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1 Timothy 1:9 |
Knowing this, that
the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the
lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for
sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of
fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, |
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Note:
before doing a study on any
single verse, read all the verses from the beginning
of the chapter to this point and maybe a verse or
two beyond. Do this so you have the verse in
context before you begin.
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Verses 9 and 10 really go together as a single
statement.
The Law was not made for the righteous man but for [and
here is the list:]
1. Lawless
2. disobedient
3. Ungodly
4. Sinners
5. Unholy
6. Profane
7. Murderers of fathers
8. Murderers of mothers
9. Manslayers
...then from verse 10 below...
10. Whoremongers
11. Them that defile themselves with mankind
12. Menstealers
13. Liars
14. Perjured persons
15. Any other thing that is contrary to sound
doctrine.
Knowing this - That is,
“If anyone knows, or admits this, he has the prover
view of the design of the law.” The apostle does not
refer particularly to himself as knowing or
conceding this, for then he would have uses the
plural form of the participle (see
the Greek), but he means that anyone who
had just views of the law would see that that which
he proceeds to specify was its real purpose.
~Barnes Notes
Knowing this - He
indeed escapes the curse of the Law, and therefore
does not abhor it, who fleeing and avoiding those
things which the Law condemns, gives himself with
all his heart to observe it: and he does not make a
vain babbling of outward and curious matters.
~Geneva Bible Translation
Notes
The law is not made for a
righteous man - There has been great variety
in the interpretation of this passage. Some suppose
that the law here refers to the ceremonial laws of
Moses (Clarke, Rosenmuller,
Abbot); others to the denunciatory part [accusing;
threatening] of the law (Doddridge
and Bloomfield); and others that it means
that the chief purpose of the law was to restrain
the wicked. It seems clear, however, that the
apostle does not refer merely to the ceremonial law,
for he specifies that which condemns the unholy and
profane; the murderers of fathers and mothers; liars
and perjured persons. It was not the ceremonial law
which condemned these things, but the moral law. It
cannot be supposed, moreover, that the apostle meant
to say that the law was not binding on a righteous
man, or that he was under no obligation to obey it -
for he everywhere teaches that the moral law is
obligatory on all mankind.
To suppose also that a righteous man is released
from the obligation to obey the law, that is, to do
right, is an absurdity. Nor does he seem to mean, as
Macknight supposes, that the law was not given for
the purpose of justifying a righteous man - for this
was originally one of its designs. Had man always
obeyed it, he would have been justified by it. The
meaning seems to be, that the purpose of the law was
not to fetter and perplex those who were righteous,
and who aimed to do their duty and to please God. It
was not intended to produce a spirit of servitude
and bondage. As the Jews interpreted it, it did
this, and this interpretation appears to have been
adopted by the teachers at Ephesus, to whom Paul
refers. The whole tendency of their teaching was to
bring the soul into a state of bondage, and to make
religion a condition, of servitude. Paul teaches, on
the other hand, that religion was a condition of
freedom, and that the main purpose of the law was
not to fetter the minds of the righteous by
numberless observances and minute regulations, but
that it was to restrain the wicked from sin. This is
the case with all law. No good man feels himself
lettered and manacled by wholesome laws, nor does he
feel that the purpose of law is to reduce him to a
state of servitude. It is only the wicked who have
this feeling - and in this sense the law is made for
a man who intends to do wrong.
~ Barnes Notes
The law is not made for a
righteous man - There is a moral law as well
as a ceremonial law: as the object of the latter is
to lead us to Christ; the object of the former is to
restrain crimes, and inflict punishment on those
that commit them. It was, therefore, not made for
the righteous as a restrainer of crimes, and an
inflicter of punishments; for the righteous avoid
sin, and by living to the glory of God expose not
themselves to its censures. This seems to be the
mind of the apostle; he does not say that the law
was not Made for a righteous man, but
ου κειται, it does not
Lie against a righteous man; because he does not
transgress it: but it lies against the wicked; for
such as the apostle mentions have broken it, and
grievously too, and are condemned by it. The word
κειται, lies, refers to
the custom of writing laws on boards, and hanging
them up in public places within reach of every man,
that they might be read by all; thus all would see
against whom the law lay.
~Adam Clarke
law is not made for a
righteous man — not for one standing by faith
in the righteousness of Christ put on him for
justification, and imparted inwardly by the Spirit
for sanctification. “One not forensically amenable
to the law” [Alford].
For sanctification, the law gives no inward power to
fulfil it; but Alford goes too far in speaking of
the righteous man as “not morally needing the law.”
Doubtless, in proportion as he is inwardly led by
the Spirit, the justified man needs not the law,
which is only an outward rule (Romans 6:14;
Galatians 5:18, Galatians 5:23). But as the
justified man often does not give himself up wholly
to the inward leading of the Spirit, he morally
needs the outward law to show him his sin and God’s
requirements. The reason why the ten commandments
have no power to condemn the Christian, is not that
they have no authority over him, but because Christ
has fulfilled them as our surety [One
who has contracted to be responsible for another,
especially one who assumes responsibilities or debts
of another] (Romans 10:4).
~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
[JFB]
Now the verses mentioned in the JFB:
Romans 6:14
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are
not under the law, but under grace.
Galatians 5:18
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the
law.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no
law.
Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to every one that believeth.
Lawless and
Disobedient
For the lawless - To
bind and restrain them. The word here used means,
properly, those who have no law, and then those who
are transgressors - the wicked. It is rendered
transgressors in Matthew 15:28; Luke 22:37, and
wicked, Acts 2:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
~Barnes Notes
The lawless
- Ανομοις· Those who
will not be bound by a law, and acknowledge none,
therefore have no rule of moral conduct.
~Adam Clarke
And disobedient - Those
who are insubordinate, lawless, refractory. The word
properly means those who are under no subjection or
authority. It occurs in the New Testament only here,
and Titus 1:6, Titus 1:10, where it is rendered
unruly, and Hebrews 2:8, where it is translated not
put under; that is, under Christ.
~Barnes Notes
Disobedient
- Ανυποτακτοις· Those
who acknowledge no authority; from α, negative, and
ὑποτασσω, to subject; they neither acknowledge law,
nor executive authority, and consequently endeavor
to live as they list; and from such dispositions all
the crimes in the following catalogue may naturally
spring. ~Adam Clarke
Disobedient — Greek,
“not subject”; insubordinate; it is translated
“unruly,” Titus1:6, Titus 1:10; “lawless and
disobedient” refer to opposers of the law, for whom
it is “enacted” (so the
Greek, for “is made”).
~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
Lawless and disobedient
- by the "lawless" are meant, not the Gentiles,
which were without the written law, but such who
have it, and despise and reject it, and live not
according to it, but transgress it: and "the
disobedient" design such who are not subject to it:
who are sons of Belial, children without the yoke;
who cast the law of the Lord behind their backs; who
are not, nor can they be subject to it, without the
powerful and efficacious grace of God. Now the law
lies upon, and against such persons, as an accusing,
terrifying, cursing, and condemning law,
~John Gill
Ungodly
and Sinners
For the ungodly - Those
who have no religion; who do not worship or honor
God. The Greek word occurs in the following places,
in all of which it is rendered ungodly; Romans 4:5;
Romans 5:6; 1 Timothy 1:9; 1 Peter 4:18; 2 Peter
2:5; 2 Peter 3:7; Judges 1:15. The meaning is, that
the law is against all who do not worship or honor
God. ~Barnes Notes
Ungodly -
Ασεβεσι· The
irreligious - those who do not worship God, or have
no true worship; from α, negative, and
σεβω, to worship. For
sinners, ἁμαρτωλοις
those who transgress the laws; from α, negative, and
μαρπτω, to hit the
mark. This has been elsewhere explained.
~Adam Clarke
Ungodly, and for
sinners - by the "ungodly" are intended, such
as are without God in the world, who neither fear
God, nor regard man, who neglect and despise the
worship of God, and say to him, depart from us, Job
21:14 and by "sinners" are designed notorious ones,
who are exceeding great sinners, always sinning,
making sin their constant business and employment;
on and against these the law lies:
~John Gill
And for sinners - The
word used here is the common word to denote sinners.
It is general, and includes sins of all kinds.
~Barnes Notes
Ungodly and ...
sinners — Greek, he who does not reverence
God, and he who openly sins against Him; the
opposers of God, from the law comes.
~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
Unholy and Profane
Unholy - “Those who are
regardless of duty to God or man,” Robinson,
Lexicon. The word occurs in the New Testament only
here, and in 2 Timothy 3:2. It has particular
reference to those who fail of their duty toward
God, and means those who have no piety; who are
irreligious. ~Barnes Notes
Unholy -
Ανοσιοις· Persons
totally polluted - unclean within, and unclean
without; from α, negative, and ὁσιος, holy.
~Adam Clarke
Profane -
Βεβηλοις· Such who are
so unholy and abominable as not to be fit to attend
any public worship; from βε,
denoting privation or separation, and
βηλος, a threshold or
pavement, particularly of a temple. Our word profane
comes from procul a fano, “far from the temple.”
When the ancients, even heathens, were about to
perform some very sacred rites, they were accustomed
to command the irreligious to keep at a distance;
hence that saying in a fragment of Orpheus: -
“I will speak to whom it is lawful; but these doors,
O, shut against the profane.”
~Adam Clarke
Unholy and profane
- such are unholy persons, who are destitute
of inward principles of truth and holiness, and who
live unholy lives and conversations; and "profane"
persons are those who profane the name of the Lord
by cursing and swearing, and who profane his day,
doctrines, and ordinances, and live dissolute and
profane lives, being abandoned to all sin and
wickedness; these three couples of wicked men,
expressed in general terms, seem to have respect
greatly to the moral part of the four precepts of
the decalogue, as the following particulars do to
the other six: ~John Gill
Unholy and profane
— those inwardly impure, and those deserving
exclusion from the outward participation in services
of the sanctuary; sinners against the third and
fourth commandments.
~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
And profane - This does
not necessarily mean that they were profane in the
sense that blasphemed the name of God, or were
profane swearers - though the word would include
that - but it means properly those who are impious,
or who are scoffers; notes, Hebrews 12:16. The word
occurs only in the following places, in all of which
it is rendered profane: 1 Timothy 1:9; 1 Timothy
4:7; 1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Timothy 2:16; Hebrews 12:16.
A man who treats religion with contempt. mockery, or
scorn, would correspond with the meaning of the
word. ~Barnes Notes
Murderers
For murderers of fathers
- The Greek properly means a “smiter of a father” (Robinson),
though here it undoubtedly means a parricide. This
was expressly forbidden by the law of Moses, and was
a crime punishable by death; Exodus 21:15. It is
said to have been a crime which the Roman law did
not contemplate as possible, and hence that there
was no enactment against it. It is, indeed, a crime
of the highest order; but facts have shown that if
the Romans supposed it would never be committed,
they did not judge aright of human nature.
There is no sin which man will not commit if
unrestrained, and there is in fact no conceivable
form of crime of which he has not been guilty.
~Barnes Notes
Murderers of
fathers - Πατραλῳαις. The murderer of a
father or a mother, notwithstanding the deep fall of
man, and the general profligacy of the world, has
been so rare, and is a crime so totally opposite to
nature, that few civilized nations have found it
necessary to make laws against it. Yet, such
monsters, like the most awful and infrequent
portents, have sometimes terrified the world with
their appearance. But I think the original does not
necessarily imply the murder of a father or of a
mother; πατραλῳας
comes from πατερα, a
father, and αλοιαω, to
strike, and may mean simply beating or striking a
father or mother: this is horrible enough; but to
murder a parent out-herods Herod.
~Adam Clarke
Murderers of mothers -
A still more atrocious and monstrous crime, if
possible, than the former. We can conceive nothing
superior to this in atrocity, and yet it has been
committed. Nero caused his mother to be murdered,
and the annals of crime disclose the names of not a
few who have imbrued their own hands in the blood of
those who bare them. This was also expressly
forbidden by the law of Moses; Exodus 21:15.
~Barnes Notes
For murderers of
fathers, and murderers of mothers - though
there is no law that expressly mentions this, yet is
beyond all doubt a breach both of the fifth and
sixth commands; and if cursing parents, and
disobedience to them, were punishable by the law
with death, then much more the murder of them; see
Leviticus 20:9 though the words will bear to be
rendered, "for strikers of fathers, and strikers of
mothers"; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions
render them, and against this there was an express
law, Exodus 21:15. According to the Pompeian law,
one guilty of parricide [killing
of parents] was to be sewed up in a sack
with a dog, a cock, a viper, and an ape, and cast
into the sea, or into a river:
~John Gill
Manslayers
For manslayers - This
word occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It
means a homicide - a murderer. The crime is
expressly forbidden by the law; Exodus 20:13;
Genesis 9:6. ~Barnes Notes
Manslayers -
Ανδροφονοις· Murderers
simply; all who take away the life of a human being
contrary to law. For no crime, unless it be murder,
should any man lose his life. If the law did not
speak differently, I should not scruple to say that
he whose life is taken away, except for murder, is
murdered. ~Adam Clarke
Manslayers -
guilty of the murder of any man, which was always
punishable with death, and was a breach of the sixth
command; see Genesis 9:6. ~
John Gill
Manslayers —
sinners against the sixth commandment.
~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
Further Study:
the law: Romans 4:13, Romans 5:20,
Romans 6:14; Galatians 3:10-14, Galatians3:19, Galatians 5:23
the lawless: 2 Thessalonians 2:8
disobedient: Romans 1:30; Titus 1:16, Titus 3:3;
Hebrews 11:31; 1 Peter 2:7, 1Pe_3:20
the ungodly: 1 Peter 4:18
profane: Jeremiah 23:11; Ezekiel 21:25; Hebrews 12:16
murderers: Leviticus 20:9; Deuteronomy 27:16; 2 Samuel 16:11,
2 Samuel 17:1-4; 2 Kings 19:37; 2 Chronicles 32:21; Proverbs 20:20;
Proverbs 28:24, Proverbs30:11, Proverbs 30:17; Matthew 10:21
manslayers: Genesis 9:5-6; Exodus 20:13, Exodus 21:14;
Numbers 35:30-33; Deuteronomy 21:6-9; Proverbs 28:17; Galatians 5:21;
Revelation 21:8, Revelation 22:15 |
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