1 Timothy 4:16 Take heed to yourself, and to the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this you shall both save yourself, and them that hear you. We shall note some of those features of character, which were probably intended when the apostle urged Timothy — and in him all who should come after him — to "take heed unto himself." I. We may suppose him, in the first instance, to mean, Take heed that thou art FAITHFUL. NO qualification is more commonly associated with the gospel ministry than this. "Moreover," says this apostle to the Corinthians, " it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful"; "I have obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful": whilst to Epaphras and Tychicus he assigns the distinction of "faithful ministers of Christ and his fellow-servants in the Lord." II. But again: in warning Timothy to "take heed to himself," the apostle would have him be FEARLESS. He says to him in another epistle, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." It is remarkable to observe how prophets, evangelists and apostles concur in warning us against the fear of man. III. Another ministerial quality, which we may well consider as included in the apostle's caution, "Take heed unto thyself," IS THAT OF A PRUDENT REGARD TO EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES. A Christian, a real Christian, we ought to remember, is a public man — an instrument in the world's renovation — taken up into a system of agencies, which are to issue in the regeneration of a new and righteous universe: so that "whether he lives, he lives unto the Lord; or whether he dies, he dies unto the Lord." Neither is it less a part of this ministerial prudence, to take heed to the intellectual signs of the times in which we live. (D. Moore, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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