# Place hands

The placing of hands was a ceremony in which one or more church leaders would place their hands on people and pray that God would enable those people to serve the church in a way that would please God. Timothy was to wait until the person had shown good character for a long time before officially setting that person apart to serve the Christian community.

# Do not share in the sins of another person

Paul speaks of someone's sin as if it were an object that could be shared with others. Alternate translation: "do not join in another person's sin" or "do not participate when another person sins" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])

# Do not share in the sins of another person

Possible meanings are 1) if Timothy chose someone who was guilty of sin to be a church worker, God would hold Timothy responsible for that person's sin or 2) Timothy should not commit sins he saw others committing.