1 Timothy 1:3

1 Timothy 1:3

As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightiest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,

a. ASV: As I exhorted thee to tarry at Ephesus, when I was going into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine,

  

b. YLT: According as I did exhort thee to remain in Ephesus -- I going on to Macedonia -- that thou mightest charge certain not to teach any other thing,

d. Amplified Bible Classic: As I urged you when I was on my way to Macedonia, stay on where you are at Ephesus in order that you may warn and admonish and charge certain individuals not to teach any different doctrine,

1. “As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia…”

a. As [Strong: 2531 kathṓs, kath-oce'; from G2596 and G5613; just (or inasmuch) as, that:—according to, (according, even) as, how, when.]

b. [I] besought [Strong: 3870 parakaléō, par-ak-al-eh'-o; from G3844 and  G2564; to call near, i.e. invite, invoke (by imploration, hortation or consolation):—beseech, call for, (be of good) comfort, desire, (give) exhort(-ation), intreat, pray.]

c. thee [Strong: 4571 sé, seh; accusative case singular of G4771; thee:—thee, thou, × thy house.]

d. to abide still [Strong: 4357 prosménō, pros-men'-o; from G4314 and G3306; to stay further, i.e. remain in a place, with a person; figuratively, to adhere to, persevere in:—abide still, be with, cleave unto, continue in (with).]

e. at [Strong: 1722 en, en; a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), i.e. a relation of rest (intermediate between G1519 and G1537); "in," at, (up-)on, by, etc.:—about, after, against, + almost, × altogether, among, × as, at, before, between, (here-)by (+ all means), for (… sake of), + give self wholly to, (here-)in(-to, -wardly), × mightily, (because) of, (up-)on, (open-)ly, × outwardly, one, × quickly, × shortly, (speedi-)ly, × that, × there(-in, -on), through(-out), (un-)to(-ward), under, when, where(-with), while, with(-in). Often used in compounds, with substantially the same import; rarely with verbs of motion, and then not to indicate direction, except (elliptically) by a separate (and different) preposition.]

  

f. Ephesus [Strong: 2181 Éphesos, ef'-es-os; probably of foreign origin; Ephesus, a city of Asia Minor:—Ephesus.]

g. when I went [Strong: 4198 poreúomai, por-yoo'-om-ahee; middle voice from a derivative of the same as G3984; to traverse, i.e. travel (literally or figuratively; especially to remove (figuratively, die), live, etc.); --depart, go (away, forth, one's way, up), (make a, take a) journey, walk.]

h. into [Strong: 1519 eis, ice; a primary preposition; to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etc.); also in adverbial phrases:—(abundant-)ly, against, among, as, at, (back-)ward, before, by, concerning, +continual, + far more exceeding, for (intent, purpose), fore, + forth, in (among, at, unto, -so much that, -to), to the intent that, + of one mind, + never, of, (up-)on, +perish, + set at one again, (so) that, therefore(-unto), throughout, til, to (be, the end, -ward), (here-)until(-to), …ward, (where-)fore, with.]

i. Macedonia [Strong: 3109 Makedonía, mak-ed-on-ee'-ah; from G3110; Macedonia, a region of Greece:—Macedonia.]

1). Adam Clarke Commentary:In the history of the Acts of the Apostles there is no mention of Paul's going from Ephesus to Macedonia but once; viz. after the riot of Demetrius, Act 20:1, for which reason Theodoret, among the ancients, and among the moderns, Estius, Baronius, Capellus, Grotius, Lightfoot, Salmasius, Hammond, Witsius, Lardner, Pearson, and others, have given it as their opinion, that the apostle speaks of that journey in his First Epistle to Timothy. Yet, if I am not mistaken, the following circumstance will show their opinion to be ill founded: -

1. When the apostle went from Ephesus to Macedonia, as related Act 20:1, Timothy was not in Ephesus, having gone from that city into Macedonia with Erastus by the apostle's direction; Act 19:22. And in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, which was written after Timothy's departure from Ephesus, we are informed that he was to go from Macedonia to Corinth. Co1 4:17 : "I have sent to you Timothy." Co1 16:10, Co1 16:11 : "If Timothy be come, take care that he be among you without fear. Send him forward in peace, that he may come to me, for I expect him with the brethren." But before Timothy returned from Corinth, the apostle left Ephesus and went into Macedonia, where the brethren above mentioned met him, Co2 2:12, Co2 2:13, having Timothy in their company; as is plain from his joining the apostle in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, which all agree was written from Macedonia, immediately after the brethren from Corinth gave the apostle an account of the success of his first letter. Wherefore, since Timothy was not in Ephesus when the apostle left the city after the riot, it could not be the occasion on which the apostle said to him: "As I entreated thee to abide in Ephesus, when going into Macedonia, so do." But the journey into Macedonia, of which he speaks, must have been some other journey not mentioned in the Acts. To remove this difficulty we are told that Timothy returned from Corinth to the apostle be lore his departure from Ephesus, and that he was left there after the riot; but that something happened, which occasioned him to follow the apostle into Macedonia; that there he joined him in writing his Second Epistle to the Corinthians; and, having finished his business in Macedonia, he returned to Ephesus and abode there, agreeably to the apostle's request. But as these suppositions are not warranted by the history of the Acts, Timothy's joining the apostle in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians may still be urged as a proof that he came with the brethren directly from Corinth to Macedonia. Farther, that Timothy did not go from Macedonia to Ephesus after joining the apostle in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, but returned with him to Corinth to receive the collections, is, I think, plain from Act 20:4, where he is mentioned as one of those who accompanied Paul from Corinth to Jerusalem with the collections.

2. When the apostle wrote his First Epistle to Timothy, "he hoped to come to him soon," Ti1 3:14; but from the history of the Acts it is certain that in no letter written to Timothy after the riot, till his first confinement in Rome, could the apostle say that he hoped to come to him soon. He could not say so in any letter written from Troas, the first place he stopped at after leaving Ephesus; for at that time he was going into Macedonia and Achaia to receive the collections for the poor from the Churches in these provinces. Neither could he say so after writing his Second Epistle to the Corinthians from Macedonia; for in that epistle he told the Corinthians he was coming to them with the Macedonian brethren, who were commissioned to attend him in his voyage to Jerusalem, with the collections, Co2 9:4, and that he meant to sail directly from Corinth to Judea, Co2 1:16. As little could he write to Timothy that he hoped to come to him soon, when he altered his resolution on the occasion of the lying in wait of the Jews, and returned into Macedonia, Act 20:3. For he was then in such haste to be in Jerusalem on the day of pentecost, that when he came to Miletus, instead of going to Ephesus, he sent for the elders of that Church to come to him, Act 20:16, Act 20:17. When he arrived in Judea, he could not write that he hoped to come to Ephesus soon, for he was imprisoned a few days after he went up to Jerusalem; and having continued two years in prison at Caesarea, he was sent bound to Rome, where likewise being confined, he could not, till towards the conclusion of that confinement, write to Timothy that he hoped to come to him soon. And even then he did not write his First Epistle to Timothy, for Timothy was with him at the conclusion of his confinement, Phi 2:19, Phi 2:23.

3. From the first epistle we learn that the following were the errors Timothy was left in Ephesus to oppose:

1. Fables invented by the Jewish doctors to recommend the observance of the law of Moses as necessary to salvation.

2. Uncertain genealogies, by which individuals endeavored to trace their descent from Abraham, in the persuasion that they would be saved, merely because they had Abraham for their father.

3. Intricate questions and strifes about some words in the law; perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, who reckoned that which produced most gain to be the best kind of godliness.

4. Oppositions of knowledge, falsely so named.

But these errors had not taken place in the Ephesian Church before the apostle's departure; for in his charge to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, he foretold that the false teachers were to enter in among them after his departing. Act 20:29, Act 20:30 : "I know that after my departing, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them." The same thing appears from the two epistles which the apostle wrote to the Corinthians; the one from Ephesus before the riot of Demetrius, the other from Macedonia after that event; and from the epistle which he wrote to the Ephesians themselves from Rome, during his confinement there. For in none of these letters is there any notice taken of the above mentioned errors, as subsisting among the Ephesians at the time they were written; which cannot be accounted for on supposition that they were prevalent in Ephesus when the apostle went into Macedonia after the riot. I am therefore of opinion that the first to Timothy, in which the apostle desired him to abide in Ephesus for the purpose of opposing the Judaizers and their errors, could not be written either from Troas or from Macedonia after the riot, as those who contend for the early date of the epistle suppose; but it must have been written some time after the apostle's release from confinement in Rome, when no doubt he visited the Church at Ephesus, and found the Judaizing teachers there busily employed in spreading their pernicious errors.

2.  “...that thou mightiest charge some that they teach no other doctrine.”

a. that [Strong: 2443 hína, hin'-ah; probably from the same as the former part of G1438 (through the demonstrative idea; compare G3588); in order that (denoting the purpose or the result):—albeit, because, to the intent (that), lest, so as, (so) that, (for) to.]

b. [thou mightest] charge [Strong: 3853 parangéllō, par-ang-gel'-lo; from G3844 and the base of G32; to transmit a message, i.e. (by implication) to enjoin:—(give in) charge, (give) command(-ment), declare.]

c. some [Strong: 5100 tìs, tis; an enclitic indefinite pronoun; some or any person or object:—a (kind of), any (man, thing, thing at all), certain (thing), divers, he (every) man, one (X thing), ought, + partly, some (man, -body, - thing, -what), (+ that no-)thing, what(-soever), ×wherewith, whom(-soever), whose(-soever).]

d. [that they] teach...other doctrine [Strong: 2085 heterodidaskaléō, het-er-od-id-as-kal-eh'-o; from G2087 and G1320; [hetero-other but different; didaskalos-teacher] to instruct differently:—teach other doctrine(-wise).]

e. no [Strong: 3361 mḗ, may; a primary particle of qualified negation (whereas G3756 expresses an absolute denial); (adverb) not, (conjunction) lest; also (as an interrogative implying a negative answer (whereas G3756 expects an affirmative one)) whether:—any but (that), × forbear, + God forbid, + lack, lest, neither, never, no (X wise in), none, nor, (can-)not, nothing, that not, un(-taken), without. Often used in compounds in substantially the same relations.]