1 Timothy 4:6

‘If you put the brothers (and sisters) in mind of these things, you will be a good minister (diakonos) of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which you have followed until now.’

So if Timothy keeps these things continually in the minds of ‘the brothers and sisters’ (adelphoi usually includes both brothers and sisters. It is an overall term), then he will be demonstrating that he is a good servant of Christ Jesus. Diakonos might have in mind that it was the diakonos who supplied material things to the people of God, so that Timothy was acting as a diakonos here. On the other hand it may just be a general word for servant. It certainly counts against any idea that Timothy had an exalted official status. Rather he was to be seen as a servant of Christ Jesus. And as he reminds the people of God that because all God’s provision is good they can marry and eat extensively of all God’s creation without exception, while at the same time offering their genuine thanksgiving, thus keeping them from heresy, he himself will be nourished (or ‘trained’), in his case in the words of faith and in good doctrine, the good doctrine that he has followed up to now, and must, of course, go on following. (Again we note the typically Pauline reference to ‘Christ Jesus’.)