1 Timothy 4.15-Paul Commands Timothy To Continue Making It His Habit Of Meditating Upon And Living By The Things He Taught In 1 Timothy 4.12-14
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday June 30, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 4:15-Paul Commands Timothy To Continue Making It His Habit Of Meditating Upon And Living By The Things He Taught In 1 Timothy 4:12-14
Lesson # 91
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 4:14.
In 1 Timothy 4:15, the apostle Paul issues two more commands to Timothy.
The first is that he wants Timothy to continue making it his habit of meditating upon the things he taught in 1 Timothy 4:12-14 and the second is for him to continue making it his habit of living by them.
1 Timothy 4:12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. 13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. 15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. (NASU)
“Take pains with these things” is composed of the accusative neuter plural form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος) (oo-toce), “these things” and this is followed by the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb meletao (μελετάω) (mehlay-tah-owe), “take pains with.”
The immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos refers to Paul’s teaching in 1 Timothy 4:12-14.
This is indicated by the fact that each time Paul uses this word in the accusative plural form in 1 Timothy (1:18; 3:14; 4:6, 11), it sums up the immediate preceding paragraph.
The verb meletao means “to meditate” indicating that Paul wants Timothy to continue making it his habit of “meditating” on the commands and prohibitions that appear in 1 Timothy 4:12-14.
Some argue that the word means “to practice,” which is a meaning used in classical Greek and the Septuagint.
However, it is better to interpret meletao as meaning “to meditate” emphasizing Timothy’s responsibility to reflect upon the commands and prohibitions that appear in 1 Timothy 4:12-14.
This interpretation is indicated by the fact that the verb eimi, which follows it means “to live” and the prepositional phrase ἐν τούτοις that follows it specifies the rule or code that someone lives by.
Thus, the verb eimi and the prepositional phrase ἐν τούτοις teach that Paul wants Timothy to continue to make it his habit of living in conformity or according to the commands and prohibitions he issued in 1 Timothy 4:12-14.
This second command emphasizes Timothy’s actions in the sense of putting into practice the commands and prohibitions in 1 Timothy 4:12-14 whereas the first emphasizes his thinking.
With this being the case, we can see that Paul is emphasizing the importance of meditating and reflecting upon the Word of God in order to put it into practice.
Thus, it is significant that Paul places meletao before eimi because he is emphasizing with Timothy that thought precedes action and specifically thinking doctrine precedes acting upon it.
The present imperative form of the verb meletao is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for Timothy “to continue making it his habit of” meditating upon Paul’s commands and prohibitions that appear in 1 Timothy 4:12-14.
Paul’s statements in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 4:6 support this interpretation.
Thus, the command here in 1 Timothy 4:15 is simply a reminder to Timothy to continue doing what they talked about before Paul left for Macedonia.
Furthermore, Paul would not have delegated Timothy such a difficult task as the one in Ephesus unless he felt confident that his young delegate could carry out everything he required of him.
Therefore, the present imperative is simply a reminder to Timothy to continue doing what Paul told him to do before he left for Macedonia.
The apostle Paul wants Timothy to meditate upon the two commands and prohibitions that appear in 1 Timothy 4:12-14 for the purpose of making personal application.
He is to meditate upon these commands and prohibitions and make personal application to his own life. Biblical meditation involves repetitive, reflective and reverential reading of the Word of God and making application to one’s own life.
Meditation means “the act of focusing one’s thoughts, thus to ponder, think about.”
It consists of reflective thinking or contemplation, usually on a specific subject to discern its meaning or significance or a plan of action.
Biblical meditation consists of reflective thinking or contemplation on the Word of God in order to discern its meaning for the purpose of making personal application (Joshua 1:8; Philippians 4:8-9).
Biblical meditation is an expression of rejecting self-sufficiency in favor of the sufficiency of God’s Word.
The goal of Christian Biblical meditation is to adopt the attitude or thinking of Christ, which is expressed in the infallible, inerrant Word of God.
The purpose of Christian Biblical meditation is to develop the character of Christ in the believer.
J.I. Packer gives the following definition of meditation in his book, Knowing God: “Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways, and purposes and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God. Its purpose is to clear one’s mental and spiritual vision of God, and to let His truth make its full and proper impact on one’s mind and heart. It is a matter of talking to oneself about God and oneself; it is, indeed, often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneself out of moods of doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God’s power and grace. Its effect is to ever humble us as we contemplate God’s greatness and glory, and our own littleness and sinfulness, and to encourage and reassure us—“comfort” us in the old, strong Bible sense of the word—as we contemplate the unsearchable riches of divine mercy displayed in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Timothy 4:15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. (NASU)
“Be absorbed in them” is composed of the preposition en (ἐν), “in” and its object is the dative neuter plural form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος) (oo-toce), “them” and this is followed by the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί) (ee-mee), “be absorbed.”
The verb eimi means “to live” indicating that Paul wants Timothy to continue to make it his habit of living according to his commands and prohibitions in 1 Timothy 4:12-14.
After meditating upon these commands and prohibitions Paul wants Timothy to put these things into practice.
The verb eimi emphasizes that Paul wants Timothy to continue to live by these commands and prohibitions.
The present imperative of eimi means, “to continue making it your habit of” living according to Paul’s commands and prohibitions that appear in 1 Timothy 4:12-14.
Once again the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos refers to Paul’s teaching in 1 Timothy 4:12-14.
However, this time it functions as the object of the preposition en, which functions as a marker of standard or rule meaning that it specifies the rule or code a person lives by or the standard of conduct a person conforms to.
This indicates that Timothy is to continue making it his habit of living his life “according to” the commands and prohibitions that appear in 1 Timothy 4:12-14.
“So that your progress will be evident to all” is composed of the conjunction hina (ἵνα) (ee-nah), “so that” and the second person genitive singular form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) (see), “your” which is followed by the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun prokope (προκοπή) (proekoepee), “progress” and the nominative feminine singular form of the adjective phaneros (φανερός) (fahnear-roce), “evident” followed by the third person singular present active subjunctive form of the verb eimi (εἰμί) (ee-mee), “will be” and then we have the dative masculine plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “to all.”
The conjunction hina introduces a purpose clause that presents Paul’s purpose for Timothy obeying his two previous commands to continue making it his habit of meditating and living by the two commands and prohibitions that appear in 1 Timothy 4:12-14.
The noun prokope means “progress” which refers to Timothy’s spiritual growth as a Christian and as a pastor-teacher.
It speaks of Timothy’s spiritual development that is reflected in a greater impact on the Christian community and the unsaved community in Ephesus.
The adjective phaneros means “evident, visible” referring to Timothy’s spiritual progress becoming “evident” or “manifest” to the Christian community in Ephesus.
The adjective pas functions as a substantive and pertains to the totality of the Ephesian Christian community.
Therefore, Paul is telling Timothy to continue making it his habit of obeying the command to meditate upon the two commands and two prohibitions in 1 Timothy 4:12-14 and living by them in order that his progress spiritually would be evident to “everyone” in the Ephesian Christian community.