1 TIMOTHY 4 (SECOND READING)
1 TIMOTHY 4 (SECOND READING)
CAC The ways of a servant must be in Christ as well as his teaching. In commending Timothy to the Corinthians Paul says, “He worketh the work of the Lord as I also do”; ‘When you see Timothy you will be reminded of me’. Paul’s ways were in Christ. A new character of things has come in, and there are men now down here in this world who are in Christ, and that being so their ways must be in Christ also. We all know for a fact that, if a man speaks of Christ, and his ways are different, he has no weight with us. The Spirit has come in so that one’s ways might be in Christ practically. If the bondslave has been cast out it is to make way for Christ.
All the practical part of the New Testament (and the most part is practical) gives one a very good idea of what it is to have one’s ways in Christ. It brings in an entirely new character of things morally derived from Christ and not from Adam. Every tree produces fruit after its kind. It is a principle of service that a servant can never bring a disciple beyond where he is himself. When Timothy went to Corinth, the Corinthians recognised Paul in him; his ministry and his ways were like Paul. He was a true child of Paul, and derived his character from him; he had the same exercises as Paul; Paul could weep, and Timothy had wept with Paul about the saints. Paul said, “I am mindful of thy tears”. Saints do not do much of that nowadays. There was the same genuine feeling in Timothy as in Paul.
Ques What does it mean, “Let no man despise thy youth?”
CAC He was to carry himself with such gravity that there could be nothing brought against him; no one would be able to say, ‘He is only a young man, he will have more ballast presently’. He was so to carry himself that no one could bring any charge against him. Christ was to be seen in him, and sobriety was to mark him, so that no one could call in question his authority. He had great moral authority; it supposes authority to be moral, not official, in the house of God.
It has been said that we are never asked to do anything that has not been already done; we are not entitled to ask others to do what we ourselves are not doing. If I exhort another, I must examine myself. Paul never exhorted people to do what was not exemplified in himself. The Lord Jesus exhorted the disciples to do what had already been seen in Himself. The true servant says, ‘Follow’, not ‘Go’. You see the principle in an officer who leads his men and does not drive them before him. That is the difference between law and grace. The true servant takes the lead and says, ‘I will show you the way’. Look at the many references Paul makes to his own life and service and spirit! It is astonishing. The apostle could present himself and his ways as a model. No one could say that those things are impossible. If only we gave the true Isaac His place all would be well. Paul gave Christ His place from first to last. Christ reigned in his heart, and his ways and teaching were of Christ. If Christ has His place all will be right.
Paul began with the gospel, and the proper sense of what the gospel is. God had come in to relieve his need, to deliver him morally, and to set him free to be here for the will of God, and the only right thing for the christian is to be here for God’s will. The truth of justification (Romans 3) has been made to overshadow Romans 6 - Romans 8. You must be clear from every charge, but that would not satisfy any godly person. People take as much of the gospel as suits them, but there needs to be the knowledge of God. It is a question of God coming in grace; the Lord becomes the pledge and promise of everything so that we may be here for the will of God; every honest soul desires that. Christ was God’s pious One. God always had His place in the heart of Christ. God was always before Him, and He did everything in relation to God. That is true piety.
[p. 365] Ques Was Timothy set as a model before the believer, or did he express the peculiar characteristics of those who believed?
CAC I think both. What a power of salvation there is about a man who is always doing the will of God! His ways correspond with his teaching. It is the spirit of the man that is the test. Timothy was to show forth the character of God’s salvation amongst the saints. The great thing is to see the kind of man that can carry the testimony. He is to be a model for you and for me.
Timothy was to apply himself to the Scriptures, he was to be furnished out of them. Any exhortation not founded on Scripture would not have much place. In the early days it was the Old Testament Scriptures that were opened out, and that is what is in view here. There must have been great need for the opening out of the Scriptures for the Jew who was well versed in the Old Testament, but needed to see the bearing of it in christianity. I think we have very little idea of what is in Scripture. There is an answer to every question and a solution to every difficulty; there is nothing that can arise that will not find its answer in Scripture. There is divine light to be had on every circumstance that may arise, and in all the exercises in relation to christianity. When our hearts are exercised, we get a thought by the Spirit, and then we go to Scripture to get it confirmed and put into shape. There is little real study of the Scriptures amongst us, and saints are lamentably ignorant of their Bibles. We should seek to get the mind of God in reading, to get acquainted with Him, not merely to get comfort for ourselves. Many read a chapter daily as a duty without meditation or gain; the two go together.
Some distinct act of the Spirit had pointed out Timothy as a special vessel (verse 14). In 2 Timothy 1: 6 the gift was actually received by the laying on of the apostle’s hands. I think Timothy’s gift was administrative; it was in connection with his position as being a delegate from the apostle. Timothy was marked out by prophetic utterance to receive a gift, and Paul confers the gift; the elders come in and identify themselves with the gift. We see the principle of it in the present day — a man may say of a boy, ‘That boy will be a great blessing in the church’, and will pray for the boy.
We are not told where the prophecy about Timothy took place, but gift was bestowed by apostolic agency. The Lord need not identify His servants with what He is doing, He can [p. 366] do anything, but it pleases Him to associate His servants with what He is doing. It is not like Him to work alone and He brings Paul into the secret of His mind. There were certain things about Timothy that Paul or someone had prophesied; Paul put his hands upon him and the gift came into him, it was not there before.