Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Timothy 4:6

"If thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which thou hast followed [until now]:" — 1 Timothy 4:6 (ASV)

If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things.—The “things” of which he was to remind the brethren were those practices connected with that foolish, false asceticism alluded to in 1 Timothy 4:3–5. Many, probably, in that Ephesian flock had been won over by the persuasive words of the false teachers to attribute a peculiar virtue to such practices—practices which, if persisted in, St. Paul well knew would tend to establish for imitation in the Church an unreal, unhealthy standard of life.

Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ.—A high title to honour, this, “a good minister of Jesus Christ,” and one Timothy would well earn if he would set himself in all earnestness to oppose and discredit the sickly teaching of the Ascetic school.

Indeed, by such opposition, he would earn the “title to honour,” for St. Paul well knew how great the danger was that a comparatively young and ardent disciple like Timothy might be attracted by such mistaken teachings of perfection.

But “the good minister of Jesus Christ” must teach “a life” that can be lived by all believers in his Master, not merely by a select few. Asceticism is too often a winning and attractive school of teaching to ministers; at a comparatively easy price, they win a great, yet thoroughly unhealthy, power over the souls of men and women who practice these austerities, which necessarily tend to remove them from the stream of active life.

Nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.—The Greek present participle translated here as “nourished up in,” marks a continuous and permanent process of self-education. It might be translated “ever training yourself.”

This is a wise and unforgettable precept from St. Paul—a reminder to his own dear son in the faith, Timothy, and through Timothy to all Christian ministers of every age—never to relax their efforts for self-improvement. The education of the good minister of Jesus Christ is never to be considered finished. He—the teacher of others—must himself always be striving for a higher and yet higher knowledge in spiritual things.

Whereunto thou hast attained.—More accurately translated, which you have closely followed. In the teaching concerning faith and practice which Timothy, as a disciple, has diligently followed step by step—in that teaching he is to study to advance yet further, so as to gain deeper and ever deeper knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom.