1 Timothy 5:22
22 Lay [epitithemi] hands [cheir] suddenly [tacheos] on [epitithemi] no man, [medeis] neither [mede] be partaker [koinoneo] of other [allotrios] men's sins: [hamartia] keep [tereo] thyself [seautou] pure. [hagnos] KJV-Interlinear
22 Do not lay hands upon anyone
too hastily and thus share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself
free from sin. NASB
The laying on of the
hands is an expression for identifying with someone or something. It is also an expression of appointment or approval.
The identification concept
comes out of the Old Testament and the Levitical offerings, when the person
places their hands on the head of the bull, symbolically passing their sins
from themselves to the bull.In this
manner symbolizing Christ removing our sins and taking them upon Himself, and then the sacrifice becomes the punishment of
those sins.Someone else pays that price
in our place, Ex 29:10, 15, 19; Lev 4:15.
The placing of hands on
someone also symbolizes a commonality, union, and identification with them, Num
8:10; 27:18-23; Deut 34:9.
In the New Testament it
is also symbolized as the identification of someone, Matt 19:15; Acts 8:17-18;
9:17; Heb 6:2.
It is also connected
with ordination, or graduation, or the recognition of someone for some duty or
office, Acts 6:6; 13:3; 1 Tim 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6.
And that is the connotation used here, approval, recognition, and so
forth.
Today, people go to
school or to some sort of training venue, and then they receive a diploma or
certificate when they complete the course or activity.
And Paul tells Timothy
that he should not be too quick to appoint or approve anyone for the position
of elder (teacher of doctrine), lest they turn out to be less than qualified
either in the academics of instruction or in the conduct of their personal
lifestyle.
If you possess any form
of reputation in the eyes of others, and then you identify or approve of
someone without a thorough knowledge of them, and they turn out to be a bad
person, then your reputation gets damaged to some extent.
We see this a lot in politics when someone will endorse a
candidate, and then that candidate has some sort of flaw in their character
that no one seemed to know about.
Likewise seminaries may
graduate students who are not thoroughly prepared, or churches may hire someone
or promote someone who is less than honorable .
Or, you may hear about some evangelist and later discover that he is a
fraud.
Advertising is a terrible abuser of this type of concept,
perhaps a celebrity will promote some product or service, that turns out to be
bad or not what it was portrayed to be.
Anyway, you get the
idea here.
Do not be too quick in
endorsing someone or something, until you know of it or them, thoroughly. Lest your reputation is taken down because of
their flaws or misrepresentations.
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