Week 48 1 Timothy 5
The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever.
The big picture Paul draws here is that people fall into one of two categories: Group A (Bad People) & Group B (Good People). Paul then goes on to subdivide each group.
In Group A (Bad People) there are two cohorts. The first cohort is made up of bad people who are clearly & obviously bad. The second cohort is made up of bad people who are bad – but not obviously-bad (from all appearances they live fairly good-looking bad lives).
In Group B (Good People) there’s one cohort that live identifiably & outstandingly good-looking good lives. Then there’s a second cohort that live less-detectibly good lives (subtly-good lives).
There might be some trouble distinguishing the second cohorts in Group A and Group B. That second cohort in Group A is not showing obviously-bad actions and they might be mistaken for Group B people who are living ambiguously good lives.
I think Paul’s main point in the paragraph is that the life I live will eventually be evaluated.
But this other idea is pretty interesting too. There’s a guy who doesn’t look too bad on the surface…but in reality is. Whereas a guy who seems pretty ho-hum turns out not to be.
Note: quote from 1 Timothy 5:24-25 (NIV). Reading report: 95% completed.