Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers,[8]
The word presbuteros is used here and elsewhere in this chapter. In Greek, it is used both to designate old age and as the title of an office
in Judaism and Christianity. This usage can lead to some ambiguity, but in the first verse it is best regarded as concerning older men within the community.[6]
If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do not let the church be burdened, that it may relieve those who are really widows.[9]
"If any believing man or woman has widows": that is, if any member of a church have mothers, grandmothers or any near relatives who are widows, and incapable of taking care of themselves.[10]
"Let them relieve them and let not the church be charged": the members should take care of them out of their own substance; which is what Paul previously calls to show piety at home, and requit their own parents, so not burden the church with the maintenance of them.[10]
"Those who are really widows" (KJV: "that are widows indeed"): so the church may be in a better capacity, to supply the needs of the widows who have neither children nor any relatives to provide for them.[10]
"You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain": citing verbatim Deuteronomy 25:4.[12]
"The laborer is worthy of his wages": citing 'a saying of Jesus', according to Luke 10:7.[12]
"And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house."[13]
Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.[14]
Whilst this verse appears to provide some personal advice for Timothy, biblical commentator Clare Drury suggests that "it may also be a roundabout way of attacking the asceticism of the writer's opponents".[15]
^David E. Aune, ed., The Blackwell Companion to The New Testament (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 9: "While seven of the letters attributed to Paul are almost universally accepted as authentic (Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon), four are just as widely judged to be pseudepigraphical, i.e. written by unknown authors under Paul's name: Ephesians and the Pastorals (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus)."
^Stephen L. Harris, The New Testament: A Student's Introduction, 4th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001), 366.