Watch Your Life and Doctrine

For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. (1 Cor. 4:17)

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. (Phil. 2:19-21)

These are testimonies about Timothy’s life. He was known for his godliness.

Paul later wrote this instruction to him: “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim. 4:16). Life and doctrine—save yourself and your hearers. Pretty good stuff. Pretty good results.

What is the life? It is justification and sanctification. “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12).

What is the doctrine? “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching” (1 Tim. 4:13). “Doctrine” here does not refer to the unique beliefs of the various systematic theologies. It is the teaching that saves us and makes us holy, i.e. the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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