Theodoret of Cyrus: Grace Obtained Through the Effort of Hearing Scripture

Until I come, give attention to public reading, to exhortation, to instruction (v.13). We can learn from this that we ourselves can contribute our effort, and thus receive the grace of the Spirit: the teacher bade the thrice-blessed Timothy, spiritual though he was, to attend to public reading. Now, exhortation differs from instruction: instruction provides the person with a complete range of lessons, whereas exhortation either consoles the downhearted or transforms the wrathful with wise counsels.

- Theodoret of Cyrus (around A.D. 393 to around A.D. 457), Commentary on 1 Timothy, Chapter 4, in Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Letters of St. Paul, Volume 2, p. 223 (2001), Robert C. Hill translator.