Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Timothy 4:10

For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe.

10. therefore we both labour ] In view of this, namely, our hope fixed on the fulness of the blessing of life from the living God, a present and a future salvation, ‘goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men, creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life,’ enjoyed to the full only by the faithful, and above all ‘the redemption of the world, the means of grace, and the hope of glory’ realised with ‘a due sense of the inestimable love’ only by the faithful; in view of such a glorifying of our being, of all being, any amount of ‘toil and moil,’ any strain of keenest contest is worth while. We may render the whole ‘faithful saying’ thus:

‘Right well for such a wage and prize

We toil, we wrestle on

Till hope’s far goal be won,

Love’s full salvation, Life that lies

In God the Living One

For each created son

Full Life, where Faith to Love replies.’

we both labour and suffer reproach ] The balance of ms. authority is for the omission of ‘both’ and the substitution of ‘strive,’ ‘wrestle,’ for ‘suffer reproach.’ The internal appropriateness which has been thought to require the latter seems altogether from the foregoing paraphrase to suit the change: a superficial adaptation of this passage to the somewhat similar ‘faithful saying’ of 2Ti 2:11-12 may have caused the reading ‘suffer reproach.’ But the tone here and in Ep. to Titus is ‘work,’ the buoyant tone of one who has been set free to ‘labour in the Lord:’ in 2 Tim. the deeper shade of ‘suffering’ has settled on the prison cell. Accordingly in his peroration in ch. 1Ti 6:12 St Paul takes up the word and metaphor, ‘Fight the good fight of the faith;’ while in 2Ti 4:7 he looks back from the prison cell on his own strife as finished, ‘I have fought the good fight.’ The metaphor had long been a favourite with him, e.g. 1Co 9:25, where the word is translated in full by R.V., ‘Every man that striveth in the games is temperate in all things.’ See Appendix, E, and K.

we trust ] More correctly ‘we have hoped and still hope’ the ‘larger hope,’ that God is

‘love indeed

And love Creation’s final law.’

The perfect expresses a ‘Hope that never lost her youth.’ The aorist has less ms. authority.

the Saviour of all men ] In a lower sense; (1) for the body, in the supply of a present earthly care, and in the blessing of all earth’s good gifts, through His living love, the curse being removed through Christ’s coming; (2) for the soul, in the supply of the light of Christ to the conscience, such that where revelation has not come, the soul can still live, if it will, the life of God here through Christ unrecognised and hereafter through Christ revealed. ‘I am the light of the world,’ Joh 8:12; ‘That was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world,’ Joh 1:9.

specially of those that believe ] In a higher sense; (1) through the Christian’s quickened enjoyment of all earth’s beauties and happinesses, and the transmuting of earthly losses into gains; (2) through the Christian’s response of Faith to Love. ‘That life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me,’ Gal 2:20; ‘He that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness but shall have the light of life,’ Joh 8:12. In both cases it is a present salvation that is chiefly in view, both of body and of soul; but in both cases the life that now is, of body and of soul, is only part of the whole life of which the living God is Saviour.

See Lange’s and Bp Westcott’s notes above. This one last word ‘the faithful,’ ‘baptized believers,’ ‘holders of the Christian faith,’ gathers up the great mystery of Creation, Incarnation, Redemption, From 1Ti 3:15 to 1Ti 4:11, and sets the great revelation of God in Christ the living Saviour against the ‘lies’ and ‘fables’ of men and devils.

‘Strong Son of God, immortal Love,

Whom we that have not seen Thy Face

By faith and faith alone embrace,

Believing where we cannot prove,

Thine are these orbs of light and shade,

Thou madest Life in man and brute.’

The more usual interpretation of the verse may be given in Bp Woodford’s words: ‘God is the Saviour of all, because He willeth the salvation of all and delivered up His Son for us all (Rom 8:32). He is in a more complete sense the Saviour of His faithful, because in them His gracious will takes effect through the cooperation of their own freewill with His divine will.’ For extracts from Bp Barrow’s famous sermons on the text, and for Prof. Birks’s view of the passage giving a special aspect of the ‘larger hope,’ see Appendix, F.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach – In making this truth known, that all might be saved, or that salvation was offered to all. The labor was chiefly experienced in carrying this intelligence abroad among the Gentiles; the reproach arose chiefly from the Jews for doing it.

Because we trust in the living God – This does not mean, as our translation would seem to imply, that he labored and suffered because he confided in God, or that this was the reason of his sufferings, but rather that this trust in the living God was his support in these labors and trials. We labor and suffer reproach, for we have hope in God. Through him we look for salvation. We believe that he has made this known to people, and believing this, we labor earnestly to make it known, even though it be attended with reproaches. The sentiment is, that the belief that God has revealed a plan of salvation for all people, and invites all people to be saved, will make his friends willing to labor to make this known, though it be attended with reproaches.

Who is the Saviour of all men – This must be understood as denoting that he is the Saviour of all people in some sense which differs from what is immediately affirmed – especially of those that believe. There is something pertaining to them in regard to salvation which does not pertain to all men. It cannot mean that he brings all people to heaven, especially those who believe – for this would be nonsense. And if he brings all people actually to heaven, how can it be especially true that he does this in regard to those who believe? Does it mean that he saves others without believing? But this would be contrary to the uniform doctrine of the Scriptures; see Mar 16:16. When, therefore, it is said that he is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe, it must mean that there is a sense in which it is true that he may be called the Saviour of all people, while, at the same time, it is actually true that those only are saved who believe. This may be true in two respects:

1. As he is the Preserver of people Job 7:20, for in this sense he may be said to save them from famine, and war, and peril – keeping them from day to day; compare Psa 107:28;

(2)As he has provided salvation for all people. He is thus their Saviour – and may be called the common Saviour of all; that is, he has confined the offer of salvation to no one class of people; he has not limited the atonement to one division of the human race; and he actually saves all who are willing to be saved by him.

(See supplementary note on 2Co 5:21. This passage however is not regarded a proof text now on the extent of the atonement, as the fair rendering of soter is Preserver. Dr. Wardlaw has accordingly excluded it in his recent work.)

Specially of those that believe – This is evidently designed to limit the previous remark. If it had been left there, it might have been inferred that he would actually save all people. But the apostle held no such doctrine, and he here teaches that salvation is actually limited to those who believe. This is the speciality or the uniqueness in the salvation of those who actually reach heaven, that they are believers; see the notes on Mar 16:16. All people, therefore, do not enter heaven, unless all people have faith. But is this so? What evidence is there that the great mass of mankind die believing on the Son of God?

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Ti 4:10

We both labour and suffer reproach.

Trust in God the support of Christians in their labours and sufferings

I. The course pursued by the apostle and his brethren was one of labors and sufferings. If we must be reproached, let us not be reproached for evil-doing, but for well-doing: let us not have conscience against us, exasperating our sufferings; but secure in our conscious integrity and adamantine guard.

II. What it was that sustained the apostle and his brethren in the course which they pursued: it was the principle of confidence in God. We trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of them that believe.

1. God is here regarded as the living God; that is, the true God, as distinguished from dumb and lifeless idols, described by the Psalmist as having eyes that see not, ears that hear not, mouths that speak not, feet that walk not. God appeals to this distinction, when He says, As I live. This suggests the idea of the infinite perfection of the Deity, and consequently His ability to protect His servants.

2. As the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe.

(1) The Saviour of all men. His mercies are over all His creatures.

(2) But in a far higher sense He is the Saviour of those that believe.

He saves them from consequences far more awful than any temporal calamities. Now, from the first of these views we infer that the power of God is pledged to assist His servants to do His will, and execute His commission: and, in whatever we do in obedience to Gods will, we have reason to depend on the support of Him who has ordered it to be done. And, in the next place, this may be especially applied to that part of Gods will, in which His glory is most concerned. In the gospel the honour of God is most of all concerned: men are to be saved by believing the gospel: therefore we may be confident that God will help them in all that relates to the success of the gospel: He is the Saviour especially of them that believe.

III. As improvements of this subject, observe–

1. How highly we should value that gospel, which the apostles preached amidst so much labour and suffering!

2. Imitate the apostles in their course of labours and sufferings. Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

3. And, lastly, as the apostles were supported by trusting in the living God; so shall we also be, if we follow their example. If we trust in God, His favour will be our joy; if not, His comforts will fail us. (R. Hall, M. A.)

We trust in the living God.—

Trust in the living God

Trust–confidence–is an essential element of human nature. We begin life in a spirit of trust, and cling with confidence to our parents and the guardians of our infancy. As we advance in years, though deceived and betrayed, we still must anchor our trust somewhere. We cannot live without some being to lean on as a friend. Universal distrust would turn social existence into torture. We were born for confidence in other beings; and woe to him that cannot trust! Still confidence brings with it suffering; for all are imperfect and too many are false. Observe what a harmony there is between our nature and God. The principle of trust, as we have seen, enters into the very essence of the human soul. Trust seeks perfect goodness, Its natural tendency is toward an infinite and immutable being. In Him alone can it find rest. Our nature was made for God, as truly as the eye was made for the light of Gods glorious image, the sun.

I. What is the principle of religious trust? I would observe, that religious confidence rests on Gods parental interest in in individual persons. To apprehend and believe this truth is to plant the germ of trust in God. This truth is not easily brought home to the heart as a reality. The first impression given to a superficial observer of the world is, that the individual is of no great worth in the sight of the Creator. The race of man is upheld, and seems to be destined to perpetual existence. But the individuals, of whom it is composed, appear to have nothing enduring in their nature. They pass over the earth like shadows cast by a flying cloud, leaving for the most part as slight a trace behind. They break like meteors from the abyss, and are then swallowed up in darkness. According to this view, God is the Author of fugitive, mutable existences, from love of variety, multiplicity and development, however transitory these several existences may be. If we rest in such views of God, our confidence must be faint. Can we believe that human nature was framed by such a Being for no higher spiritual development than we now witness on this planet? Is there not, in the very incompleteness and mysteriousness of mans present existence, a proof that we do not as yet behold the end for which he is destined; that the infinite Father has revealed but a minute portion of His scheme of boundless mercy; that we may trust for infinitely richer manifestations than we have experienced of His exhaustless grace? But there is another reply to the sceptic, and to this I invite your particular attention. Our trust, you say, must be measured by what we see. Be it so. But take heed to see truly, and to understand what you do see. How rare is such exact and comprehensive perception. And yet without it, what presumption it is for us to undertake to judge the purpose of an infinite and ever-living God. Whatever creature we regard has actually infinite connections with the universe. It represents the everlasting past of which it is the effect. He then, who does not discern in the present the past and the future, who does not detect behind the seen the unseen, does not rightly understand it, and cannot pass judgment upon it. The surface of things, upon which your eye may fall, covers an infinite abyss. Are you sure, then, that you comprehend the human being, when you speak of him as subjected to the same law of change and dissolution, which all other earthly existences obey? Is there nothing profounder in his nature than that which you catch sight of by a casual glance? Are there within him no elements which betoken a permanent and enduring existence? Consider one fact only. Among all outward changes, is not every man conscious of his own identity, of his continuing to be the same, single, individual person? Is there not a unity in the soul, that distinguishes it from the dissoluble compounds of material nature? And further, is this person made up of mutable and transitory elements? On the contrary, who does not know that he has faculties to seize upon everlasting truth, and affections which aspire to reach an everlasting good? Have we not all of us the idea of right, of a Divine law older than time, and which can never be repealed? Has such a being as man then no signs in his nature of permanent existence? Is he to be commingled with the fugitive forms of the material world? Seeing, you see not. What is most worth seeing in man is hidden from your view. You know nothing of man truly, till you discern in him traces of an immutable and immortal nature, till you recognize somewhat allied to God in his reason, conscience, love and will. Talk not of your knowledge of men, picked up from the transient aspects of social life! It is not then to be inferred, from what we see, that God does not take an interest in the individual, and that He may not be trusted as designing great good for each particular person. In every human mind He sees powers kindred to His own–the elements of angelic glory and happiness. These bind the heavenly Fathers love indissolubly to every single soul. And these Divine elements authorize a trust utterly unlike that which springs from superficial views of mans transitory existence.

II. What is the good for which, as individual persons, we may trust in God? One reply immediately offers itself. We may not, must not trust in Him for whatever good we may arbitrarily choose. Experience gives us no warrant to plan such a future for ourselves, as mere natural affections and passions may crave, and to confide in Gods parental love as pledged to indulge such desires. Human life is made up of blighted hopes and disappointed efforts, caused by such delusive confidence. We cannot look to God even for escape from severest suffering. The laws of the universe, though in general so beneficent in their operation, still bring fearful evil to the individual. For what then may we trust in God? I reply, that we may trust unhesitatingly, and without a moments wavering, that God desires the perfection of our nature, and that He will always afford such ways and means to this great end, as to His omniscience seem most in harmony with mans moral freedom. There is but one true good for a spiritual being, and this is found in its perfection. Men are slow to see this truth; and yet it is the key to Gods providence, and to the mysteries of life. Now how can man be happy but according to the same law of growth in all his characteristic powers? Thus the enjoyment of the body is found to be dependent on and involved with the free, healthy and harmonious development–that is the perfection–of its organization. Impair, or derange any organ, and existence becomes agony. Much more does the happiness of the soul depend upon the free, healthy and harmonious unfolding of all its faculties. Now for this good we may trust in God with utter confidence. We may be assured that He is ready, willing, and anxious to confer it upon us; that He is always inviting and leading us towards it by His Providence, and by His Spirit, through all trials and vicissitudes, through all triumphs and blessings; and that unless our own will is utterly perverse, no power in the universe can deprive us of it. Such I say is the good for which we may confide in God, the only good for which we are authorized to trust in Him. The perfection of our nature–God promises nothing else or less. We cannot confide in Him for prosperity, do what we will for success; for often He disappoints the most strenuous labours, and suddenly prostrates the proudest power. We cannot confide in Him for health, friends, honour, outward repose. Not a single worldly blessing is pledged to us. And this is well. Gods outward gifts–mere shadows as they are of happiness–soon pass away; and their transitoriness reveals, by contrast the only true good. Reason and conscience, if we will but hear their voice, assure us that all outward elevation, separate from inward nobleness, is a vain show; that the most prosperous career, without growing health of soul, is but a prolonged disease, a fitful fever of desire and passion, and rather death than life; that there is no stability of power, no steadfast peace, but in immovable principles of right; that there is no true royalty but in the rule of our own spirits; no real freedom but in unbounded disinterested love; and no fulness of joy but in being alive to that infinite presence, majesty, goodness, in which we live and move and have our being. This good of perfection, if we will seek it, is as sure as Gods own being, Here I fix my confidence. When I look round me, I see nothing to trust in. On all sides are the surges of a restless ocean, and everywhere the traces of decay. But amidst this world of fugitive existences, abides one immortal nature. Let not the sceptic point me to the present low development of human nature, and ask me what promise I see there of that higher condition of the soul, for which I trust. Even were there no sufficient answer to this question, I should still trust. I must still believe that surely as there is a perfect God, perfection must be His end; and that, sooner or later, it must be impressed upon His highest work, the spirit of man. Then I must believe, that where He has given truly Divine powers, He must have given them for development. Human nature is indeed at present in a very imperfect stage of its development. But I do not, therefore, distrust that perfection is its end. We cannot begin with the end. We cannot argue that a being is not destined for a good, because he does not instantly reach it. The philosopher, whose discoveries now dazzle us, could not once discern between his right hand and his left. To him who has entered an interminable path, with impulses which are carrying him onward to perfection, of what importance is it where he first plants his step? The future is all his own. But you will point me to those who seem to be wanting in this spirit of progress, this impulse towards perfection, and who are sunk in sloth or guilt. And you will ask whether Gods purposes towards these are yet loving. I answer: Yes! They fail through no want of the kind designs of God. From the very nature of goodness, it cannot be forced upon any creature by the Creator; nor can it be passively received. What a sublime doctrine it is, that goodness cherished now is eternal life already entered on! Thus have I spoken of religious trust, in its principle and its end. I have time to suggest but one motive for holding fast this confidence as a fountain of spiritual strength. We talk of our weakness. We lack energy, we say, to be in life what in hope we desire. But this very weakness comes from want of trust. What invigorates you to seek other forms of good? You believe them to be really within your reach. What is the soul of all great enterprises? It is the confidence that they may be achieved. To confide in a high power is to partake of that power. It has often been observed, that the strength of an army is more than doubled by confidence in its chief. Confide, only confide, and you will be strong. (W. E. Channing.)

Christly trust

First: Man is a trusting being. Trusting is at once the grand necessity and leading tendency of his existence. Secondly: His trust determines the character and destiny of his being. Trusting wrong objects or right objects for wrong purposes, is at once sinful and ruinous. On the other hand, trusting rightly in the living God is at once a holy and a happy state of being. Two remarks are suggested in relation to this Christly trust.

I. It forms a distinct community amongst men. The apostle speaks here as those that believe. All men believe. Men are naturally credulous.

1. There are some who believe in a dead God–an idol, a substance, a force, an abstraction. Most men have a dead God–a God whose presence, whose inspection, whose claims they do not recognize or feel.

2. There are others who believe in a living God. To them He is the life of all lives, the force of all forces, the spirit of all beauty, the fountain of all joy. With these the apostle includes himself, and to these he refers when he says, Those that believe.

II. It secures the special salvation of the good. The living God is the Saviour, or Preserver of all. He saves all from diseases, trials, death, damnation, up to a certain time in their history. All that they have on earth which go to make their existence tolerable and pleasant He has saved for them. But of those that believe He is specially a Saviour, He saves them–

1. From the dominion of moral evil

2. From the torments of sinful passions–remorse, malice, jealousy, envy, fear.

3. From the curse of a wicked life. What a salvation is this! Christly trust gives to the human race a community of morally saved men. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Who Is the Saviour of all men.—

The first Sunday after Epiphany

Whether, then, we take the words the living God in our text to apply to Christ Himself, or to the Father acting by Christ, it is equally asserted that Christ is the Saviour of all men: that the salvation which He wrought is, in and of itself, co-extensive with the race of man. What He did, He did for, and in the stead of, all men. If we wish to corroborate this by further Scripture proof, we have it in abundance. I will take but three of the plainest passages. St. John in his first Epistle, 1Jn 2:1-2. St. Paul, 2Co 5:14. In Rom 5:10 he goes further into the same truth. See also 1Co 15:22. Adam, when he came fresh from the hands of God, was the head and root of man kind. He was mankind. She who was to be a helpmeet for him was not created a separate being, but was taken out of him. The words spoken of him apply to the whole human race. The responsibility of the whole race rested upon him. When he became disobedient, all fell. Figure to yourselves–and it is very easy to do so, from the many analogies which nature furnishes–this constitution of all mankind in Adam: for it is the very best of all exponents of the nature of Christs standing in our flesh, and Christs work in our flesh: with this great difference indeed, inherent in the very nature of the case, that the one work in its process and result is purely physical, the other spiritual as well. The race, in its natural constitution in Adam, i.e., as each member of it is born into the world and lives in the world naturally, is alien from and guilty before God: has lost the power of pleasing God: cannot work out its own salvation in or by any one of its members; all being involved in the same universal ruin. In Adam all die. Now that rescue must not, cannot in Gods arrangements, come from without. It must come upon mankind from within. Gods law respecting us is, that all amendment, all purifying, all renewal, should spring from among, and take into itself and penetrate by its influence, the inner faculties and powers wherewith He has endowed our nature. We know that our redemption was effected by the eternal Son of God becoming incarnate in our flesh. Now suppose for a moment that He, the Son of God, had become an individual personal man, bounded by His own responsibilities, His own capacities, His own past, and present, and future. If He had thus become a personal man, not one of His acts would have had any more reference to you or me than the acts of Abraham, or David, or St. Paul, or St. Peter have. He might have set us an example ever so bright; might have undergone sufferings ever so bitter; might have won a triumph ever so glorious; and we should merely have stood and looked on from without. No redemption, no renovation of our nature could by any possibility have been made. And He, thus being the Divine Son of God, and having become the Son of man, was no longer an individual man, bounded by the narrow lines and limits of His own personality, but was and is God manifest in the flesh; a sound and righteous Head of our whole nature, just as Adam was its first and sinful head. Hence it is, that whatever He does, has so large a significance. Hence, that when He fulfils the law, His righteousness is accepted as ours. He did nothing, if He did not the whole. He redeemed none, if He redeemed not all. If there existed on earth one son or daughter of Adam not redeemed by Christ, then He, who had taken it upon Him to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, had not accomplished His work, and had died in vain. And let us see what this universality of redemption implies, as regards the sons of men themselves. It enables the preacher of good tidings to come to every son and daughter of Adam, every out cast and degraded one of our race, and at once to lay before them Christ as theirs, if they will believe on Him. It is the key, and the only key, to the fact of justification by faith. Believe, and thou shalt be saved. Why? Believe in a Man who died and rose again, and thou shalt be saved? Now this at once brings us to the second part of our text. In the broad sense on which we have hitherto been insisting, Christ is the Saviour of all men: of the whole of mankind. All have an equal part and right in Christ. And on this foundation fact, the whole mission work of the gospel is founded. We are to go into all the world, and we are to pro claim the glad tidings to every creature. That redemption by Christ, which is as wide as the earth, as free as the air, as universal as humanity, is no mere physical amendment which has passed on our whole race unconsciously: but it is a glorious provision for spiritual amendment, able to take up and to bless and to change and to renovate mans spiritual part, his highest thoughts, his noblest aspirings, his best affections. And these are not taken up, are not blest, are not renovated, except by the power of persuasion, and the bending of the human will, and the soft promptings of love, and the living drawings of desire. (Dean Alford.)

The Christ-likeness of God

In several texts God is called our Saviour. God, then, is to us what Christ is. God Himself, then, is essentially Christlike. He must have in Himself some Christ-likeness, for He is, as Christ, our Saviour. Let the energy of these two truths once enter into a mans heart–the truth that in everything we have to do with the living God, and the truth that our God is the Christlike One, and they are enough to revolutionize a mans life.

I. Our hope is set on the living God. This is a familiar Biblical phrase. This word, the living God, had not become an echo of a vanishing faith to the Psalmist, longing for the communion of the temple, who uttered Israels national consciousness in this prayer: My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. It was a word intense with faith. A professor of chemistry, with whom sometime since I was talking about nature, and what it really is, said to me, thoughtfully: The order of nature is Gods personal conduct of His universe. It is not with a dead nature, or an impersonal order of laws, but with the living God in His personal and most Christian conduct of the universe, that we living souls have to do here and hereafter.

I. Our hope is set on the living God, our Saviour. It is a principle of far-reaching sweep and reconstructive power in theology, to think of our God above all as most Christlike in His inmost being and nature. I once saw in the city of Nurnberg, I think it was, a religious picture, in which God the Father was represented in heaven as shooting down arrows upon the ungodly, and midway between heaven and earth Christ, the Mediator, was depicted as reaching forth and catching those arrows, and breaking them as they fell. The painting was true to methods of conceiving Christs work of atonement into which faith had fallen from the simplicity of the Bible; but it should not be called a Christian picture. God, our Saviour, said apostles who had seen God revealed in Christ; and Jesus Himself once said: He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father. It is one thing to obtain from the Scriptures some adequate doctrine of the divinity of Christ. But it is another thing to have God through Christ brought as a living and inspiring presence into direct contact with all our plans and work and happiness in life. In sincere acceptance of Jesus word that He knew the Father, and came from God, let us read the gospels for the purpose of learning what God Himself is towards us in our daily lives; how our world appears in the pure eye of God; how He thinks of us, and is interested in what we may be doing, suffering, or achieving. And He who opens His mouth, and teaches the multitude, utters Gods heart to us upon that mountain-side. This is Gods own blessedness showing itself to the world. Such is God, blessing with His own blessedness the virtue which is like His own goodness. Yes, but as Jesus, in His own speech and person, realizes God before us, how can we help becoming conscious of our distance of soul from perfection so Divine? He speaks for God. So God is towards man; this word is from the bosom of the Father; there is on earth Divine forgiveness of sin. But the fear of death is here in this world of sepulchres. We might love to love were it not for death. The worst thing about our life here is, that the more we fit our hearts for the highest happiness of friendships, the more we fit ourselves, also, for sorrow: love is itself the short prelude so often to a long mourning. What does God think of this? What can God in heaven think of us in our bitter mortality? Follow again this Jesus who says He knows–what will He show Gods heart to be towards human suffering and death? Lord, show us in this respect the Father, and it sufficeth us. There, coming slowly out of the gate of the city, is a procession of much people. We do not need to be told their errand; often we have followed with those who go to the grave. The Christ who says He knows what God our Father is and thinks, meets them who are carrying to his burial the only son of a widow. It is all there, the whole story of man and womans grief. The Christ sees it all; and more than all which disciples see;–He looks on through the years, and beholds deaths broad harvests, and the generations of men passing each from earth in pain and tears; the whole history of death through the ages He bears upon the knowledge of His heart. What will God do with death? And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And He came nigh and touched the bier: and the bearers stood still. And He said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. It was not a miracle, but only an illustration beforehand of the larger law of life. While the widow wept, while the sisters of His friend Lazarus could not be comforted, Jesus knew that life is the rule in Gods great universe, and death the exception. Yes, this is a glad gospel from the bosom of the Eternal. This earth is full of human cruelty and oppressions. Let us go, then, once more with this Jesus into the city, and see what He will do with the Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. In the world from which He says He came, and into which He declares He is going soon–for a little while to be unseen by His own friends–in that world will He suffer these men to be? Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites;–How shall ye escape the judgment of Gehenna? It is the same Christ who is speaking–He whom we heard saying, Blessed, and in words which seemed to be a song from the heart of His own life–He who went weeping with the sisters at Bethany–who once sent that procession of mourners back in triumph and joy to the city. It is He who now stands before those extortioners and hypocrites, and says in Gods name: Woe unto you! It is enough. The face of God is set against them that do evil. No lie shall enter the gates of that city of the many homes. Yes–but again our human thoughts turn this bright hope into anxiety. These men may not have known. We would go into the city and save all. We would let none go until we had done all that love could do; we would not suffer any man to be lost if love could ever find him? How, then, does Jesus show us what God is towards these lost ones? Listen; He sees a shepherd going forth in the storm over the bleak mountain-side, seeking for the one lost sheep; and this Wonder of divinity with man–He who came from God and knows–says, Such is God; Even so it is not the will of your Father in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. This is the picture of the heart of God drawn by Christs own hand–the shepherd seeking the one lost sheep. Two consequences of these truths remain to be urged. God Himself is to be seen through Christ, and Christ is to be studied through all that is best and worthiest in the disciples lives. Therefore through human hearts also which reflect in any wise Christs spirit, we may seek to realize what God is. God is what they would be, only infinitely better; His perfection is like mans, only infinitely transcending it. Let us be very bold in this living way of access to God. (Newman Smyth, D. D.)

Jesus the Saviour of all men

St. Paul calls Him the Saviour of all men! Are all men, then, His people? Are not multitudes His enemies? Which witness shall I believe–the apostle, or the angel? Both of them! They do not gainsay each other. When you tell me that Dr. D. is the physician of this Poor-law District, you do not mean that he heals all the poor residing within his district, but only that he is appointed to heal them. His commission includes them all. Some may neglect to come to him, and others may prefer another doctor; but, if they will, they all may come to him, and have the benefit of his skill. In the same sense Jesus is the Saviour of all men. He is appointed to save all men–Neither is there salvation in any other! (J. J. Wray.)

Trusting in God

During the burning of a mill in our town there was a strong threatening of a large conflagration. People even two blocks off began to pack their household treasures. From many blocks around the coals from the flaming building were scattered over the white snow. From my window the scene was truly magnificent. The wild, hot flames soaring aloft, the burning elevator looking as if suspended in the heavens, the countless millions of sparks ascending, the sway and surge of this terrible power of fire. It seemed to me that a row of cottages within my sight must soon be swallowed up too, and as I thought of an elderly friend-helpless in her bed–I wrapped myself up warmly, and went out in the night to her. She was white and trembling with excitement, for the fire was only two buildings distant, and her room was light as day, illumined by the flames. I was just wondering whether it was best to get her up upon her chair, said the girl to me. No, dont, I said, I do not believe there is any danger, and if there is, she shall not suffer. Dont you believe there is any danger? asked the invalid as I reached her bedside. No, I do not, unless the wind should change. Just lie still and dont worry. If the next house should catch fire we will come for you the first thing. She accepted our word and kept her bed, thus escaping a cold; and morning found her all right. I wonder, then, why we could not accept our loving, helpful Fathers word as unquestioningly as she did the word of a mortal. Why will we persist in borrowing trouble, when He has promised As thy day so shall thy strength be? Why do we always assert proudly, yet humbly, I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him will I trust? (E. Gilmore.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 10. For therefore we both labour] This verse was necessary to explain what he had before said; and here he shows that his meaning was not that the followers of God should enjoy worldly prosperity and exemption from natural evils; for, said he, it is because we exercise ourselves to godliness that we have both labour and reproach, and we have these because we trust In the living God: but still we have mental happiness, and all that is necessary for our passage through life; for in the midst of persecutions and afflictions we have the peace of God that passeth knowledge, and have all our crosses and sufferings so sanctified to us that we consider them in the number of our blessings.

Who is the Saviour of all men] Who has provided salvation for the whole human race, and has freely offered it to them in his word and by his Spirit.

Specially of those that believe.] What God intends for ALL, he actually gives to them that believe in Christ, who died for the sins of the world, and tasted death for every man. As all have been purchased by his blood so all may believe; and consequently all may be saved. Those that perish, perish through their own fault.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

If we did not believe this as a faithful saying, that godliness is profitable for all things, and trust in God, who liveth for ever, to see to the fulfilling of it, to what purpose should

we labour and suffer reproach as we do; labouring in the work of God, suffering reproach in the cause of God, and for living godly lives, worshipping God according to his will, and denying ourselves in sensual satisfactions and sensible enjoyments, that we might fulfil the law of Christ?

Objection. But, will some say: how then is godliness profitable for all things, how doth the faithfulness of the promises for this life annexed to godliness appear, if those that profess it must labour and suffer reproach?

Solution. Labour for God is a reward to itself, our honour, not our burden, his service is perfect freedom: the promises of this life, annexed to godliness, are not promises of sensual rest and ease, but of inward peace, satisfaction, and support of other things, only with a reserve to the Divine wisdom and judgment, so far forth as our heavenly Father shall see it fit for his glory and our good; yet they are not vain, for God,

who is the Saviour, that is, the Preserver,

of all men, the Preserver of man and beast, as the psalmist speaketh, is in a more especial manner the Saviour

of those that believe, Psa 33:18,19. This seemeth rather to be the sense of the text, than to understand it of eternal salvation, for so God is not the actual Saviour of all; besides that the text seemeth to speak of a work proper to the Father, rather than to the Son.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

10. thereforeGreek,“with a view to this.” The reason why “we both(‘both’ is omitted in the oldest manuscripts) labor (endure hardship)and suffer reproach (some oldest manuscripts read ‘strive’) isbecause we have rested, and do rest our hope, on the living(and therefore, life-giving, 1Ti4:8) God.”

Savioureven in thislife (1Ti 4:8).

specially of those thatbelieveTheir “labor and reproach” are notinconsistent with their having from the living God, their Saviour,even the present life (Mr 10:30,”a hundred fold now in this time . . . with persecutions”),much more the life to come. If God is in a sense “Saviour”of unbelievers (1Ti 2:4, thatis, is willing to be so everlastingly, and istemporally here their Preserver and Benefactor),much more of believers. He is the Saviour of all men potentially(1Ti 1:15); of believers aloneeffectually.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For therefore we both labour,…. Not in the word and doctrine, though they did; nor in the exercise of internal godliness, though there is a work in faith, and a labour in love; nor with their own hands, at their trades and business, to support themselves, and others; but by enduring hardships and afflictions, as stripes, imprisonment, weariness, pain, watchings, fastings, hunger, thirst, cold, and nakedness; see 2Co 11:23.

And suffer reproach; with patience and cheerfulness. The Alexandrian copy, and another manuscript, read, “we strive”; or contend even to an agony, combating with sin, Satan, and the world, with profane men, and with false teachers; and to all this they were animated by the promises made to godliness; and therefore they showed it by their practices, or rather by their sufferings, that they believed it to be a true and faithful saying; and which is further conferred by what follows:

because we trust in the living God; for the accomplishment of the said promises, who has power, and therefore can, and is faithful, and therefore will, make good what he has promised; and since it is life he has promised, faith is the more encouraged to trust in him, since he is the living God, in opposition to, and distinction from, lifeless idols; he has life in himself, essentially, originally, and independently, and is the author and giver of life, natural, spiritual, and eternal, unto others. Wherefore there is good reason to trust in him for the fulfilling of the promises of the present and future life, made unto godliness.

Who is the Saviour of all men; in a providential way, giving them being and breath, upholding them in their beings, preserving their lives, and indulging them with the blessings and mercies of life; for that he is the Saviour of all men, with a spiritual and everlasting salvation, is not true in fact.

Specially of those that believe; whom though he saves with an eternal salvation; yet not of this, but of a temporal salvation, are the words to be understood: or as there is a general providence, which attends all mankind, there is a special one which relates to the elect of God; these are regarded in Providence, and are particularly saved and preserved before conversion, in order to be called; and after conversion, after they are brought to believe in Christ, they are preserved from many enemies, and are delivered out of many afflictions and temptations; and are the peculiar care and darlings of providence, being to God as the apple of his eye: and there is a great deal of reason to believe this, for if he is the Saviour of all men, then much more of them who are of more worth, value, and esteem with him, than all the world beside; and if they are saved by him with the greater salvation, then much more with the less; and if he the common Saviour of all men, and especially of saints, whom he saves both ways, then there is great reason to trust in him for the fulfilment of the promises of life, temporal and eternal, made to godliness, and godly persons. This epithet of God seems to be taken out of Ps 17:7 where he is called , “the Saviour of them that trust”, or believe.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

To this end ( ). The godliness () of verse 8. See 2Co 6:10 as Paul’s own commentary.

We labour (, Col 1:29)

and strive ( , Col 1:29). Both Pauline words.

Because we have set our hope ( ). Perfect active indicative of (Ro 15:12).

Saviour of all men ( ). See 1:1 for applied to God as here. Not that all men “are saved” in the full sense, but God gives life (6:13) to all (Ac 17:28).

Specially of them that believe ( ). Making a distinction in the kinds of salvation meant. “While God is potentially Saviour of all, He is actually Saviour of the ” (White). So Jesus is termed “Saviour of the World” (Joh 4:42). Cf. Ga 6:10.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Therefore [ ] . More correctly, to this end; or with a view to this.

We labor and strive [ ] . Both Pauline words. See on Col 1:29, where the two are found together as here. Also on kopou labor, 1Th 1:3, and kopiwntav, and laboring 1Th 5:12. Comp. ch. 1ti 5:17, and 2Ti 2:6. Both words denote strenuous and painful effort. 111 The kai; has an ascensive force :

“we labor, yea struggle.”

We trust in [ ] . Better, have set our hope on. The verb with ejpi in Pastorals, in Paul, Rom 14:12, a citation, and in 1Pe 1:13.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach” (eis touto gar kopiomen kai agonozometha) “For to this end or purpose we both labor and struggle,” 1Co 4:11-13; Heb 11:24-25; 2Co 6:10. This has been the common experience of the righteous in all ages, Mat 5:11-12.

2) “Because we trust in the living God” (hoti elpikamen epi theo zonti) “Because we have fixed or set our hope on a living God,” not a dead, lifeless one, as heathen gods; Psa 115:5-9. The idea of a living God sustains a living continuity of hope, Heb 6:18-19.

3) “Who is the Saviour of all men” (hos estin soter panton anthropon) “Who exists as the saviour (available) of all men,” Joh 4:42, of mankind He is the Saviour. As the Father had life self existent life, as a divine attribute, so He gave the Son to have eternal, self-existent life to impart to every believer, ; 1Ti 2:3; 1Ti 2:6.

4) “Specially of those that believe.” (malista piston) “Especially or specifically of the believers, the ones trusting.” The idea is He is the available Saviour who has Himself provided salvation for all men, but is the effective Saviour only or especially to the responsible believers who by faith have voluntarily trusted in Him, Joh 8:24; Mar 16:16; Joh 3:16; Rom 10:9.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

10 For in this we both labor and suffer reproaches This is an anticipation by which he solves that question, “Are not believers the most miserable of all men, because they are oppressed by tribulations of every kind?” In order to show, therefore, that their condition must not be judged from outward appearance, he distinguishes them from others, first in the cause, and next in the result. Hence it follows, that they lose nothing of the promises which he has mentioned, when they are tried by adversity. The sum is, that believers are not miserable in afflictions, because a good conscience supports them, and a blessed and joyful end awaits them.

Now, since the happiness of the present life consists chiefly of two parts, honor and conveniences, he contrasts them within two evils, toils and reproach, meaning by the former words, inconveniences and annoyances of every kind, such as poverty, cold, nakedness, hunger, banishments, spoliations, imprisonments, scourgings, and other persecutions.

We have hope fixed on the living God This consolation refers to the cause; for so far are we from being miserable, when we suffer on account of righteousness, that it is rather a just ground of thanksgiving. Besides, our afflictions are accompanied by hope in the living God, and, what is more, hope may be regarded as the foundation; but it never maketh ashamed, (Rom 5:5,) and therefore everything that happens to the godly ought to be reckoned a gain.

Who is the Savior (76) This is the second consolation, though it depends on the former; for the deliverance of which he speaks may be viewed as the fruit of hope. To make this more clear, it ought to be understood that this is an argument drawn from the less to the greater; for the word σωτὴρ (77) is here a general term, and denotes one who defends and preserves. He means that the kindness of God extends to all men. And if there is no man who does not feel the goodness of God towards him, and who is not a partaker of it, how much more shall it be experienced by the godly, who hope in him? Will he not take peculiar care in them? Will he not more freely pour out his bounty on them? In a word, will he not, in every respect, keep them safe to the end?

(76) “The word Savior is not here taken in what we call its proper and strict meaning, in regard to the eternal salvation which God promises to his elect, but it is taken for one who delivers and protects. Thus we see that even unbelievers are protected by God, as it is said (Mat 5:46) that “he maketh his sun to shine on the good and the bad;” and we see that all are fed by his goodness, that all are delivered from many dangers. In this sense he is called “the Savior of all men,” not in regard to the spiritual salvation of their souls, but because he supports all his creatures. In this way, therefore, our Lord is the Savior of all men, that is, his goodness extends to the most wicked, who are estranged from him, and who do not deserve to have any intercourse with him, who ought to have been struck off from the number of the creatures of God and destroyed; and yet we see how God hitherto extends his grace to them; for the life which he gives to them is a testimony of his goodness. Since, therefore God shows such favor towards those who are strangers to him, how shall it be with us who are members of his household? Not that we are better or more excellent than those whom we see to be cast off by him, but the whole proceeds from his mercy and free grace, that he is reconciled to us through our Lord Jesus Christ, since he hath called us to the knowledge of the gospel, and then confirms us, and seals his bounty toward us, so that we ought to be convinced that he reckons us to be his children. Since, therefore, we see that he nourishes those who are estranged from him, let us go and hide ourselves under his wings; for, having taken us under his protection, he has declared that he will show himself to be a Father toward us.” — Fr. Ser.

(77) “ Le mot Grec que nous traduisons Sauveur .” — “ The Greek word which we translate Savior.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(10) For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach.And for this endto obtain this glorious promise, this highest blessedness here, that endless life with God hereafter, to win this glorious promisewe Christian missionaries and teachers care for no toil, however painfulshrink from no shame, however agonising.

Because we trust in the living God.More accurately translated, because we have our hope in the living God. And this is why we toil and endure shame. We know that the promise made will be fulfilled, because the God on whomas on a sure foundationour hopes rest, is a living God. Living, in strong contrast to those dumb and lifeless idols shrined in the well-known Ephesian temples.

Who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.These words, like the assertion of 1Ti. 2:4, have been often pressed into the service of that school of kindly, but mistaken, interpreters, who ignore, or explain away, the plain doctrine of Holy Scripture which tells us there are those whose destruction from the presence of the Lord shall be everlasting, whose portion shall be the second death (2Th. 1:9; Rev. 21:8). These interpreters prefer to substitute in place of this terrible, but repeated declaration, their own perilous theories of universalism. Here the gracious words seem to affix a seal to the statement immediately preceding, which speaks of the hope in the living God as the source of all the labour and brave patience of the Lords true servants. The living God is also a loving God, the Saviour of all, if they would receive Him, and, undoubtedly, the Redeemer of those who accept His love and are faithful to His holy cause.

It must be borne in mind that there were many Hebrews still in every Christian congregation, many in every church, who still clung with passionate zeal to the old loved Hebrew thought, that Messiahs work of salvation was limited to the chosen race. This and similar sayings were specially meant to set aside for ever these narrow and selfish conceptions of the Redeemers will; were intended to show these exclusive children of Israel that Christs work would stretch over a greater and a grander platform than ever Israel could fill; were designed to tell out to all the churches how indeed it was a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. Still, with all these guarded considerations, which serve to warn us from entertaining any hopes of a universal redemption, such a saying as this seems to point to the blessed Atonement mystery as performing a work whose consequences reach far beyond the limits of human thought, or even of sober speculation.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

10. And our acceptance of this value is clear for, therefore; that is, for the reason now to be given.

Labour and suffer reproach Things far more serious than exercise. Namely, because.

The Saviour Alford says: “So far as salvation stands in him, he is the Saviour of all men. And it is by virtue of this universality of salvation offered by God that we have rested our hopes on him.”

Specially of those that believe Alford adds: “In these (that believe) alone does that salvation which God has provided become actual. He is the same Saviour, towards and of all: but these alone appropriate his salvation.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘For to this end we labour and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those who believe.’

And what is the saying that is faithful? It is that with our hope set on the living God we labour and strive in His service, and put great effort into the things that He has commanded us to do, such as studying to show ourselves approved to God and praying without ceasing. And we do this because we want Him to work His ‘salvation’ in us, that is we want Him to work within us ‘love out of a pure heart, a good conscience and faith unfeigned’ (1Ti 1:5), because we know that our Saviour, the living God has this in store for us. It is that we set our heart on enjoying life, and indeed life more abundantly (1Ti 4:8; Joh 10:10). This was ‘the end’ of Paul’s ‘charge’ right from the start (1Ti 1:5). And this is what we must set our hope on.

For this is the purpose of the God Who is ‘the Saviour/Preserver (a regular meaning of the word in secular literature) of all men’, that is, Whose activity of preservation is going on in the world on behalf of all men (Mat 5:45; Act 17:26-29; Psa 104:13-15; Psa 145:9-10 a, 15-16), and Who is the general Preserver of men (Psa 36:6). It was because He is ‘the Saviour/Preserver of all men’ that He first arranged for Adam and his family to escape from the full consequences of Adam’s sin. It was because He is the Saviour/Preserver of all men that He made His covenant with Noah for the preservation of the human race from flooding. It was because He is the Saviour and Preserver of all men that He has watched over history. And it is because He is the Saviour/Preserver of all men that He send His rain on the just and on the unjust (Mat 5:45)

But He is ‘especially’ so for those who believe, for those who believe are entering into the enjoyment of His present salvation in its fullness. For this contrast between God’s goodness revealed towards the whole world, in contrast with His special goodness revealed towards His people who recognise His Kingly Rule and testify of it to others, see Psa 145:9-16. The point is that we cannot have our hearts set on God the Saviour, and fully benefit from the fact, unless we want Him to save us fully, and desire it with all our hearts. For His salvation does not just consist in ‘being saved’ so that we can have the confidence that we have been forgiven and are going to Heaven, it also consists of our being changed from glory into glory, even by the Lord, the Spirit (1Co 3:18). It is so that we might be ‘made like Him, for we will see Him as He is’ (1Jn 3:2). It is so that He might ‘work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure’ (Php 2:13), a salvation that we have to work out with greatest care (Php 2:12). But we must notice that we do not labour and strive for this salvation, we rather labour and strive (as Paul did) on Christ’s behalf because this salvation is ours, a gift from the living God our Saviour (compare Eph 2:8-9). The salvation itself is God’s gift to us as, having been crucified with Christ, we allow Him to live out His life through us (Gal 2:20). Its consequence is that we begin to live as the people of God because we are His workmanship (Eph 2:10).

The idea behind the word ‘especially’ is that towards His people He acts in an especial way. It no longer simply has in mind His general benevolence towards mankind, but has in mind His individual and personal activity on behalf those who are His.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

1Ti 4:10. Who is the Saviour of all men, &c. As he is the Preserver of all men (see Job 7:20.), and as he offers salvation to all men: but he is especially the Saviour of the faithful, as he extends to them the noblest and most important deliverance; reserving for them the most invaluable blessings of a future state, and guiding them safely to it through all the dangers of this life. Those who enjoy the advantages of the Christian revelation, in the purity of it, may certainly with equal diligence excel others in knowledge, holiness, and virtue; and, consequently, may be qualified and prepared for higher felicity, or a more exalted station: and may we not hence form a notion of the Christian heaven,namely, as a more exalted state of happiness, in proportion to the superior knowledge, piety, holiness, and virtue of a Christian?

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Ti 4:10 . . . .] The particle shows that this verse is to serve as a reason or confirmation of the preceding thought that godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of this and the future life. is by expositors either referred directly to this thought (de Wette, van Oosterzee), or is joined with the following (Wiesinger); in the latter case the points only to the thought in 1Ti 4:8 . The former construction deserves the preference, not only because it is more natural to refer the to the thought of 1Ti 4:8 so purposely confirmed by 1Ti 4:9 ; and also because cannot be taken as equivalent to (by which Theodoret paraphrases it), id circo (Beza). always points to a goal (and not to the reason of something). , however, as an already existing condition, cannot be regarded as the goal to which the is directed; hence Luther’s translation: “to this end we labour also that we have hoped,” cannot be justified. The meaning therefore is: In regard to this, that godliness has promise, viz. in order that this promise may be fulfilled in us, we labour.

With the Rec. , is either equivalent to “both and,” or the first is equivalent to “yea also,” and the second is simply “and.” In the former case the two ideas and are more widely separated; in the latter, they are more closely connected. The second view seems to be more natural. There is very weighty authority for the reading: , which also gives a thoroughly appropriate meaning; but still the Rec. , for which, too, almost all expositors (de Wette, Wiesinger, Reiche, van Oosterzee, Hofmann, and others) have decided, might be preferred. The change of into may be easily explained from the following facts, that in Col 1:29 is joined with , that does not occur elsewhere in Paul (except at Rom 15:3 in an O. T. quotation), that the passive does not seem suitable, whereas agrees well with the figure in 1Ti 4:8 . On the other hand, the change of into is scarcely explicable. The plural is not to be limited to the apostle, or to him and Timothy; it expresses the general Christian consciousness. The verb, often joined with another verb which has in it the idea of active exertion (1Co 4:12 ; Eph 4:28 ; Col 1:29 ), does not denote simple labour, but labour with trouble and suffering: “to toil and moil” (Heydenreich); again points to the reproach which the Christian bears from the world. is a “concise expression for we endure to be slandered” (Wiesinger).

] If refers to what precedes, is equivalent to “because;” the meaning in that case is: in regard to the promise given to , we take trouble and reproach upon ourselves, because we have set our hope on the living God, and are certain, therefore, that that promise does not remain unfulfilled. refers to both the preceding verbs, and does not merely stand “in close connection with the latter,” as van Oosterzee without reason thinks. The perfect as here: 1Co 15:19 ; 2Co 1:10 .

God is here called the living God, inasmuch as He fulfils what He has promised.

is construed with and the dative, because the living God is regarded as the ground on which the hope rests. The construction is only found here at 1Ti 6:17 , and at Rom 15:12 in an O. T. quotation. Elsewhere is construed with , or , or and the accusative.

The relative clause , serves as a seal of the hope grounded in God. Since God is the , this hope, too, cannot be vain; de Wette is wrong, therefore, in asserting that this clause is “out of all keeping.”

The first words are explained by 1Ti 2:4 : . By it is indicated that the will of God unto salvation is realized only in the case of believers. does not stand here “unsuitably” (de Wette); it rather gives suitable expression to the thought that God is and continues to be the for all, whether they desire or not; but in the proper and special sense the is only for believers who really desire it.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

(10) For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. (11) These things command and teach. (12) Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (13) Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. (14) Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. (15) Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. (16) 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.

If in connection with what the Apostle here saith of the living God being the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe, the Reader will consult what was offered in this Commentary on 1Ti 2:4 he will, under divine teaching, discover in what sense both those Scriptures are intended. God our Savior is, in truth, the Savior of all men, in nature, and providence. For He is both the Maker and Upholder of all things. The very enemies of Christ, are upheld by Christ; for all power is his, in heaven, and in earth. In his mysterious union of Person, and his government; everything is ruled by his control. The deceived and the deceiver are his. Job 12:16 . See those scriptures, Col 1:16-17 ; Heb 1:2-3 ; Mat 28:18 ; Eph 1:10 . Hence it is most truly and blessedly said, that Christ is the Savior of all men. For he killeth, and he maketh alive; he wounds and he heals. Deu 32:39 . But while those things are strictly true, in relation to the departments, both of nature and providence; in the departments of grace and glory, as this scripture most blessedly adds, he is specially the Savior of those that believe. In no sense but the former, as relating to temporal things; can Jesus be said to be the Savior of all men. And in none but the latter, in things both temporal, spiritual, and eternal; can any but his body the Church have claim? Eph 1:22-23 . Oh! if the world did but consider how much they owe their preservation, and the enjoyment of the most common blessings of nature and providence, to the Lord Jesus, how would they stand amazed at his goodness, and be shocked at their own undeservings! And if the Lord’s people had but a more lively sense of their special mercies, in all the departments of life, nature, providence, grace, and glory: how would their souls be often melted in them, in the contemplation of that love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. Eph 3:19 .

I detain the Reader no longer, than just to observe, what a lovely representation is given, in the different parts of this Chapter, of what constitutes a faithful Minister of Christ! And what a life, if closely followed up, in the various departments of it, must be such a service? Happy the Lord’s people who have such a servant! And happy the people who have the Lord for their God!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

Ver. 10. For therefore ] Because godliness hath so much happiness laid up in the promises,1Ti 4:81Ti 4:8 , and there is so much certainty of the performance of those promises, therefore we both do and suffer,1Co 15:581Co 15:58 . Finis edulcat media. The end sweetens the journey.

Who is the Saviour of all men ] Not of eternal preservation, but of temporal reservation. For every man should die the same day he is born, the wages of death should be paid him presently; but Christ begs wicked men’s lives for a season, saith one. Sin hath hurled confusion over the world, brought a vanity on the creature. And had not Christ undertaken the shattered condition of the world to uphold it, it had fallen about Adam’s ears, saith another divine:

Specially of those that believe ] Who therefore are in a special manner bound to observe and obey him. Among the Romans they that were saved were wont to crown him that saved them, and to honour him as a father all their days. , Polyb. vi. We must also set the crown upon Christ’s head,Son 3:11Son 3:11 , and obey this everlasting Father, Isa 9:6 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

1Ti 4:10 . , as in the parallel 2Ti 2:11 , introduces a statement in support of the judgment, .

: i.e. , with a view to the obtaining the promised blessings of life. The best commentary on this is what St. Paul said in an earlier epistle, “As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2Co 6:10 ).

express St. Paul’s personal experience of what the profession of Christianity involved. It was then an almost universal experience, see Act 14:22 ; but is not of necessity a concomitant of the exercising of oneself to godliness. The two words are similarly combined Col 1:29 , . is usually used by St. Paul of ministerial labours: his own, 1Co 15:10 , Gal 4:11 , and those of others, Rom 16:12 , 1Co 16:16 , 1Th 5:12 , 1Ti 5:17 ; but this restriction is not necessary, nor would it be suitable here. See reff.

For (var. lect.) cf. Mat 5:11 = Luk 6:22 ; 1Pe 4:14 .

, . . .: This was at once an incentive to exertion, and thus correlative to , and in itself a part of the thing promised, the . A consciousness that we are in an harmonious personal relation with the living God lifts us into a sphere in which labour and striving have no power to distress us.

: we have our hope set on (R.V.). The same use of the perfect of this verb, “expressing the continuance and permanence of the ” (Ell.), is found in the reff. In addition, is also followed by with the dat. in Rom 15:12 (Isa 11:10 ) and 1Ti 6:17 ; by with the acc. in 1Ti 5:5 , 1Pe 1:13 ; by with an acc. in Joh 5:45 , 2Co 1:10 , 1Pe 3:5 ; and by followed by the dat. in 1Co 15:19 .

: As indicated above, this is said in relation to . To know the living God is life eternal (Joh 17:3 ).

, . . .: Saviour of all ( ) occurs in Wis 16:7 . Cf. Saviour of the world , Joh 4:42 .

The prima facie force of certainly is that all men share in some degree in that salvation which the enjoy in the highest degree. Compare the force of in Act 25:26 , Gal 6:10 , Phi 4:22 , 1Ti 5:8 ; 1Ti 5:17 , 2Ti 4:13 ; Tit 1:10 .

The statement is more unreservedly universalist in tone than chap. 1Ti 2:4 and Tit 2:11 ; and perhaps must be qualified by saying that while God is potentially Saviour of all, He is actually Saviour of the . It is an argument a minori ad majus (as Bengel says); and the unqualified assertion is suitable. If all men can be saved, surely the are saved, in whose number we are included. It is better to qualify the statement thus than, with Chrys. and Bengel, to give to a material sense of God’s relation to all men, as the God of nature; but a spiritual sense of His relation to them that believe, as the God of grace. See notes on ch. 1Ti 1:1 ; 1Ti 2:4 .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

therefore = for (Greek. eis) this.

suffer reproach = are reviled. The texts read “strive”, as in 1Co 9:25.

trust = have hoped.

in. App-104.

living God. See Act 14:15.

Saviour. See 1Ti 1:1.

all men. When our first perents incurred the penalty of immediate judicial death, the race would have been extinguished, had not God interposed, before dealing with the culprits, with the promise of the Redeemer, and so suspending the execution of the sentence denounced.

men. App-123.

specially. Occurs in the N.T. twelve times. Rendered “specially”, “especially “(nine); “most of all” (Act 20:36); “chiefly” (Php 1:4, Php 1:22. 2Pe 2:10).

those that believe = the believing. App-150.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

1Ti 4:10. , it is with a view to this, that) on this account, for this end, with this hope.- , we both labour and suffer reproach) despising the advantages and aids (safeguards against suffering) of this life: , in the Middle voice [we suffer ourselves to be reproached].-, we have hoped) we have placed (rested) our hope, viz. for the future, despising present things.-, living) who will also give life to us, 1Ti 4:8; 2Ti 2:18.- , , of all men, especially of those that believe) Paul shows that he, and men like him, hope for a double salvation from God: salvation [or safety] in this life, for God saves [or else preserves] all men (nay, even He wishes all men to have salvation for ever): as also, what is of greater consequence, in the life that is to come, for He especially saves [or preserves] them that believe, who even in this life also experience greater protection, on account of their greater temptation.-, most of all) There lies hid beneath this word the strength of the argument from the less to the greater.[35]

[35] If God saves, in a sense, even the ungodly; a fortiori, the godly.-ED.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

therefore: 1Co 4:9-13, 2Co 4:8-10, 2Co 6:3-10, 2Co 11:23-27, 2Ti 2:9, 2Ti 2:10, 2Ti 3:10-12, Heb 11:26, Heb 13:13, 1Pe 4:14, 1Pe 4:15

because: 1Ti 6:17, Psa 37:40, Psa 52:8, Psa 84:12, Psa 118:8, Isa 12:2, Isa 50:10, Jer 17:7, Dan 3:28, Nah 1:7, Mat 27:43, Rom 15:12, Rom 15:13, 1Pe 1:21

the living: 1Ti 3:15

the saviour: 1Ti 2:4, 1Ti 2:6, Psa 36:6, Psa 107:2, Psa 107:6-43, Isa 45:21, Isa 45:22, Joh 1:29, Joh 3:15-17, 1Jo 2:2, 1Jo 4:14

specially: Joh 5:24, 1Jo 5:10-13

Reciprocal: Deu 33:29 – saved Luk 10:2 – the labourers Rom 16:12 – labour 1Co 4:12 – labour 2Co 5:9 – we labour 2Co 6:5 – labours 2Co 6:8 – evil 1Th 1:9 – the living 1Th 2:9 – our 1Ti 1:1 – God 1Ti 1:6 – From which some having swerved 1Ti 5:17 – labour Tit 1:3 – God Tit 3:4 – God Rev 2:3 – hast laboured

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1Ti 4:10. Paul’s confidence in the principles that he had just expressed, induced him to labor (spiritual exercise or gymnastics of the inner man), even though it would bring reproach upon him from the enemies of righteousness. The apostle was so certain of the promises of the living Gad, that he looked upon the mistreatment coming from the enemies as a “light affliction,” and that as a result it would work for him ” a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2Co 4:17). Saviour of all men, especially, etc. If one man is saved at all, how could another be especially saved? The idea involves the sense in which all men are saved, which is that God provided salvation for the whole world (Joh 3:16), but only those who believe (and obey) will actually get the benefit of the plan; in that sense they will be especially saved.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Ti 4:10. For therefore. The latter word suggests a logical inference more strongly than the Greek; better, to this end.

Labour and suffer reproach. The first word involves toil and trouble as well as simple work. Commonly such toil led to praise and reward. The Christian too often had nothing for it but reviling and reproach (1Pe 4:14), and this experience had embodied itself in the saying which had be-come proverbial (comp. Act 14:22). The train of thought implied in the for, is that the patient endurance of the Christian was a practical proof that the religion which he professed had for him the twofold promise of which the previous verse had spoken.

We trust. Here (as in Rom 15:12) the Authorised Version misses the force of the Greek. Better, have hoped, or fixed our hope. And this hope is not in a dogma or an abstraction, but in a living God, who is the Saviour, in the lower sense of the word as preserver, no less than in the higher, thus including the life that now is, as well as that which is to come. As in 1Ti 2:4, the purpose of God for a salvation which shall include all is assumed as an unquestionable truth, but those only who believe taste that salvation in the fulness of its power.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 10

Who is the Savior of all men; inasmuch as he offers salvation to all.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

Because of these 2 verses Paul and Timothy labor. Toiling to the point of exhaustion.

That is the result of seeking God in an exhaustive manner. We strive to labor for Him for we realize what He has done for us.

When I was in the Navy, we were getting ready for a very important operation. Electronically the ship was a mess. I was the only experienced technician – 18 new ones that couldn’t do anything came aboard. What they did do was wrong or caused more trouble than was present before they attempted to fix it. I worked for several weeks yery hard, long hours and then for 48 hours I worked with only eating breaks and a couple very, very short naps. I was exhausted. I fell asleep before my work was done. It took them literally 15 minutes to wake me up to finish. I could hear them, but couldn’t move or make a sound. My mind was functioning somewhat, but it could not or would not cause my body to function. (I had labored.)

“suffer reproach” This is suffering criticism or condemnation for things you are not guilty of. It is false accusation, it is suffering wrongly – not a pleasant experience, but Paul says that he and Timothy did this because they trust in God.

In this verse we have the picture of an athlete putting the last ounce of his energy into the race in order to be victor.

In races, especially long distance ones, as the runners near the finish line you can see them give that last spurt – you can see the anguish on their faces and the sweat on their foreheads.

This is what Paul did. His every fiber worked for his Lord and Savior.

When is the last time you worked that hard for God? Paul lived this way much of his life.

“because we trust in the living God” This is the reason for Paul’s labors and is the reason that we should, to put it bluntly, be working our fool heads off for God.

Christians are a lazy lot these days. Few will get involved in more than one service a week. Few will get involved in work days. Few get involved at all these days.

The thought of hard work is foreign to most of our teenagers today. I’m speaking of Christian teens. Some of our students where I taught felt that they had overworked if they got up in time for breakfast.

“who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe” Savior of all men seems to speak of the desire on Christ’s part for and preparation to save man.

1Jn 2:2 says he died for all.

“specially of those that believe”

The “specially” groups are those which accept his work on Calvary.

There are a number of explanations for this verse.

Kent lists four and I would add a fifth.

Kent suggests:

1. Universalist Interpretation: All mankind will ultimately be saved.

2. Providential Interpretation: This thought takes a lesser view of the term Saviour and suggests that all mankind is saved via the rain and sun that God provides and that the believer receives even more blessing from this grace from God.

3. Potential-actual Interpretation: This is one of the more popular thoughts that says that the potential for salvation was provided by Christ, but that only those that believe receive the benefit thereof.

4. Temporal-eternal Interpretation: God gives preservation and deliverance in this life, but for those that believe this preservation carries forward into eternity.

He quotes Purdy on this position. “God is the Saviour of all men in that on a temporal basis he gives them life and strength, awakens within them high ideals, provides for their pleasure and sustenance, and graciously allows them to live for a time in the light of His countenance.

“God is specially the Savior of believers in that he has a special call for them, answers their prayers, and provides for their well-being, not only in this life, but also in the life which is to come.” (Purdy, Warren E.; THE MEANING OF THE PHRASE ‘SAVIOR OF ALL MEN’ IN 1Ti 4:10; Unpublished critical monograph, Grace Theological Seminary; 1954, p. 48.)

A fifth option might run along the line that Christ paid for all sin as in ALL sin. Every man, woman and child, was purchased and placed in a position equal to that of Adam before he sinned.

Those that believe and accept that work then become believers and share in the full benefits of salvation.

Kent and MacArthur suggest that the adverb “specially” demands that the believer must enjoy the highest degree of what all enjoy. MacArthur adds a phrase of interest “All men will enjoy to some extent the same kind of salvation as believers enjoy…. The difference is one of degree, not kind.” (THE MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY I TIMOTHY; John MacArthur; Moody Press; Chicago; 1995; p 168)

Kent’s number four is his choice, but this does not really fit within the qualification of “The difference is one of degree, not kind.” You can’t say that physical benefitting is the same as spiritual benefitting.

I personally view degree and kind both as necessary.

The lost must enjoy a lesser “degree” of the same kind of salvation. To say that the lost enjoy something physically, and the believer something physically but added spiritual does not seem to fit their own criteria.

I might point out that my fifth choice fits their stipulation for the adverb as well as fitting both degree and kind.

Now that we have that cleared up, let’s take a quick look at some application.

Phillips Brooks once said “The great purpose of life — the shaping of character by truth.”

Is this not what Paul is attempting to do in Timothy’s life? In the believers at Ephesus? In the believers at your church?

The truth of the Word ought to be shaping our character – our Christian life – if not then we are not allowing it to, or we are not close enough to it.

A Very Special Lord’s Prayer From Ray Heistand

If God Should Speak . . . A different look at The Lord’s Prayer

“Our Father which art in heaven…..”

—Yes?

Don’t interrupt me. I’m praying.

—But you called me.

Called you? I didn’t call you. I’m praying. “Our Father which art in heaven…..”

—There you did it again.

Did What?

—Called me. You said, “Our Father which art in heaven.” Here I am…..What’s on your mind?

But I didn’t mean anything by it. I was, you know, just saying my prayers for the day. I always say the Lord’s Prayer. It makes me feel good, kind of like getting a duty done.

—All right. Go on.

“Hallowed be thy name…..”

—Hold it. What do you mean by that?

By what?

—By “hallowed be thy name”?

It means…..it means…..Good grief, I don’t know what it means. How should I know? It’s just a part of the prayer. By the way, what does it mean?

—It means honored, holy, wonderful.

Hey, that makes sense. I never thought about what “hallowed” meant before. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

–Do you really mean that?

Sure, why not?

—What are you doing about it?

Doing? Nothing, I guess. I just think it would be kind of neat if you got control of everything down here like you have up there.

—Have I got control of you?

Well, I go to church.

—That isn’t what I asked you. What about your bad temper? You’ve really got a problem there, you know. And then there’s the way you spend your money—all on yourself. And what about the kind of books you read?

Stop picking on me! I’m just as good as some of the rest of those people at the church.

—Excuse me. I thought you were praying for my will to be done. If that is to happen, it will have to start with the ones who are praying for it. Like you, for example.

Oh, all right. I guess I do have some hang-ups. Now that you mention it, I could probably name some others.

—So could I.

I haven’t thought about it very much until now, but I really would like to cut out some of those things. I would like to, you know, be really free.

—Good. Now we’re getting somewhere. We’ll work together, you and I. Some victories can truly be won. I’m proud of you.

Look, Lord, I need to finish up here. This is taking a lot longer than it usually does. “Give us this day, our daily bread.”

—You need to cut out the bread. You’re overweight as it is.

Hey, wait a minute! What is this, “Criticize me day”? Here I was doing my religious duty, and all of a sudden you break in and remind me of all my hang-ups.

—Praying is a dangerous thing. You could wind up changed, you know.

That’s what I’m trying to get across to you. You called me, and here I am. It’s too late to stop now. Keep praying, I’m interested in the next part of your prayer…..(pause). Well, go on.

I’m scared to.

—Scared? Of what?

I know what you’ll say.

—Try me and see.

“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”

—What about Ann?

See? I knew it! I knew you would bring her up! Why Lord, she’s told lies about me, spread stories about my family. She never paid back the debt she owes me. I’ve sworn to get even with her!

—But your prayer? What about your prayer?

I didn’t mean it.

—Well, at least you’re honest. But it’s not much fun carrying that load of bitterness around inside, is it?

No. But I’ll feel better as soon as I get even. Boy, have I got some plans for that neighbor. She’ll wish she had never moved into this neighborhood.

—You won’t feel any better. You’ll feel worse. Revenge isn’t sweet. Think of how unhappy you already are. But I can change all that.

You can? How?

—Forgive Ann. Then I’ll forgive you. Then the hate and sin will be Ann’s problem and not yours. You will have settled your heart.

Oh, you’re right. You always are. And more than I want to revenge Ann, I want to be right with you. Ann, I want to be right with you ….. (pause) ….. (sigh). All right. All right. I forgive her. Help her to find the right road in life, Lord. She’s bound to be awfully miserable now that I think about it. Anybody who goes around doing the things she does to others has to be out of it. Someway, somehow, show her the right way.

—There now! Wonderful! How do you feel?

Hmmmmmm. Well, not bad. Not bad at all. In fact, I feel pretty great! You know, I don’t think I’ll have to go to bed uptight tonight for the first time since I can remember. Maybe I won’t be so tired from now on because I’m not getting enough rest.

—You’re not through with your prayer. Go on.

Oh, all right. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

—Good! Good! I’ll do that. Just don’t put yourself in a place where you can be tempted.

What do you mean by that?

—Don’t turn on the TV when you know the laundry needs to be done and the house needs to be picked up. Also, about the time you spend coffeeing with your friends, if you can’t influence the conversation to positive things, perhaps you should re-think the value of those friendships. Another thing, your neighbors and friends shouldn’t be your standard for “keeping up”. And please don’t use me for an escape hatch.

I don’t understand the last part.

—Sure you do. You’ve done it a lot of times. You get caught in a bad situation. You get into trouble and then you come running to me, “Lord, help me out of this mess, and I promise you I’ll never do it again.” You remember some of those bargains you tried to make with me?

Yes and I’m ashamed, Lord. I really am.

—Which bargain are you remembering?

Well, there was the night that Bill was gone and the children and I were home alone. The wind was blowing so hard I thought the roof would go any minute and tornado warnings were out. I remember praying, “Oh God, if you spare us, I’ll never skip my devotions again.”

—I protected you, but you didn’t keep your promise, did you?

I’m sorry, Lord, I really am. Up until now I thought that if I just prayed the Lord’s Prayer every day, then I could do what I liked. I didn’t expect anything to happen like it did.

—Go ahead and finish your prayer.

“For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.”

Amen

—Do you know what would bring me glory? What would really make me happy?

No, but I’d like to know. I want now to please you. I can see what a mess I’ve made of my life. And I can see how great it would be to really be one of your followers.

—You just answered the question.

I did?

—Yes. The thing that would bring me glory is to have people like you truly love me. And I see that happening between us. Now that some of these old sins are exposed and out of the way, well, there is no telling what we can do together.

Lord, let’s see what we can make of me, O.K.?

—Yes, let’s see….

I would like to close with a couple paragraphs from MacArthur.

“Pastors [I would include all believers personally] are often evaluated on the basis of the wrong criteria. Their effectiveness is frequently gauged by the size of their church, their building program, their popularity, their educational background, the number of books they have written, or their radio or TV exposure.

“While such things may have some significance, none of them are biblically valid criteria for assessing a man of god. The Puritan genius John Owen wrote, “A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more’ (cited in I.D.E. Thomas, A PURITAN GOLDEN TREASURY [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1977],192). (THE MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY I TIMOTHY; John MacArthur; Moody Press; Chicago; 1995; pp. 157-158)

Godliness. The only way to find it is one step at a time as the somewhat lengthy illustration indicates. You free up a little of yourself, and He will fill it with a little of Himself! Sounds like a great deal to me.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

It is for godliness that the believer should strive and discipline himself or herself primarily (cf. 2Pe 1:1-11). The reason for this is that we look forward to a genuine hope beyond the grave. That hope rests in the "living" God (1Ti 3:15) who is the "Savior of all man" (1Ti 2:2; 1Ti 2:4; 1Ti 2:6). God is the Savior of all in the sense that He has provided a salvation that is available to all. He is the Savior of believers in a special sense since they are those who have accepted His provision of salvation. Salvation is sufficient for all but efficient only for those who believe. [Note: See Gary L. Schultz Jr., "God’s Purposes in the Atonement for the Nonelect," Bibliotheca Sacra 165:658 (April-June 2008):145-63.]

Some strong Calvinists say that God is the Savior of all men only in the sense that He saves all people from temporary disasters. [Note: E.g., Hendriksen, pp. 154-56.] While it is true that God does this, Paul’s use of "Savior" has led most interpreters to conclude that he was describing God’s work of providing eternal salvation here as in 1Ti 2:4 (cf. 1Ti 1:1; 1Ti 2:3).

"Paul advises his readers to concentrate on the basics: steady nourishment from the Word of God, pursuit of the godly life in the Spirit and the priority of mission." [Note: Towner, 1-2 Timothy . . ., p. 108.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)