Verse by verse study of Paul's first letter to Timothy. In this lesson we examine
1Tm 4:12
Paul greeted Timothy as his "true child in the faith"
Now here in
Youthfulness may be despised, and young ministers looked down on, regardless of dedication, ability, and soundness. There may be some jealousy and territorial attitude in older preachers, who fear that young upstarts
On the other hand, sometimes young people do
Paul sees nothing but honour and advantage in youth as such, however his letter constantly emphasises moderate and sensible behaviour by young people, and a close cooperation and fellowship
Timothy is to stop older people despising his youth, not by challenging those older folk, or walking roughshod over their sensibilities, but by his moderate, mature, and considerate conduct which they
1Tm 4:12
"In speech, conduct, love, faith and purity"
In speech.
Paul tells the whole church at Ephesus, where Timothy is, "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear"
Paul condemned speaking in tongues when it failed to edify, and he urged, "Seek to abound for the edification of the church". Paul had already observed, "There are perhaps many kinds of voices in the world, and none is without meaning. If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks shall be a barbarian to me"
Ministers should be careful about speaking young people's lingo rather than the generic language spoken in the church. Youngspeak has its place, but it should not be used in circumstances where it becomes isolating, for that is next to divisive. It is good to employ speech that makes a certain group of people feel welcome and accepted. It is not good, however, to go so far in embracing one group, that
In conduct.
Whilst it is important that a person's words and manner of speech are exemplary, a person is also judged by his actions and conduct. You will recall that Paul's purpose in writing to Timothy, was to instruct him how to conduct himself in the church
Just to give one example, Paul tells Timothy to treat the young women as though they were his own sisters, because that will avoid any hint of impurity that might reflect badly on his ministry
In love.
Following Paul's instructions, Timothy will be doing a lot of rebuking and hard preaching. He therefore needs to show love whereby the necessary criticisms he makes will be understood, respected, and received. He is not just to feel love, he is to show it by "example". The Greek word for example here
Some of the most beautiful patterns on fabrics or wallpapers are also quite rigid when you look at them closely. In each element there is precision of detail and adherence to rules. However when you view the
In faith.
One of the amusing things about the gospel is the question of which is foremost love or faith? Paul, like Jesus, placed love as the greater of the greats
Faith, in this context, means faithfulness. Timothy had to show obedience to the faith. He had to show himself loyal and trustworthy as a man of God. He had to be a strong believer showing it by what he did. As James put it when speaking of Abraham, "Faith was working with his works and by the works faith was completed"
In purity.
Paul probably expects purity in all aspects of Timothy's ministry
"Pure" is more than "clean". Purity is the total absence of any foreign element. Pure water, for example, consists of nothing but molecules combining two atoms of hydrogen with one of oxygen. If a glass of water includes any other element, or even any other combination of the two elements,
To understand the concept of purity, we only have to think about the forgiveness of our sins. When God cleanses us from sin, how much sin is removed? Is it 99 percent? What a peculiar verse it would be that said, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from 99% of sin". Or what if that verse were preceded by the statement, "God is 99% light and in him there is only 1% darkness"
So if Timothy's doctrine were mostly accurate, his ministry and leadership fairly good, his life reasonably righteous, his relationships almost beyond reproach, would that be good enough? No, purity is the benchmark. "The wisdom from above is first pure..."
1Tm 4:13
If you "give attention" to something, you focus on it and don't allow yourself to be distracted from it. There are things that attract our attention which are unimportant. On the other hand, there are things that are important which don't attract our attention. Every school boy who looks out the window instead of doing his schoolwork testifies to that. We have to work at ignoring the distractions and giving attention to the things that really deserve attention but
Further down in
1Tm 4:14
Paul says, "Do not neglect the gift that is in you..." Timothy appears to have received some miraculous gift by the laying on of hands. What the gift was, and who the elders were who bestowed the gift, I don't know. The important thing is that Timothy was perhaps showing signs of neglecting that gift which was useful
Apart from the obvious, that a useful gift from God should be used to its full potential, there is the "use it or lose it" principle. When we neglect a gift or ability, it gets rusty, and the day may come when we lose that ability entirely and we can't do it anymore. This would be true of supernatural gifts as well as natural ones. Let's use the gifts God provides that we may not lose them, and thus become even more unprofitable servants
1Tm 4:15-16
The translation "meditate on these things" seems to me to give the wrong impression. Meditation is passive thinking
Some people make progress by cutting corners, going fast, driving by the seat of their pants, taking action before taking thought. A lot of people also come to grief that way however. Progress is less chancy when you take pains and work intelligently, pay attention, get into your work, focus on it, and all the while think hard about
1Tm 4:16
Jesus said, "No one, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God"
The one who preaches and teaches God's word as his vocation will have to be pretty determined. He will need to stick to his task, and give it his best, even when
1Tm 4:11-16
Our final point is an overview of the whole passage we have been studying. Implied in the passage, and underlying it, is the idea that the preacher must be a man of the word. This is actually stated in the second letter
Christian ministry today is very diverse. Often supplementary skills are needed, so we find ministers from many walks of life using their respective skills in serving a special group, it may be drug addicts, prisoners, the sick, the illiterate, the traumatised, the abused, college students, industrial workers, soldiers, and so on. The skills used in serving these groups should not be viewed as a substitute for being skilled in the word, but rather as a supplement to it. Preaching the word of God
The teachings of Christ are relevant and effective for everyone. After all, everybody's soul needs saving,
Of course, if a preacher (to use an exaggerated example) comes upon a drowning man, he doesn't stand on the shore yelling "Repent you sinner!" Rather, he uses his swimming and first aid skills to save the man's life. Clearly, however, if that's all the preacher ever does for the man, he stops far short. And, just as clearly, saving lives at the beach is not the preacher's job any more than it is a blacksmith's job or a
The worthiness of a man to take up a ministry should be judged primarily on his strength in the word of God. That's what he should major in. "To the doctrine" says Paul