Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom www.wenstrom.org

1. Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org

2. Tuesday July 19, 20111 Timothy: 1 Timothy 4:16-Paul Commands Timothy To Continue Paying Attention To Himself And Teaching So As To Deliver Experientially Himself And Those Who Obey HimLesson # 93

3. Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 4:16.

4. The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4:16 issues Timothy two more commands.

5. 1 Timothy 4:16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. (NASU)

6. In 1 Timothy 4:16, Paul is once again, as he did in 1 Timothy 4:11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 employing the figure of “asyndeton” in order to emphasize the importance of this first command for Timothy personally in that it will enable him to fulfill his responsibility of administrating the household of God in Ephesus.

7. It will also enable him to experience his deliverance from sin and Satan as well as those who listen to his teaching.

8. “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching” is composed of the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb epecho (ἐπέχω) (ep-eh-hoe), “pay close attention to”

9. and the dative second person masculine singular form of the reflexive pronoun seautou (σεαυτοῦ) (say-owf-too), “yourself” and this is followed by the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and”

10. and the articular dative feminine singular form of the noun articular dative feminine singular form of the noun didaskalia (διδασκαλία) (thee-thask-ah-lee-ah), “to your teaching.”

11. The verb epecho means “to pay attention” and is used with respect to Timothy’s personal conduct and character as indicated by reflexive pronoun seautou, “yourself” as well as his teaching as indicated by the noun didaskalia, “teaching.”

12. Thus, Paul is commanding Timothy “to pay attention” to himself in the sense that he is to manifest Christ-like character and exemplify godliness or the way of godly living.

13. This would be accomplished by Timothy exercising faith in Paul’s apostolic teaching, which results in obedience to the commands and prohibitions that are found in this teaching.

14. In other words, it would be accomplished by Timothy continuing to make it his habit of remaining in fellowship with God by obeying the gospel, which is the direct result of faith in the gospel.

15. Exercising faith in the gospel will result in Timothy obeying the commands to love the Lord and his fellow Christian and human being as Christ loved.

16. He is to stay in fellowship by appropriating by faith his union and identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session.

17. This will result in obedience to the commands and prohibitions that Paul issued Timothy in this epistle and that are found throughout the Word of God.

18. Timothy is also to pay attention to himself by keeping short accounts with God by confessing his sins immediately so at to be restored to fellowship, and which fellowship is maintained by obedience to the Word of God, i.e. the gospel, which is the direct result of exercising faith in the Word of God, i.e. the gospel.

19. The present imperative form of the verb epecho is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for Timothy to “to continue making it your habit of” paying attention to yourself.

20. Paul’s statements in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 4:6 indicate that Timothy was carrying out everything he wrote in this epistle.

21. 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.

22. Therefore, the present imperative is simply a reminder to Timothy to continue doing what Paul told him to do before he left for Macedonia.

23. The reflexive pronoun seautou emphasizes Timothy’s responsibility in obeying this command.

24. In 1 Timothy 4:16, the noun didaskalia is used in an objective sense and means “doctrine” referring to the content of what the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles taught.

25. Therefore, Paul is commanding Timothy to pay attention to what he taught the Ephesian Christian community.

26. He was to pay attention to the content of his teaching in the sense that it was to strictly adhere to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles which would of course specifically refer to adhering strictly to Paul’s apostolic teaching.

27. “Persevere in these things” is composed of the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb epimeno (ἐπιμένω) (ehpee-menowe), “persevere”

28. and the third person dative neuter plural form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός) (awf-toce), “in these things.”

29. Once again, Paul uses the figure of “asyndeton,” which emphasizes the importance of this second command for Timothy personally in that it will enable him to fulfill his responsibility of administrating the household of God in Ephesus.

30. It will also enable him to experience his deliverance from sin and Satan as well as those who listen to his teaching.

31. The verb epimeno means “to persevere” and is used of course with reference to Timothy indicating that Paul is commanding him to persevere in exemplifying godliness by paying attention to himself, i.e. his conduct and character.

32. It also indicates that he is commanding his young delegate to persevere in teaching sound doctrine by paying attention to the content of his teaching.

33. The verb’s object is the intensive personal pronoun autos, “them,” which refers to the first command here in 1 Timothy 4:16.

34. This is indicated by the fact that all the previous four commands and two prohibitions that appear in 1 Timothy 4:12-15 are summed up by this first command in 1 Timothy 4:16.

35. This is indicated by the fact that the four commands and two prohibitions that appear in 1 Timothy 4:12-15 address Timothy’s character and conduct and the content of his teaching.

36. The present imperative form of the verb epimeno is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for Timothy to “to continue making it your habit of” persevering in exemplifying Christ-like character and in teaching sound doctrine.

37. 1 Timothy 4:16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. (NASU)

38. “For as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you” is composed of the accusative neuter singular form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος) (oo-toce), “this”

39. and this is followed by the post-positive conjunction gar (γάρ) (gar), “for” and the nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb poieo (ποιέω) (pee-eh-owe), “as you do”

40. and this is followed by the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “both” and the accusative second person masculine singular form of the reflexive pronoun seautou (σεαυτοῦ) (say-owf-too), “yourself” and this is followed by the second person singular future active indicative form of the verb sozo (σῴζω) (so-zoe), “you will ensure salvation”

41. and this is followed by the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” and the articular accusative masculine plural present active participle form of the verb akouo (ἀκούω) (ah-koo-owe), “hear” and the second person genitive singular form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) (see), “you.”

42. The conjunction gar is causal meaning that it is introducing the reason for the previous command.

43. The verb poieo means “to do” in the sense of practicing obeying the previous command for Timothy to continue to persevere in exemplifying Christ-like character and teaching sound doctrine by paying attention to himself and the content of his teaching respectively.

44. The word functions as a participle of means indicating that “by” Timothy obeying the previous command for him to persevere in exemplifying Christ-like character and teaching sound doctrine, he will deliver from sin and Satan experientially both himself and those who listen to him teach.

45. The demonstrative pronoun houtos refers to the second command in 1 Timothy 4:16, which is the direct result of the first command in this verse.

46. The verb sozo refers to Timothy experiencing his deliverance from sin and Satan and his cosmic system by obeying Paul’s previous command to continue making it his habit of persevering in exemplifying Christ-like character, which is the direct result of obeying the first command in 1 Timothy 4:16.

47. Timothy will continue to exemplify Christ-like character by obeying this first command to continue making it his habit of paying attention to himself, i.e. his character and conduct.

48. Consequently, by obeying these two commands he will experience his deliverance from sin and Satan.

49. The verb also refers to those who adhere to Timothy’s teaching experiencing their deliverance from sin and Satan as well.

50. They will experience this deliverance if Timothy obeys the second command in 1 Timothy 4:16 to continue making it his habit of persevering in teaching sound doctrine.