The Result of Continuance: Salvation
Christian living. His own life must demonstrate that after forty years of ministry, he is still more amazed by grace, not less.
The Result of Continuance: Salvation The stakes of this continuance could not be higher: "for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." The language is startling. Is Paul teaching that Timothy can save himself by works? Not at all. The entire letter of 1 Timothy exalts the saving work of Christ alone.
Paul is speaking of the instrumental means God uses to bring about and preserve salvation. God saves through the gospel. He saves through the ongoing application of the gospel to the heart of the believer and through the proclamation of the gospel to the ears of the hearer. The steward does not possess saving power. But he is used by God as an instrument of saving grace when he remains faithful to himself and to the doctrine.
To "save thyself" refers to perseverance. It is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Those who are truly saved will continue in the faith. They will do so through the means God has appointed: attention to their own souls and attention to sound doctrine. The steward who takes heed to himself avoids the disqualification of a shipwrecked faith. He wars against the sin that would harden his heart and make him an apostate. The steward who takes heed to the doctrine ensures that he is not subtly