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22 Do not hurry to lay hands on anyone [ordaining and approving someone for ministry or an office in the church, or in reinstating expelled offenders], and thereby share in the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.

23 No longer [a]continue drinking [only] water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

24 [b]The sins of some people are conspicuous, leading the way for them into judgment [so that they are clearly not qualified for ministry]; but the sins of others appear later [for they are hidden and follow behind them].

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Timothy 5:23 Timothy, whose mother was Jewish (Acts 16:1), may have voluntarily taken a lifelong vow to abstain from wine, as Nazirites (from the Hebrew “devoted” or “consecrated”) sometimes did (cf Samson, Judg 13:7). Evidently he never developed a tolerance for water, which was often contaminated and which, in the absence of wine, he would have to drink.
  2. 1 Timothy 5:24 VV 24, 25 continue the advice given in v 22 regarding the selection of church leaders.

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