First Timothy 4:1-16

Having just written about the mystery of the belief (believing correctly) and the mystery of the reverence (behaving correctly), Paul continues by telling Timothy what his holy spirit-life has communicated to him:

I Timothy 4:1-5:

^4:1But the spirit speaking says that in times afterwards some-people will depart-from the belief having-attention to wandering spirits and teachings of devils, ^.2in hypocrisy of word-liars having been seared² (in their) own conscience, ^.3hindering to marry, to refrain-oneself-from foods which God created with-a-view-to a reception with thankfulness by the believers also having fully-known² the truth ^.4that every creature of God (is) beautiful and nothing throwing-away being received with thankfulness ^.5for it is made-holy by means of (the) word of God and intercession.

The spirit is specifically laying out information that in times afterwards (during opportune occasions, precise seasons, periods of limited-time that will come later-on after all that has happened so far), some holy-people will depart-from the belief (some Christians will cause themselves to stand away from the belief in Christ Jesus)…

having-attention to (holding or turning their minds, thoughts and attention towards/for the purpose of)
- wandering spirits (spirits who err, do not stay in their rightful-place, who mislead, lead astray giving information and evidences causing people to wander away from God’s truth) and
- teachings of devils (doctrines, instructions issuing-from demons; this word ‘teaching’ includes the teaching itself and the action of teaching it)….

The word translated "devils" in verse 1 is the Greek word daimonion, which was used in Greek mythology/falsehoods to describe supernatural intermediary beings between false-gods and men. In reality, these are the lower-ranking demons, evil spirits, like 'privates,' which take their direction from the higher-ranking evil spirits (daimon) in the devil's "army" which take their orders and direction from the chief or top-ranking devil-spirit himself who is the devil/satan.

In times afterwards some-people will depart-from the belief having-attention to wandering spirits and teachings of devils,…

in hypocrisy of word-liars (within the sphere of action of the pretense issuing from those who speak false words, lies, feigning to be who/what they are not, dissimulation, playing a part as though they were on a stage and taking on the character of their mask deliberately misrepresenting themselves and the truth of God's Word)
- having been seared and continuing seared in their own conscience (the word “conscience” means: a person’s knowing-awareness, the perception of what is right which he put together for himself in his mind as a result of all that he has already been taught and learned in relation to the one whom he recognizes as his ruler, the one who has authority, ultimately this authority should be the only true God – these word-liars were and remained seared, as with a caustic or a cautery (burned in and marked with a branding iron), in their own conscience, singular because all of them have their conscience in the same state - seared),
- hindering to marry (blocking, preventing men and women from marrying each other and behaving as married couples having physical contact with one another),
- to refrain oneself from foods (to hold oneself back, abstain away from foods for eating)
  - which God created with a view to a reception with thankfulness by the believers (God brought foods into being, established them for a taking, participation with one another of these foods with gratitude to God by the people who believe what God says)
  - additionally and emphatically the believers having fully-known and who still have full, clear and exact personal knowledge of the truth that every creature of God is beautiful (all/every thing that God creates has a manifested decorous, harmonious, and acceptable goodness) and nothing throwing-away being received with thankfulness (not a cast-off, not something to be cast away when it is being taken in company and association with gratitude to God) – why not? – in truth it is made-holy by means of the word of God and intercession (it is sanctified, set-apart from the state of being common, defiled or unclean against God through God’s word, what He says, and our meeting and talking with God regarding it).

[Reference: Acts 10:9-16; I Corinthians 10:25-31; I John 4:6; II John 1:7.]

Verses 6-10:

^.6Putting these-things from-yourself to the brothers you will be a beautiful minister of Christ Jesus being in-nourished with words of the belief and of the beautiful teaching which you followed-beside², ^.7but the profane-people and old-womanish fables you must refuse; and you must exercise yourself towards reverence ^.8for the bodily exercise is profitable towards a little-thing but the reverence is profitable towards all-things, having promise of life, the (life) now and the (life) being about-to (come). ^.9The word (is) believable and worthy of all acceptance, ^.10for into this we labor and contest because we hoped² on (the) living God Who is (the) Savior of all men especially of believers.

Putting these things from-yourself to the brothers (when you are placing these instructions that you have already received under the eyes of the other holy-people, bringing these things to the attention of all who have received holy spirit-life, your brothers) you Timothy will be a beautiful minister of Christ Jesus (you will be a person belonging-to Christ Jesus who serves to benefit the brothers, not 'being-subject' to them but doing work to bring your brothers profit in a decorous, harmonious, and acceptably good manner) being in-nourished with words (presently being sustained, fed within you with the words spoken to you)…

of the belief (containing the information of what you are to believe) and
of the beautiful teaching which you followed-beside and continue to follow-beside (containing the information of the beautiful doctrine, instruction, which you have closely followed and you still go after it in the same way/road that it goes; this word ‘teaching’ includes the teaching itself and the action of teaching it).

But the profane-people (those who desecrate, trample, pollute, violate, cross the threshold from what is holy and enter-into what is unholy, not sacred or initiated) and old-womanish fables (legends, fictional stories, myths, the perceptions of old women as though they had grown wise due to experiences over time, some of whom propound female gods, a female creator, etc) you Timothy must refuse (you must excuse yourself from those profane people and those fables, entreat that you would not have to listen to them, ask aside from them).

You must exercise yourself towards reverence (you must train yourself as a gymnast without any hindrance towards good service; a gymnast during Paul’s time was an athlete who took off his clothes because clothes would hinder him in the competition). Timothy, you must exercise who? Yourself. Why? Towards/for service towards God being respectfully reverential of Him (refer to I Timothy 2:2 and 3:16). In truth…

the bodily exercise is profitable towards a little-thing (training the physical body, doing extra things or forbidding other things in the category of the fleshy body, presently and actively is beneficial, advantageous for a little bit, a small amount, a little while)
but the reverence is profitable towards all-things (the good service towards God being respectfully reverential of Him presently and actively is beneficial, advantageous for all things, everything plural, all matters, amounts, time),
- having promise of life (the reverence is holding the proclamation, the declaration of the message of God’s intention which is life), emphatically
  - the life that is now (life at the present time between the day of Pentecost, Acts chapter 2, and the gathering together of all holy-people, I Thessalonians 4:13-17; our life now is the gift of holy spirit that God has given us by means of the Lord Jesus Christ within our current fleshy bodies; this life is a token or deposit of what we will receive at the time of the gathering together) and
  - the life being about-to come (life that is on the point of coming; our life in the future will be holy spirit life within our new bodies, the fullness of what God has promised to give us from the time of our gathering together with our Lord Jesus Christ onwards).

The word (the spoken account) is believable (faithful, trustworthy) and worthy of all acceptance (of equal-value to every reception, of like-worth with all welcoming) – what word? – the spoken account of the inner thoughts of God regarding life both now and in the future – salvation. We can rely on what God says, His Word.

The word is believable and worthy of all acceptance; in truth, it is into (with a view to, directed to) this that…

we labor (we exert wearisome effort, toil as though physically beating ourselves) and
we contest (the word "contest" refers to being in a place of contest where there are two opposing parties conflicting against each other in order to be the one to gain the prize at the end of the contest; the usage of athletic terminology draws attention to holy-people and the truth of being together moving in the direction of the same objective, being on the same team in the same contest, not a different one or on a different team [some Greek texts have the verb “are reproached” here instead of “contest”])

…because we hoped and we still hope (expect something to happen at a future time) on the living God (resting or basing our hope on God Who is presently and actively being alive) Who is the Savior of all men especially of believers. God is Holy Spirit and He is living and He is the Savior, the One Who saves, makes people safe, He is the source of salvation of/for all men (people, mankind) – most-of-all God is the Savior of people who believe what God has given all people to believe regarding Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why is the living God the Savior especially of believers? Because believers have already been saved and been given holy spirit life and have the promise of the life to come, eternal life, life in all its fullness with our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father. All the people who have not believed have not been saved. God has made it available for all to be saved but only those who willingly believe what God has given all to believe become saved.

[Reference: Mark 16:17; Luke 1:3 and 47; Acts 1:4-8, 14:15, 25:11; I Corinthians 9:25, 15:51-53; II Corinthians 3:3; Galatians 6:10; Philippians 3:21; Colossians 1:29, 4:12; I Timothy 1:1, 4, 9, and 15, 2:2-4, 3:1(a), 15 and 16; II Timothy 2:11 and 16, 3:10 and 16; Titus 1:3, 2:10, 3:4 and 8; Hebrews 5:14, 12:11; II Peter 2:14; Jude 1:25.]

Verses 11-16:

^.11You must charge and teach these things. ^.12Not-one-person must despise your youth but you must become a type of the believers in word, in behavior, in love¹, in belief, in purity. ^.13Until I come you must have-attention to reading, to encouragement, to teaching. ^.14You must not be unconcerned of the gracious-gift in you which was given to you by means of prophecy with (the) putting-on of the hands of the elder. ^.15These-things you must care-for, in these-things you must be, in order that your advancement may be manifest to all-people. ^.16You must hold-on to yourself and the teaching, you must remain-on them, for doing this you will save both yourself and the (people) hearing you.

You Timothy must charge and teach these things (pass the message on from yourself to others and instruct them in the doctrine of what I am writing here).

No-one must despise your youth (nobody must think down on or against your newness, being a young age), but on the contrary, you must become a type of the believers (you must come to pass to be, cause yourself to become a mark, impression or pattern of those who believe what God says and have therefore received holy spirit-life, become a type the same way as an old typewriter would impress the shape of the required letter on a piece of paper, an example for believers to copy and follow)…

in word (within the sphere of action of what is spoken),
in behavior (within the sphere of action of the mode of living, way of turning-up, manner of moving-about during everyday living),
in love¹ (the word "love¹" comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love - within the sphere of action of God’s love, loving the same way as God loves, manifesting it towards another, carrying out God’s Word; refer to I Corinthians chapter 13 and I John 5:1-3),
in belief (within the sphere of action of faith, what God gives us to believe),
in purity (within the sphere of action of pureness, within a pure state, not being contaminated from God's viewpoint by any bad-thing that may be near-by in the physical category as we move among people; in the state of being pure).

For the length of time continuing to when I come, you Timothy must have-attention to (hold or turn your mind, thoughts and attention towards/for the purpose of)…

reading (the physical reading of God’s Word again and again consisting of the old covenant writings and the new covenant writings, the personal knowledge that comes from reading what is written),
encouragement (the exhortation, the calling of others beside you, as a concerned father or mother would call their children close to them under their arms so as to help them to do what is right),
teaching (the doctrine, as verse 6, the instruction you have received and give to others).

You must not be without concern of the gracious-gift in you (you must not be careless, not have no interest, not have no thought whatsoever for and so disregard the gracious-gift within you), which gracious-gift was given to you by means of prophecy with the putting-on of the hands of the elder.

A gracious-gift is something freely-given with/by the grace of God and/or of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the result, product, or effect of the action of graciously giving so that the recipient may utilize it appropriately. Every holy-person/Christian has already received the free-gift of holy spirit, and any added information, assignment, etc, given to any holy-person is given by grace (refer to I Corinthians 12:4). It is a gracious-gift to the recipient. It is unmerited or undeserved on the recipient's part because it is not given as a wage or a corresponding-reward for something he/she had or had-not done. To give anything to another is an unforced presenting or yielding something which the giver already has to someone else who does not have it yet.

You must not be unconcerned of the gracious-gift in you which was given to you by means of prophecy with the putting-on of the hands of the elder (it was given to you through what was spoken prophetically, the words spoken were received from God, in company and association with the placing of the elder-man’s hands on you at that time).

The word “elder” sometimes refers to one having more knowledge, wisdom, dignity, etc, relative to God and the things of God, an elder in service, and not the literal meaning of being older in age than other people. However, here it would have reference to both because Paul has just spoken about Timothy’s youngness relative to himself and to many of the other holy-people. [Some Greek texts have the word for a ‘council of elders’ as in Acts 22:5 which is not applicable here of course.]

Regarding the putting-on of hands that Paul is referring to (refer to also II Timothy 1:6), it indicated:

the elder’s willingness relative-to Timothy’s circumstance, offering his case before God, and
this would identify to Timothy and to any others watching concerning whom the elder was praying to God specifically about, regarding his circumstance, and so
the elder said God’s words and carried-out and brought-to-pass whatever was good in that particular case,
symbolically transferring what was appropriate in the situation, speaking God’s words to/for Timothy.

Paul continues in this letter to Timothy: these-things you must care-for (have care for what was prophesied to/for you and what I am writing to you, you must focus concern emphatically on these things performing them), in these-things you must be (be within the sphere of action emphatically of these things), for the purpose and result that your advancement may be manifest to all-people (your progress, as a beating or driving forward cutting down everything out of your way so that nothing can impede your progress, the going-forward pertaining-to you, would be evidenced, brought to light, shown-forth to all).

You must hold-on to yourself and the teaching (presently and actively have attention upon yourself, direct or pay attention to who you truly are with appropriate behavior, and upon/to the doctrine, the instruction you have been taught, as verse 6), you must remain-on them (persist, continue staying on these things), for doing this you will save both yourself and the people hearing you (in truth, by you performing what I am teaching you in this letter you will make both yourself and those who listen to you teaching them safe).

All holy-people/Christians are already saved from death, from being under the power of satan, to eternal life with God and our Lord Jesus Christ because we have all previously received the gift of holy spirit which is the spirit of Christ in us (Colossians 1:27) – this is what makes us holy. We holy-people will receive spiritual bodies when Christ comes to gather us all together with him. Paul is teaching about the walk (behavior, conduct) category, how Timothy and all holy-people ought to live our everyday lives in a safe state with/for God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:12-23). In the walk/behavior category it is up to the freedom of our will to behave as God asks us to behave.

[Reference: Matthew 19:15, and 22:5; Acts 3:5, 4:25, 6:6, 8:19, 13:3, 19:22, and 28:8; Romans 12:6-8, and 16:21; I Corinthians 4:17, chapter 12, and 16:10, 11; II Corinthians 1:19; Ephesians 3:4; Philippians 1:1, 12, 25, and 2:12-23; I Thessalonians 3:2; I Timothy 1:3, 18, and 3:14; II Timothy 1:6, 7, and 3:14-17. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (²) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]

I Timothy Chapter 5