Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom wenstrom

1. Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org

2. Wednesday September 14, 20111 Timothy: 1 Timothy 6:1-Christian Slaves Are To Regard Their Masters As Deserving Of Total Respect So That The Reputation Of God, Specifically His Teaching Won’t Be SlanderedLesson # 123

3. Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 6:1.

4. In Timothy 6:1-2, the apostle Paul discusses the proper conduct of Christian slaves towards their masters.

5. In verse 1, he issues a command for Christian slaves to regard their own masters as deserving of total respect in order that the reputation of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and specifically His teaching would not be slandered.

6. 1 Timothy 6:1 All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against. (NASB95)

7. “All who are under the yoke as slaves” is composed of the nominative masculine plural form of the correlative pronoun hosos (ὅσος) (owe-soce), “allwho”

8. and this is followed by the third person plural present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί) (ee-mee), “are” and then we have the preposition (ὑπό) (ee-poe), “under” and its object is the accusative masculine singular form of the noun zugos (ζυγός) (zee-goce), “yoke” and this is followed by the nominative masculine plural form of the noun doulos (δοῦλος) (thoo-loce), “as slaves.”

9. In this verse, Paul is once again employing the figure of “asyndeton,” which emphasizes the importance of this command with regards to the testimony of the Ephesian Christian community before the non-believers in the city of the Ephesus.

10. It also emphasizes the importance of the command with regards to the spiritual well-being of the church.

11. The correlative pronoun hosos refers to those who belong to a particular class or group of individuals who are identified by the noun doulos as being slaves who have non-believers as their master.

12. The noun zugos literally means “yoke” and is used in a figurative sense for the bondage of human slavery.

13. The word is the object of the preposition hupo, which functions as a marker of a controlling institution indicating that Paul is addressing Christians who are under the controlling institution of slavery.

14. The noun doulos means “slave” and is used in a literal sense referring to a person who is totally under the power and authority and control of another person in contrast to a master who is not but controls others.

15. “Are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor” is composed of the articular accusative masculine plural form of the noun despotes (δεσπότης) (thes-poeteece), “masters”

16. and this is modified by accusative masculine plural form of the adjective idios (ἴδιος) (ee-thee-oce), “their own” and then we have the genitive feminine singular form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “all” which is modifying the genitive feminine singular form of the noun time (τιμή) (tee-mee), “honor”

17. and this is followed by the accusative masculine plural form of the adjective axios (ἄξιος) (ax-ee-oce), “worthy” and then we have the third person plural present middle imperative form of the verb hegeomai (ἡγέομαι) (ee-yeh-owe-meh), “considered.”

18. The verb hegeomai refers to Christian slaves making a self-conscious evaluation of their masters that is in accordance with the will of the Father, which is revealed by the Spirit through Paul’s teaching and the rest of the Scriptures.

19. It denotes that they are to hold an opinion of their masters, which is in accordance with the will of the Father, which is expressed in the Word of God.

20. This verb emphasizes the importance of the mental attitude of Christian slaves in the sense that their mental attitude with respect to their masters must be in accordance with the Word of God.

21. The present imperative form of the verb hegeomai is a “customary present imperative,” which is a command used of a general precept for habits that should characterize one’s attitude and behavior.

22. Therefore, the present imperative form of the verb indicates that as a general precept, the Christian slaves in the Ephesian Christian community must consider their masters as worthy of absolute respect or honor.

23. The fact that Paul addresses this issue of Christian slaves considering their masters as worthy of all respect implies that there was a problem with the slaves in the Christian community in Ephesus with regards to their attitude towards their masters.

24. Of course, there were Christian slaves who adhered to this command by Paul in 1 Timothy 6:1 and considered their masters worthy of total respect and there must have been some that did not otherwise he would not have addressed this issue in the first place.

25. Thus it is best to view this present imperative as Paul, simply communicating a general precept of the Word of God and the Lord and the apostles’ teaching without reference to whether there was a violation of this command or not.

26. The noun despotes means “master” referring to those individuals who had complete, absolute authority over Christian slaves in Ephesus.

27. These masters are non-believers, which is indicated by the purpose clause in verse 1, “so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against,” which expresses an evangelistic idea meaning that it is concerned with how the non-believer views Christians and Christianity and thus Jesus Christ Himself.

28. The idea is that insubordinate conduct of Christian slaves will cause their non-believing masters to speak against Christianity and its teaching.

29. Furthermore, the phrase “those who have believers as their masters” (οἱ δὲ πιστοὺς ἔχοντες δεσπότας) in verse 2 is an adversative clause marking a contrast between those Christian slaves who have Christian masters with those who don’t in verse 1.

30. The adjective idios denotes that Christian slaves are the exclusive property of their masters.

31. The adjective axios means “worthy, deserving” and indicates that it is appropriate that Christian slaves consider their masters as deserving of total respect.

32. The noun time means “respect” in the sense that Christian slaves are to regard their own masters as deserving of total respect and placing a high value upon them.

33. It refers to the act of a Christian slave showing or demonstrating total respect for his master, which would involve the Christian slave carrying out activities for his master without complaining or rebelling outwardly or inwardly and not grudgingly.

34. They are to serve their master wholeheartedly because in reality, they are serving the Lord by doing so (Colossians 3:22-25).

35. The adjective pas is modifying the noun time and means “total” indicating that Paul wants Christian slaves to fully carry out all that their masters require of them without complaint, insubordination or doing so grudgingly because it is the will of the Father.

36. “So that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against” is composed of the hina (ἵνα) (ee-nah), “so that” and this is followed by the negative particle me (μή) (me), “not” and then we have the articular nominative neuter singular form of the noun onoma (ὄνομα) (owe-no-mah), “the name”

37. and this is modified by the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), “of God” and this is followed by the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and”

38. and then we have the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun didaskalia (διδασκαλία) (thee-thask-ah-lee-ah), “doctrine” and then lastly we have the third person singular present passive subjunctive form of the verb blasphemeo (βλασφημέω) (vlas-fee-meh-owe), “will be spoken against.”

39. The conjunction hina is introducing a clause that presents Paul’s purpose for Christian slaves regarding their own masters as worthy of total respect.

40. So in 1 Timothy 6:1, the noun onoma signifies the “reputation” of the “character” of the “Person” of God the Son.

41. It refers to the overall character of the Lord as seen or judged by the masters of Christian slaves who are non-believers.

42. It speaks of the recognition by the unsaved of the Lord’s character, which is to be reflected by these Christian slaves.

43. Insubordination to their masters would reflect badly upon the Lord whom they are to represent.

44. The noun theos means “God” and does not refer to the Father but rather God the Son, which is indicated by the fact that the expression καὶ ἡ διδασκαλία, “and our doctrine” is epexegetical.

45. This is indicated by the fact that the noun didaskalia, “doctrine” refers to Christian doctrine or teaching, which originates from Him and reflects His character and nature and person, which is signified by the noun onoma.

46. Therefore, to slander or speak against Christian teaching is to slander or speak against Jesus Christ.

47. The noun didaskaliais used in an objective sense and means “doctrine” referring to the content of what the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles taught.

48. It is a synonym for the gospel and denotes that body of teaching which the church believes and teaches and which teaching originates from the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles.

49. The verb blasphemeo means “to blaspheme, to slander” in the sense of non-Christian slave masters insulting the Son of God as a result of the insubordinate conduct of their Christian slaves.

50. It indicates that by their insubordinate and disrespectful conduct of their Christian slaves, non-Christian slave masters would be disrespectful to Jesus Christ and would insult Him and His teaching.