1 Timothy 4:1-2 - Homilies By T. Croskery

In opposition to this exhibition of the mystery of godliness, the apostle places the prediction of a serious apostasy from the faith.

I. THE APOSTASY IS A SUBJECT OF EXPRESS PREDICTION . "But the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in after times some shall depart from the faith." It may seem strange that apostasy should be thought of so soon after the foundation of Christianity, but the Church is fully forewarned of the coming danger. It was foretold, not obscurely, but expressly, in the prophecies by Daniel ( Daniel 7:25 ; Daniel 8:23 ), of our Lord ( Matthew 24:4 , Matthew 24:11 ), and of the apostle himself ( 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 .; Acts 20:29 , Acts 20:30 ; Colossians 2:1-23 .). But he here alludes more specifically to a development of error in the future, the germs of which he discerns in the present.

II. THE TIME OF ITS APPEARANCE . "In after times." The words signify any period subsequent to the age in which the apostle lived, for he saw in the apostasy of the present the beginning of a still more serious apostasy in the future. The mystery of iniquity had already begun to work. But it would project its evil shadow far forward into the dispensation, in many various forms.

III. THE EXTENT OF THE APOSTASY . "Some shall depart from the faith."

1. Some , not all . Not the whole visible Church, but a considerable part of it. Thus an assurance is given that the true Church of God shall not be extinguished.

2. The apostasy is from the doctrine of faith—though it be the mystery of godliness—not the grace of faith , which, being of an incorruptible origin, cannot be lost. Christ is the Author and Finisher of faith. The elect cannot be finally deceived. The doctrine of faith was to be corrupted by "denying what was true, by adding what was false."

IV. THE REASON OR PROCESS OF THE APOSTASY . "Giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." The prime movers were not false teachers, but unseen agents in the spirit-world.

1. Man does not stand isolated in this world . If he is not influenced by the Holy Spirit, he is influenced by the spirits of delusion, who are the emissaries of Satan. If we are not possessed by the truth, error will make an easy conquest of us. Often the heart that is made empty by skepticism is the most ready to welcome superstition.

2. It is possible for evil spirits to influence the human mind .

V. THE CHARACTER OF THE FALSE TEACHERS UNDER SUCH EVIL INSPIRATION . "In the hypocrisy of speakers of lies, being branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron."

1. They assumed a mask of holiness which they did not possess , with the view of giving better currency to their lies. Their assumed sanctity would throw the unwary off their guard, and lead to the confounding of truth with error. The lies they taught were that holiness was to be attained through abstinence from marriage and particular kinds of food.

2. They were essentially corrupt , for their conscience had become so seared through transgression that they had lost the true distinctions between right and wrong, error and truth. They were incapable of relishing the "mystery of godliness," and therefore devoted themselves to the arts of religious seduction in the interests of an essentially unspiritual asceticism.—T.C.

1 Timothy 4:3-5 . — The practical features of the apostasy.

The apostle does not enumerate the doctrinal errors of the apostates, but touches upon two practical characteristics which would fall under general observation.

I. THERE WAS A PROHIBITION OR RESTRAINT UPON MARRIAGE . "Forbidding to marry."

1. This was an ascetic tendency already manifested in the East , especially among the Essenes of Palestine and the Therapeutae of Egypt.

2. It may have already influenced Christian opinion in the Corinthian Church ; for the apostle is obliged to solve spiritualistic doubts regarding marriage ( 1 Corinthians 7:1-40 .).

3. The tendency developed in less than a century into a Gnostic contempt for marriage .

4. It entered patristic theology in the form of an exaggerated admiration for virginity , to the disparagement of married life.

5. It developed inside the Latin and Greek Churches into the celibacy of the clergy and the religious orders .

6. It was a tendency wholly opposed to Scripture teaching .

II. THERE WAS A PROHIBITION OR RESTRAINT UPON THE USE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF FOOD . "And commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by them who believe and know the truth." Probably the restriction was as to the use of flesh. The Essenes and the Therapoutae abstained from particular kinds of food. The Gnostic schools developed the tendency still more, and in due time it was stereotyped into the penitential usages of Romanism. The apostle argues strenuously against this abuse.

1. It was contrary to God ' s design in creation .

2. The conditions under which the true design of God in creation is fulfilled .

(a) that food is to be gratefully received as God's gift;

(b) that our thanksgiving is presented on the objective side by the Word of God, and on the subjective side by prayer. Thus the custom of grace before and after meat is grounded in a Divine command.—T.C.

1 Timothy 4:6 , 1 Timothy 4:7 .—The due equipment and duties of a minister of Christ.

I. THE MINISTER MUST BE ALWAYS TEACHING . "By setting forth these things to the brethren, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ." It was the duty of Timothy to counsel the brethren at Ephesus concerning the present signs of the coming apostasy, and to instruct them how they should counteract its mischiefs. It is probable that some at Ephesus had already been betrayed by ascetic seductions into an unhealthy mode of life. Timothy was to be mindful of the present truth and the present error.

II. THE MINISTER MUST BE ALWAYS LEARNING . "Nourishing thyself up in the words of the faith and of the good instruction which thou hast diligently followed."

1. There must be a continuous and permanent process of self-instruction , as the tense of the participle signifies. The minister must never cease to learn, because he has to set the truth in new lights, and to counteract error out of the large storehouse of Divine truth.

2. The minister ' s armory is the Word of faith and good instruction thoroughly mastered .

III. THE MINISTER MUST BE ALWAYS WORKING TOWARD A PROFITABLE RESULT . "But the profane and old wives' fables avoid, and rather exercise thyself unto godliness."

1. Negatively , the minister is to avoid foolish and unprofitable studies . The apostle referred to fables familiarily known, Jewish in origin, perhaps with a mixture of Gentile theosophy, which were morally unfruitful, but practically dangerous as preparing the way for the apostasy of the future. The minister must himself stand free from all sympathy with such injurious formalism as was embodied in the rabbinical studies, as leading to the neglect of the weightier matters of the Law.

2. Positively , the minister is to exercise himself unto godliness .

(a) It has its inner seat in the heart.

(b) It works outward into the life.

(c) It is a progressive state.

(d) It was the one chief concern of the apostle himself. "One thing I do."—T.C.

1 Timothy 4:8 , 1 Timothy 4:9 . — The advantage of true godliness.

The apostle gives a reason for his exhortation to godliness.

II. THE SUPERIORITY OF GODLINESS TO ANY MERE BODILY EXERCISE . "For bodily exercise profiteth to a small extent."

1. The allusion here is not to the ascetic discipline already noticed , because:

2. The allusion is to the gymnastic training which occupied so much of the time and energy of the Greek youth . It was profitable for the healthful development of bodily life, but by its very nature it was both temporal and temporary in its results and its rewards.

II. THE GROUND OF THE SUPERIORITY OF GODLINESS . "But godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." It has the profit and the promise of a double life.

1. It has the profit and the promise of this present life .

(a) of a good name,

(b) of riches and honor; for they will want no good thing.

2. It has the profit and the promise of the life to come .

III. CORROBORATION OF THE APOSTLE 'S ASSERTION RESPECTING GODLINESS . "Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation." It was a truth of universal acceptance among Christian people, because, in spite of all the drawbacks of a persecuting time, it had been happily realized in their checkered experience.—T.C.

1 Timothy 4:10 . — The practical effects of this truth in apostolic experience.

Looking to the realization of this promise, the apostle reminds Timothy how he was borne up by it in all his labor and suffering.

I. ITS SUSTAINING EFFICACY . "For to this end do we labor and suffer reproach."

1. The apostle did not regard the life promised to godliness as one of mere corporeal enjoyment .

2. His life was actually one of severe and toilsome labor as well as of trying but unmerited reproach .

3. Yet he was stimulated to increased toil and supported under the infliction of unjust reproach by the thought of the promise involved in the life of true godliness.

II. THE SOLID BASIS OF CHRISTIAN EXPECTATION UNDER TOIL AND SHAME . "Because we have set our hope upon the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe."

1. The blessed nature and continuity of this hope .

2. The ground or basis of this hope . "Upon the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe."

(a) The Saviorship here has relation to the two lives of men, as expressed in the context. In the one sense, God is a Savior of all men, since by his watchful and sustaining providence he preserves them from destruction; in the other, he offers and bestows eternal life.

(b) The words do not warrant the Universalist conclusion that all men will be ultimately saved. The passage makes an express distinction between all "men" and "believers" inconsistent with this view.—T.C.

1 Timothy 4:11 , 1 Timothy 4:12 .—A series of admonitions for the guidance of Timothy.

I. TIMOTHY IS ENJOINED TO EXERCISE A DUE AUTHORITY . "These things command and teach." He is to instruct the Church at Ephesus with all authority in all that concerned the nature of true piety, the dangers to be guarded against, and the duties to be faithfully discharged.

II. TIMOTHY IS ENJOINED TO CULTIVATE A GRAVITY OF DEPORTMENT THAT WOULD MAKE HIS YOUTH RESPECTED . "Let no man despise thy youth."

1. Timothy was only relatively a young man . It is highly probable that he was very young when he first joined the apostle ( Acts 16:1-3 )—perhaps nearly twenty-five years of age—and as eleven years had since intervened, he would probably now be about forty years old.

2. As Timothy had to give counsel to persons much older than himself ( 1 Timothy 5:1 ), and even to call them to account (verse 19), it was necessary that he should cultivate a gravity of manner that would admit of his age being forgotten. Perhaps, also, as he was of a rather timid disposition—more disposed to obey than to command—the counsel of the apostle was more needed. He must be firm and manly, and destitute of every aspect or element of pretentious assumption.

III. TIMOTHY IS ENJOINED TO BECOME A PATTERN TO ALL BELIEVERS . "But become thou a pattern of the believers in word, in behavior, in love, in faith, in purity." Thus would he counteract any disadvantage arising from his youth. He was to be a pattern in all the leading characteristics of the Christian minister.

1. " In word ."

(a) not corrupt, vain, or foolish;

(b) but always with grace, seasoned with salt—wise, grave, edifying.

2. " In behavior ." In the Church, the family, the world, he must maintain a deportment becoming the gospel of Christ, in all godliness and honesty, with simplicity and godly sincerity, so as to stop the mouths of gainsayers and earn a good report from them that are without.

3. " In love , in faith ." These are the two motive forces of the Christian life to influence both the speech and conduct of the minister. The one is set in motion by the other; for "faith worketh by love."

4. " In purity ." The minister must be pure in life, in thought, in language, and in all his relations to the world.—T.C.

1 Timothy 4:13 .—The duties of Timothy's public ministry.

The apostle urges him to the diligent exercise of his calling. "Till I come give attention to the reading, the exhortation, the teaching."

I. THE READING . This referred to the public reading of the Scriptures in the Church. The Old Testament Scriptures, and probably part of the New Testament, would thus be read at such meeting of the saints. This reading was necessary because

II. THE EXHORTATION . This refers to public ministry. Timothy was practically to enforce the duties of Christian life out of the Scriptures.

III. THE TEACHING . This refers to the matter of doctrinal instruction. Thus full provision would be made for building up the saints in their most holy faith, and in all the graces and virtues of a holy life.—T.C.

1 Timothy 4:14 . — The duty of improving the Divine gifts of exhortation and teaching.

"Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee through prophecy, with laying on of the hands of the presbytery."

I. THE SPIRITUAL GIFT CONFERRED ON TIMOTHY .

1. It is not mere intellectual equipment , nor the mere possession of Divine grace , but the gift, which qualified Timothy for preaching the gospel . "For the work of an evangelist." It was a gift of interpreting the Scriptures, of dispensing the mysteries of grace with edification, of bringing forth things new and old out of the good treasure of a holy heart informed with truth.

2. It was a gift conferred by means of prophecy . The Holy Spirit had, by one or more of the prophets, declared his will to confer this gift upon Timothy. The prophecy was the Divine assurance as to Timothy's qualifications.

3. The response to this Divine act is signified by the action of the presbytery in formally designating him to his special ministerial work .

II. THE DUTY OF EXERCISING AND IMPROVING THIS GIFT . "Neglect not the gift that is in thee." There were several reasons to enforce this duty.

1. The prophetic declaration accompanied by the concurrence of the whole body of presbyters would fill his mind with a sense of his high privilege and great responsibility in the possession of such a gift.

2. The exercise of a gift is the only method of preventing its complete lapse . The disuse of a limb causes it to decay. All faculties must be kept bright and vivid by constant exercise.

3. Our Lord , by the parable of the talents , teaches us the sin and danger of hiding our talent uselessly in the ground . — T.C.

1 Timothy 4:15 , 1 Timothy 4:16 .—The necessity of a minister giving his whole energies to his work.

The apostle here concludes his solemn instructions to his chosen representative at Ephesus.

I. THE DUTY OF BEING MINDFUL AND DEVOTED TO ONE 'S MINISTRY . "These things do thou care for: be in them."

1. A minister ' s heart ought to be anxious about his work . It is this anxiety that secures the efficiency of work in this world. But the minister's concern is full of an inspiring zeal for God's honor, and is sustained by encouraging promises of help from on high.

2. A minister ought to devote himself exclusively to his work . "Be in them." The obstacles to this devotion are:

II. THE MOTIVE FOR THIS EXCLUSIVE DEVOTION . "That thy progress may appear to all."

1. This does not imply that Timothy was to have exclusive regard to his right standing with the Church . This might be a questionable motive.

2. It implies that his devotion to his work should be so altogether conspicuous that it could not but be seen by all .

III. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE PERSONAL LIFE AND THE OFFICIAL WORK OF THE MINISTER . "Take heed to thyself and to the teaching; continue in them: for in so doing thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee."

1. The direct object of the minister of the gospel is the salvation of studs .

2. This salvation comes by hearing the gospel . "Faith cometh by hearing.

3. It is the duty of the minister to persevere with a pious insistency on all the objects of his ministry . "Continue in them."

4. Nothing is so well adapted for the salvation of ministers as their pious labors in behalf of the salvation of others .

5. There is to be a double service in this ministry . The minister must first look well to his life, exemplifying the holiness of the gospel in word and deed ( 1 Timothy 4:12 ); and then his teaching must be good ( 1 Timothy 4:6 ) and salutary ( 1 Timothy 1:10 ). Thus he will be the instrument of much good; he will thus cover the multitude of sins, and save a soul from death ( James 5:20 ).—T.C.