Young Men
Several Greek words, with little difference of meaning, are thus translated in Acts and the Epistles. (1) : laid down their garments at the feet of a young man (Act 7:58, also Act 20:9, Act 23:17, etc.). (2) : they brought the young man (Revised Version lad) alive (Act 20:12 Authorized Version ). This word has often the significance of servant. (3) : the young men came in and found her dead (Act 5:10, 1Jn 2:13, etc.). The termination has a diminutive force. (4) : the younger men arose and carried him out (Act 5:6 [Revised Version margin], 1Ti 5:1, Tit 2:6; 1Pe 5:5); also younger women (1Ti 5:2), widows (1Ti 5:11; 1Ti 5:14). A well-marked distinction between old and young was a characteristic feature of the life of the ascetic communities in Palestine (Hatch, p. 63), of the of the Greeks (Weizscker, ii. 331 f.), and apparently also of the Apostolic Church. Age was regarded as a title to honour, and one of the qualifications for office. Submission and reverence were the duty of the young. Age and rank or office are so closely related, as in the word , that it is not easy to distinguish whether a writer in the Epistles is speaking of age or of office. This ambiguity is also found in Epistle of Clement of Rome (Hatch).
Interest attaches to the question whether young men () held any office in the Church. The relative texts are 1Ti 5:1; 1Pe 5:5, and Act 5:6; Act 5:10. In the first two instances the context has to be taken into consideration. Rebuke not an elder () but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brethren: the younger (women) as sisters (1Ti 5:12). Here it is evident that the words elder, younger have nothing to do with office but refer to age (Hart, White, Expositors Greek Testament in loc.). The passage in Peter runs: The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder. Likewise, ye younger (), be subject unto the elder (). If in 1Ti 5:1 is official, it would be natural to conclude that it has the same significance in 1Ti 5:5, and that is also official. But in 1Ti 5:1 is unexpectedly qualified by the words among you, as if indicating a class more numerous than the official elders, and Peter can scarcely be regarded as referring to office when he speaks of himself as a fellow-elder (). Had he been referring to his official position, he would have said an apostle (1Ti 1:1). He appears to be giving injunctions to the older and more experienced members of the Christian community to tend the flock of God, and does so, not on his authority as an apostle, but as one who was, like themselves, advanced in age and experience. Accordingly, it seems best to conclude that has not an official significance in this passage. In Act 5:6, the younger men arose and carried him out (Revised Version margin), is taken by some as indicating regular servants of the Church (Meyer, Lindsay, etc.), but against that view is the fact that the young men are described as in Act 5:10 (Knowing, Neander, Lechler, etc.). The absence in the NT of any clear reference to them as officials is also an objection. Most probably they are simply distinguished as a class in the Christian community, in accordance with Eastern custom. The distinction between elder and younger was not confined strictly to difference of age. It also included difference of experience and length of connexion with the Church (Weizscker, Hatch).
Literature.-Comm. on Acts by R. J. Knowling (Expositors Greek Testament , 1900), T. M. Lindsay (1884-85), H. A. W. Meyer (Eng. translation , 1877), in loc.; C. von Weizscker, Apostolic Age, ii. [1895] 331 f.; E. Hatch, Organization of the Early Christian Churches, 1881, p. 63 f.; J. H. A. Hart, 1 Peter, in Expositors Greek Testament , 1910, in loc.; N. J. D. White, 1 Timothy, in ib., in loc.; C. Bigg, International Critical Commentary , St. Peter and St. Jude, 1901, in loc.; A. C. McGiffert, History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age, 1897, pp. 288, 663.
John Reid.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Young Men
General references
Exo 24:3-5; 1Ki 12:6-15; 2Ch 10:8; Psa 119:9; Psa 148:12-13; Pro 1:1-33; Pro 2:1-22; Pro 3:1-35; Pro 4:1-27; Pro 5:1-23; Pro 31:1-3; Pro 6:1-35; Pro 7:1-27; Pro 10:1; Pro 13:1; Pro 15:5; Pro 15:20; Pro 17:2; Pro 17:25; Pro 19:13; Pro 19:26-27; Pro 20:29; Pro 23:15-35; Pro 24:1-34; Pro 27:11; Pro 28:7; Pro 29:3; Jer 22:18-21; Mat 19:16-22; Mar 10:17-22; Luk 18:18-23; Luk 15:11-32; 1Ti 4:12; 2Ti 2:22-23; Tit 2:6; Heb 11:24-26; 1Jn 2:13-17
Instances of religious young men:
Joseph; Joshua; Samuel; David; Solomon; Uriah
– The rich young man
Mat 19:16-22; Mar 10:17-22; Luk 18:18-23 Children; Parents