“Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
In these last two verses, Paul wraps up this list of instructions directed at Timothy. He began this chapter by warning him about false teachers, then he told Timothy he would be a good servant of Christ if he pointed out these false teachings to the fellow believers.
I want to take a minute here to reflect on this. In the time since I wrote my blog post on first Timothy 4: 6-7, there have been several well-known apologists who have exposed corruption and abuse by leaders in the charismatic church. There are many followers of those leaders who say that they should be left alone, that God’s anointed should not be touched. They misuse Old Testament verses about either prophets (1 Chronicles 16:32) or David not wanting to harm Saul (1 Samuel 24). But Paul, in his letters, clearly teaches that false teachers are to be called out. This is one of those places. Abuse also needs to be dealt with. As a church, (and I am talking about the whole church, not individual congregations), we need to be more concerned about the victim than the abuser. But unfortunately, there are some who are more concerned about putting these unqualified leaders back in power than they are about the people they have victimized. Jesus has harsh words for people who cause his followers to fall away from Him. “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). Almost every book in the New Testament contains warnings or calls out false teachers. We absolutely should be calling out false or abusive teachers, and if their platform is a public one, then it must be done publicly.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s look at Paul’s last words to Timothy In this chapter. He writes, “Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all.” Let’s look back at the things that Timothy is to practice and be committed to. The first thing we see is about the false teachers. In verse 7, Paul commands him to have nothing to do with pointless or silly myths. Another way to look at this would be that Timothy has to keep his doctrine sound. Next, in that same verse, Paul tells him to train himself in godliness. In verse 12, Paul writes that Timothy should set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. And lastly, Timothy is to give his attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching of the Word.
Timothy’s progress must be evident to all. Timothy was Paul’s protege. Maybe Timothy needed a little encouragement from Paul to be bolder with his faith. Perhaps Timothy was so used to being in Paul’s shadow and letting Paul take the lead, that he was hesitant to take on the role that Paul was encouraging him to take. As believers, we need to be bold in our faith. We need to make our faith our own, to know what we believe and why we believe it (1 Peter 3:15-16). We need to be able to give a defense for our faith. We cannot let the faith of our parents, our church, or our pastor be our faith without truly understanding it for ourselves.
Timothy’s faith clearly was his own, he just needed Paul’s words of encouragement and his mentorship. Paul goes on to tell him, “Pay close attention to your life and your teaching.” It is vital that his life matches what he is teaching. Earlier in this chapter Paul had written that Timothy should not let anyone look down on him because of his youth, but he should set an example for the believers. Paul is emphasizing here the importance that Timothy’s life showed evidence of his faith. This reminded me of the verse in James. “But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (1:22).
The last thing Paul writes in this section is “Persevere in these things for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.” This is one of those verses that when pulled out of context, can be made to say something it does not say. Paul is not saying that Timothy’s teaching saves himself and his hearers. We know, through the reading of Scripture, that only Jesus can save us. So what does Paul mean? Warren Wiersbe puts it this way in The Bible Exposition Commentary. “Ultimately only God can save, of course; yet in a secondary sense the New Testament speaks of a person “saving” himself (Phil 2:12) and others (James 5:19-20; Jude 23). Paul’s words are a pointed reminder of the awesome burden of responsibility that congregational leaders carry.”
I am going to wrap up with this thought. Paul tells Timothy here that his life and his teaching have the power to lead people to salvation. In the same way, Christian leaders have the power to lead people away from Christ. When they abuse their power, lead with pride, do not care for their congregations the way that Christ commands, or teach false doctrine, they risk leading people astray. James 3:1 says, “Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment.” It is our job in the church to call out false teachers.
Grace be with you!
Abundant Joy 