We need to apply the Golden Rule in how we treat other people, even if they’re not in our family. However, we need to provide for those in our families who are too young or too old or too sick to provide for themselves. The church needs to help those who are destitute without relatives to help them.
It is right and proper to pay full-time workers in the church, though some might, like Paul, choose to have a secular job. Right now, we are paying all our pastors, but previously, Swee Tshung worked as an architect while pastoring CBC Puchong.
v23 suddenly has a practical piece of advice -- because Timothy had frequent stomach problems, Paul advised him to drink wine instead of water. We know now that the alcohol kills bacteria that might be in water. In this way, Paul is giving Timothy some medical advice -- perhaps something he had picked up from Dr. Luke.
This verse also is an argument against alcohol prohibitionists (and balanced with Ephesians 5:18 eschewing drunkenness) as well as the faith extremists who claim that we must not take medicine and “only rely on Doctor Jesus”.
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