As I besought you to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that you might charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
All Commentaries on 1 Timothy 1:3 Go To 1 Timothy 1
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Observe the gentleness of the expression, more like that of a servant than of a master. For he does not say I commanded, or bade or even exhorted, but I besought you. But this tone is not for all: only meek and virtuous disciples are to be treated thus. The corrupt and insincere are to be dealt with in a different manner, as Paul himself elsewhere directs, Rebuke them with all authority Titus 2:15; and here he says charge, not beseech, but charge some that they teach no other doctrine. What means this? That Paul's Epistle which he sent them was not sufficient? Nay, it was sufficient; but men are apt sometimes to slight Epistles, or perhaps this may have been before the Epistles were written. He had himself passed some time in that city. There was the temple of Diana, and there he had been exposed to those great sufferings. For after the assembly in the Theater had been dissolved, and he had called to him and exhorted the disciples, he found it necessary to sail away, though afterwards he returned to them. It were worth enquiry, whether he stationed Timothy there at that time. For he says, that you might 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.
