Enjoin and teach these things.

1 Timothy 4:9-11

Faithful is the Word and worthy of all acceptance;  FOR to this we also labor and are reproached, because we hope on the living God, who is Savior of all men, especially of believers.

The truth stated in verse 8, Paul earmarks with the statement, "This is a trustworthy word and worthy of every acceptance." The word "for" introduces a statement in support of his previous declaration in the latter verse. The words "labor" and "suffer reproach" are kopiaō, "to labor to the point of exhaustion," and agōnizomai, a Greek athletic term speaking of the participation of the athlete in the Greek games. We get our word "agony" from the latter. Both words denote strenuous and painful effort. The word "and" is ascensive, "we labor, yea struggle."

The word "hope" is elpizō, and is in the perfect tense. Literally, "we have set our hope upon with the present result that it is a settled hope."

Paul says that the Christian God is the Saviour of all men. This might appear to teach universalism, and hence needs careful exegesis. The word "Saviour" (sōtēr) means "saviour, deliverer, preserver." The name was given by the ancients to deities, to princes, kings, and in general, to men who had conferred signal benefits upon their country, and in the more degenerate days, by way of flattery, to personages of influence (Thayer). In the Cult of the Caesar, the state religion of the Roman Empire, the reigning emperor was called "saviour of the world," in the sense that he was the preserver of mankind by reason of his beneficent reign.

One could find in this statement the idea that God is the Preserver of the entire human race in the sense of His providential care. But the context, which brings in the idea of faith, seems to indicate that the idea of salvation from sin and the impartation of eternal life is the function here of God as Saviour. He is Saviour of all men in the sense that our Lord is "the Saviour of the world" (Joh 4:42). He is the actual Saviour of those who believe, and the potential Saviour of the unbeliever in the sense that He has provided a salvation at the Cross for the sinner, and stands ready to save that sinner when the latter places his faith in the Lord Jesus.

Translation: This is a trustworthy word and worthy of every acceptance, for with a view to this we are laboring to the point of exhaustion; yes, we are putting forth great efforts against opposition, because we have set our hope permanently upon the living God who is the Saviour of all men, especially of believers. These things be constantly commanding and teaching.