1 Timothy 4:13 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Timothy 4:13

Comments

Each of these verses builds on our motivation for a dedicated life. ‘Till I come’ – what does the apostle mean by that? Certainly, when the apostle comes he is going to do these very things, and in the meantime Timothy is to do them in the apostle’s place. But it may mean that when Paul comes, Timothy is going to get another assignment; he is going to be sent somewhere else, and that is what happened. Till Paul comes, while Timothy is there in that place, this is his great task. ‘Give attendance to reading.’ This isn't Timothy's personal reading; this is Timothy's public reading of the Scriptures, because the whole verse is about his teaching, his operation in the congregation as he pastors and preaches. Many of the people were illiterate, especially the slaves. The scrolls of the Old Testament were precious and rare. People didn't have Bibles in their hands as we are privileged to have, and so you were very dependent on the public reading of the Scriptures. Be very diligent in the reading ministry. It is by the Scriptures that the people are fed. It's by the Scriptures that they are admonished and reproved and encouraged and comforted and shown the mighty things of God. ‘Be careful how you read them’, you can almost hear the Apostles saying. ‘Read them slowly, read them so that people can understand them. ‘Give attendance’ – the Greek indicates great diligence to reading. The New Testament was only coming into being, fragments of Gospels, parts of epistles. With what eagerness a portion of an epistle or a complete epistle came into the hands of a church, and how eagerly it was listened to. It was inspired of God. The Scriptures were being brought in, the New Testament. So no wonder the Apostle says, give attendance, diligence, to reading. The Old Testament and the New.

Application

‘To exhortation’, and exhortation includes a whole spectrum of activity. There is literal exhortation. You can't preach without exhorting. I read with astonishment one or two preachers saying, ‘I never exhort. I never mention the sin. I never apply the verse. I never say, “Do this, do that; the Scripture says do this.”’ Well, that's incredible. The Scripture must be applied. Not to do so is a way to build a congregation of people who don't want to be touched, and don't want to be challenged, who want only head knowledge. ‘Never challenge, never apply; just teach doctrine.’ That would be a good thing to do. But if you only do that, so that nobody is ever offended, that is a very bad principle to take into the pulpit.

Exhortation is not only to apply and to remonstrate, but it is to comfort and to set out the objectives and the wonderful truths of salvation, and the promises of God. Give great diligence to reading the Scriptures, to exhortation, the full spectrum of it. ‘To doctrine’, to the teaching of the doctrines. The preacher must constantly remember these four principles of preaching. The gospel must be preached; there must be exhortation; there must be doctrine, and – it isn't mentioned just here, but it is in 2 Timothy – the unfolding and showing something of the glory of Christ. Four things, evangelism, doctrinal instruction, salvation and exhortation, and lifting up the people of God to see just something of the wonders of Christ and of glory and of salvation and of the blessings. All those are duties that are assigned to Timothy.

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1 Timothy 4:13 Commentary and Bible Study