1 Timothy 5:22Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Then, after saying this, he added what was most timely and what especially contributes to the ordering of the Church, namely, concerning ordinations. "Lay hands," he says, "hastily on no one, and do not become a participant in others' sins." What does "hastily" mean? Not after a first, second, or third examination, but after repeated consideration and careful inquiry, since this matter is not without danger. You who have given him authority will also undergo punishment for the sins he commits, both former and future. By untimely remitting his former sins, you will become guilty also of those he commits later. You will be the cause of the latter because you entrusted him with authority.

"Lay hands hastily on no one." The Apostle has reached the chief matter, by which the Church is especially sustained, namely ordination. He says: do not lay hands hastily. That is, do not do it after a first or even a third examination, but after repeated and careful inquiry, since this matter is not without danger. In what way? Listen.

"And do not become a participant in others' sins." Since you are the cause of what he will do in the future, you become a participant both in his good works and in his sins. But you are also guilty for his former sins, because you disregarded them and made darkness into light. You did not allow him to mourn them and come to a state of compunction.

"Keep yourself pure." Here he gives him a lesson concerning chastity.

Lay hands hastily, without examination, on no one, and do not share in the sins of those whom you appoint.

“Lay hands hastily on no one, nor share in others’ sins.” One must first examine the life of the one being ordained, and then call down upon him the grace of the Spirit. “Keep yourself pure.” Do not make yourself liable to condemnation. Then the Apostle commands that fitting care also be shown to the body.

"Lay hands quickly on no one."

What does quickly mean? Not after a first, second, or third examination, but after repeated and careful testing of the one who is to be ordained as bishop, presbyter, or deacon, and in general of all who must be ordained.

"Nor share in others' sins."

The one who ordains someone without proper inquiry will himself undergo punishment for the sins committed by the ordained man before ordination. He is guilty because he did not give him the opportunity to come to compunction over his sins and mourn them. He will also answer for the sins committed by him after ordination, as though he had granted him the right to continue sinning and had given food to evil.

"Keep yourself pure."

Preserve yourself in chastity and purity. There is nothing surprising in his giving such instruction concerning purity to a man of such high morality. Because of youth, change could still occur in him.

"Lay hands quickly on no one." The mention of very many and important qualities required of those chosen for offices in the Church naturally disposed one to caution in ordination. Yet the Apostle also states this counsel directly, with the notable addition: "nor share in others' sins." By ordaining an unworthy man and placing him as leader over Christ's flock, the bishop sins by that very act. At the same time, the weight of all the sins committed by the one whom he ordained will fall upon him. This also includes the sins into which that man draws his flock. Such imputation is based on the fact that, by this ordination, the bishop approves the actions and qualities of the one ordained. It is also because he has set the offenses of this formerly private and uninfluential person as an example and model for a whole community.

By these words the Apostle commands Timothy to be circumspect in choosing and consecrating presbyters and deacons. He forbids haste and rashness, since in that case the sacred office may be laid upon an unworthy person. Such a man may have been stained by sins in the past and may not be free of them in the future. Responsibility for these sins will also fall upon the hierarch, who by his choice has expressed, as it were, consent to them.

What caution must be observed when choosing men for sacred offices.

"I charge you before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and His elect angels," as though St. Paul places himself and Timothy before the dread judgment of God, "that you keep these things," that is, what concerns ordination to the service of the Church, "without hypocrisy, doing nothing by inclination," in Russian, by partiality. "Lay hands quickly on no one" (1 Tim 5:21-22). "He has reached the chief matter, by which the Church is especially sustained, that is, ordination" (Theophylact).

"Nor share in others' sins," that is, "in the sins of the one ordained, by raising an unworthy man to the rank of minister of mysteries for the people" (Oecumenius).

Continuing his discourse on the priesthood, the Apostle commands Timothy not to hurry with consecrations. Otherwise, without having investigated the one to be consecrated, he might consecrate an unworthy man and thereby become responsible for the faults of an incapable and unworthy sacred minister. The exhortation concerning purity can also partly be referred to this, as a warning against every suspicion concerning purity of intention in choosing and consecrating men to the various ranks of the priesthood. Yet, in connection with the following advice about using wine with water to strengthen the stomach, the word about purity can also be understood more specifically. It may refer to personal purity, both physical and moral.

Concerning ordination to the presbyterate, Timothy must not act too hastily, lest he receive an unworthy man into the number of presbyters. Likewise, Timothy must not become a participant in others' sins, and μηοέ begins another thought, though one closely related to the first. He must keep himself pure and use not water alone, but also wine. All these instructions are evidently connected with one another. Probably, when the Apostle thought of ordination to the presbyterate, he remembered the attraction to asceticism that had already begun to appear at that time in the Church of Ephesus and, more generally, in the Churches of Asia Minor. See, for example, Col 2:20 and following. Some presbyters, of course, were not entirely free of it.

"He has reached the chief matter, by which the Church is especially sustained, that is, ordination" (blessed Theophylact). Concerning it he gives rules, "for he writes to a bishop" (Oecumenius): "Lay hands quickly on no one." "What does quickly mean? Not after a first, second, or third examination, but after repeated consideration and careful inquiry, since this matter is not without danger" (St. Chrysostom). "One must first examine the life of the one to be ordained, and then call down upon him the grace of the Spirit" (blessed Theodoret).

Those who by their duty are obliged to perform the rite of baptism know quite well that one must not approach it without special precautions. “Lay hands hastily on no one, and do not become a participant in others’ sins.”