"judging beforehand" or "deciding before you have listened to everyone tell their side of the story." Timothy was to listen to the facts and then judge.
## out of favoritism ##
"leaning toward the people you like" or "on the basis of who your friends are." Timothy was to judge on the basis of the facts, not by who was involved.
## Place hands ##
This was a ceremony in which one or more church leaders would literally 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 church in this ceremony.
## share in the sins belonging to another person ##
“Do not join in another person's sin.” 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.