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.
A Bible student must be careful not to read into a passage, or even a word in the passage, what he wants it to say. The term “save,” and its various forms, must be understood in context. There is more in the Bible than salvation of the soul from hell and to heaven. Those who believe a Christian can lose his salvation or that he must maintain it to remain saved,
- Miss the point of the Cross
- Deny the perfection of Christ and
- Teach heresy in the doing of it
Gill writes of this passage, “a minister by taking heed to himself, and doctrine, saves himself from the pollutions of the world, from the errors and heresies of false teachers, from the blood of all men, and from all just blame in his ministry.”
He says further, “by being an example to them in doctrine and conversation, a minister is the means of saving and preserving those that attend on him, from erroneous principles, and immoral practices; and by faithfully preaching the Gospel to his hearers, he is instrumental in their eternal salvation; for though Jesus Christ is the only Saviour, the only efficient and procuring cause of salvation, yet the ministers of the Gospel are instruments by which souls believe in him, and so are saved; the word preached by them,”
Timothy was already saved, eternally saved. But by attending to sound doctrine, he could save his testimony and thereby be the better helper of those who came under his preaching.
The same is true of a Bible preacher today.
To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.
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