Some Sins Before and Some After 1 Timothy 5:24

After telling Timothy to “take a little wine for your stomach's sake and often infirmities”, Paul the apostle directed his attention once again to the “sins” of men. In chapter five and verse twenty-four of his letter, Paul described how “some men's sins are open beforehand” and some men “follow after” where we read:

Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.

The verse begins, “Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment;” Paul began with the phrase “some men's” which points to “certain human beings whether male or female and all who belong to the human race” “sin's” which literally means “to miss the mark” and refers to “errors, mistakes, violations and wrongs whether in thought or action” “are open beforehand” or “known to all, openly evident, plain, obvious and manifested”. Paul continued, “going before” which means “leading, preceding and bringing forth” “to judgment” which is the Greek word “krisis” from which we get “crisis” and means “a separating, sundering, separation, a trial, contest, selection or opinion or decision given concerning anything” In other words, there are “sins” people commit that everyone knows about and are brought to judgment, and nothing about them are hidden from public knowledge. There is, however, another category of sin which people commit which Paul includes in his words.

The verse goes on to say, “and some men they follow after.” Paul continued, “and some men” or “certain human beings whether male or female and all who belong to the human race” “they follow after” which literally means “to tread in one's footsteps” and implies “are close upon, imitated and accompanied”. In other words, though “some men's sins” are widely known and they are judged for them, the “sins” of other people are unknown and still close behind in the same sort of judgment the first group received.

While we think on Paul's words, let us use this opportunity to examine our own lives to discover if we have either “known” or “unknown” sins in our lives. There is no doubt that each of these categories will come into judgment. It is just a matter of time. Sometimes our sins are known by others, and opinion and penalty are the result from them, and sometimes our sins are unknown by people and yet well-known by God. We can bring our sins before Jesus Christ who died for all of them whether revealed or unrevealed and lay them at His cross. Forgiveness, pardon and cleansing are available for each of us through Jesus Christ, and may we seize these advantages while they are accessible to obtain.

Next time Paul shares how some good works are “open beforehand” and others that “cannot be hid”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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