Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
1 Timothy 4:6-16, Training for godliness, and a young leader
Timothy is to train himself for godliness as an athlete trains his body, set an example despite his youth, devote himself to the public reading of Scripture and teaching, and not neglect the gift given when the elders laid hands on him.
1 Timothy 4:6-16, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul tells Timothy that a good servant of Christ feeds on sound teaching and shuns silly myths. Timothy is to train for godliness the way an athlete trains the body, since godliness pays off now and in the life to come. He should not let his youth undercut him but set an example in how he speaks and lives, give himself to reading Scripture aloud, preaching and teaching, and use the gift he received when the elders laid hands on him.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/following-a-teacher\/","n":"Following a teacher","s":"A disciple walked behind his teacher, lived with him, learned his ways and carried his reputation. Jesus chose his own, which only radical teachers did.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/synagogue\/","n":"The synagogue","s":"The local gathering place where Jews met on the Sabbath to pray and study Scripture. It was also a community center, run by people of standing.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/laying-on-of-hands\/","n":"Laying on of hands","s":"Hands laid on a person to bless, to heal, or to set someone apart for a task, the way Moses laid hands on Joshua. In the early church it went with prayer, the gift of the Spirit and sending people out.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/elders\/","n":"Elders","s":"Older men respected for wisdom led Israel's villages in the Old Testament and still led Jewish communities and synagogues in the first century, usually as a group. The first churches took over the pattern, calling their elders overseers too, with deacons beside them.","r":""}
Greek men exercised naked in the gymnasium, "the center of civic life in Hellenized towns", and moralists used training as a picture of moral discipline (Keener and his notes). First-century Ephesus built a new stadium and a complex for Olympic games (Price and House), and games were held in Artemis's honor (Arnold). Philosophers dismissed old women's tales as fit for children (Keener and his notes). Savior of all, especially believers, is read by Wright as a claim against Caesar, whose honorific savior was. Timothy was probably in his twenties or early thirties, young for office (Keener and his notes; the ESV Study Bible), and Carson, Moo and Morris find him somewhat diffident. As in the synagogue, the reading of Scripture was followed by a sermon (Keener and his notes); Wright applies the verse to Timothy's own study. Prophecies had attested kings and officials, and Jewish teachers accredited successors by laying on hands (Keener and his notes). The dictionary dates the laying on of hands to Lystra, the elders with Paul; Carson, Moo and Morris note that the letter never calls it ordination. Progress was the philosophers' word for a disciple's advance (Keener).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Timothy 4:6-11, 4:12, 4:13, 4:14 and 4:15-16
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 1 Timothy 4:7, 4:8, 4:12, 4:13 and 4:14
- ESV Study Bible, study note on 1 Timothy 4:12
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters, comments on 1 Timothy 4:6-10 and 4:11-16
- J. Randall Price and H. Wayne House, Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology, Ephesians 1:1, The Archaeology of Ephesus
- Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness, ch. 15, The Powers and Society, Structural Evil: One First-Century Case Example
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 15, The Pastoral Epistles: The Contribution of 1 Timothy
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry Timothy
