1 Timothy 4:15 - Exposition

Be diligent in for meditate upon , A.V.; progress for profiting , A.V. ; be manifest unto for appear to , A.V. Be diligent , etc. ( αῦτα μελέτα ). Give all your attention and care and study to these things. It is just the contrary to μὴ ἀμέλει in 1 Timothy 4:14 . The verb μελετάω , besides this passage, occurs in its classical sense of "premeditating" or "getting up a speech," in Mark 13:11 (where, however, the reading is doubtful), and again in Acts 4:25 , in the sense of "premeditating" certain actions. A kindred use in classical Greek is "to practice" or "exercise" an art, as rhetoric, dancing, shooting with a bow, and the like. It is very common in the LXX ., in the sense of "meditating," practicing in the thoughts. Give thyself wholly to them ( ἐν τούτοις ἴσθι ); literally, be in these things ; i.e. be wholly and always occupied with them. The similar phrases in Greek and Latin classics are ἑν τούτοις ὁ καῖσαρ ἧν (Plutarch); "Omnis in hoc sum" (Her., 'Ep.,' Ephesians 1:1 . 1); "Nescio quid meditans nugarum, et totus in illis" (Her., 'Sat.,' 1. 9. 2); and in the LXX ., ἐν φόβῳ κυρίου ἰσθι ὃλην τὴν ἡμέραν ( Proverbs 23:1-35 . 17). Thy progress ( ἡ προκοπή ). Progress, advance, or growth, is the idea of προκοπή . It is used twice in Phip Acts 1:12 , Acts 1:25 . A good example of its use in classical Greek is that in Polyb., Acts 3:4 , αὔξησις καὶ προκοπὴ τὴς ρωμαίων δυναστείας . The use of the verb προκόπτω for "to advance," "make progress," is still more common ( Luke 2:52 ; Romans 13:12 ; Ga L 14; 2 Timothy 2:16 ; 2 Timothy 3:9 , 2 Timothy 3:14 ). It is used equally of progress in good or evil. Unto all. The R.T. reads πᾶσιν for ἐν πᾶσιν in the T.R., which may be rendered either "to [or, 'among'] all persons" or "in all things."