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at that time.1093 For he says, that “thou mightest charge some that they teach no other
doctrine”: he does not mention the persons by name, that he might not, by the openness of
his rebuke, render them more shameless. There were in that city certain false Apostles of
the Jews, who wished to oblige the faithful to observe the Jewish law, a fault he is everywhere
noticing in his Epistles; and this they did not from motives of conscience, so much as from
vainglory, and a wish to have disciples, from jealousy of the blessed Paul, and a spirit of
opposition to him. This is meant by “teaching another doctrine.”
Ver. 4. “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies.”
By “fables” he does not mean the law; far from it; but inventions and forgeries and
counterfeit doctrines. For, it seems, the Jews wasted their whole discourse on these unprof-
itable points. They numbered up their fathers and grandfathers, that they might have the
reputation of historical knowledge and research. “That thou mightest charge some,” he says,
“that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies.” Why
does he call them “endless”? It is because they had no end, or none of any use, or none easy
for us to apprehend. Mark how he disapproves of questioning. For where faith exists, there
is no need of question. Where there is no room for curiosity, questions are superfluous.
Questioning is the subversion of faith.1094 For he that seeks has not yet found. He who
questions cannot believe. Therefore it is his advice that we should not be occupied with
questions, since if we question, it is not faith; for faith sets reasoning at rest. But why then
does Christ say, “Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you” (Matt. vii.
7.); and, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life”? (John v. 39.) The
seeking there is meant of prayer and vehement desire, and He bids “search the Scriptures,”
not to introduce the labors of questioning, but to end them, that we may ascertain and settle
their true meaning, not that we may be ever questioning, but that we may have done with
it. And he justly said, “Charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to
fables, and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than the dispensation of
God in faith.”1095 Justly has he said, “the dispensation of God.” For great are the blessings
which God is willing to dispense; but the greatness of them is not conceived by reasoning.
This must then be the work of faith, which is the best medicine of our souls. This questioning
therefore is opposed to the dispensation of God. For what is dispensed by faith? To receive
His mercies and become better men; to doubt and dispute of nothing; but to repose in
confidence. For what “ministers questions” displaces faith and that which faith hath wrought
1093 He must mean to suggest that this is a reference to former times, for he knew the history too well to
suppose that this Epistle was written then.
1094 Or “incompatible with” ἀναιρετική.
1095 The English version is “godly edifying,” from the reading οἰκοδομίαν. Οἰκονομίαν, as here, is the reading
of mss. nearly all Greek. [Adopted in the R.V.]
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1 Timothy 1:1,2