Take Heed to Thyself and to the Doctrine

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Short Summary

The Panel Discussion explores 1 Timothy 4:16, emphasizing the importance of self-examination and careful teaching to preserve both personal faith and that of others. It highlights Paul’s mentorship of Timothy, urging diligence in adhering to sound doctrine, rejecting false teachings, exercising godliness, and using one’s spiritual gifts responsibly. The discussion also stresses the balance between firm adherence to core truths and charitable tolerance of differing interpretations within the Christian community.

Long Summary

Detailed Summary of the Panel Discussion on 1 Timothy 4:16

The Panel Discussion features a dialogue between two brothers, exploring the Apostle Paul’s counsel to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4, focusing particularly on verse 16: 
*“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”* (ASV)

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### Context and Structure of 1 Timothy 4

– The discussion emphasizes the continuity in chapter 4, noting Paul’s repeated phrase “these things” which refers to several instructions given earlier in the chapter. 
– Key verses referencing “these things” include: 
– 1 Timothy 4:6 – reminding brethren about certain truths to be a good minister nourished in faith and good doctrine. 
– 1 Timothy 4:11 – commanding and teaching these things. 
– 1 Timothy 4:15 – encouraging diligence in these things. 
– 1 Timothy 4:16 – the main verse under discussion, urging self-care and care in doctrine.

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### Early Warnings about Apostasy (Verses 1-5)

– Paul warns Timothy about a future falling away from the faith in “latter times” involving seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. 
– Examples include false teachings such as forbidding marriage and abstaining from foods God created to be received with thanksgiving. 
– This apostasy was expected and must be guarded against by holding fast to true doctrine. 
– Paul’s close mentoring relationship with Timothy is highlighted; Timothy is tasked as an elder to maintain the purity of the faith and protect the church from false teachings and practices.

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### Role of Elders in Nourishing and Teaching (Verses 6-11)

– Verse 6 stresses that reminding brethren of these truths makes one a good minister, nourished by the word of faith and sound doctrine. 
– Elders nourish spiritually, akin to feeding a healthy diet, nurturing growth in the brethren. 
– The discourse highlights the value of study groups and hearing scripture repeatedly to deepen understanding and internalization. 
– Verse 7 cautions against “profane and old wives’ fables,” meaning superstitions, myths, and unfounded teachings that detract from the truth. 
– The importance of exercising godliness is emphasized, which involves active pursuit of a Christlike, godly character. 
– The physical exercise analogy (verse 8) points out that bodily training profits little compared to godliness, which benefits all things, promising life now and in the future. 
– The speakers note that early Christians were physically active, so Paul contrasts physical discipline with spiritual discipline, the latter having eternal value.

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### The Hope in the Living God (Verse 10)

– Paul reminds that labor and strive are motivated by hope in the living God, “Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.” 
– This underscores the loving intent of God’s plan of salvation for all mankind, not just believers, reflecting foundational doctrines such as the ransom for all.

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### Authority and Example of Elders (Verses 11-12)

– Elders are to “command and teach” with authority derived from sound knowledge and spiritual maturity, not dictatorial power. 
– Timothy’s youth is addressed; Paul encourages him not to let anyone despise him for his age but to be an example in word, conduct, love, faith, and purity. 
– The discourse notes the importance of young elders conducting themselves in ways that validate their leadership and inspire respect.

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### Maintaining and Using Spiritual Gifts (Verses 13-14)

– Timothy is exhorted to continue public reading of scripture, exhortation, and teaching—each with a distinct role in spiritual instruction. 
– The gift given to Timothy by prophecy and laying on of hands is referenced, possibly a spiritual gift or an enhancement of natural talents like teaching. 
– The importance of recognizing and using one’s spiritual gifts for the benefit of the brotherhood is highlighted.

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### Diligence and Consecration (Verses 15-16)

– Paul urges diligence in “these things” and to give oneself wholly to them so progress is evident to all. 
– Consecration is described as giving oneself holy to the work and truth entrusted by God. 
– Progress is measured by Christlikeness: How much more like Jesus are we today than yesterday? 
– Verse 16 commands taking heed to oneself and to one’s teaching, meaning careful self-examination, character development, and accountability in doctrine. 
– Taking heed to oneself involves continuous self-assessment, humility, openness to feedback, and spiritual growth. 
– Taking heed to teaching involves ensuring teachings are scripturally sound and delivered with the right spirit—humble, loving, and edifying.

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### The Importance of Doctrine and Spirit

– Doctrine is described as applied truth that transforms life, not just information. 
– The ransom doctrine is cited as an example that shapes how believers view others with love and mercy. 
– The dual symbolism of the tabernacle’s table of showbread (food/nourishment) and golden lampstand (light/direction) is used to illustrate that God’s word both nourishes and guides.

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### Balancing Dogmatism and Liberty

– The speakers discuss dogmatism: some truths (God’s existence, ransom for all) are non-negotiable and must be held firmly. 
– Other doctrinal understandings may allow liberty and differences of opinion without jeopardizing unity or love. 
– Brother Russell’s counsel is cited emphasizing wisdom to distinguish between essential principles and personal preferences, urging humility and peace in non-principled differences.

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### Final Reflections and Encouragement

– The letter is seen as pastoral mentoring from Paul to Timothy, emphasizing responsibility not only for self but for those who hear him (the ecclesia). 
– The promise from 2 Peter 1:8-10 is quoted, encouraging growth in godly qualities to avoid being unfruitful or stumbling. 
– Salvation is the ultimate goal for oneself and others. 
– The exhortation applies not only to elders but to all consecrated believers who share the same hope and responsibility in stewarding the truth. 
– The discourse closes with gratitude and encouragement to continue in the faith with diligence, love, and sound doctrine.

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### Key Bible Verses Referenced

1 Timothy 4:16 — “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” 
1 Timothy 4:1-5 — Warning about apostasy and false doctrines. 
2 Corinthians 4:4 — Reference to Satan blinding minds. 
Matthew 24:24 — Jesus’ warning about false Christs and deception. 
2 Timothy 1:13 — “Retain the standard of sound words which thou hast heard from me…” 
2 Peter 1:7-10 — Qualities to add to faith for fruitfulness and assurance. 
Hebrews 12:3 — Warning about neglecting salvation. 
John 6:44 — “No one can come to me except the Father draws him.” 
Ephesians 4:16 — “From whom the whole body… fitly joined together… maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

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This dialogue is a rich examination of Paul’s instructions to Timothy, emphasizing personal spiritual vigilance, sound biblical teaching, godly example, and active stewardship of the truth for the salvation and growth of all in the ecclesia.

Transcript

They’re going to be engaging in a dialogue, a conversation based on First Timothy chapter 4, verse 16, which highlighted as take heed to thyself and to the doctrine, and we look forward to your discussion. Thank you, Brother, and with that, Brother Comey and I are going to talk to each other and we sincerely hope it’ll be a blessing to you. Well, Brother Comey, we’ve been assigned first Timothy chapter four, verse 16 to discuss.

And reading that from the American Standard Version, it reads, take heed to thyself and to thy teaching. Continue in these things. For in doing this, thou shalt say both thyself and them that hear thee, and I know we’ve been talking back and forth here for the past couple of weeks in preparation for this, and one of the things that came out, out of looking at this, this whole fourth chapter, you’ll notice there in that verse, he uses this two word expression, these things.

Continue these things. So what is, what are those things? Well, obviously it’s what he talked about previously, but when we looked at previously, we found another of these things and another and another. So, yeah, four of them. That’s right.

So to, to really work our way up to the 16th verse, we have to go all the way back to the beginning of the chapter. Because of this continuity and the four occasions I’m going to give them in reverse order, we read First Timothy 4:16, which is what we’re going to speak on. First Timothy 4:15. Be diligent in these things. Give thyself wholly to them, that thy progress may be manifest to all.

1st Timothy 4:11. These things command and teach. 1st Timothy 4, 6. If thou put the brethren in mind of these things, that shall be a good minister of Christ Jesus nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which has followed. So it’s a natural question, you know, what are these things?

And we can get right into it by taking a look at what precedes verse six there. First Timothy 4, 1, 5. That’s the first group of these things, and, and what is it that Paul had in mind in those verses? Well, when you, when you take a look, Brother David, when you look at those first five verses, you could see that he expresses some things in there.

It’s following that in the sixth verse that he says, in pointing out these things as, as you just mentioned, that he’s referring obviously to the anticident that he just laid out in the first five verses. Now, reading the first five verses, it says, but the Spirit said expressly that in Latter times, which is where the prophecy is really talking about latter times. Right. In latter times, some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies branded in their own conscience, as with hot iron forbidding to marry, and commanding to us to abstain from meats which God created to be receiving, to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it, if it be received with thanksgiving, or it is sanctified through the work, the word of God and prayer.

So seems like Paul was foreseeing something when he talks about in a lot of times, and he was laying out a warning that he’s basically given us, given to Timothy specifically at the time, but ultimately given us today for us to pay attention to this apostasy that is about to begin, and, and so what do you think? Forwards was seen. You know, this is interesting because remember, this is to Timothy, Timothy was, was. He calls him his son.

So there was a very close relationship there between Timothy and he was mentoring him, and Timothy, as we’ll see as we get a little bit further in here, had had wonderful potential and wonderful gifts. So Paul in, in talking about what was going to come up later in the gospel age, I think maybe one of the things he’s telling Timothy is that, you know, there’s going to be a fallen away, there’s going to be weird ideas that are come up, and as a, as an elder in the ecclesiastical, as a leader, his job was to help prevent that or at least stave it off as long as possible to hold that standard of truth high, and you know, when you look at those things, forbidding to marry, abstaining from meats.

Yeah. You can only think of one, one religious group that, that has those requirements. Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 4, 4, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers. So basically he’s talking about here is the activity of Satan that’s going to happen in the future, but it’s already at work now. So what can we do to, to forestall that or at least to keep the health of the brethren very, very good.

Well, and obviously he’s also very consistent with some of the things our Lord had said in Matthew 24, I believe in verse 24. In fact, the very first response our Lord had to the questions the disciple asked about the times of the end was to beware of false teachings, and in verse 24, it talks about false Christs. So these were warnings that had been laid out for, for the, for the church up front by even our Lord, and Paul was talking about that, and especially with Timothy, he was very concerned.

And if you recall in. I think it’s in, in the, in Acts, when you had the farewell to the, the class at Ephesus, he was also warning him about the wolves and sheep clothing that will come in and ravage the church. So these beliefs, this perversion of doctrines were expected to happen and the use of seducing spirits and all of that. These are traditions, these are customs, these are things that are not thus saith the Lord, and those are part of these things that I think he’s talking about.

Yeah, Paul, he says that his abundance of revelations, so he understood probably better than any of the other apostles what was in store in the future. So in equipping Timothy and through Timothy, all of those that would read his letter to be prepared all the way up to the present time, we kind of know the machinations of Satan and what he’s done in the past and what we need to forestall it. Well, that brings us to verse 6. If thou put the brethren in mind of these things. Well, we just talked about what those things were.

Here first find is the prophecy and whatnot. Thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus nourished in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine which thou has followed until now. So this expression put the brethren in the mind of these things. Comey, you’re an elder, I’m an elder. We have so many elders in the convention this week.

How do elders do that? How do elders put the brethren in mind of these things? You know, especially the dangers that we’re talking about. My sense of that, Brother David, is the fact that most of what we’re going to talk about this evening, Spoiler alert. Most of you already know about, because you’ve been studying these words for so many, so long.

But the opportunity to be able to repeat these things and bring them back to memory I think is really important, and this is one of the things that I think a class study really helps to do. It’s not as if the brethren don’t know the Scriptures already, but sometimes when you hear it again or you hear it from a different context, you begin to put. Put it more. You begin to put it more together in terms of how it becomes part of you.

And we always talk about making the truth our own and the way we make the truth our own is to have it come at you from different dimensions such that it actually registers as well as possible. So the work that we do in our ecclesiast, and it’s not just the elders, it’s the contribution of. Of the brethren in class. You know, you might hear a sister say, read a scripture and, and give a comment about the scripture in a certain way that resonates.

Yeah. Different than you ever heard it, and it’s not a scripture you were unfamiliar with, but all of a sudden it sounds differently and it has more meaning to it, and these are the things that we do when you do have studies that are led in. In Ecclesiastes.

Yeah. I have found that true in our ecclesia as well, that someone will give a comment on a scripture that we’re very familiar with. But just the nu voice or the emphasis on this, and all of a sudden it takes on new meaning. I think you’re absolutely right about that. Yeah.

And you know, we’re told that. I think the second part of that is that there’s a nourishment of the word of faith that comes with, with good doctrine. Right, and the question is, how do elders, as good ministers of Christ, nourish the. The members of a class with the word of faith and good doctrine?

I like the word nourish because it has a sense of being fed a healthy diet, in this case spiritual food and nurturing, and if you’ve, you know, if you have the privilege of being in a class that has a good elder, which many of us have this opportunity and privilege to have been, you get the sense of being nourished, especially when you’re growing in the truth. I had again, I, you know, I would mention names, but I hesitate to mention names, but I could, I can’t help but mention brother Richard Evans because of the influence he had in my nurturing and the truth, being able to learn how to study and his approach to studying. I think these examples are what elders might provide to folks in the future. You know, I remember Richard as one of many elders in leading studies that would.

They would say, all right, you made a comment. What’s your scripture? What’s your, you know, and that, that, that’s the words of faith there, and that’s the good doctrine. There’s no other source for it other than that.

Well, the seventh. The seventh verse talks about says, but refuse profane and old wives fables and exercise thyself unto godliness. What is Paul talking about regarding profane and old wives Tables. Yeah, old wives. That sounds a little prejudicial, isn’?

I? I looked up a little bit about the, the word here. I found this in, in one reference, Paul calls them and I this is the Greek word gray or dice. I don’t know if I got the, the exact pronunciation, which literally means old womanish. Now again, that sounds sort of terrible in this age where everybody wants to have equal values.

But it says in the culture of that day superstition and gossip were rampant. I mean it’s no less so today. But they didn’t have the media that we have today. Today we refer to superstitious myth as old wives tales in a similar sense of what Paul is saying here, and Brother Russell in reprint 1720, he makes a little bit of mentioning about fables there.

He says in that, in that reference, a student of the word, of cultivated thought, well founded and settled, not a wandering novice, not a teacher of speculations and fancies, nor of Anglo Israelism social politics, astronomical theories and other questions, not of spiritual benefit, but subverting the hearers. So I guess in a way it’s not all that different from the first century. There’s ideas that come in that are not substantiated in the Scripture, and all of a sudden these ideas can start to camouflage and to dilute the word of truth that we have, and I think we, we start this really stuck danger in our time today because the advent of social media and the, the multiplicity of sources of information where, because something has so many people following, it might seem right.

And I’m reminded of another letter that Paul wrote to Timothy in, in 2nd Timothy 1, where in verse 13 it says, Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me in the faith and the love which you have, you, you are the Lord, the love which, excuse me, retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, and in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. In other words, maintain that standard. It goes back to everything has to square with the scriptures as we’ve learned it, and so Paul is basically imploring Timothy to continue to stay with the standard, which is the word of God. Yeah, that’s such a basic foundation idea.

You know, in the first century they didn’t have newspapers and television and whatnot, but they still have these, these ideas that would percolate through the population. As he said, fables. He actually makes mention of it earlier in chapter one. He uses the word fables there. So it must have been a problem.

But for our time, fables can Take the, the. Take the form of the latest Internet news. That’s right. Right. It must be true because I heard it on the Internet.

You’ve heard that, right? People will say that, and there are a thousand likes or million likes. Yeah. But it goes right back always that our faith needs to be founded on the Scriptures.

The scriptures are absolutely reliable. Everything is not. You know, in this verse four, he says, refuse, profane and always and exercise thyself unto godliness. How does one exercise oneself in godliness? Well, you know, it’s one of the.

We were fortunate in our class on the Wednesday night studies we’ve been studying using the character development book, and one of the characters is godliness in 2nd Peter 1. In verse 7, it talks about adding to your faith these things, and one of them is godliness. It has a sense of pure religion, you know, just being godlike. It doesn’t necessarily need to be the specific doctrine, but the appearance of behavior, how we comport ourselves, decorum, those kinds of things that come with being in the presence of God.

I think it’s part of what godliness is. Yeah, it’s anxiety. Yeah, it’s an adverb. You know, godly. We, we’ve often heard that expression, what would Jesus do?

And the answer to that is you’re being Jesus Christly, if I can use that term. But godliness, the same thing. You know, God is our example. Jesus is a. Is a reflection of God.

So what would God do? What would God think? How would God react? If we get into frame of mind always to think that way, then we are exercising godliness. We’re actually taking action and trying to put it into our lives.

Let’s go on to verses 8 and 9. For bodily exercise is profitable for a little. This is from the American standard version, by the way. But godliness, and here’s godliness again, Comey. Is profitable for all things.

Having the promise of life which now is, and of that which is to come, faithful is the saying, and worthy of all expectation, acceptation. This is interesting. He talks about bodily exercise. How should we as Christians view bodily exercise and training? As I think about that, you know, it would seem like Paul is saying, don’t work out, don’t exercise.

And it’s like, thank you, sir, because that’s. That’s right up my alley.

But I don’t think that’s what he’s talking about. Obviously this body will be shed and, and he’s talking about the things that will lead us into an eternal life, and that is where the prophet is Obviously, because whatever we do to this body, however we keep it up, obviously we are stewards of this body. We should keep it up, and by the way, they do what they.

They were working out in those days. You know, we make a big deal. If you, if you walk 10,000 steps, what do you do? You tell everybody that you walk 10,000 steps. Guess what they were doing in those days?

They were working 20,000 steps and 40,000 steps in a day. So it wasn’t like they were not exercising their bodies. I think they were taking, taking care of their bodies. But he’s. It’s a contrast between the value of that working out on your physical body and the value of working out the new creature.

Yeah, you know, I like that observation historically that people back in the first century and probably for most of history, they led active lives. The just the daily living was an exercise. I mean whether, I mean Jesus was a carpenter. He didn’t have, you know, electric drills and things like that. So he used his body all the time.

And people probably had a certain degree of health because of that constant exercise. I did find another reprint article where Brother Russell comments a little bit about this reprint 5114 and he writes there, the effect of these new ambitions, hopes, aims upon his physical health is often marvelous. It serves as a spiritual nerve tonic. It stimulates the mortal. He’s talking about the body here.

To service divine. The new mind does not suggest carelessness of the mortal body, nor yet carefulness, except to the extent that necessary care may obtain the larger results to God’s glory from the consumption of the human energies. Hence St. Paul says godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of life that now as well as that is to come. So the pastor even recognizes that the value of exercise is that it helps the new creature to think better, to perform better. That’s the connection that we want to make.

Not just purely for. For gaining strength or. But how does it help us to serve the Lord better? Absolutely. Now we move on to the 10th verse where it reads, for to these end we labor and strive because we have our hope set on the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of them that believe.

How profound is that statement, Savior of all men? Oh comey. I mean it is pro. Absolutely profound because it’s reflective back of the ransom for all. The very basic foundation for our movement, the Bible student movement is based upon the fact that Jesus died for everyone.

And I love this scripture because basically what is it says is God is the Savior of unbelievers as well as believers. Now that’s astonishing when you think of it and you talk about God’s love. What could be more loving and kind than to give everyone who has ever lived the very best opportunity to learn who he is and to obey his will? So very, very profound. You know, a little bit earlier in the, in the same book, in chapter two, he talks about God wants all men to be saved.

So there’s yet another connection. Yeah, and, and you know, I think I was thinking about this, the, the presentation yesterday about the gardens and how God intended for all men to be saved. One of the things that’s lost in Christendom today is it seemed like God’s work in, in the Garden of Eden was, was in futility.

And so he’s now he’s going to destroy everything because he’d failed in the Garden of Eden, and yet that’s not the case. You really would like to have, and so I was really blessed by that, by that talk yesterday where it showed the similarity of the end garden in Revelation and the Garden of Eden. So that’s the intent that God has.

He’s a savior of all man. He wishes for all men to be saved. Yeah, and he’s called Savior of diversity in chapter two there. That’s right.

So I mean, we call Jesus Christ our Savior because he is. Jesus is the one that gave his perfect life. But all of the plan, all of the wisdom, all of the. The thinking that had to go into that, that’s Jehovah God. So he certainly is our Savior.

Now he talks about especially them that believe. But we also know that he’s a city of all men, even those that are unbelievers. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

That’s profound, isn’t it? Let’s go on to verse 11. I think we’re a little bit behind. Yeah, we’re. But these things command and teach.

Do elders have the authority to command?

Yeah. Okay. But you gotta take it. You gotta take it in steps, though. You have to understand what it means to command and teach.

When you look at that Greek word, it’s. Angelo. I know I’m. I know I’m not speaking the right Greek here. It might sound like Greek to you.

The word command is Strong’s 38, I believe. 3853, and it’s a compound word. It’s really the latter part of it is the world aid the word angel, which is a messenger, and it’s with angel. That’s really what it is.

And so it’s really bringing a Message that has authority in it. I think that’s why it is command. It’s not command as in being able to be so directive to tell people what to do, but the command that comes with the authority of having reason the Scripture, to the point where you do have the ability to move people to actually listen to what you have to say. So I think that’s part of his saying what he’s saying. He says these things, command and teach, and that’s really talking about an intentional instruction.

So it takes the Elder to be prepared to bring that kind of command and teaching to. To the people. Yeah, I like the idea that the command here is more in the way of shepherding and helping and leading, as opposed to dictatorial commands. Right.

So the 12th verse talks about, it says, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example to them that believe in word and manner of life, in love, in faith and impurity. This is Paul now talking to his son Timothy, and he’s addressing his youthfulness in some. In some sense. But there’s much that. Why did Paul counsel Timothy to not permit anyone to despise his youth?

Well, you know, is. I think it’s a sort of a natural human tendency to look at someone young and say, well, they don’t know that much, they’re not experienced, and kind of dismiss them. But Timothy had certainly shown himself to be an able student of Paul, and of course, as you said, that relationship, that almost father, son relationship, Paul was very interested in developing in Timothy the ability to lead the brethren. He saw in him, no doubt by the Holy Spirit, that Timothy could be a wonderful and powerful influence in the Ecclesiastes and the brethren with whom he had to do so.

He didn’t want Timothy to feel, well, I’m just a young guy here, so I won’t say anything, you know, well, that’s a good humility and nothing wrong with that. But he also wanted him to be able to take charge, you know, and as we’ll see a little bit further, the other brethren noticed that as well. In reprint 54.93, we read this. The apostles counsel to Timothy, let no man despise thy youth, should be looked upon as advice not only to Timothy, but to all elders of the church who are young in years, that they so conduct themselves as to be examples to the flock that their deportment and ability to rightly divide the word of truth be such that none will have cause to slight the message they bring, or to think of them as immature and unfit to lead the flock of God.

And, you know, we have a. I think a nice group of young elders. That’s right. I mean, relatively young, you know, Brethren in their 30s and 40s, and I think that this, this particular advice is really good for them too, that as long as they remain true to God’s word and following the. The leadings of the Holy Spirit, they have every opportunity to be leaders and shepherds and to be able to be blessing to us.

Brother Comey, I think that you told me you had an experience with this particular verse when, when you were young. Share that. Well, real quickly, I know we’re running out of time here, so I went to a boarding school growing up. It’s what you. When you grow up under the British system of education.

I was in a boarding school from age 11 till about 19, and it was the Baptist Lagos Baptist Academy, and I was. I was exposed to this scripture because it was a big banner in our hall in the chapel, actually, that said, let no man despise thy youth. Be thou an example. So for seven years, I saw that scripture.

Every single day we were in school. There was a scripture that was very familiar with me. As we were preparing for this, it just struck me, me, and I sort of give a chuckle because it’s something I’d been used to. So it’s a privilege to come back to the scripture.

You know, I. I think just to your point about Timothy, Paul is a mentor to Timothy and wanted to make sure that he does not allow youthfulness to defer. But he gave him a to. To. To defer, his capacity to. To lead.

But he gave him some very specific things to work on. In other words, Timothy do the work in word, in the manner of life, in love and faith and purity. So there are specific examples in the third chapter of Timothy, first Timothy, I believe it’s in. It’s in verse. I think it’s for verse 15 where he says to him, he says, but in case I may delay, I write to you that you ought to know how you ought to conduct your one.

One ought to know how to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God and the pillar and support of the truth. So here’s Paul making sure that Timothy knows how to conduct himself because he knows he’s. He’s youthful and doesn’t want youthfulness to sort of outweigh the challenge of authority that he has. Yeah, what a. What a wonderful mentor Paul was.

Let’s go to verse 16 or verse 13, see if we can catch up Here a little bit, till I come giving heed to reading, to exhortation, and to teaching. What’s the distinction between those three things, reading, exhortation and teaching? Well, I, I think reading there, Brother David, is actually public reading of the Scripture. We have to imagine that in those days they didn’t have the Bible where you could study on your own. They had obviously the Old Testament and the prophets and the, and the Psalms, but they also had these letters that were written, the epistles that were written, and Scriptures were read out loud because copies were not readily available to people.

And you know, that particular. In that 13th verse, the word reading there is used in two other places, and in the use of the word in Acts 13 and in Second Corinthians 2, we notice that it has a sense of reading out loud in the public sector and in a public setting, and we know that when you hear the word, as opposed to when you read it by yourself, there is a sense that you get a different. A different sense of sensibility to it.

So it’s one thing to see the word, it’s another thing to actually hear it, and we know in Romans 10, Romans 10, it tells us that faith comes from hearing, which means we, in the course of being in an ecclesia and talking about the Scriptures, we hear people talk about their interpretation or their sense of a scripture. That hearing sort of solidifies what we have learned by reading, and so I think there is a point to the reading of it out loud, and that’s different from the exhortation, which is where one is actually imploring somebody in what they think the Scripture says and how to behave.

And it’s different from teaching where you’re more intentional about trying to guide somebody through what has been said. Yeah, I appreciate your. Your mentioning public speaking. Several other scriptures translations do use that term there, although it’s not in the Greek, and yet it is inferred, isn’t it?

Yes, and as you say that when you are reading with your eyes and then hearing it with your ears, you’ve got two senses now that are involved in processing the truth, and you know, when, when I’m at. In reading in bed at night, I usually don’t read aloud, but I’ve read several places where reading aloud, even when you’re by yourself, can be very helpful. Different.

Yeah, absolutely.

All right, so we are going to jump to the 14th verse. Okay. Neglect. I should use my glasses. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hand of the presbytery.

What was the gift, Timothy? God. Well, this is interesting because it’s not given, we’re not particularly told, so we have to do a little guesswork here. It could have been a supernatural gift. You know, Paul certainly had the ability to, to lay his hands on different ones as the apostles did to get these spiritual or supernatural gifts.

Or it just could have been an enhancement of some natural talent that Timothy had, such as teaching. But whatever the gift that, that, that he had, it was recognized by the elders, and by that way that, that word presbytery is basically the elders there, and when it says they laid on their hands, you know, they recognize that Timothy did have a special gift to be able to serve the brethren where he was in that ecclesia. Of course, having the backing of the apostle Paul or the endorsement of the Apostle Paul helps, but they, they recognize that in this young man, he, he had something that was, that was quite beautif.

They laid their hands on him. They, they did not despise his youth. They said this is a, this is a young consecrated man who is showing the Holy Spirit in his life. He’s able and he is doing a wonderful work. Let’s follow him.

And it seems like a, it seems like really a confirmation of, of what Timothy has. It’s like reminding him of the resources he has at his disposal, that he has been blessed with this laying of hands. He has these powers that have been given to him to not neglect that he has that as he moves forward. Comey, do you have a gift? I, I think most people, my family especially would say, no, I have no gift.

But, but I think, I think what, it’s just to be serious, I, I think what it’s saying there is we all have gifts. I think our Lord has been able to express that to us that we are, you know, we, Everybody, and it’s, it’s all over the Scriptures. Everybody has a gift or a talent to contribute to, to every, every joint supplies. I think it says in Ephesians, so we all bring something to the table.

It’s recognizing that. I think that’s part of what Timothy, Timothy is being told here is to recognize that which you have been given and to exploit it to the benefit of the brethren, and the truth. Yeah, I think that’s exactly right. When he says neglect it, not, he’s saying focus on it.

And the lesson for all of us is, and I love that scripture that you quoted from Ephesians that every joint supplies. All of the brethren have something in the way of a Gift, something that they can give to the brotherhood, all the brothers and sisters. Every one of the consecrated has that, and I think it’s important for all of us to take a look and say, what is it that I can bring to the table of the Lord to serve my brethren? I mean, it might be something small, might be something large.

It might be a skill or a talent. Whatever it is, I think it’s important that each of us take a look at our lives to see what are the things that God has given us to be able to move forward. Well, let’s go on to verse 15. Be diligent in all these things. There’s these things again, right?

What is he talking about? All the things that we’ve just been talking about. Be diligent in these things. Give themselves. Give thyself holy to them that thy might, thy progress may be made manifest to all.

How does one give oneself holy to them? Well, I think it’s talking about consecration that. I mean, that’s the classic definition of consecration that we give ourselves holy to these things that we’re called to. We’ve been called to. To serve the brethren and the truth, by the grace of God.

We’ve been called. I think in. In John 6:44, our Lord said, no one can come to me except the Father draws them, and I always think that’s such an awesome thing that we have been drawn by the Almighty God to come to our Lord and, and that privilege that we have, we cannot.

We cannot. We cannot do it by half. We have to come holy to it, and that’s what it’s saying is to be diligent in these things and give yourselves holy to it, and it goes on to say that that progress may be manifest unto all.

It’s not just enough to give yourself holy to it, but it’s got to show, and not by telling myself looking in the mirror like, yeah, you’re doing great. That’s not it. It’s got to show to others because it says it has to be manifest unto all, and so it has to be something that’s obvious to others that is growing in you.

Yeah. James is talking the same thing about faith. You know, oh, I got faith. All right. Well, prove it.

Show me, and I, you know, the. We ask the question, you know, how is progress manifest? Is a very simple answer. How much more like Jesus are you today than yesterday?

Its progress in Christ likeness. Ultimately, that’s how we’re judged whether we’re going to make our calling and election. Sure, it’s not a matter how much we know. I mean, when we get beyond the veil, Jesus isn’t going to give us a three page test to see what we’ve learned. The question is real simple.

How much like Jesus are we? And of course, how much like God are we? Well, comey, we’re about four minutes behind, but we got to verse 16, so take it finally. So verse 16, which is really the text we’re told to talk about. Yeah, you thought we were going to talk about that all evening.

We’re down to 16. It says, take heed of thyself. Take heed to thyself and to thy teaching. Continuing these things. These things again, continuing these things.

For in doing this, thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee. What does it mean to take heed? We should start there. That’s a great question. I think what the apostle Paul is directing, Timothy is saying, pay attention, focus on what’s going on.

Think about these things. As you said that, he’s been talking. This is a very pastoral letter. It’s written to someone that is becoming a very good elder. So you can see how well it applies to all of us.

And else he’s saying, don’t be distracted. When you’re focusing and you’re paying attention, you’re not allowing extraneous things to take your mind off of what the objective is to today. So when he says take heed, he’s saying, all right, take heed. What to thyself and thy teaching. Focus on these things.

So let’s talk about thyself. How does one take heed to thyself? Well, it’s talking about your character, it’s talking about your behavior, and character is not just how you react or respond to external stimulus, how people see you, but it’s the things that you do when people are not watching you. So you’re taking heed to thyself, you’re paying attention to the things that you need to do.

It’s about self examination, right? If you’re not self examining, well, how do you know if you’re making that progress? How is your progress being manifest? It has to be first manifest to you before it’s manifest to others. Right?

So taking heed of oneself is to pay attention and focus on our daily, daily walk with each day. You know, we, we all wake up in the morning and we have our morning devotions. We pray and, and, and ask the Lord to direct our steps for the day. In the evening, we take an account of the day and see how well we have Done. That’s part of taking heed, and then we do better, and we always look to do better.

I think that’s part of taking heed on thyself. Yeah. When you think about the taking heed to thyself, we have objectives in our life, chief objectives. Become more Christless, and we can make measurements of that. You know, one of the areas that I. I always have a concern for myself is blind spots.

How can I. How can I take care. Take heed of my blind spots? Comey. I can’t see them, so how can I take care of them?

Exactly. I was going to say the same thing. I have no blind spots because I can see. No, I think. I think the idea is to listen because blind spots are things that we are not aware of for the most part, and things that folks might be trying to get our attention on.

So as we focus on doing the right things, I think it’s also important to focus on being able to take some feedback, and we always talk in work that feedback is a gift. Oftentimes people respond negatively to feedback, but feedback is a gift. It’s somebody trying to make sure that you’re taking heed of yourself. Very good.

Very good. So the other part of that is thy teaching. So it’s not just taking of thyself, but also of thy teachings. It’s talking about what we teach. How do you take heed of that teaching?

Well, that’s. That’s a real important question for elders, isn’t it? You know, what are we teaching?

I think one of the things that’s very important is to take a look at the spiritual content of what we teach as elders, meeting by meeting, week by week. How much of it is based thoroughly and securely on the Scriptures? Are we in our teaching? Are we stimulating the brethren to learn God’s word better and to understand the principles behind it? And there’s another part of this as well.

It’s not just the truth we want to teach, but it’s the spirit of the truth, our disposition toward the truth that’s so very important, and it’s important because, you know, we have so much truth as Bible students here. At the end of the age, the. The flesh might get prideful about it. Well, look how much I know about God’s plan.

You know, these people, they’re wrong on this, and they’re. But I got this. You can see how pride can be very, very bad. But the spirit of the truth is that not only do I have the truth, but I understand the love and mercy and the Graciousness of God and the justice of God behind it, and as elders, if we’re looking at our Te from that standpoint, the truth and the spirit of the truth, I think we’re doing what Paul says here to pay attention.

Yeah, it’s about preparation. I think we are giving charge. If you’re, if you’re leading a study, you’re given a charge, a responsibility. It’s a stewardship, being prepared to be sure that you’re taking heed of what is being taught, and is it, thus saith the Lord, Are you teaching the truth?

It’s the opportunity. We talked about nourishment earlier on. It’s the opportunity to make sure that what we bring to the conversation, and I don’t think it’s just elders. I think it’s because in our classes, everybody prepares to come to class, maybe even more so than the elder, Some of the.

Some of the brethren do, and so it’s the opportunity to bring some nourishment for your fellow brethren in your ecclesia, as you. As you meet. To have conversation is to illuminate. It’s to, you know, the, the Psalm 110 talks about.

Thy word is a light to my path is bringing that word to light. The path of our fellow brethren is to nourish, to feed, to feed the spiritual self. So being able to have that capacity in our studies brought to the table at every chance we get, I think is really to the benefit of the beloved. Yeah, and I think, you know, when we’re talking about teaching, who are we teaching?

Well, our brethren, our Ecclesiastes, and it’s a very serious thing to recognize that the brethren, through the Holy Spirit have elected you as an elder, and now God expects you to shepherd his people. They aren’t your people, they’re his people. To shepherd them, to help them.

So you ask yourself, well, is the ecclesia growing spiritually? Is the faith of the brethren growing? You know, and, and asking questions like this helps you to take heed of what you’re teaching. Comey, how about this question? How important are doctrines?

I think they’re very important. I mean, those, these are the basis of what we call truth. You have to understand what the Scripture says. Hence we call them doctrines. These are basis.

The belief system that we have. I believe so I am. Right, and they come from the doctrines that. That are.

That are out there. Yeah. What would we. Where would we be without our doctrines? That’s right.

We’d be. We’d be in the universal, Universalist church. Right. Their doctrines aren’t important there, and I like the connection you made.

Doctrines are truth. Now there’s doctrines of devil. So we have to put an adjective. Absolutely sound doctrines, doctrines of truth, and you know, as long as our doctrines are based firmly on the truth.

I think it was Jim Parkinson that, that defined doctrines in this way. That doctrines are information that you can apply immediately in your life. If you can’t apply it, it’s just information. But if it allows you to apply it. For instance, the doctrine of the ransom for all, we’ve already mentioned it several times.

When you believe the ransom for all, it changes your view of every other human being on the planet. That’s right, because you know that God has something for them. You know, and to give a bad example, if you believed in eternal torment, you’d look at everybody that’s not a Christian or a Hindu or something, say, well, they’re going to burn in hell forever. So you see, doctrines do affect behavior, but sound doctrines allow us to be more, more like God. Well, on that note, just before you leave that point, because I think it’s a very important point, the doctrine of the ransom for all allows you to see love thy neighbor as thyself in a different light.

And I think that’s why it’s difficult for a lot of, a lot of our friends in the Christian world or away from Christianity to understand what it means to love thy neighbor as thyself, and as the Lord said, love thy enemy. Because Christ died for each one of those, and if you understand that he had died for each one of those and me, then I’m not that much more special than them, such that if he can love them, then I am compelled to love them. So it’s, it’s a very interesting connection between that doctrine and, and how we behave and understand some of the Scriptures.

I’m reminded in the holy of the tabernacle, you had the table of showbread on the, on the right and the golden lampstand on the left, and in, in one of Brother Russell’s interpretations of the types, he makes mention that these represent truth. In other cases it represents the church. But focus on the truth here. Why would we have two symbols of God’s word of truth in the tabernacle?

What’s the distinction between the two? And I think it’s this, that with the table of showbread, you’ve got food on it, and so it represents God’s word as food to us, food for the new creature. Remember, we saw nourishing earlier in there, in there. So that’s the function of their food to strengthen.

On the other hand, you’ve got light, and what does light give you? Well, you know how important light is when the light’s turned off, it gives you direction. You’ll be able to see things. So that that dual functionality of God’s word to strengthen and to direct and to guide is so very, very important.

You have to nourish and illuminate. Yep. Yeah. Yeah.

So we are at the end of our conversation here. I think you have this idea of a balance between what we do in terms of tolerating. It’s one thing to understand the doctrines are good. Yeah. But to what extent do we have this sense of balance and in being dogmatic about things?

Because that’s, that’s where things begin to get very interesting is when we have doctrines that we don’t see eye to eye on. Yeah. To what extent are we supposed to be dogmatic about this thing? Yeah, I mean, that’s, that’s a really good question. In general, we hate dogmatism.

I hate dogmatic people. But you know, there’s some truth that we ought to be dogmatic about. Does God exist? Well, dogmatically, God exists. He’s there.

Did Jesus die for us? Absolutely. So you can see there’s certain basic things that I think we’re entitled to be dogmatic about. Because it’s true. Because they’re non negotiable.

Yeah, they’re non negotiable. That’s right. I like that. But when we get above those basic things now we have to provide a liberty to our brethren to perhaps have a different interpretation of a prophecy or type or something like that, and even when we encounter brethren with maybe more in the.

In between doctrinal differences, we ought to be very loving and kind about it, you know, recognizing. Recognizing that everyone is at a different path in their growth of knowledge, and I know I’ve changed my mind on some things in my Christian life as I’ve gotten more life. So. Yeah, we have to be very careful about, about standing for the truth and not compromising principle at all and yet allowing liberty of others to have different perspectives on it.

Yeah. In our conversation. I like the way you put it earlier on, we were talking about this and you talked about this primary, secondary and tertiary sources of information and how we have to be very careful. There are some non negotiable primary truth. You know, Jehovah, our God is one God.

Yeah, yeah. Non negotiable, ransom for all. Non negotiable, and then there are levels of understanding that becomes negotiable because we’re interpolating where we’re. Where we have some conjecture, we have some assumptions, and we cannot be dogmatic about those.

Right, and at the same time, I think it also, the differences that we have, I think, are opportunities for us to actually be Christlike and be able to understand the extent of our liberties in Christ. We have these liberties in Christ to believe and have an exercise of free will. Right. But at the same time, there might be lines to draw where you don’t want to cause your brother to stumble.

Yeah, exactly. Right. We have about five minutes left and I want to read one more quote from the Brother Russell on differences of opinion and then we’ll. We’ll kind of summarize and wrap up. This is from reprint 5929.

And I read it requires considerable experience and the wisdom that cometh from above to enable us to judge rightly whether a matter of difference between others and ourselves is a question of principle, where some fundamental truth is at stake, or whether it is merely a question of opinion and preference without a principle being involved. In the latter case, we should be willing to submit to practically anything for the sake of peace, whereas we could not do so where principles would be involved. However, the delusion. I love Brother Russell’s daughter. The delusion is often presented to us that our preferences are always backed up by principles of truth and righteousness.

We must learn from experience. This is a mistake, and we must critically examine every such suggestion asking the Lord’s wisdom to enable us to see the difference between that which is merely our preference and those questions which involve principles and teachings of divine origin. Well, let’s summarize our dialogue today, Brother Comey. Well, how would you summarize it?

What would you say a couple of good, important takeaways are? Well, I think we have to keep the context in mind who Paul was writing to and the context in which Timothy was and his youthfulness. So here was a mentor, a father of like figure, talking to his mentee about being the best he can be, not just for Timothy’s sake, but mostly for the Alexei. It’s for the ecclesia that he’s going to lead. Because if you’ve noticed in all of the things he had to say, he’s talking about, you know, for thyself and for the heirs, I think, is what this verse talks about.

So it’s very important to keep that in mind, and I because we are studying the. The book of the Letter of Peter, the second Epistle of Peter, I’m reminded of the qualities of this character, seven character elements that were given to add to our faith, and in the eighth verse of second Peter 1 and I want to close with this reading, verses 8 through basically through 10 says, for if these qualities, that is the qualities of diligence and in moral excellence and knowledge and self control and perseverance and godliness, brotherly kindness and love, if these qualities he says, are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind and or short sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing of you. For as long as you practice these things, you shall never stumble. That’s a pretty nice promise, isn’t it? Do this and you’ll never fail. I, I like promises like that.

You know, looking at that verse once again that we’ve been discussing here, at least leading up to it, take heed to thyself and thy teaching continue in these things. There’s those things we’ve been talking about for in doing this that shall save both thyself and them that hear thee. This is about salvation. It’s that important. Paul expressed it in another way in Hebrews 12:3.

How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which having at the first been spoken through the Lord was confirmed unto us by them that heard? So what Paul is saying here, he’s building up the confidence and the, I guess you could say, reputation within the ecclesiastical of this young man. He knows he has so much to offer. Providence has shown it. He’s been a wonderful student and he recognizes that the, the great bounty of this is salvation for everybody that’s involved, for those that hear him and for himself as well.

And that’s the bottom line. The gospel is the good news of salvation, and as he says to Timothy, you know, don’t neglect it. Embrace it. Embrace it.

And you know, we unpacked a lot of details here in this fourth chapter, but you can see that all of them had this common theme of being able to represent the truth in a good way, and one last thing that I think I want to make just a comment on before we we turn it back to Brother Michael. We have been emphasizing eldership and the responsibility of elders. Everyone who is consecrated can enjoy these same things. Now I’m not saying that sisters should be elders.

What I’m saying is that every one of the consecrated, has the same hope, has the same objective in their lives, and should have the same process of carrying out their Christianity, their. Their consecration. So everything that we have said has wonderful application to the whole church. I would. I would agree.

I think this is speaking to the entire church. Yeah, and this is. These are the obligations we have of being stewards of the truth. Very good.

Thank you, Brother Comey.

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