1 Timothy 4:14

1 Timothy 4:14. Neglect not. The words point, like the ‘ rekindle ' in 2 Timothy 1:6, to the danger of an ascetic temperament tending to meditative quiescence rather than energetic service.

The gift. The context implies that it was the special gift needed for the ‘exhortation' and ‘teaching' of the previous verse a gift therefore at once of knowledge and of wisdom, of sympathy and insight.

By prophecy. The scene which the words suggest is that of the young convert kneeling in prayer, the presbytery, or body of elders in the Church of Lystra (or, it may be, Ephesus) laying their hands upon him, in prayer for the gifts he needed, while a prophet, recognising at once his special capacities and the gifts which were required for their full development, told the elders for what gifts to pray. From 2 Timothy 1:6, it would seem as if St. Paul was himself one of those who thus officiated.