1 Timothy 4:1-10

Paul Now Gives A More Detailed Account of What Timothy's Ministry Will Involve (1 Timothy 4:1 to 1 Timothy 6:10).

It is interesting how much the second half of this letter is patterned on the first. Both sections commence with an account of false teachers (1 Timothy 1:3; 1 Timothy 4:1). This is followed by a requirement for faithful service (Paul in 1 Timothy 1:12; Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:6) and for an example to be given to others (by Paul in 1 Timothy 1:16; by Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12). Then follows a reference to the particular responsibilities of those in the church (men, women, responsibility of women of child-bearing age, overseers, servant (deacons) in 1 Timothy 2:1 to 1 Timothy 3:13; elder and younger men, older women, responsibility of women of child-bearing age, elders, bondservants in 1 Timothy 4:1 to 1 Timothy 6:2). It is a practical application to the individual church of the principles already enunciated.

Yet at the same time this next section is again in the form of a chiasmus, as follows:

Analysis.

a Warning against false teachers who seek to enforce asceticism. Rather men should receive what is good from the hand of God with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:1).

b Timothy has to exercise himself towards godliness and set his hope on the living God Who is the Protector/Saviour of all men and especially the Saviour of believers (1 Timothy 4:7).

c Timothy is to work out this salvation that God has given him by being an example to others and fully utilising in faithful teaching his God-given Gift, which was given by the laying on of hands (1 Timothy 4:12).

d Older Christian men and younger Christian men are to be seen as family and treated accordingly (1 Timothy 5:1).

e Older Christian women and younger Christian women are to be treated similarly (1 Timothy 5:2)

f The church is to ‘adopt' older Christian widows who have no family expressing God's care for the most helpless and the most needy (1 Timothy 5:3).

e A contrasting approach towards older and younger Christian widows. (1 Timothy 5:9).

d Timothy's and the church's responsibility towards the older men and Elders (1 Timothy 5:17).

c Paul gives instructions to Timothy about the importance of being discerning in the laying on of hands, pointing out that he himself must be pure in every way and must ensure that his appointees will be so also (1 Timothy 5:22).

b Christian slaves must be faithful to all their masters as though to God, and especially to those who believe (1 Timothy 6:1).

a Teachers who fail to teach these things and the doctrines which contribute to genuine godliness are false teachers, and are puffed up and led astray into false ideas, while those who follow godliness will be content and enjoy food and clothing from God in contrast with those whom riches destroy (1 Timothy 6:3).

Note that in ‘a' false teachers are duly described and are to be rejected, while the godly give thanks because they receive their food from God and in the parallel the same applies. In ‘b' Timothy has to be a faithful servant to God Who is the Protector Saviour of all men and especially Saviour towards those who believe, while in the parallel slaves are to be faithful towards all their masters, and especially towards those who believe. In ‘c' Timothy is to full use the gift he received by the laying on of hands, and in the parallel is to be discerning on whom he lays hands. In ‘d' older men and younger men are to be treated as family, and in the parallel the church's responsibility towards older men and Elders is revealed. In ‘e' older women and younger women are to be treated as family and in the parallel instructions are given concerning both. Centrally in ‘e' (God puts in the centre what we pass over quickly as almost irrelevant) the helpless and needy widows are especially to be catered for. It is they who represent those whom God has always especially cared for, the ‘widows and fatherless' (Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 10:18; Deuteronomy 14:29; Deuteronomy 16:11; Deuteronomy 16:14; Deuteronomy 24:17; Deuteronomy 26:12; Deuteronomy 27:19; Job 22:9; Job 24:3; Psalms 68:5; Psalms 94:6; Psalms 146:9; Isaiah 1:17; Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 10:2; Jeremiah 7:6; Jeremiah 22:3; Ezekiel 22:7; Zechariah 7:10; Malachi 3:5). They should therefore be a central concern of the church.