1 Timothy 4
4
1The Holy Spirit clearly says that in the last days some people will leave the faith. They will follow spirits that will fool them. They will believe things that demons will teach them. 2Teachings like those come from liars who pretend to be what they are not. Their sense of what is right and wrong has been destroyed. It’s as though it has been burned with a hot iron. 3They do not allow people to get married. They order them not to eat certain foods. But God created those foods. So people who believe and know the truth should receive them and give thanks for them. 4Everything God created is good. You shouldn’t turn anything down. Instead, you should thank God for it. 5The word of God and prayer make it holy.
6Point out these things to the brothers and sisters. Then you will serve Christ Jesus well. You will show that you’ve grown in the truths of the faith. You will show that you’ve been trained by the good teaching you’ve obeyed. 7Don’t have anything to do with godless stories and silly tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. 8Training the body has some value. But being godly has value in every way. It promises help for the life you are now living and the life to come. 9This is the truth you can trust and accept completely. 10This is why we work and try so hard. It’s because we have put our hope in the living God. He is the Savior of all people. Most of all, he is the Savior of those who believe.
11Command and teach these things. 12Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young. Set an example for the believers in what you say and in how you live. Also set an example in how you love and in what you believe. Show the believers how to be pure. 13Until I come, spend your time reading Scripture out loud to one another. Spend your time preaching and teaching. 14Don’t fail to use the gift the Holy Spirit gave you. He gave it to you through a prophecy from God. It was given when the elders placed their hands on you.
15Keep on doing these things. Give them your complete attention. Then everyone will see how you are coming along. 16Be careful of how you live and what you believe. Never give up. Then you will save yourself and those who hear you.
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1 Timothy 4
4
False Asceticism.#Doctrinal deviations from the true Christian message within the church have been prophesied, though the origin of the prophecy is not specified (1 Tm 4:1–2); cf. Acts 20:29–30. The letter warns against a false asceticism that prohibits marriage and regards certain foods as forbidden, though they are part of God’s good creation (1 Tm 4:3). 1Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the last times some will turn away from the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and demonic instructions#2 Tm 3:1; 4:3; 2 Pt 3:3; Jude 18. 2through the hypocrisy of liars with branded consciences. 3They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.#Gn 9:3; Rom 14:6; 1 Cor 10:30–31. 4For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected when received with thanksgiving,#Gn 1:31; Acts 10:15. 5for it is made holy by the invocation of God in prayer.#The invocation of God in prayer: literally, “the word of God and petition.” The use of “word of God” without an article in Greek suggests that it refers to the name of God being invoked in blessing rather than to the “word of God” proclaimed to the community.
Counsel to Timothy. 6#Timothy is urged to be faithful, both in his teaching and in his own life, as he looks only to God for salvation. If you will give these instructions to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching you have followed. 7Avoid profane and silly myths. Train yourself for devotion,#1:4; 2 Tm 2:16; Ti 1:14. 8for, while physical training is of limited value, devotion is valuable in every respect, since it holds a promise of life both for the present and for the future.#6:6. 9This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance.#1:15; 2 Tm 2:11; Ti 3:8. 10For this we toil and struggle,#Struggle: other manuscripts and patristic witnesses read “suffer reproach.” because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the savior of all, especially of those who believe.#2:4; Ti 2:11.
11#Timothy is urged to preach and teach with confidence, relying on the gifts and the mission that God has bestowed on him. Command and teach these things. 12Let no one have contempt for your youth,#Youth: some commentators find this reference a sign of pseudepigraphy. Timothy had joined Paul as a missionary already in A.D. 49, some fifteen years before the earliest supposed date of composition. but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.#1 Cor 16:11; Ti 2:15 / Phil 3:17. 13Until I arrive, attend to the reading,#Reading: the Greek word refers to private or public reading. Here, it probably designates the public reading of scripture in the Christian assembly. exhortation, and teaching. 14Do not neglect the gift you have, which was conferred on you through the prophetic word#Prophetic word: this may mean the utterance of a Christian prophet designating the candidate or a prayer of blessing accompanying the rite. Imposition of hands: this gesture was used in the Old Testament to signify the transmission of authority from Moses to Joshua (Nm 27:18–23; Dt 34:9). The early Christian community used it as a symbol of installation into an office: the Seven (Acts 6:6) and Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:3). Of the presbyterate: this would mean that each member of the college of presbyters imposed hands and appears to contradict 2 Tm 1:6, in which Paul says that he imposed hands on Timothy. This latter text, however, does not exclude participation by others in the rite. Some prefer to translate “for the presbyterate,” and thus understand it to designate the office into which Timothy was installed rather than the agents who installed him. with the imposition of hands of the presbyterate.#5:22; Acts 6:6; 8:17; 2 Tm 1:6. 15Be diligent in these matters, be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to everyone. 16Attend to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in both tasks, for by doing so you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.
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