul’s earlier Epistles. 1Tim 3:8; 1Tim 4:1; 1Tim 4:13; Titus 1:14.

To fables (). Dative case of old word for speech, narrative, story, fiction, falsehood. In N.T. only 2Pet 1:16; 1Tim 1:4; 1Tim 4:7; Titus 1:14; 2Tim 4:4.

Genealogies (). Dative of old word, in LXX, in N.T. only here and Tit 3:9.

Endless (). Old verbal compound (from privative and , to go through), in LXX, only here in N.T. Excellent examples there for old words used only in the Pastorals because of the subject matter, describing the Gnostic emphasis on aeons.

Questionings (). “Seekings out.” Late and rare compound from (itself Koine word, Ro 3:11 from LXX and in papyri). Here only in N.T. Simplex in Acts 15:2; 1Tim 6:4; Titus 3:9; 2Tim 2:23.

A dispensation (). Pauline word (1Cor 9:17; Col 1:25; Eph 1:9; Eph 3:9; 1Tim 1:4), Lu 16:2-4 only other N.T. examples.

In faith ( ). Pauline use of .

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Give heed [] . o P. Frequent in LXX and Class. Lit. To hold to. Often with ton noun the mind, which must be supplied here. It means here not merely to give attention to, but to give assent to. So Act 8:6; Act 16:14; Heb 2:1; 2Pe 1:19.

Fables [] . Muqov, in its widest sense, means word, speech, conversaton or its subject. Hence the talk of men, rumour, report, a saying, a story, true or false; later, a fiction as distinguished from logov a historic tale. In Attic prose, commonly a legend of prehistoric Greek times. Thus Plato, Repub. 330 D, oiJ legomenoi muqoi peri twn ejn %Aidou what are called myths concerning those in Hades. Only once in LXX, Sir. 20 19, in the sense of a saying or story. In N. T. Only in Pastorals, and 2Pe 1:16. As to its exact reference here, it is impossible to speak with certainty. Expositors are hopelessly disagreed, some referring it to Jewish, others to Gnostic fancies. It is explained as meaning traditional supplements to the law, allegorical interpretations, Jewish stories of miracles, Rabbinical fabrications, whether in history or doctrine, false doctrines generally, etc. It is to be observed that muqoi are called Jewish in Tit 1:14. In 1Ti 4:7, they are described as profane and characteristic of old wives. In 2Ti 4:4, the word is used absolutely, as here.

Endless genealogies [ ] . Both words Past o For genealogia (o LXX) comp. Tit 3:9. Genealogeisqai to trace ancestry, only Heb 7:6; comp. 1Ch 5:1, the only instance in LXX Aperantov endless, N. T. o. Twice in LXX By some the genealogies are referred to the Gnostic aeons or series of emanations from the divine unity; by others to the O. T. Genealogies as interpreted allegorically by Philo, and made the basis of a psychological system, or O. T. Genealogies adorned with fables : by others again to genealogical registers proper, used to foster the religious and national pride of the Jews against Gentiles, or to ascertain the descent of the Messiah. Aperantov from aj not, and perav limit or Terminus. Perav may be taken in the sense of object or aim, so that the adjective here may mean without object, useless. (So Chrysostom, Holtzmann, and von Soden.) Others take it in a popular sense, as describing the tedious length of the genealogies (Alford); and others that these matters furnish an inexhaustible subject of study (Weiss). “Fables and endless genealogies” form a single conception, the kai and being explanatory, that is to say, and the “endless genealogies” indicating in what the peculiarity of the fables consists.

Which [] . Rather the which : inasmuch as they.

Minister (parecousin). Afford, furnish, give occasion for. Only twice in Paul. Elsewhere mainly in Luke and Acts.

Questions [] Better, questionings. N. T. o. o LXX o Class. The simple zhthseiv in Pastorals, John and Acts. The preposition ejk gives the sense of subtle, laborious investigation : inquiring out.

Godly edifying. According to the reading oijkodomian edification. So Vulg. Aedificationem. But the correct reading is oijkonomian ordering or dispensation : the scheme or order of salvation devised and administered by God : God ‘s household economy. Oikonomia is a Pauline word. With the exception of this instance, only in Paul and Luke. See Eph 1:10; Eph 3:2, 9; Col 1:25.

Which is in faith [ ] . See on verse 2. Faith is the sphere or clement of its operation.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Neither give heed.” (mede prosechein) “Not even to pay attention,” as if sanctioning, encouraging, or becoming a party to. It is a good thing to avoid even listening to false teachers, 1Ti 6:20.

2) “To fables and endless genealogies.” (muthois kai genealogiais aperantois) “To tales or myths and unending genealogies.” Theories, hypothesis, cloudy guesses, and suppositions that reflect on the integrity of the Scriptures must be avoided to honor God.

3) “Which minister questions,” (aitines ekieteseis parechousin) “Which (cynical) questionings or skeptical questionings provide.” To be party to encourage religious myths and fables regarding salvation and Christian service is sin, Rom 14:23.

4) “Rather than godly edifying” (mallon e oikonomian theou) “Rather than a stewardship or edifying from God.” 2Ti 1:13. To be edified, encouraged, enlightened, or assured in the faith is wholesome and pleasing to God, 1Co 14:5; 1Co 14:12; 1Co 14:26; Eph 4:12.

5) “Which is in faith: so do.” (ten en pistei) “Which (exists) in faith.” Godly edifying or strengthening in the faith helps one to be a better housekeeper, or church worker for God. This the Bible encourages, Eph 4:16; Eph 4:29. Thus Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to instruct and warn and charge certain persons to lay off or put away their fables, myths, and religious flavored tales that would cast any reflection on the trustworthiness of the Word of God, 2Ti 4:1-3.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

4 And not to give heed to fables He applies the term “fables,” in my opinion, not only to contrived falsehoods, but to trifles or fooleries which have no solidity; for it is possible that something which is not false may yet be fabulous. In this sense, Suetonius speaks of fabulous history, (5) and Livy employs the word fabulari , “to relate fables,” as denoting useless and foolish talk. And, undoubtedly, the word μῦθος, (which Paul here employs,) is equivalent to the Greek word φλυαρία, that is, “trifles.” Moreover, by bringing forward one class by way of example, he has removed all doubt; for disputes about genealogies are enumerated by him amongst fables, not because everything that can be said about them is fictitious, but because it is useless and unprofitable.

This passage, therefore, may thus be explained: — “Let them not give heed to fables of that character and description to which genealogies belong.” And that is actually the fabulous history of which Suetonius speaks, and which even among grammarians, has always been justly ridiculed by persons of sound judgment; for it was impossible not to regard as ridiculous that curiosity which, neglecting useful knowledge, spent the whole life in examining the genealogy of Achilles and Ajax, and wasted its powers in reckoning up the sons of Priam. If this be not endured in childish knowledge, in which there is room for that which affords pleasure, how much more intolerable is it heavenly wisdom (6) ?

And to genealogies haste have end (7) He calls them endless, because vain curiosity has no limit, but continually falls from labyrinth to labyrinth.

Which produce questions He judges of doctrine by the fruit; for every thing that does not edify ought to be rejected, although it has no other fault; and everything that is of no avail but for raising contentions, ought to be doubly condemned. And such are all the subtle questions on which ambitious men exercise their faculties. Let us, therefore, remember, that all doctrines must be tried by this rule, that those which contribute to edification may be approved, and that those which give ground for unprofitable disputes may be rejected as unworthy of the Church of God.

If this test had been applied during several centuries, although religion had been stained by many errors, at least that diabolical art of disputing, which has obtained the appellation of Scholastic Theology, would not have prevailed to so great an extent. For what does that theology contain but contentions or idle speculations, from which no advantage is derived? Accordingly, the more learned a man is in it, we ought to account him the more wretched. I am aware of the plausible excuses by which it is defended, but they will never make out that Paul has spoken falsely in condemning, everything of the sort.

Rather than the edification of God. (8) Subtleties of this description edify in pride, and edify in vanity, but not in God. He calls it “the edification of God,” either because God approves of it, or because it is agreeable to the nature of God. (9)

Which consist in faith. He next shews that this edification consists in faith; and by this term he does not exclude the love of our neighbor, or the fear of God, or repentance; for what are all these but fruits of “faith” which always produces the fear of God? Knowing that all the worship of God is founded on faith alone, he therefore reckoned it enough to mention “faith,” on which all the rest depend.

(5) “ Et c’est en ceste signification que Suetone, en la vie de Tibere, dit que cest empereur la s’amusoit fort a l’histoire fabuleuse.” — “And it is in this sense that Suetonius, in his life of Tiberius, says that that emperor amused himself very much with fabulous history.”

(6) “Here we see more clearly, that Paul did not merely condemn in this passage doctrines which are altogether false, and which contain some blasphemies, but likewise all those useless speculations which serve to turn aside believers from the pure simplicity of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what Paul includes under the word “fables,” for he means not only deliberate and manifest falsehoods, but likewise everything that is of no use, and this is implied in the word which he employs. What, then, does Paul set aside in this passage? All curious inquiries, all speculations which serve only to annoy and distress the mind, or in which there is nothing but a fair show and display, and which do not promote the salvation of those who hear them. This must be carefully remembered, for we shall afterwards see that the reason why Paul speaks of them in this manner is, that the word of God must be profitable. (2Ti 3:16.) All who do not apply the word of God to good profit and advantage are despisers and falsifiers of good doctrine.” — Fr. Ser.

(7) “ ᾿Απέραντος properly signifies interminable. Hence there is also an implicit sense of what is unprofitable. This, indeed, some, but I think injudiciously, make the principal one.” — Bloomfield.

(8) “Rather than godly edifying,” — Eng. Tr.

(9) “This word edify is sufficiently common in the Holy Scripture, but is not understood by all. In order to understand it aright, let us observe, that it is a comparison which is set before us; for we ought to be temples of God, because he wishes to dwell in us. — Those who profit in a right manner, that is, in faith, in the fear of God, in holiness of life, are said to be edified; that is, God builds them to be his temples, and wishes to dwell in them; and also that we should unitedly form a temple of God, for each of us is a stone of that temple. Thus, when each of us shall be well instructed in his duty, and when we shall all be united in holy brotherhood, then shall we be edified in God. It is true, that men may sometimes be edified in pride: as we see that they who take delight in their vain imaginations, and who spread their wings, and swell themselves out like toads, think that they are well edified. Alas! what a poor building is this! But Paul expressly says, that we must be edified according to God. By which he shews, that when we shall be instructed to serve God, to render to him pure worship, to place all our confidence in him, this is the edification at which we must aim; and every doctrine that has that tendency is good and holy, and ought to be received; but all that is opposed to it must be rejected without farther dispute: it is unnecessary to make any longer inquiry. And why must this or that be rejected? Because it does not contribute to the edification of God.” — Fr. Ser.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(4) Neither give heed to fables.These fables ware, no doubt, purely Rabbinical. It was said in the Jewish schools that an oral Law had been given on Sinai, and that this Law, a succession of teachers, from the time of Moses, had handed down. This Law that is upon the lip, as it was termed, was further illustrated and enlarged by the sayings and comments of the more famous Jewish Rabbis, and in the time of our Lord constituted a supplement to the written Law in the Pentateuch. For centuries this supplementary code was preserved by memory or in secret rolls, and doubtless was constantly receiving additions. It contained, along with many wild and improbable legendary histories, some wise teachings. This strange collection of tradition and comment was committed to writing in the second century by Rabbi Jehuda, under the general name of the Mishna, or repetition (of the Law). Round this compilation a complement of discussions (the Gemara) was gradually formed, and was completed at Babylon somewhere about the end of the fifth century of our era. These worksthe Mishna and the Gemara, together with a second Gemara, formed somewhat earlier in Palestineare generally known as the Talmud. The influence of some of these traditions is alluded to by our Lord (Mat. 15:3).

Endless genealogies.Genealogies in their proper sense, as found in the Book of the Pentateuch, and to which wild allegorical interpretations had been assigned. Such purely fanciful meanings had been already developed by Philo, whose religious writings were becoming at this time known and popular in many of the Jewish schools. Such teaching, if allowed in the Christian churches, St. Paul saw would effectually put a stop to the growth of Gentile Christendom. It would inculcate an undue and exaggerated, and, for the ordinary Gentile convert, an impossible reverence for Jewish forms and ceremonies; it would separate the Jewish and Gentile converts into two classesplacing the favoured Jew in an altogether different position from the outcast Gentile.

In the Gentile churches founded by the Apostles, for some years a life and death struggle went on between the pupils of St. Paul and his fellow Apostles and the disciples of the Rabbinical schools. In these earnest warnings of his Pastoral Epistles the great Apostle of Gentile Christianity shows us, how clearly he foresaw that if these Jewish fables and the comments of the older Jewish teachers were allowed to enter into the training of the new-formed congregations, the Church of Christ would shrink, in no long space of time, into the narrow and exclusive limits of a Jewish sect. Judaism, writes the anonymous author of Paul of Tarsus, was the cradle of Christianity, and Judaism very nearly became its grave.

Which minister questions.Disputings, questions of mere controversy, inquiries, which could not possibly have any bearing on practical life.

Rather than godly edifying which is in faith.The rendering of the reading in the more ancient authorities would be: rather than the dispensation of God which is in faith; or, in other words, the introduction into Church teaching of these Jewish mythsthese traditions of the elders, these fanciful genealogieswould be much more likely to produce bitter and profitless controversy than to minister to Gods scheme of salvation, designed by God, and proclaimed by His Apostles.

So do.The Apostle, in 1Ti. 1:3, begins this sentence of earnest exhortation, but in his fervour forgets to conclude it. The closing words would naturally come in here: For remember how I besought thee when I left thee behind at Ephesus, when I went on to Macedonia, to discourage and firmly repress all vain teaching, which only leads to useless controversy, so I do now; or, so I repeat to you now. (This is better and more forcible than the words supplied in the English version: so do.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

4. Fables The “Jewish fables” of Tit 1:14; in 1Ti 4:7, they are termed “profane and old wives’ fables;” and in 2Ti 4:4, simply “fables.” These innovators, verging into heresy and apostasy, and leading a part of the Church after them, are Jews. Of these fables the Talmud was a great repository. Says Clarke: “I will give one instance from the Jerusalem Targum, on Gen 1:15: ‘And God made two great lights, and they were equal in splendour twenty-one years, the six hundred and seventy-second part of an hour excepted: and afterwards the moon brought a false accusation against the sun, and therefore she was lessened; and God made the sun the greater light to superintend the day,’ etc. I could produce a thousand of a similar complexion.” Commentary. 1Ti 1:7.

The Targums were very liberal translations or paraphrases of the Old Testament books, prepared for the people after the captivity, who had forgotten their pure Hebrew dialect. The Talmud was a collection of the teachings and traditions of the Rabbies, filled with a mixture of noble moralities and most extravagant inventions. “Such,” says Grotius, “were with the Jews the fables concerning what God did before the world was created; concerning man, created at first hermaphrodite; concerning his concubitus with beasts, and with Lilith; concerning demons and those born from them; concerning behemoth and leviathan; concerning the existence of souls before the body; concerning the angels distributed into the stars and aerial regions.” Tertullian says that Valentinus, the Gnostic, “introduced many fables.” “Such worthless stories,” says Schaff, “are still found, as is well known, in the Talmud and in the Cabala, ( Cabala-tradition,) the elements of which confessedly existed in the first century, probably even before the destruction of Jerusalem.” For a good account of the Cabala, see M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia.

Endless genealogies As to what these genealogies were, Alford adduces six different suppositions. It is clear that we must look for these genealogies, as for the forementioned fables, among the Jews. And this excludes the Gnostic emanations, by which existing things were traced back to their origin through a series of generative developments from the original Pleroma. For an account of these see Pressense’s Heresy and Christian Doctrine, book 1. We must also reject the Old Testament genealogies, and the Jewish family genealogies; for these could form no part of a heresy in Christianity. These genealogies were, rather, allegorical theories and phantasies, based upon mystical interpretations of the Old Testament genealogical registers. Of these we have specimens in Philo, who finds plenty of Platonic and Oriental philosophy in the Old Testament mystically interpreted. “Genealogical” is a term which he himself applies to his allegories. They were fresh inventions of liberalizing Jews, who endeavoured to find all the wisdom of “modern thought” wrapped up in the letter of the Old Testament books, and to be unfolded by drawing out a concealed sense. In Ephesus and Crete, this doctrine would substitute for Christianity a mystical blend of the Jewish letter with Oriental philosophy. These genealogies are called endless, as they could be spun out at will by the imaginative allegorizer; and every new allegorizer could add a new spin; so that the whole system was interminable. Still more truly interminable because they led to no satisfactory conclusions, but induced questions for ever and ever, without solid or saving answers, as to the true system or constitution of things.

Rather than godly edifying Better, rather than the (actual) system of God. This true system is given in a true interpretation of the Old Testament, and results in Jesus the Messiah and the gospel. Here we have solid reality; there nothing but endless questions.

In faith With the Greek article before it, the system of God which is embraced in our faith, and consequently results not in questions, but in divine composure of mind.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Ti 1:4. Neither give heed to fables, &c. Nothing can be conceived more monstrous and absurd than the fables with which the writings of the Jewish rabbies are filled. It is probable this wild romantic humour might in some measure prevail as early as the apostle’s days, and may be referred to here. The Jewish Christians valued themselves very much upon their descent from Abraham and the prophets, though possibly some of them could hardly make out the whole genealogy: but if they could have done it ever so exactly, Christians were to regard no man according to the flesh, nor to reject or despise the Gentile Christians for want of such a genealogy or extraction. Holiness and love were chiefly to be looked after in a Christian: he who had these, had all that was truly valuable; and he who wanted them, was of no account in the sight of God.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do .

Ver. 4. Endless genealogies ] It is but laborious loss of time to search into those things, whereof we can neither have proof nor profit; the gains will not pay for the pains, the task is not worthy the toil. Toilsome toys they are, hard to come by, but of no use or worth; like an olive or date stone, hard to crack the one, or cleave the other; but nothing, or nothing worth aught, when cracked or cloven, within either. The shell fish among the Jews was counted unclean, because it had but a little meat, and a great deal of labour to get it.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

1Ti 1:4 . : nor to pay attention to . This perhaps refers primarily to the hearers of the rather than to the false teachers themselves. See reff.

: “Polybius uses both terms in similarly close connection, Hist . ix. 2, 1” (Ell.). Two aspects of, or elements in, the one aberration from sound doctrine.

Some light is thrown upon this clause by other passages in this group of letters (1Ti 1:6-7 ; 1Ti 4:7 ; 1Ti 6:4 ; 1Ti 6:20 ; 2Ti 2:14 ; 2Ti 2:16 ; 2Ti 2:23 ; 2Ti 4:4 ; Tit 1:10 ; Tit 1:14 ; Tit 3:9 ). The myths are expressly called Jewish (Tit 1:14 ), and this affords a good argument that and , in 1Ti 1:7-8 and Tit 3:9 , refer to the Mosaic Law, not restricting the term Law to the Pentateuch. Now a considerable and important part of the Mosaic legislation has relation only to Palestine and Jerusalem; it had no practical significance for the devotional life of the Jews of the Dispersion, with the exception of the community that worshipped at Hierapolis in Egypt. There is a strong temptation to mystics to justify to themselves the continued use of an antiquated sacred book by a mystical interpretation of whatever in it has ceased to apply to daily life. Thus Philo ( De Vit. Contempl . 3) says of the Therapeutae, “They read the holy Scriptures, and explain the philosophy of their fathers in an allegorical manner, regarding the written words as symbols of hidden truth which is communicated in obscure figures”. Those with whom St. Paul deals in the Pastoral Epistles were not the old-fashioned conservative Judaisers whom we meet in the Acts and in the earlier Epistles; but rather the promoters of an eclectic synthesis of the then fashionable Gentile philosophy and of the forms of the Mosaic Law. , then, here and elsewhere in the Pastorals (see reff.), would refer, not to the stories and narrative of the O.T. taken in their plain straightforward meaning, but to the arbitrary allegorical treatment of them.

may similarly refer to the genealogical matter in the O.T. which is usually skipped by the modern reader; but which by a mystical explanation of the derivations of the nomenclature could be made to justify their inclusion in a sacred book, every syllable of which might be supposed antecedently to contain edification. This general interpretation, which is that of Weiss, is supported by Ignat. Magn . 8, “Be not seduced by strange doctrines nor by antiquated fables ( ), which are profitless. For if even unto this day we live after the manner of Judaism ( ), we avow that we have not received grace.” Hort maintains that here has a derived meaning, “all the early tales adherent, as it were, to the births of founders” (see Judaistic Christianity , p. 135 sqq .). On the other hand, Irenus ( Haer . Praef. 1 and Tertullian ( adv. Valentin . 3; de Praescript . 33) suppose that the Gnostic groupings of aeons in genealogical relationships are here alluded to. It was natural that they should read the N.T. in the light of controversies in which they themselves were engaged.

: endless, interminatis (Vulg.), infinitis ( [253] .), because leading to no certain conclusion. Discussions which do not concern realities are interminable, not from their profundity, as the ocean is popularly speaking unfathomable in parts, but because they lead to no convincing end. One end or conclusion is as good as another. The choice between them is a matter of taste.

[253] Speculum

: qualitative, they are of such a kind as, the which (R.V.).

: Questionings to which no answer can be given, which are not worth answering. See reff. on 1Ti 6:4 . Their unpractical nature is implied by their being contrasted with . Life is a trust, a stewardship, committed to us by God. Anything that claims to belong to religion, and at the same time is prejudicial to the effectual discharge of this trust is self-condemned.

: is used here as in the phrase .

It will be observed that is here taken subjectively and actively ( the performance of the duty of an entrusted to a man by God; so also in Col 1:25 ); not objectively and passively ( the dispensation of God, i.e. , the Divine plan of salvation). The Western reading or , aedificationem , is easier; but the text gives a deeper meaning.

: This is best taken as in the faith; cf. 1Ti 1:2 , 1Ti 2:7 , Tit 3:15 . The trust committed to us by God is exercised in the sphere of the faith.

The aposiopesis at the end of 1Ti 1:4 is due to an imperative need felt by St. Paul to explain at once, and develop the thought of, . The true teaching that of the apostle and of Timothy would be the consequence of the charge given by Timothy and would issue in, be productive of, an . This . . is the object aimed at , , of the charge ; and is further defined as love , etc.

This is the only place in Paul in which means the final cause . In every other instance it means termination, result, i.e. consequence . 1Pe 1:9 is perhaps an instance of a similar use.

The charge is referred to again in 1Ti 1:18 . See also 1Th 4:2 . The expressed object of the charge being the comprehensive virtue, love, it is strange that Ellicott should characterise this exegesis as “too narrow and exclusive”. Bengel acutely observes that St. Paul does not furnish Timothy with profound arguments with which to refute the heretics, because the special duty of a church ruler is concerned with what is positively necessary. The love here spoken of is that which is “the fulfilment of the law” (Rom 13:10 ); and its nature is further defined by its threefold source. Heart, conscience, faith, mark stages in the evolution of the inner life of a man. Heart, or disposition, is earlier in development than conscience; and faith, in the case of those who have it, is later than conscience.

is an O.T. phrase. See reff. is in 1Ti 3:9 , 2Ti 1:3 ; it is in reff.; in Heb 13:18 ; it occurs without any epithet in 1Ti 4:2 , Tit 1:15 . occurs again 2Ti 1:5 ; and the adj. is applied to , Rom 12:9 , 2Co 6:6 . See other reff. It is evident that no stress can be laid on the choice of epithets in any particular passage.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Neither. Greek. mede.

fables. Greek. muthos. Occurs also 1Ti 4:7. 2Ti 4:4. Tit 1:14, 2Pe 1:16.

endless. Greek. aperantos. App-151.

genealogies. Greek. genealogia Only here and Tit 3:9. Referring to the list of emanations of AEONS according to the Gnostics.

questions. Greek. zetesis. See Act 25:20. All the occ, of the word show what questions occupy the natural mind.

godly edifying = dispensation (Gn oikonomia, 1Co 9:17) of God (1Ti 1:1). A few texts read oikodome, as 1Co 14:3, 1Co 14:5, 1Co 14:12.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

1Ti 1:4. , nor give heed) in teaching.- , to fables and genealogies) A Hendiadys. Comp. on fables, ch. 1Ti 4:7; 2Ti 4:4; Tit 1:14; on genealogies, ib. ch. 1Ti 3:9. And because these two things are joined together, and because those who taught such doctrines boasted of the law, it is evident that the apostle is not speaking of the genealogies of the Jewish families, but of the genealogies of the ons, against which Irenaeus and Tertullian quote this very passage. Nay, even Paul opposes to them the true consideration of the ons, 1Ti 1:17 [ – , to the King of the ons (ages)-be glory, throughout the ons of ons]. But if there be any doubt, whether those who taught another doctrine used the word ons already at that time, the wisdom of God [the only wise God, 1Ti 1:17] should be the more admired, which confutes (by anticipation) words not yet framed; comp. note to Mat 26:27. and are kindred words. The more inquisitive Jews had at that time very much mixed themselves up with the Gentiles. Paul casts no reproach on civil genealogies: he puts fables before this word; a fact quite inconsistent with his meaning the genealogies of families, which were evidently not fabulous. At least Paul would not have cared whether they were true or false. There was on the part of those men a certain degree of boasting, that they can search more deeply than others into the mysteries contained in the law-a circumstance which greatly impeded the power of the Gospel, especially around Ephesus.-, questions) Questions to be terminated by no decision, nothing at all desirable; pure truth is profitable. Comp. on these, and on strifes about words, ch. 1Ti 6:4; 2Ti 2:14; 2Ti 2:23-24; and presently after, 1Ti 1:6-7; Tit 3:9.- ) [godly edifying]. , in this passage, implies the act, not the state; moreover, the constant act [edifying]. Where time is wasted in useless questions, there the necessary and salutary functions in the house[2] of God are neglected.

[2] In allusion to the derivation of from and . So dificatio, edification, from des facere.-ED.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Ti 1:4

neither to give heed to fables-As a part of this Judaizing spirit they gave much attention to Jewish fables, imaginary occurrences, that constituted a part of the traditions of the elders handed down from generation to generation. The Targums, the Jewish sacred books written by the rabbis, are largely composed of these.

and endless genealogies,-The Jews laid much stress upon their ability to trace a distinct and unbroken genealogical line to Abraham. This care on this point was instilled by Moses and others of the prophets. This was done (1) so that the possessions of the different tribes might be kept in the families; (2) that the Levites might be kept separate who alone were to minister to sacred things; (3) that the lineage of the Messiah might be kept clear and distinct. Down to the coming of Jesus these genealogies were correctly kept. Since that time they seem to be so involved in confusion that no Jew is able to tell to which tribe he belongs. It is said that all genealogical tables that had hitherto been preserved so carefully were destroyed by Herod the Great because he was an Idumaean, seeking to establish a hereditary rule over the Jews, could not establish a line back to Abraham; and as he could not, he destroyed the advantages that these tables gave the children of Abraham over him.

Whatever personal motives may have actuated him, the destruction of the tables, when the divine purposes of their establishment had ended, must be regarded as providential. They had ended because the land of Canaan would no longer be the home of the children of Israel, the Levitical priesthood had served its purpose in bringing forward its nation to Jesus Christ, the end of the law had come.

The Jewish family as a distinct people of God, the Levitical priesthood, and the genealogy of Jesus, all like the law, were added because of transgression till the promised Messiah should come.

Were the Messiah to come now, as the Jews claim he is yet to come, his lineage could not be set forth. The rabbis say these tables of genealogy are to be restored by the Messiah when he comes. But any table restored by a person who is himself the chief beneficiary of the table would rest under suspicion. The Jews among the Christians, especially among the Judaizers of Pauls day, were given to seeking out these genealogies, as though they were to receive great good from them.

which minister questionings,-These genealogies and fables are held in great aversion because they cause much disputing, wrangling, and strife.

rather than a dispensation of God which is in faith; so do I now.-[In the dispensation of Gods love as manifested through faith in Christ is the only way of approach to the mercies of God, while these genealogies were uncertain and produced no faith: it was necessary, therefore, to impress upon all who were seeking salvation in any way other than through faith in Christ that it was vain.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

to: 1Ti 4:7, 1Ti 6:4, 1Ti 6:20, 2Ti 2:14, 2Ti 2:16-18, 2Ti 4:4, Tit 1:14, 2Pe 1:16

endless: Tit 3:9

questions: 1Ti 6:4, 1Ti 6:5, 2Ti 2:22

godly: 1Ti 3:16, 1Ti 6:3, 1Ti 6:11, 2Co 1:12, 2Co 7:9, 2Co 7:10, Eph 4:12-16, Tit 1:1, Heb 13:9

Reciprocal: Lev 8:35 – keep Mat 15:9 – teaching Act 9:31 – were edified Act 18:15 – a question Rom 14:19 – and 1Co 10:23 – edify 1Co 14:3 – edification 2Co 11:13 – false 1Th 5:11 – and edify 2Ti 2:23 – General Tit 1:10 – there

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1Ti 1:4. Fables has the same meal.-ing as myths, and the ones spoken of here are these put forth by the Juda-izers. They were a part of the commentaries that were composed with the claim that they were necessary to understand the law of Moses. It was easy to use such a notion as an opportunity for devising all sorts of speculative theories, and Paul’s instruction is to pay no attention to them. Endless genealogies. The Jews laid much stress upon their descent from Abraham (Mat 3:9), yet many of them were not content with the literal line from that patriarch, but ran off into some vague notions of an immaterial or mystic ancestry. However, in their wild speculations upon such a line of genealogy, though still professing much interest in their relation to Abraham, such unreasonable mixtures of genealogies would cause persons to become unsettled. As a result, the patriarch! Abraham was left behind as the speculations went on and on into the dim past without any certain conclusion. That is why Paul calls them endless genealogies. It is evident why he says they minister questions, meaning they raise disputes among the people that will be of no edification since they are not in faith. So do. These words have no or;g nals at this place in the Greek text, but the King James translators thought they were justified by the repetition in the epistle of the exhortation Paul had given Timothy in person when he was with him. The idea is as if Paul said: “When I was with you in person I besought you to see after how certain ones taught. Now I am more particular about it, and insist on your doing as I requested.”

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Ti 1:4. Fables and endless genealogies. In the absence of contemporary information as to the state of the Ephesian Church at this period, the exact meaning of these words must remain doubtful. It is fair to assume, as the fables are called Jewish in Tit 1:4, that they were more or less like those of which the Talmud is so full, legends that had been engrafted on the history of the Old Testament. Whether the genealogies were pedigrees in the strict sense of the term, by means of which Judaizing teachers claimed the authority of illustrious ancestry (as e.g. Sceva and his sons may have done, Act 19:14), or lists such as those of the later Gnostics (Basilides and Valentinus) of the successive emanations of ons, male and female, with names such as Depth, Silence, Wisdom, and Fulness, from the primal abyss of Deity, we cannot now decide. It was natural that writers like Irenus, living in the second century, and surrounded by these forms of error, should take the latter view, and it is, of course, possible that the germs of those theories appeared even in the Apostolic Age. The way in which Philo treats the actual genealogies of Genesis, as though each name represented a mystic truth, may have found imitators at Ephesus, and may have been the link between the purely Jewish and the purely Gnostic use of them. From St. Pauls point of view, these studies, whatever they were, were altogether profitless. They were interminable. Once enter on such a line of teaching, and there was no knowing when to stop. The questions they raised admitted of no answer. There is, indeed, nothing improbable in the thought that each of these forms of error may have had its representatives in the Apostolic Age, and that St. Paul condemned them all alike in one epithet of indignant scorn.

Godly edifying. The better reading gives the dispensation (or steward-ship) of God. St. Paul falls back on the thought so prominent in the Epistle to the Ephesians, that the truth of which he was the preacher was a system, an organized and compact whole, a dispensation of means to ends (1Co 9:17; Eph 1:10; Eph 3:2; Col 1:25), the ministers of which had received their stewardship from God, and so in strongest contrast with the rambling endlessness of the false teachers.

So do. The sentence in the Greek is with characteristic abruptness left unfinished, and St. Paul passes at once to that of which his mind is full.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

A farther and more particular charge is given here in 1Ti 1:4, that the church at Ephesus give not heed to fables or endless genealogies, which rather occasion wrangling disputes, than tend to edification in faith and holiness.

By fables, we may understand vain and idle speculations, Jewish scruples, frivolous observances: whatsoever in preaching is delivered by us, which doth not answer the great end of preaching, namely, to build up men in faith and holiness, is trifling, and not preaching; what we deliver signifies no more than a fable, or an imaginary tale that is told.

But what were these endless genealogies here spoken of?

Ans. Not scripture genealogies, for those are not vain, but useful; not endless, but determinate; but these were endeavours of some particular persons, who, that they might have a pretence to claim kindred with Christ, did make their genealogies endless, drawing down their line of descent from David, &c.; or else endeavoured to prove themselves sons of Abraham and Isaac, privileges which they highly valued themselves upon, and rested in, saying, We have Abraham to our Father.

Whatever they were, our apostle charges Timothy, that the church at Ephesus give no heed to them, nor to the preachers of them; and the reason is given, because they only occasion disputes, and tend not to edification.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

ARGUMENT 1

FABLES AND SUCCESSION

4. And not to give heed to fables. These fables include all human creeds and uninspired authorities. Of course, all books harmonical with the Bible and expository of it, are perfectly right in their place. They claim nothing new and no authority, but simply refer you to the Word of God, the only authority in the universe. Hence, all talk about human authority is heterodoxical and nonsensical, as there is no such thing in the universe. Hence, Paul warns us all to give no heed to fables: i.e., uninspired authorities, human creeds as such independently of Gods plain and simple Word, and endless genealogies. Fallen Judaism set great store on genealogies. Every priest must trace his lineage back to Aaron, before he has a right to officiate. Roman Catholics and many Protestant Churches hang their claims to orthodoxy on apostolical, patriarchal, episcopal, or baptismal succession. Millions of people have been humbugged on those lines, and proselyted to Romanism or some other pretentious ecclesiasticism. It is a trick of Satan from beginning to end to detract attention from Christ to humanisms, and drag you into hell. Suppose Romanism can trace organic succession back to Peter and Paul, and it turns out God had the organization then, and Satan has it now. Look in the New Testament, and see if you can find a trace of the pompous and ponderous organization of Romanism at the present day. You know you can not.

This whole problem is a human conceit, fabricated by the enemy to sidetrack and ruin souls. I heard much more preaching on it during my unregenerate life than on salvation. Whole communities were revolutionized and humbugged in this way. There is simply nothing in it. The Divine Ecclesia is the Church of God, and the only one. It simply means the called out, and consists of the people who have heard the call of the Holy Ghost, come out of the world, and separated themselves unto God, to live and die for him alone. Hence, there is but one fact to be settled in the solution of all this vexed Church question, Are you a child of God? Have you been born from above? Does the Spirit himself bear witness that you are a child of God? Are you walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless? If all this is true, you are regenerated and sanctified. Hence, you need not trouble yourself about the generations of bygone centuries. Every tub stands on its own bottom. You need not go on a wild-goose chase to Rome and Constantinople. You need not trouble the graveyards, and disturb the tombs of the patriarchs, ransacking the archives of the Middle Ages, to see that no link is missing in the chain of your apostolic succession. There is but one link in the chain, and that doesnt reach back, but straight up to heaven. It identifies you with your Heavenly Father, and confirms your adoption into the family of God, which is the only true Church in earth and heaven. No wonder Paul gave this rigid admonition to Timothy and all other preachers, not to give heed to fables and genealogies, which present controversies rather than the economy of God, which is in faith. How Satan has employed millions of demons manufacturing these silly sophistries in hell, and running up great trainloads over the black valley railroad to supply the preachers in this world since the great apostasy fifteen hundred years!

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 4

Fables and endless genealogies; idle and puerile superstitions, originating either in the traditions of the Jews, or in pagan philosophy.–Minister questions; promote disputes and contention.–Which is in faith; which simple faith can produce.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

1Ti 1:4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: [so do].

Give heed has the idea of occupy yourself with. Don’t sit down and occupy yourself on any long-term basis on these things. I recall many times in Bible College when as freshmen we know it alls would talk and argue and discuss at great lengths the intricacies of the Word – many times it was about useless questions, though it did keep us out of trouble.

Don’t occupy yourself with:

fables = myths, something without historical foundations. You might consider UFO’s in the class, or you might consider some of the creation myths that are in circulation today in this class. Indeed, anything besides a six 24-hour period creation is in this category. Arguing the fine points of other theories is not worth your time and effort.

endless genealogies = some feel that some Judaizers were laying stress on the genealogies of the Old Testament or possibly their own genealogies. They may have been quibbling over their personal roots.

I can imagine in a couple of generations the problem that might have been had by the church if Paul hadn’t taken the Corinthians to task for their division over Paul and Apollos. Can’t you just picture it in 450 A.D. – the elders of the church at Ephesus – some claiming that they are descended from Apollos, while another would be bragging of being in direct line to Paul himself, thus seeking power over the church? The First church of Apollos and the First church of Paul could well have resulted in many cities.

These things cause questions rather than promote edification of the saints. The thought would seem to be that anything that causes questions should be set aside unless the questions are answerable from Scripture. If the questions aren’t answerable, then it would be best to set those topics aside and replace them with things that will cause edification of the saints.

There are some Christian books on the market which are totally outside the scope of Scripture, trying to prove God through science. I am not sure this is wrong, but at this point the Word is adequate for the bringing of the lost to the Lord, and I am not sure spending millions on books that try to prove things outside of Scripture is a wise use of the Lord’s money. Had God wanted to prove His existence scientifically the Bible would contain I & II Science.

“so do” is not really a part of the text. The King James is one of the few translations that show it and being in italics it is indicated that it is not there. It is implied in the command.

Apply these thoughts to your Sunday school materials. Do they lead to good scriptural principles or do they lead to long discussions about what a text may or may not mean?

We attended a Bible study one time that had about fifteen in attendance. We read a verse and discussed what it meant. About ten different interpretations were presented. The leader finally closed the session with “Well there certainly are a lot of possible interpretations of the passage and I am sure one of them is the right one.”

An example would be faith healing. We could discuss it for hours, but the moment we brought Scripture in we would limit our discussion very quickly.

We should have a major problem with much of what is on the airwaves today. People are listening to everything under the sun and to everyone that can get a channel. Much of what is out there is not edifying the local assemblies.

It is taking financial support from the local assembly.

It is taking people from the local assembly. (some stop going to church)

It is taking doctrinal soundness from the local assembly.

It is teaching false doctrine in many cases.

As believers listen to the false, sooner or later they will begin to incorporate some of the information into their thinking and soon it will be in the local assembly.

By the way, what did Paul just say about that? Church leaders should stop it. Many listen and watch this trash because pastors have not been warning their sheep of the wolves! There are good programs on television, but there is also a ton of bad ones. GAIN DISCERNMENT FOLKS. If you know you are watching someone that is off doctrinally now and then, why bother listening to him at all.

While we are talking about listening, I might mention a woman that was very worried about her husband. (From Baptist Publications adult quarterly/Keeping the Faith published years ago.) “A distraught woman said to her physician, ‘I am really afraid, doctor that my husband has some terrible mental affliction. Sometimes I talk to him for hours and then discover that he hasn’t heard a single word I have said. ‘That is no affliction,’ was the reply, ‘that’s a divine gift.'”

Don’t spend time listening to the false prophets of the airwaves and byways. TURN A DEAF EAR! PAY ATTENTION TO THE GOOD DOCTRINE AND TEACHING THAT YOU ARE GETTING IN YOUR LOCAL ASSEMBLY AND FROM THE WORD.

I must admit that I am not really for the radio and TV ministers – even, the good ones. At times they lay out what I would class as misleading if not false doctrine. Once that information is unleashed over the air there is nothing that they can do about it. Someone may have tuned in for only one program and picked up something that he shouldn’t have. The listener assuming the preacher was good might practice false doctrine unknowingly.

I would like to read a quote from an adult Sunday school manual from Scripture Press (April-June 1969; Adult Living; p 3) I think this line of thought has weakened the church in recent years.

“There is another caution in this chapter. Some first-century Christians spent hours talking about the Old Testament genealogies, making up fictitious histories about each name. In the Dark Ages, theologians argued endlessly about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin. And today there are people who delight in endless – and pointless – speculation on predestination and free will; immersion and sprinkling; the pre, mid, and post-tribulation rapture; and many other fine points.

I personally think that there is much that could be taught on some of these subjects that would clarify the discussions. The problem is that many people that are doing the discussing have never studied the topics that they seem to be experts on.

A man on the internet made several ridiculous unfounded, undocumented statements against dispensationalism. It was obvious that he had never read of dispensations. He stated that dispensationalists believed in two ways of salvation – one for the Old Testament and one for the New Testament. Totally unfounded!

I tend to think that to relegate these topics to the idea of endless – and pointless – speculation is other doctrine. There is much that we can know from the scripture on the topics and we should not relegate these doctrines to the back burner just because some people seem to get stuck on them and cause problems with them. It seems to me this material was relegating good doctrine to the area of false doctrine.

Doctrine is very important. Otherwise, Christ and the apostles wouldn’t have given so much of it to us to live our lives by!

Study these topics, find your own ideas, and discuss with others to find if you have missed something and don’t let it hinder your spiritual life. Don’t, as Paul says, dwell on these things – study them – learn of them and move on to other doctrine.

The modern application of the genealogies might be seen in those that claim that they are in part of an apostolic succession. The Roman church holds that all Popes have come from Peter in direct line. Others hold to a succession back to John the Baptist and state that if you haven’t been baptized by a man that was baptized by a man that was baptized and so goes the succession back to John the Baptist, then you aren’t really baptized and that you need to be baptized by one of their men.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

1:4 {3} Neither give heed to fables and endless {b} genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: [so do].

(3) The doctrine is corrupted not only by false opinions, but also by vain and curious speculations: the declaration and utterance of which can help our faith in no way.

(b) He makes note of one type of vain question.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes