The Apostle has come also to the most important matter, by which the church is chiefly sustained, that is, to ordination, and says: "do not lay hands hastily," that is, not after the first or third examination, but after repeated and thorough investigation, since this matter is not without danger. And in what way? – Listen.
1 Tim. 5:22. Do not become a partaker in the sins of others.
Since you are the cause of what he will do in the future, you therefore become a participant in both his good deeds and his sinful ones. But you are also guilty of his former sins, because you disregarded them and made darkness into light, and did not allow him to bewail them and come to a state of contrition.
1 Tim. 5:22. Keep yourself pure.
Here he gives him a lesson on chastity.
1 Tim. 5:23. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine, for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.
Do you see that, having so many ailments, Timothy was still exhausting himself by drinking water? Learn then not to be grieved when someone gives instructions concerning temperance, for even to Timothy, who for so long a time drank water, so that he often became subject to ailments, Paul gives a commandment about temperance, and did not simply say "use wine," but limited this use, adding "a little." For health, he says, not for pleasure. For youth is hot, and from wine quickly becomes stirred up. But why did Paul not heal him, who by his "handkerchiefs" raised the dead (Acts 19:12)? So that we, when even now we see holy people subject to ailments, would not be scandalized and think that the ancients were above our nature, but would believe that they too were people like us; and finally, so that Timothy himself would not become proud of his virtue. About this, more is said at length by Saint John Chrysostom, at the beginning of the so-called book of homilies "On the Statues." But it seems Timothy was by nature a sickly person, subject to ailments not of the stomach only, but of other parts as well, and therefore the apostle also added: "and your frequent ailments."
1 Tim. 5:24. The sins of some people are evident and lead directly to judgment, while those of others are revealed afterwards.
Since the apostle, while discussing ordination, said: "do not be a partaker in other men's sins" (1 Tim. 5:22), Timothy could justly object: but what shall I do if I do not know? In answer to this, the apostle says: some sin openly and publicly, which brings them to judgment, that is, as a result they are already condemned and contempt for them goes before them, as you yourself already know. But the sins of other people do not become evident at once, yet you can uncover them through investigation. He hints at this with the expression: "afterwards." Thus, you must also be on guard against these at ordination. Or else — even though they may escape notice here and you ordain them, having absolutely no accusation against them, yet there they will not escape notice. For deeds are not destroyed with one's life, but follow after them. Basil the Great explained this passage in a new independent chapter, unrelated to the discussion of ordination. For example, someone leads a debauched life, or steals — such a sin leads him beforehand to condemnation, drawing only him alone. But if someone teaches evil and establishes a school conducted with ruinous wisdom — such a sin continues to be committed even without him. It does not cease with his death, but heirs of the contagion remain after him, such as the pagan philosophers and all who have generally written against the teaching of the Church. They will give an answer not only for the fact that they themselves went astray, but also for the fact that they served as the cause of error for others, their followers.
1 Tim. 5:25. Likewise, good works also are evident; and even those that are not, cannot be hidden.
The greatest consolation for the righteous consists in the fact that good and evil deeds are known even here, but especially there, where all things are laid bare.