而提摩太只是神所使用的器皿：

Mention of Timothy’s “hearers” is an indirect affirmation of the core of the pastoral task: the ministry of the word. As pastors (and believers they oversee) deploy that word, saving faith arises and is sustained in those who hear and receive it (see Rom 10:17). To encourage this process is why Paul has stressed teaching and preaching and doctrine in this subsection and elsewhere. On “save” (from sōzō; twenty-nine occurrences in Paul, seven of them in the PE), see commentary Introduction, IX.A. He has already used the word in 1:15; 2:4, 15 (see discussion above). These verses stress that Christ saves (1:15) and that God saves (2:4, 15 contain divine passives). Paul’s monergistic understanding is highlighted in 2 Tim 1:9: “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” Here Paul speaks from the theological perspective; salvation is solely God’s doing. Yet, precisely because of God’s foresight and faithful provision, in the direst of straits Paul can write, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely [form of sōzō] to his heavenly kingdom” (2 Tim 4:18).

 Robert W. Yarbrough, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, ed. D. A. Carson, Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; London: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos, 2018), 256.