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.
Give heed to thyself and to the teaching; continue in them; for, doing this, thou shalt save both thyself and those that hear thee.
The chapter closes with a charge to Timothy in two parts: watch yourself, and watch what you teach. Two questions follow: why does watching yourself come first, and how can a man "save" himself and his hearers?
The order is deliberate. A teacher of the truth needs this self-watch more than anyone.
There is another caution of great value, and heeding it brings rich blessing: "Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching," and do so in that order. No man needs watchful and holy self-restraint as much as a teacher of the truth. Nothing corrupts a person more than careless behaviour combined with the highest doctrine. It dishonours the Lord and makes souls stumble. A walk a man knows is low always tends to drag the testimony down, so that the two look consistent. And holding the highest truth without a matching walk leads straight into hypocrisy.
The truth we hold and the way we live do not always match. There is a tempting way to close that gap.
Now comes the temptation to alter or pare down the doctrine a little, so that our ways can be left untouched and the gap largely, if not entirely, disappears. May God give us all grace to reverse that, and to alter our ways instead, so that they line up with the doctrine. Then we shall be taking heed to ourselves and to the doctrine as well, and by continuing in the truth we shall be saved. The salvation here is from the dangers the Spirit expressly warns us about earlier in the chapter — teachings of demons, or godless myths.
There is a way of studying Scripture that leaves the student himself dry. The cure is in the Lord's own wording.
To come to the Word of God as a mere student is a very poor thing, and a very dangerous one. It means sitting down only to prepare lectures or sermons for other people. Nothing can be more deadening or withering to the soul... We may be drawing water for other people, and all the while be like rusty pipes ourselves. How miserable this is! "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink," said our blessed Lord. He did not say "draw." The true spring and power of all ministry in the Church will always be drinking for our own souls, not drawing for others.
Watching your teaching is not just a matter of being accurate. The same words can be right or wrong for the people in front of you.
God alone knows the state and the need of souls. He knows their capacity. We do not. We may be offering "solid food" to those who can only take "milk," and so do real harm. Scripture says, "whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God." It does not say "according to the oracles of God." A man may stand and speak for an hour in the assembly. Every word he says may match the letter of Scripture exactly. Yet he may not be speaking as an oracle of God at all — as God's mouthpiece to the people. He may minister truth, but not the needed truth, at the time.
Does the promise mean a teacher secures his own eternal salvation? Commentators say no.
Some have twisted this instruction. They read it as the salvation of the soul, eternal salvation. It has nothing to do with eternal life and salvation. The believer has this in Christ through grace. "Save" here means the same as it does in Philippians. It is a present salvation from the dangers along the way — a rescue from error.
The promise reaches past Timothy himself.
Timothy himself had to continue in the teaching he had received. That would keep him safe while corruption grew all around him. It would also make him an instrument in the Lord's hands to deliver others from it.
The work itself carries a danger: caring for others can crowd out care for your own soul.
Do not let the work draw you into being so taken up with other people that you neglect yourself... If you do so, it will be a lesson to your brothers and sisters, and a lesson more real than a great deal of preaching.
- Order — Self first, then the teaching. Careless living beside high doctrine corrupts a teacher more than anything else.
- Honesty — When your life and the truth clash, move your life. Trimming the doctrine to fit your ways is the temptation the verse guards against.
- Supply — Drink for yourself before you draw for others, or you become a pipe carrying water you never taste.
- Fitness — Every word may be accurate and still not be the needed truth at that moment. God knows the hearers' capacity; we do not.
- Outcome — "Save" here means being kept from error and danger now, not eternal salvation. And it reaches your hearers: a steady life is a more real lesson than much preaching.