1 Timothy 4:10

The apostle had been showing how little profit there is in bodily exercise. Godliness, by contrast, is valuable for all things. It carries the promise of the life that now is, and of the life to come. This he calls a faithful word, and worthy of all acceptance. The reason appears in our verse. The question here is of His preserving care, and not of salvation only. The apostle shows this to be most true of those who are most tried because of their faithfulness.

The apostle can say, "For this we labour and suffer reproach," because of his piety. We may be willing to work and be prominent before others. We may work to gain applause, or work to exalt ourselves. But if piety is behind our labour, it will inevitably mean labour and reproach.

In my view, this is not a question of Christ's work in saving lost people who believe. It is of the living God as such that the apostle speaks — of God in His character of preserver of men, as Job also speaks (Job 7:20). God's providential care and government are before us. Nothing escapes His notice. So He clothes the grass of the field and feeds the birds of heaven, which do not sow or reap. So He makes His sun rise on evil and good, and sends rain on just and unjust.

Most agree that the word "Saviour" in this passage refers to temporal salvation — that is, providential preservation. A glance at the context will prove this. Scripture uses the word this way elsewhere. 2 Kings 13:5 and Nehemiah 9:27 refer to the judges of Israel as saviours. In Acts 27:31, "Paul said to the centurion, Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved" — most evidently referring to temporal salvation.

The reference is not to Christ's work, but to God's faithful care of His creatures, His children especially, in providence day by day... Why read the salvation of men's souls into the terms of this verse? Other scriptures declare that only those who believe shall be saved, and that the mass, unrepentant and unbelieving, must perish. Apply it to the salvation of the soul, and the comfort disappears. Everything falls into confusion and uncertainty. Suppose those who are Christ's are only saved to a greater degree than those who reject Him and perish. Then theirs would be a small and sorry salvation... Indeed it would be nonsense to speak of saving the souls of all men, especially of the faithful.

All men are dependent upon His preserving care in the very details of their lives: if so, how much more should believers depend on Him fully; for whatever the reproach they may bear, they will be unfailingly preserved by God.

The apostle goes on to show that the spring of piety is confidence in God... Piety is that individual confidence in God that takes up every circumstance of life in relation to God. The unregenerate man leaves God out of his life; the believer recognises Him in all the details of life and thankfully receives and uses every mercy that He places within his reach.

No Christian could forget for a moment the infinite privilege of eternal life and redemption, of heavenly hope and everlasting glory. But faced with these unseen and eternal things, he might overlook the constant daily and special care of God in the ordinary matters of this life. That would be his own great loss, and it would dishonour the Lord. This verse, and the context before it, guards the soul against such an error. The highest privileges do not set aside or weaken this unchanging truth at its most everyday level.