The appeal is to copy Paul's own pattern as a faithful steward. He stood to Timothy as a spiritual father and lived example, for Timothy had come to faith through his labor, and their bond was knit stronger by shared missionary hopes, dangers, and toil. The whole chapter around the appeal supplies God's clear definition of a steward's position for ministers of Christ and for physicians, and it is to be made a diligent study with self-examination by each one as to where he stands.
A steward holds the Master's goods in means or property in trust to keep everything in order, under a great accountability that few realize. To follow Paul in that stewardship is to keep a conscience void of offense toward God and toward fellow men, ever realizing it is the Master's property being handled. It is to keep the position untarnished by mean actions in dealing with fellow stewards, and not to try to make one's own course appear as possessing great wisdom.
The same call is Christ's invitation to follow Him, for He is the highest model. The fruit He bore was perfect obedience to the Word and will of God, with benevolence and meekness revealed in His life and character, so believers must be like Jesus in life practice. His example is to be kept before them and His life fully studied and practiced, and by thoroughly doing His revealed will they shall know of the doctrine. They must not act from unsanctified natural temperament, which divorces the soul from God.
The appeal is to copy Paul's own pattern as a faithful steward. He stood to Timothy as a spiritual father and lived example, for Timothy had come to faith through his labor, and their bond was knit stronger by shared missionary hopes, dangers, and toil. The whole chapter around the appeal supplies God's clear definition of a steward's position for ministers of Christ and for physicians, and it is to be made a diligent study with self-examination by each one as to where he stands.
A steward holds the Master's goods in means or property in trust to keep everything in order, under a great accountability that few realize. To follow Paul in that stewardship is to keep a conscience void of offense toward God and toward fellow men, ever realizing it is the Master's property being handled. It is to keep the position untarnished by mean actions in dealing with fellow stewards, and not to try to make one's own course appear as possessing great wisdom.
The same call is Christ's invitation to follow Him, for He is the highest model. The fruit He bore was perfect obedience to the Word and will of God, with benevolence and meekness revealed in His life and character, so believers must be like Jesus in life practice. His example is to be kept before them and His life fully studied and practiced, and by thoroughly doing His revealed will they shall know of the doctrine. They must not act from unsanctified natural temperament, which divorces the soul from God.