1 Timothy 4:6-11: True Nourishment and Exercise
2021-10-16
Verse 6
“If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things...” What things? The antecedent refers to the previous section, namely, those who have departed from the faith in favor of some carnal religion. As the church planter, Timothy needed to warn the people of the church that such elements would affect their church, and that they themselves may become one of them.
From God’s perspective, “The Lord knoweth them that are his” (2 Timothy 2:19). From our perspective, we cannot tell wheat from tare: “Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them” (Matthew 13:29). We may think a certain person is saved, but we are shocked to find out they never were. And what about us? Every once in a while, we need to do inventory of our own lives (2 Corinthians 13:5). Whom do we really trust? What do we really believe? We do not want to be preoccupied too much with such questions as that will affect our service. But perhaps we should take a good look in the mirror occasionally.
Reminding ourselves and others of these things makes us “a good minister of Jesus Christ.” “Minister” simply means servant. A good servant warns others of danger. A good servant is also “nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.” The words clearly are the Word, the origin of all faith and doctrine. These things are our true nourishment. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). You would never think of going months without food. Going weeks without the Word would destroy you spiritually like fasting for weeks would destroy you physically.
We need the words of faith and good doctrine. Sometimes good doctrine is neglected. Systematic theology can be neglected in churches. People are often not well-rounded in theological education and do not know the basics of certain doctrines.
Verses 7-9
The opposite of nourishment from the Word of God is old wives’ fables, or superstition. Superstition is irrational beliefs not grounded in reality. We discussed fables in 1 Timothy 1:4; they are destructive, and every Christian must be aware of false doctrine creeping in.
Instead of adopting fables, we “exercise” unto godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). The picture is just like what we would think, perhaps like practicing for the Olympics. Let me tell you about my experience as an athlete.
I used to be a competitive swimmer. In high school, I swam under an Olympic coach. He was a coach in some capacity for the United States Olympic team multiple times. Though I never attained to such an honor, I went through his training program for years. Our high school and club teams produced numerous Olympians, and I swam alongside many of them.
I practiced seven days a week, five hours a day Monday through Saturday, and two and half hours on Sunday. There were plenty of days we would swim over ten miles per day. There would also be a lot of training with weights, medicine balls, abdominal work outs, and the like. It was hard. There were so many days you wanted to give up. Coaches often spoke cruel words to “motivate” you. You had allegiance to no other activity. It was your life. Everything you trained for was for championship meets and, hopefully, acceptance to and scholarship to elite colleges. My identity was wrapped up in the sport and the team. The pool was a religious sanctuary, and my teammates were closer than brothers.
However, the Spirit tells us, “Bodily exercise profiteth little” (1 Timothy 4:8). We did all those arduous activities “to obtain a corruptible crown” (1 Corinthians 9:25). The exercise unto godliness has “promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” The kind of intensity I went through under my swim team is the sort of picture of what we should be doing with our godliness. The cause of Jesus Christ has our allegiance. It is our life and identity. It is the very reason we live.
This new “exercise” has a twofold promise: it has a return of investment both now and in eternity. Godliness has value now in that it gives us hope for the future and power to please God. We can share the Gospel and give others the hope of eternal life. For this reason, godliness has effects into all eternity.
“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation” (1 Timothy 4:9). This should sound familiar (1 Timothy 1:15). A faithful saying is a pithy statement that we say to remind ourselves of a truth. We thought of this when we should consider ourselves as the chief sinner. We should also remember that the work of the Lord is the superior exercise that we commit to forever.
Verses 10-11
Trusting in the living God in Christian service leads to both labor and suffering reproach. Labor is wearying toil. They are exhausted. Paul often worked a fulltime job while being fulltime in ministry (Acts 18:3; 1 Thessalonians 2:9). And while the dividends are eternally rewarding, the immediate payoff is reproach, namely, verbal abuse from many. Even Christians sometimes held Paul in low esteem (2 Corinthians 10:10).
The reproach they bore was because they trusted in the “living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe” (1 Timothy 4:10). This is another verse that stands in contrast to limited atonement, which states that our Lord only died for the elect, meaning those who ultimately get saved. Jesus died for all; however, it is only efficacious to the believer: “specially of those that believe.” This should make us want to be that good testimony to the world, because nobody is going to be saved without our preaching of the Word.
Everything considered here, Timothy is to teach and command the congregation in Ephesus (1 Timothy 4:11). This includes being aware of apostates that try to teach carnality in the church, the nourishment of the Word and good doctrine, the exercise of godliness, and the reproach that comes with trusting in the Savior.