Footnote

a A number of translations use the word “public” or “publicly” in translating 1 Timothy 5:20. However, several of these would also limit the ‘sinners’ referred to as being from among the elders mentioned in the previous verse (1Ti 5 verse 19). Knox’s translation, for example, which says, “Give a public rebuke to those who are living amiss,” has a footnote, saying: “‘To those,’ probably meaning ‘to those presbyters [elders]’; and the direction that they are to be rebuked in public is best understood as meaning ‘Before the other presbyters.’” With regard to the application of the phrase “before all” as applying either to ‘all the elders’ or to ‘all in the congregation,’ Schaff-Lange’s commentary states: “Grammatically, one is as allowable as the other.” We draw attention to these points only to show that the application of the phrase at 1 Timothy 5:20 “before all onlookers” (or, “in the sight of all”) grammatically can allow for more than one application: to a large group, such as an assembled congregation, or to a smaller group, such as a body of elders.