gift

The Greek that is translated as “gift” or similar in English is transliterated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) as Charisma (instead of the commonly-used Gabe or “gift”) to differentiate it from regular human gifts. The translators explain (p. 94): “According to Paul, ‘Charisma’ is an extraordinary gift, that is humanly not explainable. Basically every Christian has such a gift and is supposed to use it in mission-oriented efforts for the one who gives this gift.”

See also powers of the age to come.

lay hands on

The Greek that is translated as “lay hands on (someone)” in English is translated in Tae’ with “‘He-pressed-down,’ a verb that in former times was used with the specific meaning of ‘to press down one’s hand on a person’s head,’ in order to fortify his soul after a dangerous experience, but in Christian usage came to refer to the gesture made when blessing a person.”

complete verse (1 Timothy 4:14)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Timothy 4:14:

  • Uma: “Don’t be lax at doing that work of yours, according to the ability that the Holy Spirit has given you. He gave you that ability when people announced the Word of God to advise you, and the religion leaders put their hands on your pate to appoint you as a religion leader.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Really use (sing.) the expertise given by God’s Spirit to you. This expertise/skill was given to you previously after/when there were words from God foretold about you and the elders placed their hands on you.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Do not forget that ability that was given to you by God by means of the blessing of a prophet and by means of the elders laying their hands on you.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Don’t ignore/let-alone the ability that the Holy Spirit gave you (sing.) previously when-the leaders of the believers -laid-hands-on you and when-the prophet(s) -said that that was your (sing.) ability, but rather use that-aforementioned ability of yours (sing.).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Be careful not to disregard the ability which was graced to you by the Espiritu Santo, when you were prayed for by the overseers putting their hands on your head. This grace, it was-caused-to-be-comprehended by one who was-caused-to-be-a-prophet who had-it-put-in-his-mind by the Espiritu Santo at that time.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The men who lead in the church put their hands on your head and told you what word God wanted that you do. Concerning this work God gave you, don’t let your work be in vain.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Timothy 4:14

This verse is the most problematic in this section, as we shall soon see. Neglect translates a verb that means to overlook, to forget, to be unconcerned, to fail to use. The positive equivalent of the negative expression Do not neglect is “attend to” at the beginning of verse 13 and the two positive imperatives in verse 15, “practice” and “devote yourself.” Another way of expressing Do not neglect is “You must continually use.”

Gift is a word that can be used in general for any gift, but it refers in a specific way to spiritual gifts or gifts from the Holy Spirit (so Good News Translation “spiritual gift”). Another way of rendering this is “gift (or, ability) which comes from the Holy Spirit.” The gift you have is literally “the gift that is in you” (so Good News Translation; once again, Good News Bible is more literal than Revised Standard Version). While the gift is not specified, the context suggests that it has something to do with Timothy’s role as a minister and church leader. Two alternatives are possible: either to understand gift as the Holy Spirit, since it was the belief at that time that the Holy Spirit was received at the time of the laying on of hands; or a particular gift or talent from the Holy Spirit that makes Timothy effective in his duties of exhortation and teaching. If a translator understands that the gift was the Holy Spirit, one may render the gift you have as “the Holy Spirit which is in you”; but if a translator follows the second interpretation, one may translate “gift (or, talent) which comes from the Holy Spirit” or “… which the Holy Spirit gave you.” All in all, though, the second interpretation is the more likely one.

For prophetic utterance see 1.18. In fact 1.18 is parallel in content to the present verse, since both seem to refer to the time when Timothy was commissioned for his task in the church.

The practice of laying hands on people was common in the early church for several functions, among which are: (1) healing (see, for example, Mark 8.23); (2) bestowing a blessing (see, for example, Mark 10.16); (3) making it possible for people to receive the Holy Spirit (see, for example, Acts 8.17); and (4) setting people apart for certain functions (see, for example, Acts 13.3). This last function is in focus in the present context. In the history of the church, the laying on of hands has become an important part of the rite of ordination, that is, of setting apart certain people for specific church offices. It is not altogether certain, however, whether in the present context the formal ordination of Timothy is meant or, less formally, his commissioning to a certain task. This is complicated by the fact that, while various church offices are discussed in the letter, nowhere is Timothy’s particular office mentioned, nor his relationship to the church officers that are mentioned.

At any rate it was through prophetic utterance that the spiritual gift was bestowed on Timothy at the time that the elders laid their hands on him. The relationship of these three events (the prophetic utterance, the receiving of the spiritual gift, and the laying on of hands) is not at all clear. The text seems to suggest that the laying on of hands was not the means by which the spiritual gift was bestowed; it was only an action that accompanied the bestowing of the gift. Since these prophetic utterances occurred at Timothy’s ordination, it is very likely then that these were uttered by Christian prophets who were present at that time; some of them may even have been elders themselves.

There also seems to be a discrepancy between the information in this verse and that found in 2 Tim 1.6: in the former it was the elders who laid their hands on Timothy, whereas in the latter it was Paul himself. It is of course possible to reconcile the two verses by assuming that Paul was the main commissioning official and was himself a member of the group of elders.

Elders is literally the “presbytery,” a term that suggests a certain grouping of the elders, hence council of elders. That there were many elders in the church at that time is beyond doubt, but the existence of a formal organization of elders during such an early stage of the church has been questioned by some scholars. There is no problem, however, of an informal grouping or gathering of elders in order to participate in an important function. Some translations in fact drop the idea of a council of elders and simply concentrate on the idea of the elders coming together (so Phillips “the assembled elders”; Good News Translation has simply “elders”).

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
‱ You must keep on using the talent (or, ability) which was given (or, the Holy spirit gave) to you when people spoke about what would happen to you in the future and the church leaders laid their hands on you.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 Timothy 4:14

4:14a

Do not neglect: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as neglect means “ignore, be unconcerned about.” Therefore, to not neglect something means to pay attention to it. Paul wanted Timothy to remember to use his gift. In some languages you may need to say this positively instead of negatively. For example, you could say:

Pay attention to [your gift]

the gift that is in you: This refers to some kind of special ability or talent that God gave to Timothy through the Holy Spirit. Paul did not make explicit what this gift was because, of course, Timothy already knew what it was. It probably included an ability to teach and preach.

In some languages, there is no noun that means “ability.” If this is true in your language, you could say:

the work that God made you able to do

Be careful to use a word for “work” that can include activities such as teaching and preaching.

4:14b

In 4:14b–c, Paul reminded Timothy about the way that he had received his gift from God.

which was given you: If you need to supply a subject here, you should say that God gave Timothy the gift.

prophecy spoken over you: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as prophecy refers to special messages that the Holy Spirit gives to people.

Paul was probably referring to a prophecy that one (or more) of the elders had received from God (4:14c). God probably told them to tell Timothy that God had given him the ability to preach and teach. Another example of a prophetic message is recorded in Acts 13:1–3.

4:14c

at the laying on of the hands: In the Christian community, it was usual to place hands on a person to commission them for a special task. For example, the believers in Antioch commissioned Paul and Barnabas to go and preach the gospel in other places (Acts 13:3). Here in 4:14, Paul was referring to the time when the elders stood around Timothy and placed their hands on him.

God had given Timothy the ability to preach and teach. This ceremony was intended to show the other believers in Ephesus that God had given Timothy those abilities.

Scripture does not say where the elders placed their hands, but it was probably on Timothy’s head.

of the elders: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the elders refers to a group or council of elders.

elders: This term refers to leaders of a local group of believers. The word “overseer” in 3:1b and 3:2a probably refers to the same people.

General Comment on 4:14a–c

In some languages, it may be more natural to reorder this verse. One way to do this is:

14cRemember when the group of elders put their hands on you 14band God gave them a message to tell you about the special ability he had given you. 14aDo not ignore that ability.

© 2003 by SIL InternationalŸ

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

Commentaire sur la traduction de 1 Timothée 4.14

Ce verset Ă©voque un Ă©vĂ©nement qui s’est passĂ© dans la vie de TimothĂ©e, l’imposition des mains, et parle de certains dons spirituels qu’il avait reçus Ă  ce moment-lĂ . Il s’agit peut-ĂȘtre d’une sorte de consĂ©cration ou d’une ordination dans l’église dont on ignore les dĂ©tails. Paul n’indique pas si cela s’est fait en vue d’une mission ou d’une tĂąche particuliĂšre, ou s’il s’agissait d’une ordination plutĂŽt permanente.

Ne nĂ©glige pas le don de la grĂące qui est en toi : le verset dĂ©bute par un autre impĂ©ratif prĂ©sent qui exprime un acte continu ou rĂ©pĂ©tĂ©. Le verbe a un sens nĂ©gatif, « ne pas faire attention » ou « ne pas se soucier », ce qui, associĂ© Ă  un deuxiĂšme nĂ©gatif, donnera un positif, « prĂȘte attention Ă  » ou « utilise sans relĂąche ». Mais la majoritĂ© des versions gardent le nĂ©gatif, par exemple, « n’oublie pas » (Parole de Vie).

le don de la grĂące qui est en toi est littĂ©ralement « en toi le charisma qui a Ă©tĂ© donnĂ© Ă  toi ». Le mot grec Ï‡ÎŹÏÎčσΌα charisma a plusieurs sens : don, grĂące, « bienfait », etc. Voir aussi 2 Tim 1.6. Il est possible que ce soit un mot inventĂ© par les premiers chrĂ©tiens pour dĂ©signer les dons exceptionnels accordĂ©s par le Saint-Esprit. Certains pensent qu’il s’agit ici d’une onction spĂ©ciale du Saint-Esprit. Mais Paul ne donne pas de dĂ©tails et ainsi il vaut mieux rester proche du texte en parlant du « don spirituel » (Bible en français courant, Bible de JĂ©rusalem). La Parole de Vie introduit le nom « Saint-Esprit » mais ceci n’est pas recommandĂ©. Si nĂ©cessaire, on pourra parler de « l’Esprit de Dieu ». Pour « en toi », on pourrait aussi dire « que tu possĂšdes » (Bible en français courant).

qui te fut confĂ©rĂ© est littĂ©ralement « donnĂ© », que la Traduction ƓcumĂ©nique de la Bible emploie pour Ă©viter la rĂ©pĂ©tition « don… donnĂ© ».

par une intervention prophĂ©tique est littĂ©ralement « par (le moyen de) la prophĂ©tie ». On pourrait aussi dire « par un message de prophĂšte » (Nouvelle Bible Segond). La prophĂ©tie chrĂ©tienne n’est pas principalement la prĂ©diction de l’avenir, mais plutĂŽt l’annonce inspirĂ©e d’un message de la part de Dieu ou de JĂ©sus-Christ. Elle n’est pas mentionnĂ©e ailleurs dans les Pastorales (Tite 1.12 s’applique Ă  des prophĂštes paĂŻens), mais elle est bien attestĂ©e ailleurs dans le NT, par exemple en 1 Cor 12.28-29 ; 14.29,32,37. Ici il ne semble pas question, comme c’est le cas en 1 Tim 1.18, de prophĂ©ties formulĂ©es Ă  l’avance au sujet de TimothĂ©e, mais plutĂŽt d’une dĂ©claration par un ou plusieurs prophĂštes chrĂ©tiens au moment de l’imposition des mains. On pourrait dire simplement « lorsque les prophĂštes ont parlĂ© » (Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie).

accompagnĂ©e de l’imposition des mains est littĂ©ralement « avec imposition des mains ». Ce geste servait Ă  dĂ©signer quelqu’un pour un service dans la communautĂ©, comme, par exemple, en Act 13.3. Dans d’autres passages, ce mĂȘme geste accompagnait les guĂ©risons (Marc 8.23), la bĂ©nĂ©diction (Marc 16.18) et le don du Saint-Esprit (Act 8.18). Dans beaucoup de langues, il conviendra d’utiliser une expression verbale, comme dans la Bible en français courant ; Parole de Vie « quand le groupe des anciens a posĂ© les mains sur ta tĂȘte ».

le collĂšge des anciens rend le mot grec πρΔσÎČυτέρÎčÎżÎœ presbuterion qui ailleurs dĂ©signe le conseil des anciens juifs. Sur le rĂŽle d’anciens chrĂ©tiens, voir 1 Tim 5.1. La Parole de Vie parle du « groupe des anciens » et la Bible en français courant des « anciens » tout court. La La Bible du Semeur opte pour une autre expression « les responsables de l’Église ». Tous ces trois pourront servir de modĂšle, mais notons que le mot « Église » ne figure pas en grec. Les traducteurs devraient Ă©viter le mot collĂšge qui a un sens tout autre dans la majoritĂ© des langues. Notons cependant qu’en 2 Tim 1.6, Paul dit que c’est lui-mĂȘme qui avait imposĂ© les mains Ă  TimothĂ©e. On pourrait penser alors que Paul faisait partie de ce groupe d’anciens.

Source: Zogbo, Lynell & Ellingworth, Paul La premiĂšre lettre Ă  TimothĂ©e – Manuel de traduction – Commentaire linguistique et exĂ©gĂ©tique de la Bible. Alliance biblique universelle, 2021.