Nehemiah 6:1-14, Timothy: Hold Fast!

Here is a little “Greeky” thing.  In 4:13 Paul told Timothy to “give attention” to reading, exhortation and doctrine.  The word is “prosecho,” to bring something near to you.  In 4:16 Paul tells Timothy to “take heed” to yourself and your doctrine.  The word is “epecho,” to hold on to.  They are similar but with a little difference.  Look at the other references to “epecho” in the NT.

·       Lk. 14:7: Jesus noted how the religious Jews chose the best places to sit when invited to a dinner.  Jesus had His eyes on a particular habit of the Jews that revealed something about them.

·       Acts 3:5: The lame man at the Beautiful Gate gave Peter and John his attention, expecting to receive alms from them.

·       Acts 19:22: Paul sent Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia but he himself stayed in Asia for a time. 

·       Phil. 2:16: Paul told the believers, living in a crooked and perverse generation, to be holding fast the word of life.  This is the “participle” meaning this “holding fast” is the continuous attitude and action of believers.

·       1 Tim. 4:16: Likewise, then, Timothy needed to be holding fast to himself and his doctrine.  Except that this is an imperative, which should result in the participle.  He is encouraging Timothy to a level of self-examination, now and then stopping to consider how he is spending his time and with whom he is spending his time.  And he needs to check his doctrine, to be sure he is not in some way sliding away from the truth or neglecting the truth.  The need in pastoral ministry is to be declaring the “whole counsel of God,” holding back nothing that is profitable for the flock, and meeting the flock at home or in public (Ac. 20:20,27). 

This is, in my experience, a truly necessary imperative.  It is so easy to get wrapped up in some doctrine or aspect of ministry to the exclusion of other things.  Sometimes we call them “hobby horses.”  Other times we might not see them clear enough to call them anything.  You might not like this illustration, but it is one that I have experienced.  I have found that an emphasis on the sovereignty of God to the neglect of the responsibility of man, as well as the opposite situation, has been a problem in the preaching/teaching ministry.  When I converse with the Mormon “elders” or the JW door-knockers one of my favorite lines is to say: “I believe everything the Bible says about God and Jesus, even if I struggle to put it together.”  Their problem is that they sit on one truth to the exclusion of others, and that leads to their heresy.  Lord, help me to take heed to myself and to my doctrine!  To be faithful like Nehemiah!