<p>5:21 <em>I charge you in the sight of God and Christ Jesus</em>- If the elders were to be reproved in the sight of each other (:20), then who was Timothy as the 'boss' to be reproved in the sight of? The answer to that was 'In God's sight and that of Jesus- as well as of the Angels'.</p><p><em>And the elect Angels- The context in 1 Timothy warns against the Jewish obsession with effectively worshipping Angels. Paul wishes to refocus their attention on Angels in the correct sense. </em>I suggested on :20 that this refers to the elders of the church. But they in turn were represented by literal Angels in Heaven. Hence the Angel of the church at Ephesus in Rev. 2 was in the context both a literal Angel and the human elder or group of elders in Ephesus which were represented by an Angel in Heaven. Scripture abounds with reference to this 'court of Heaven', in which individuals and situations on earth are reflected in Heaven, and Heaven's structure is reflected on earth. Angels represent the face and presence of God; the fact they are physically present in our lives means that we should live in a&nbsp;sense of awe and humility at the nearness of God to us. Often this presence of the Angel is used as a means of motivating us to higher endeavour for the Lord. Jacob conceived of&nbsp;his guardian Angel as &quot;the fear of my father Isaac&quot;. This then is one of the ways we should fear God- to live in constant respect and awareness of the Angel in our lives. Paul uses the idea of&nbsp;charging brethren &quot;before the elect Angels that thou do these things without preferring one before another&quot; (1 Tim. 5:21), as if to say that the physical presence&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;ecclesia's&nbsp;representative Angels should inspire humility and obedience in the running of ecclesial affairs. In a judgment context, Paul charges Timothy before the angels of the elect, i.e. our guardian Angels- as if to say 'They are watching over you now, they will be there again at judgment and look back to your present life; so behave as you should as a man under God's judgment'.</p><p>The present nature of the judgment ought to powerfully motivate us. &quot;I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things...&quot; (1 Tim. 5:21 AV) is full of judgment language: before God, Christ and the Angels of the elect (i.e. our 'guardian Angels'). 'Before God' is the language of the judgment in Mt. 25:32; Lk. 21:36; Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Tim. 2:14; 1 Jn. 2:28; Jude 24; Rev. 14:5. It's as if Paul was reminding Timothy that he was present before the judgment already, and should therefore be obedient. 2 Tim. 4:1 makes the link even more apparent: he charged Timothy to preach as being before (Gk.) both the Father and Son, who <em>will judge </em>the living and dead at His appearing. Because we effectively stand before the judgment seat now, therefore preach now, because preaching is one of those things that will be taken into account at the final judgment day (Lk. 12:8). As men being before the Lord's throne, who will be finally judged just as we are now being judged, therefore act according to the principles which we know will lead to acceptance then.</p><p><em>That you observe these things</em>- The same word is used to Timothy in 2 Tim. 1:14, where he is again told to 'keep / observe these things&quot; &quot;by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us&quot;. The Holy Spirit or mind is an internal power, working &quot;within&quot;, in order to empower obedience. But like Timothy, we must be exhorted to make full use of it rather than attempting to be obedient in our own strength.</p><p><em>Without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality</em>- This was so hard for Timothy without the spiritual strengthening just alluded to. There were many different interest groups within the church, Jewish and pagan. Timothy the timid and young had to deal with older people who were teaching wrong things and shut them up. Timothy the afflicted with sexual lusts had to tell attractive young women to get married and have children. It would've been so very easy to act with partiality. He needed the psychological Holy Spirit strengthening mentioned under <em>Observe these things</em> in order to achieve this.</p>