1 Timothy 4

    4:1-5.  In later times (1); since these things were already happening, I take it Paul is warning Timothy to be on the watch for a current danger, and this phrase is the equivalent to these last days (Heb.1:2).  The faith; the definite article indicates the faith once delivered (Jude 3), the revealed gospel of Jesus Christ.  The false teachers here could have been either Jews or Gentiles.  Acts 15 deals with a similar imposition of rules by Jews.  1 Cor.8 & 10 deals with the problem of meat offered to idols.  Though the idol was nothing, the doctrines and lying spirits that enslave men’s minds and misled their consciences were real.  Therefore, Paul instructed those in Corinth to eat anything from the meat market with thanks to God and a clear conscience, as long as a weak brother was not injured.  But in Col.2:15-23 (see notes), he deals with the problem of false teachers with a Jewish background who wanted to pile on the rules.

     The point is, that these false teachings are the doctrines of deceitful evil spirits.  It doesn’t matter much to demons whether men worship idols or not, as long as they are kept in misery and superstition as though the idol had more power than God.  As long as men are led astray, it doesn’t matter if it’s to the right or the left.  If you can call marriage or certain foods unclean, which God has declared clean, and if you can do it in the name of Jesus, so much the better, from the demons’ point of view.  Perhaps the use of these things are all right for the common sort, but just not for those of a higher spiritual calling.  That has proven to be a usefully deceitful doctrine as well.

     Believe God’s word.  Everything created by God is good and to be received with gratitude (4; cf. Gen.1:25, 29, 31).  His word sanctifies it (cf. Gen.9:3; Mark 7:18-19; Acts 10:13-15) if it is received with gratitude and prayer (4-5).

     4:6.  Our faith is not a matter of food and drink, but of faith and sound doctrine, which is our true nourishment.

     4:7a.  The NASB is an especially bad translation of the old wives’ fables (KJV) phrase.  Worldly fables fit only for old women implies that superstitions are okay for old women, but not for others.  They are, of course, fit for no one.  A more literal translation reads, “…but the profane and old-womanish tales refuse” (Alfred Marshall).  This is intended to ridicule the false teachers and their profane tales, not old women.

     4:7b-8.  Paul is here quick to point out that he is not advocating an undisciplined life, physically or otherwise.  Bodily discipline serves us well in the present life, and godly discipline even more so, for it is profitable now and in the life to come (cf. 1 Cor.9:25-27).

     4:9-11.  Q. Since all are not saved, in what sense is God the Savior of all men, especially of believers (10)?   A. In the sense that there is salvation in no one else (Acts 4:12).  If any man is to be saved, it must be by God in God’s way.  Secondly, the temporal mercies of all living men are by God’s common grace.  He gives life and breath, and showers blessings on the good and bad alike.  But the living God is especially the Savior of believers, both in this life and the next. 

     4:12.  (Cf. Jer.1:6-7.)  The eldership is not a matter of age in years, but of maturity in these attributes, and the exercise of spiritual gifts.

     4:13-16.  Timothy must develop his gifts by using them, for they are not a matter of his own notions.  They have been confirmed by the opinion of others, both in prophetic utterance and by ordination, i.e., the laying on of hands by the elders of the church.  This recognition of his gifts and commissioning by the leaders of the church gives him authority to publicly read, exhort, and teach the word of God.  By taking great pains in these things, and being absorbed in them, he will bring salvation both to himself and to those who hear.