1 Timothy 4:6 6By making these things known to the brothers [and sisters], you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, by being trained in the words of the faith and of the good teachings which you have been faithfully following.
Paul moves from the false teachers to address Timothy directly. The opponents still stand in the background, as verse 7 shows. Timothy needed to be strong in his own character and faith in order to deal with the false teachings. He could set a good example and be a role model for the Ephesians by how he lived out his faith. The participle (hypotithemenos) that begins the verse could be taken as conditional (“if you make”) or instrumental (“by making”), with both applying to Timothy’s situation. He needed to teach what Paul taught him in person and of what he reminded Timothy in this letter.
The way Timothy could have an effective ministry for Christ was to stick to the gospel message, teach it correctly, and live it out with the highest character qualities in model of Christ. Paul points out howTimothy could focus his ministry and be a good “servant” (diakonos) of Christ by using another instrumental participle (entrephomenos). The focus of Paul’s exhortation are the words. These words are described in two parallel ways. First, they are the words of faith, which is likely a reference to the core Christian faith and the central teachings about Jesus as summarized in 1:15, 2:5-6, and 3:16. Jesus needed to be the center of all that Timothy said and did.
Second, they are the words of the good teachings. These words could refer to the doctrinal teachings that explained the core beliefs about Jesus. Timothy had been faithfully following (perfect tense) these teachings ever since he was young and trained by his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14-15). He was doing a good job in his ministry, but in dealing with false teachers, the stress would be going up and the intellectual and spiritual challenges increase. He needed to be anchored deeply to the solid rock of Jesus. The best defense against heresy and best offense in training God’s people is to know the gospel well.
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