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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Section - Chapters 4 Instructions To Timothy (ch. 4: 1 - 16) Paul, in verse 1 changes the subject to things that
will happen in “latter times”.
He mentions that “some will abandon the faith and follow
deceiving spirits and things taught by demons”.
These people give up their trust in Jesus, which means they are no
longer saved, since it is this trust that brought salvation to them in the
first place. They substitute true faith with things taught by evil
spirits. It is not the evil spirit that is actually doing the teaching,
but a person who is being influenced by the evil spirits.
The way in which the teaching is set forth is “deceptive”, Paul
says. This means that people
get caught in a deceptive trap, perhaps without knowing it.
The only way in which this could happen would be if that person was
not properly grounded in Biblical truth in the first place.
Paul says that this teaching comes from
“hypocritical liars whose conscience has been seared…”, thus the
doctrine of demons is taught by men who are hypocrites .
These men’s consciences have been totally destroyed so that they
do not know truth from evil. Paul gives a couple examples of the teaching that
such men set forth. He says
that some teach that people
should not marry. Paul calls
this teaching demonic. Another
teaching is that Christians should not eat certain food, food that God had
created for us to eat. Concerning the teaching forbidding people to marry, I
wonder what Paul would think about the Catholic church not allowing their priests
to get married. Would Paul
call this teaching a “doctrine of demons”?
I do. I think one modern and prevalent doctrine of demons
in today's Evangelical church is the philosophy of
"post-modernism" that has been allowed into the church.
This teaching devaluates the importance of the Bible, and sees it
more or less as a devotional book. I
know this is simplistic point concerning "post-modernism.
I won't discuss "post-modernism" here, because I've done
that elsewhere. In verse 5 Paul says that “everything that God
created is good”. If this is
the case then, all food can be eaten.
We should only be thankful for the food that God has provided for
us. Our prayer of thanksgiving
“consecrates” the food we eat. What
does the word “consecrate” mean? It
means to set apart for the purposes of God.
When we give thanks for our food, we are actually telling God that
we are eating this food to “His glory”.
This food will sustain our bodies in order for us to carry out
God’s purposes in our lives. In verse 4 the NIV says, “everything God created is
good”. The KJV says, “for every creature of God is good”.
The interlinear Bible says, “because every creature of God (is)
good. The NIV gives a slightly
different picture by its word usage. The
NIV says that “all creation” is good, while the other two translations
say that “all creatures”, as in animals are good”.
In my thinking, the last two translations would best fit since Paul
was constantly battling with those who believed that eating meat was
wrong. Here Paul is saying
that if you give thanks to God for the meat, you are in fact consecrating
the meet, or giving it over to the purpose of God in your life, and there
is nothing wrong with that. Whatever
is the case, whether creation or creatures, we know all things that God
made was good in the beginning, that is, until he cursed creation because
of man's sin. Paul tells Timothy that if he “points these things
out to the brothers, he will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought
up in the truths of the faith”. Our
faith, or our trust in Jesus leads us into the truth that Jesus is.
Timothy has followed these truths from his youth and now is putting
them into practice by teaching others. It
is important to note that part of the job of an elder, which Timothy was
being encourage to be, was to distinguish between good and bad teaching.
Sometimes today, we stay away from distinguishing between good and
bad teaching because we don't want to disturb people, or get involved in a
theological debate. Many
people don't think right teaching is important anyway, but you can
certainly see that Paul doesn't think that way.
Timothy is encouraged by Paul to stay away from
“myths and old wives’ tales.” Instead
of being caught up in things that are not true, things that are more fable
than anything else, he must live a Godly life. This is ultimate in being a
servant of God. We too should deal in truth and stay away from
fable-like teaching. In this
year, 2010, many Evangelicals are using Mayan religious thinking to
support their end time views. I'd
call this one of two things. It's
either fables, or doctrines of demons. I think we should stay away from
such teaching, unless we address them and explain how they are false
teaching.
Paul speaks to the topic of “physical exercise”
in verse 8. He says that it
has some value, but what is of utmost importance is godliness, for it has
value “for all things’. Physical
exercise is good to keep your body and mind in good shape.
Paul is not saying that such activity is wrong.
He is saying that it has its limitations when compared to
“spiritual exercise”. “Spiritual
exercise” (Godliness) effects one’s spirit, mind, attitudes,
relationships and a vast multitude of other things. It can also effect
your body. Some illnesses are
brought on by not living a Godly life, by not exercising yourself in
spiritual things. As Prov.
17:22 says, “a merry heart does good like a medicine,
but a broken spirit dries the bones”.
Spiritual wholeness is more important that physical wholeness,
although that should not be an excuse not to be physically whole. Paul says that spiritual wholeness holds promise, not
just for this life but also for the next.
Our physical condition effects this life only.
Our spiritual condition effects this life and into eternity as
well. So as we continue to
exercise our physical body, we should not neglect to exercise our spirits
as well. In verse 9, for the third time Paul mentions a
“trustworthy” statement. This
time the statement is that “we have put our trust in the living God, who
is the Saviour of all men, and especially of those who believe”.
The point here is that Jesus died and rose from the dead, paying
the price for everyone’s salvation, but only those who “believe”
will receive this salvation. Once
again, the word “believe” means more than to simply mentally agree
with the gospel. It is giving yourself to the gospel and to Jesus, the one
who offers this good news. Paul tells Timothy to teach these things and not to
let anyone put him down because of his youthful age.
He basically tells Timothy that even though he may be young, he
should prove to all men that he is mature in the Lord “by his speech,
his life, his love and his purity”. In verse 13 Paul tells Timothy “to devote himself
to public
reading of Scripture, and to preaching and teaching”.
Then he goes on to tell him not to neglect the gift God gave him,
“when the body of elders laid their hands on him”.
This gift came through the laying on of hands by the “body of
elders”, not just one elder. It also was accompanied by a “prophetic
message”. Such prophetic laying on of hands can be seen in some
Pentecostal and Charismatic circles but is ignored by much of the
Evangelical world. Many
churches have commissioning services where they lay hands on those
entering the ministry, but there is no prophetic words associated with the
laying on of hands as stated by Paul in this verse.
In verse 15 Paul continues his admonition by telling
him to “be diligent in these things so that people may see your
progress”. Once again,
Timothy may have been a little younger than some, but by giving himself to
the gospel with all diligence, people would see the growth in his life and
come to respect him. In verse 14 Paul says to “watch your life and
doctrine closely”. To me
this is interesting. Paul puts
doctrine, or right teaching up with life experience.
This is something I feel in our modern church has been lost.
We do not put life and doctrine in the same sentence.
We do not put life and doctrine on the same level of importance.
Paul goes as far as to say that if you “persevere in them”,
that is both life and doctrine, you will save both yourself and those you
speak to. This would imply
that if Timothy did not persist in both life and doctrine, he would be in
danger of loosing that which he already had.
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