1 Timothy 4: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Paul warns Timothy that the Spirit has clearly said some people will later abandon the faith and follow the teachings of demons, taught by liars whose conscience is seared, who forbid marriage and certain foods. Paul answers that everything God made is good and may be eaten with thanks. He then tells Timothy how to work: reject silly stories, train himself for godly living, teach with authority despite his youth, use the gift given to him, and keep watch over both his own life and his teaching.

Claim by Claim

1. 4:1
   • The Spirit says this explicitly.
   • In later times some will depart from the faith.
   • Those who depart will give heed to deceiving spirits.
   • Those who depart will give heed to teachings of demons.
2. 4:2
   • This comes through the hypocrisy of liars.
   • Such liars have had their own conscience seared as with a hot iron.
3. 4:3
   • They forbid marrying.
   • They command abstaining from foods.
   • God created those foods to be received with thanksgiving.
   • Those who believe and know the truth are the ones to receive them.
4. 4:4
   • Every creature God made is good.
   • Nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.
5. 4:5
   • It is made holy by the word of God and by prayer.
6. 4:6
   • If Timothy puts these things before the brethren, he will be a good servant of Christ Jesus.
   • Such a servant is nourished on the words of the faith and of the good teaching.
   • Timothy has followed that good teaching.
7. 4:7
   • Timothy is to refuse profane fables.
   • Timothy is to refuse old wives' fables.
   • Timothy is to train himself toward godliness.
8. 4:8
   • Bodily exercise is profitable for a little.
   • Godliness is profitable for all things.
   • Godliness holds promise of the life that now is.
   • Godliness holds promise of the life that is to come.
9. 4:9
   • The saying is faithful.
   • The saying is worthy of full acceptance.
10. 4:10
    • For this we labor.
    • For this we suffer reproach.
    • We have set our hope on the living God.
    • God is the Savior of all men.
    • God is especially the Savior of those who believe.
11. 4:11
    • Timothy is to command these things.
    • Timothy is to teach these things.
12. 4:12
    • No one is to despise Timothy's youth.
    • Timothy is to be an example to the believers in word.
    • Timothy is to be an example in conduct.
    • Timothy is to be an example in love.
    • Timothy is to be an example in spirit.
    • Timothy is to be an example in faith.
    • Timothy is to be an example in purity.
13. 4:13
    • Paul is coming.
    • Until then Timothy is to attend to the reading.
    • Timothy is to attend to exhortation.
    • Timothy is to attend to teaching.
14. 4:14
    • Timothy is not to neglect the gift that is in him.
    • That gift was given to him through prophecy.
    • That gift was given with the laying on of the hands of the body of elders.
15. 4:15
    • Timothy is to meditate on these things.
    • Timothy is to give himself wholly to these things.
    • The purpose is that his progress may be evident to all.
16. 4:16
    • Timothy is to take heed to himself.
    • Timothy is to take heed to the teaching.
    • Timothy is to continue in them.
    • By doing this he will save himself.
    • By doing this he will save those who hear him.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

4:1

The King James "devils" translates a Greek word meaning demons, lesser hostile spirits, and not the Devil himself; 1611 English used one word for both. "The latter times" renders a phrase meaning simply the seasons that come later than the present one, without fixing how far off they are.

4:2

The image in "having their conscience seared with a hot iron" can be read two ways in Greek: a conscience cauterized until it has no feeling left, or one branded the way a slave or a criminal was branded, marked as belonging to someone. Both senses were available to the first readers.

4:3

"Meats" in 1611 English meant food of any kind, not flesh in particular, and the Greek word behind it is equally general. The teaching in view banned marriage outright and put whole classes of food off limits.

4:4

"Creature" in 1611 meant anything created, an object or a plant as much as an animal.

4:5

"Sanctified" means set apart as clean and fit to use. "The word of God" here most likely means the words of Scripture spoken in the blessing said over a meal, a Jewish household practice that the earliest Christians continued.

4:6

"Minister" translates the ordinary Greek word for a servant or attendant, someone who waits at table. It carries none of the sense of a modern clergy title. "Brethren" was the standard way of addressing a mixed group of fellow believers, men and women together.

4:7

"Profane" in 1611 meant belonging to ordinary rather than sacred use, not foul language. "Old wives' fables" was a stock Greek expression for the sort of tale nobody sensible believes; it was a jibe at the stories, not a verdict on any particular women. "Exercise thyself" begins an athletic image: the verb is the one behind the English word gymnasium.

4:8

"Bodily exercise" continues the athletic picture from verse 7, the physical training of a competitor. "Profiteth little" is ambiguous in Greek and can mean either useful only to a small degree or useful only for a short while.

4:9

"This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation" is a set formula that appears five times in the letters to Timothy and Titus. It flags a line already circulating and trusted in the churches. Readers have long disagreed over whether it points back to the saying in verse 8 or forward to verse 10.

4:10

"Suffer reproach" follows manuscripts with a Greek verb meaning to be insulted. Other early manuscripts have a similar looking verb meaning to struggle or compete, another athlete's word, which most modern translations follow. "Specially" in 1611 meant especially.

4:12

Three words here have shifted since 1611. "Conversation" meant a person's whole conduct and manner of life, not talk. "Charity" meant love, with no suggestion of almsgiving. "Youth" covered a far wider span than it does now; a man could still be called young at close to forty. The phrase "in spirit" is absent from the oldest manuscripts, which is why some modern translations omit it.

4:13

"Give attendance to reading" means reading aloud to the assembled congregation. Copies of the Scriptures were scarce and expensive, so most people met the text by hearing someone read it. "Exhortation" is urging hearers to act on what they have heard; "doctrine" simply means teaching, the content passed on, not a formal system of beliefs.

4:14

"The presbytery" is the body of elders of a congregation acting together; the Greek word for elder lies behind both English "presbyter" and "priest". Placing hands on someone was the customary public gesture for setting a person apart for a task and asking God's blessing on it.

4:15

"Meditate" here does not mean quiet inward reflection. The Greek verb means to practice or work at something, the way an actor drills lines or a soldier drills with weapons. "Profiting" means progress, a word used of a student advancing in a subject.

4:16

"Take heed" means pay careful attention. "Doctrine" means teaching, the things you tell people are true.