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.”
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.”
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)
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 .
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.
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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.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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