Let no one despise thy youth, but be a model of the believers, in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
Paul writes to Timothy, a young man carrying a heavy charge among people who may not want to hear it. The verse answers a question every young believer faces: how do you carry weight your age has not yet earned?
Timothy's youth was a real handicap, and commentators note both sides of it — the fault of those who looked down on him, and the responsibility it laid on him.
Here we have plain personal instructions for Timothy. Not pushing yourself forward gives more weight to a solemn charge or a faithful teaching, not less. Timothy needed this warning because he was young. Anyone who looked down on him for his age had no excuse. But it was a serious reason for Timothy to cultivate his own speech and manner of life. Such love, faith and purity ought to disarm even the difficult people he had to deal with among the believers.
The pressure came from real people, and one writer sees the same pattern still at work today.
Timothy was a very remarkable young man, though perhaps a little timid, so the apostle says, "Let no man despise thy youth" (1 Tim. 4:12). Some were inclined to snub him and throw cold water on him — something not unknown in the twentieth century from venerable seniors towards their younger brothers — a practice not to be recommended, however.
The instruction is active. Timothy is not told to keep his head down until he is older.
He was not to allow men to despise his youth. This could only happen through what follows. Young though he was, he was to set the believers an example, not just follow the example of others. "In word" is first mentioned, for it is this that others will first observe. "By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Words reveal what most occupies the heart.
Yet setting the pattern is not the same as pushing forward. The danger runs in the opposite direction too.
As a young man, he was to guard against self-assertion and youthful pride. That would spoil his testimony and lead people to despise him for his youth… If the truths we teach do not shape our own lives, can we expect our teaching to shape others?
Since word comes first, the test is not the language of a public gathering.
"In word." This is a big test for each of us, for "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Whatever rules our hearts will rule our speech. The question is not how we speak about divine things for an hour in a Bible study. The question is what our talk is like at home, at work, among friends, in company, and at all times.
Older versions say "conversation" where we would say "conduct." Each of the four qualities carries its own visible weight.
"In conversation" is better translated "in conduct." It covers not only what we say out loud but what we do. This too will claim the observation of others, who should see in it a godly example. "In love" is a precious addition to conduct. Love is the warm, attractive character that draws souls, and it needs real cultivation. "In faith" is no less important. The soul must learn to look away from circumstances to the Living God… "In purity" shows a single heart. It allows no mixing of principles and no watering down of truth.
Purity also has a plainly moral edge for a young man.
"In purity." This should clearly mark the Christian young man, above all in days of loose morals on every hand. The Apostle Paul urged Timothy to treat younger women "as sisters, in all purity" (1 Tim. 5:2). When young people give themselves to thoughtless flirtations, which come from the flesh, they run into great danger.
The verse asks for practice, not information — and the gap between the two has a name.
What is commanded here is not correct knowledge of doctrine, important as that is, but the carrying out of it in practice… Whether in the young or in the old, nothing is sadder than a head full of sound doctrine cut off from the conduct that doctrine calls for. In such a case you simply have a hypocrite.
The instruction reaches further than Timothy. But writers also warn that Timothy's youth is no licence for every young person to take a public place.
God's call and Christ's gift may rest on a young man like Timothy… and "let no one despise you for your youth" would apply to such a person today, just as it did to Timothy long ago. But the words "not a recent convert" were addressed to Timothy too. His youth was no encouragement to step forward for those who had neither the gift nor the grace God gave him.
- Problem. Timothy was young, and some looked down on him. They had no excuse. But that gave him all the more reason to cultivate speech, life, love, faith and purity.
- Answer. He was not to argue for respect. He was to be an example, setting the pattern instead of copying others.
- Order. Word comes first because it is noticed first. The test is ordinary talk at home, at work and among friends, not an hour in a Bible study.
- Range. Conduct, love, faith and purity carry the same demand. Love draws souls. Faith looks past circumstances to God. Purity keeps a single heart.
- Result. Doctrine known but not lived makes a hypocrite. Doctrine lived out disarms difficult people, and the young man is no longer despised.
Till I come, give thyself to reading, to exhortation, to teaching.
Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus and could not say when he would arrive. So he gives Timothy three things to do until then: reading, exhortation, teaching. Writers ask what each word covers, and how much of it still belongs to ordinary Christians today.
The phrase "until I come" marks a season with a limit. What fills that season is the written Word standing in for the apostle's voice.
Timothy was to give himself with all diligence to reading, to exhortation, to teaching... When Paul came, Timothy might have the joy of hearing God's Word from the inspired lips of the apostle. Until then he must give his full attention to God's inspired Word in its written form.
Several writers say the "reading" here means reading aloud to the gathered believers. The ESV makes this explicit and renders the word as "the public reading of Scripture." Their proof comes from the two words standing next to it.
The words next to it give conclusive proof that the "reading" was not private study but the public reading of Scripture to instruct everyone. The "exhortation" and the "teaching" must refer to others. Paul had insisted on the importance of his own walk just before.
There was also a practical reason. Almost no one in Timothy's day owned a copy of the Scriptures.
In those days, hand-written copies of the Scriptures were few and far between. Many could not read at all. So the public reading of the Scriptures was a much needed service.
One verb, "devote yourself," covers all three words in the verse. Each of the three does its own work.
Reading would provide food for the mind. Exhortation would stir the heart and conscience about what has been read. Doctrine, or teaching, would give the accurate, clear meaning of what has been read.
No one can read well in public what he has never read alone. Writers draw the ordinary Christian into the verse along that line.
But how could he read and speak in public on what he had not first read and studied on his own? The greater includes the less. Many of us may not be called to read God's Word in public. But all of us are called to read it in private. This is a prime way of promoting godliness.
The next verse warns Timothy not to neglect his gift. The order of the two matters.
Timothy was to exhort and teach others, and for this a gift had been deposited in him in a special way. So the second instruction is, "do not neglect the gift that is in you." By reading we take in; by exhortation and teaching we give out. Not all of us have received a special gift. But all of us are responsible to give out in one way or another. If we neglect this, our own spiritual good is at risk.
Two verses later Paul returns to the same subject. The writer below uses an older translation of verse 15, which reads "meditate on these things." The order between the two habits is fixed.
Directions for meditation: read before you meditate. "Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture" (1 Tim. 4:13). Then it follows, "meditate on these things" (v. 15). Reading supplies the material; it is the oil that feeds the lamp of meditation. Be sure your meditations are founded upon Scripture. Reading without meditation is unfruitful; meditation without reading is dangerous.
The command was given because most people could not reach the Scriptures for themselves. Where everyone can, it presses harder, not less.
Timothy was told to read to the many because the many had no easy access to the Holy Scriptures. Now the many do have that access. So it is well within the spirit of this verse to urge the Lord's people to study the Scriptures.
What is at stake is the depth of the Christian himself, and what fills the space left empty.
A shallow knowledge of the Scriptures means a shallow Christian... If we are shallow in the one, there is too much room for the world to get in. Our minds are full of either the Lord's things or those of the world.
- Read — the word here means reading Scripture aloud to others. The words beside it, exhortation and teaching, both point outward.
- Digest — reading gives meditation its material. Reading without meditation bears no fruit. Meditation without reading is dangerous.
- Give out — reading takes in; exhortation and teaching give out. Do not neglect the gift given for that work.
- Alone first — public reading rests on private reading. Few are called to read to others. All are called to read for themselves.
- Now more — the command came when copies were scarce. Today Bibles are within everyone's reach. A shallow knowledge of them leaves room for the world.