Be not negligent of the gift [that is] in thee, which has been given to thee through prophecy, with imposition of the hands of the elderhood.
The verse sits inside a run of personal charges to a young worker: read, exhort, teach — and do not let the gift in you lie unused. Two questions follow. What was given to Timothy? And what did the hands laid on him do?
The verses just before this deal with Timothy's character. Writers note that a good life, on its own, does not qualify anyone to stand up and teach.
The Christian life may be right and beautiful, yet it would not enable the servant to take the definite place of a teacher. For that, a gift from the Lord was necessary. Timothy could go forward sure that a direct word from God had given him this gift. He could use it knowing that the elders of the Lord's people stood fully with him.
The gift is therefore the base on which everything else in the passage rests.
Hence, immediately after, he is reminded of that gift of grace which was imparted to him, the ground of his ministry: for no practical grace, however important morally and for God's glory, entitles a soul to go forward in Christ's service without such a gift.
So how did the gift reach Timothy? One writer separates the voice that named him from the hands that were laid on him.
He was not to neglect the gift given to him. In his case the gift came straight through prophecy, the voice of the Spirit making it known (as in Acts 13:1). The elders laying their hands on him did not pass on the gift. It was their outward expression of fellowship with the gift given to Timothy.
Much turns on one small word. Older translations end the verse "with the laying on of the hands of the elders," where the ESV reads "when the council of elders laid their hands on you." That older wording is what the next comment builds on.
Scripture does not say "by," but "with." When we see what Paul says elsewhere, we see how important that difference is. The whole sentence runs: "the gift which was given you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the elders." Here is the real force of it. A gift was given, which is a very different thing from ordination.
What was this gift, and what part did the elders play in giving it?
This gift was the special power of the Holy Spirit given to Timothy. There is no reasonable doubt that it is the gift spoken of in 1 Tim. 4:14. ... The elders were joined with Paul in the act, but the power lay in the apostle alone. He alone was the channel God used for so great a gift. The difference between the words "with" and "by" shows it.
Many have used this verse to defend ordination ceremonies. Commentators reject that, because what made Timothy's case possible is gone.
In Timothy's case there were prophecies that went before him (1 Tim. 1:18). A real gift was given through prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the elders (1 Tim. 4:14), and by the laying on of Paul's hands (2 Tim. 1:6). Without an apostle and a properly chosen body of elders, to say nothing of prophecy, no one can copy such a case. To act as if we could is a harmful pretence, unless the power is there to give the gift that was given then.
Yet the act itself still has an honest use, much smaller than the claims made for it.
The Christian world has copied this apostolic act and badly misused it, claiming great things for it — that it confers a status and hands over a spiritual blessing. If it were treated instead as a simple recognition and a mark of fellowship in service, it would be a scriptural act.
A gift can lie idle. Having one does not put its owner above ordinary work.
Someone might have thought that a man as gifted as Timothy was not called to give himself to these things and be wholly in them, so that his progress would be plain to everyone. But no. Grace and gift create a matching responsibility; they do not release a man from it.
One writer names a common excuse for leaving a gift unused, and refuses to accept it.
He was not to neglect what was in him. How many do neglect it, often through a false humility that makes the gift out to be small. That humility is false, because no gift from God, however small, is to be despised. It holds a seed that can grow without limit, if only God is served in it.
And the charge is not for gifted teachers only.
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 that, we put our own spiritual good at risk.
- Marked out. A prophetic word from God named Timothy — the gift started with God's voice, not with any human body.
- Given. The gift itself came through Paul's hands (2 Tim. 1:6) — the special power of the Spirit, passed on through the one channel God used.
- Joined. The elders laid hands on him "with," not "by" — a mark of fellowship, never the source of power.
- Not repeatable. Without an apostle and prophecy, no one can copy the scene. What stays valid is a simple recognition of service.
- Used. A gift brings responsibility instead of removing it. Even the smallest one grows when God is served in it.
Occupy thyself with these things; be wholly in them, that thy progress may be manifest to all.
Paul has just told Timothy not to neglect his gift. Now he says what to do with it: turn the truth over in his mind, give himself to it completely, and let the growth show. The writers below quote an older translation, which reads "Meditate on these things" where the ESV has "Practice these things."
Meditation is not reading more. It is working over what you have already read.
By reading our minds become well furnished with truth. By meditation the truth in its force and bearing is brought home to us. The ox not only feeds in the pastures; it also lies down to chew the cud. In the same way we need to chew things over, turning them over in our minds. What nourishes us is not what we eat but what we digest. If we meditate on the things of God, getting right into them so that they control us, our profiting becomes clear to all. That is our spiritual advancement.
A man as gifted as Timothy might seem exempt from the ordinary work of study.
Someone might think that a man so gifted as Timothy was not called to work at this. Why should he be wholly in these things, so that his progress shows to all? But no. Grace and gift create a matching responsibility; they do not release him from it… Depend on it, those who seek to give out had better take care that they take in.
The second command rules out a mind pulled in several directions.
"Bestow care on these things; be wholly in them, that your progress may be manifest to all." This calls for diligent follow-up, with no distraction from other things. Only this way brings growth and advance, and no fair-minded person can fail to see it.
For Timothy that meant no other job. For most readers it works out in ordinary daily work.
The second part, "give yourself wholly to them," no doubt meant that Timothy was not to work at secular things for a living. He was to be a full-time servant of the Lord. Yet it applies to us too. In all that we do, even in the lowest tasks, we are to "serve the Lord Christ" (Colossians 3:24). Others will see that we have profited from time in the word of God. That is, if we keep the Lord and His glory before us in our reading and meditation.
The private work has a public purpose. One writer pictures deep study as water drawn from a deep well and poured out where others can drink.
Not all are called, or able, to draw water out of the deep wells of God. But all can drink that water when someone puts it into vessels suited to them. The water in the well is beyond the reach of many; the water in the vessel is available for all… Timothy was to "meditate on these things," to give himself "wholly to them." This surely was drawing water from the well. But his "profiting" was to "appear to all." This was the water in the vessel available for all.
Nobody can pass on what he has not first taken in.
Even if the content is all right, no testimony, no preaching, no teaching is right teaching when the soul has not first been filled from God for itself. We must drink for ourselves that rivers may flow. Indeed, everything else dries up the soul. "That your profiting may appear," says the apostle. It is only fresh, good, and powerful when it is the soul's own portion first with God.
One writer aims the verse at two opposite faults: speaking off the cuff, and arriving with a ready-made speech.
Far be it from us to encourage anyone in a random, haphazard way of speaking on Scripture. We believe such a habit ruins the soul of the speaker and is worse than wearisome to the souls of the hearers… The "profiting" is sure to "appear" if we keep up the habit of meditation. But if someone goes to a meeting with a sermon already prepared, it may not be what the Lord wanted spoken at all… We have to watch against two things: making ourselves up for an occasion, and idleness and indifference.
- Digest — reading fills the mind; meditation brings truth home. What feeds us is what we digest, not what we eat.
- Diligence — a gift does not excuse a servant from work. Grace and gift create responsibility rather than removing it.
- Undivided — progress comes from follow-up with nothing else competing. The same holds in the most ordinary daily job.
- Drink first — we must drink for ourselves before rivers can flow. Teaching is only fresh when it has been the soul's own portion with God.
- Displayed — water drawn from the deep well goes into a vessel others can drink from. Then the growth shows to all.