1 Timothy 4
McGeeCHAPTER 4THEME: Apostasy in the churches
1 Timothy 4:1
HOW TO RECOGNIZE THE APOSTATES"Now" would be better translated “but.” This would set in sharp contrast the early doctrinal creed given in the final verse of the preceding chapter and the apostasy within the church that Paul is now going to discuss. “That in the latter times.” Elsewhere in my writings on 1 Timothy I have said that this expression refers to the last days of the church on the earth, but I want to change my mind on that. I now feel that this refers to the days of the church beginning immediately after the life of Paul. The apostasy of the church had begun even at that time. You remember that when Paul was in Ephesus he warned them that there would come wolves in sheep’s clothing who would deceive the believers. John said, “Already there are many antichrists"already error had entered the church. The first great church was the Coptic church in Africa; it was way ahead of the others. North Africa produced some of the greatest saints in the early church, including Augustine, Tertullian, and Athanasius, but that church went off into heresy and departed from the faith. When Paul says here, “in the latter times,” he does not have the second coming of Christ in view at all. However, in 2Ti_3:1 where he says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come” (italics mine), he is using a technical expression that always refers to the last days of the church on the earth before the Lord Jesus takes it out. The “latter times” mentioned here refers to our times todayPaul was speaking of what lay just ahead for the church in his day. “Some shall depart from the faith.” Paul is warning that there will be heretical teachers who will mislead a great company of people. There will be a departure from the faith. Paul wrote also in 2 Thessalonians 2 of the apostasy to come. Actually this matter of apostasy has been in the church a long time, and it will not be new at the end of the age by any means. It has grown and will continue to grow, however. When the church of Christ is raptured, there will be left behind a totally apostate organized church. “Depart” is aphistemi in the Greek and it means “to stand away from.” A departure suggests not only that you have a point to which you are going, but also a point from which you have come. Those who apostatize are ones who have professed at one time to hold to the faith, but now they have departed from it. There cannot be an apostasy in paganism because they have never professed the faith. They never professed to trust Christ as Savior. They have never heard about Him, and there can be no apostasy among them. The apostasy comes within the organized church among those who profess to the faith and then depart from it. “Giving heed to seducing spirits.” Now when they depart from the faith, what is responsible for it? What has caused them to depart? Is it because they have become better educated, more intellectual? Is it because of scientific developments and increased knowledge which reveals that the faith can no longer be held? No, Paul says, “Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits.” “Seducing” actually means wandering, roving, and it comes from the word vagabond or deceiver or seducer. In fact, Satan is all those things. They shall give heed to satanic spirits. “Doctrines of devils [demons].” People will give heed to doctrines of demons. It is alarming to a great many people that even in our very materialistic age there is a return to the things of the spirit world and a great emphasis upon it. Christians are told to “…try the spirits whether they are of God …,” because there have gone out into the world these seducing spirits (1Jn_4:1). The test that we should apply is the creed that was given in 1 Timothy 1Ti (1Ti_3:16). “…God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit….” The only way of salvation is through the death of Christ, and it is by this truth we can test the doctrines of demons today. There is a small segment of those who claim to be believers who are placing a great emphasis on demonism. They are very interested in this subject and are reading everything they can find about it. I think that we are seeing a real manifestation of the spirit world today, but the best thing you and I can do regarding the Devil is to show him a clean pair of heels. We should not be a bunch of heels, sticking around and getting ourselves involved in all of this. Paul warns us against being seduced by the doctrines of demons. We should stay clear of them, testing each spirit by its acknowledgment of the deity of Christ and by its acknowledgment that God was manifest in the flesh and that we are justified through the redemption He wrought for us on the Cross.
1 Timothy 4:2
“Speaking lies in hypocrisy.” The apostate will pretend to be very pious and very religious. I have come to be suspicious of this pious position taken by super-duper saints who claim to have something special. My friend, if you do have the truth it will make you humble, because the first thing you will find out is how little you know. I realize that I have much more to learn about the Bible. There are those today, however, who know very little about the Word of God, but they speak as if they were authorities. “Speaking lies in hypocrisy,” they pretend to be something they are not. “Having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” In 1Ti_1:5 we read that the things which should characterize the visible church are faith, love, and a good conscience. We should be tenderhearted people. There is far too much talk about sex in the church today. I have heard of things happening in some churches that make my hair curl. Things are being said and done which I do not think could be done unless your conscience has been seared with a hot iron and you have gotten away from the Word of God. It is important in the plan and purpose of God that the church have a tender conscience and not stoop to such low levels.
1 Timothy 4:3
Even in Christ’s day there were folk who went off from Judaism into cults and “isms.” This is not something new in our day; it has been going on for a long time. “Forbidding to marry.” In Christ’s day there was a group down by the Dead Sea known as the Essenes. It was from among them that the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. When Christianity came along, many probably joined the Palestinian church and helped to produce most of its characteristic heresies, including the regulation of not marrying. “Commanding to abstain from meats.” There are those who make certain rules and regulations about diet that are not in the Word of God. They go off on this as if food could commend them to God. It is true that if you eat the wrong kind of food you will get a tummy ache, but it has nothing to do with your spiritual life, my friend.
1 Timothy 4:4
The Word of God does not condemn food; it commends it. If you can return thanks for the food, that sanctifies it for your body. “If it be received with thanksgiving"there are some foods I cannot be thankful for. There are certain foods that would really put me down physically if I ate them, and I cannot be thankful for them. Also, I am told that there is a place in San Antonio, Texas, that cans rattlesnake meat! It is a delicacy, they say. Well, if you served me rattlesnake meat for dinner and asked me to return thanks for it, I’m not sure that I could. But if you can receive it with thanksgiving, my friend, then go ahead and eat it, whatever it might beit’s perfectly all right.
1 Timothy 4:6
WHAT THE “GOOD MINISTER” CAN DO IN TIMES OF APOSTASY"If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things.” Paul has warned Timothy of the apostasy and false teachings that were to come into the church. There will be men who profess to the faith and then come to the place where they deny it. In turn, Timothy is to warn the believers about these things. “Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ.” Every believer is a minister, but here Paul has in mind Timothy as a teacher of the Word of God. That is a gift that some men have and some don’t. But all believers are ministers. “Nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine"this is how the believer is to grow in the Word of God. We are not to go off on tangents about diet or some other aesthetic program as if it would commend us to God. Instead our diet is to be “nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.” “Whereunto thou hast attained.” Some interpreters think that there was a danger in Ephesus in the midst of so much false religion and work of Satan that Timothy would go off into it all, but Paul said that Timothy had attained unto the things he has mentioned and commends him for it. Paul has warned Timothy about apostasy and false teachings, but he will mention more things that Timothy should avoid:
1 Timothy 4:7
“But refuse profane and old wives’ fables.” As a young boy I remember there were a lot of sayings that the older people would quote to us children. I remember one dear Christian woman who had some peculiar ideas. One was that everybody should take sulphur and tartar mixed with a little honey or molasses. I was fed that because my mother listened to her. I took enough sulphur and tartar to make a small mountain! I have no idea whether it did me any good or not, but she thought it was the only thing I needed as a boy.
Similarly, when it was discovered that I had cancer I was given over a hundred books on diet to help rid me of the cancer. I couldn’t have followed one of these books without contradicting another! One said to eat plenty of grapes, the other said not to eat grapes. One would say to take honey, another to keep away from it. I decided to listen to the Great Physician and to leave my case in His hands. “And exercise thyself rather unto godliness"Timothy is to practice godliness in his life. Too many people emphasize the don’ts more than they do the exercise of godliness.
1 Timothy 4:8
“For bodily exercise profiteth little.” There are those who believe that Paul is downgrading physical exercise. I don’t understand it that way at all. Paul spent about three years in Ephesus where there was a great coliseum in which the Olympic Games were held at times. The coliseum seated 100,000 people, and foot races were often held there. Paul uses the figure of the race and compares it to the Christian life and walk in 1Co_9:24-27. I believe Paul knew something about exercise.
I stood in the city of Sardis one time and observed the Roman road that was being excavated to the east and the west of that city. Paul walked that road nineteen hundred years ago, preaching the gospel of Christ. He didn’t travel in a bus or in an automobile. He didn’t ride a horse or even a donkey. Paul walked there, and it took a rugged individual to cover the ground that he covered throughout the Roman Empire. He may not have done much jogging, but he did a great deal of walking. Paul’s emphasis on godliness rather than on physical exercise is because the Ephesians were a people given over to games and athletics. We are also that kind of a nation. Many of our cities have coliseums where great spectacles are conducted, and many believers put more emphasis on athletics than they do on the things of God. There are church officers who spend more time during the summer in the ball park than they spend in prayer meetings. Paul is not saying bodily exercise is wrong. He is saying, “Let’s hold things in correct perspective.” “But godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” Bodily exercise will help you only in this life, because when you get a new body it won’t make any difference whether you’ve exercised this one or not. “But godliness is profitable unto all things.” Those who argue that a Christian can fall into sin and can always come back to God on easy terms are right. But, my friend, a godly life pays off not only down here, it will pay off in eternity. The Prodigal Son lost a great deal by going to the far country, and any Christian who lives a careless life rather than a godly life will find that even in eternity he will pay for it. Are you as anxious about godliness as you are about physical exercise, about athletic events? The physical ends at the end of this life, but godliness is carried over into the next.
1 Timothy 4:9
Paul is emphasizing the point he has just made. In other words, he says, “Here’s something you can count on.” You could count on it in the first century in Ephesus, and you can count on it in Los Angeles in the twentieth century. And we can count on it in the twenty-first century, if we make it that far.
1 Timothy 4:10
“For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach.” If you stand for Jesus Christ today it will cost you something. There is no question about that. “Who is the Saviour of all men.” We hear a great deal of discussion about what color of eyes Christ had. Was He blond or brunette? How tall was He? I talked to one man who was disturbed to see a picture of Christ painted as a black man. “Why not?” I said, “He’s the Savior of all men.” The color of His skin or of His hair is not the important thing. Scripture never gives us that kind of information about Him. Even the FBI doesn’t know. What Scripture does say is that He is the Savior of all men. Whoever you are, He’s your Savior and He’s the only Savior. “Specially of those that believe.” He is the Savior of all men, but you can turn Him down if you want to. Let me illustrate this for you. They say that a plane leaves the Los Angeles International Airport every minute, and I could get on any one of them (if I had the courage!). All I need to do is get a ticket and get on the plane. It’s a plane for everybody, you see, but not everybody will take it. Christ is the Savior of all men, but only those who believe will be saved (see Joh_3:16; 1Jn_2:2).
1 Timothy 4:11
“Let no man despise thy youth.” Paul knew that there would be those in the church who would say of Timothy, “Well, he’s just a young fellowhe doesn’t know yet.” Maybe there were some things he didn’t know, but he was not to let anyone despise his youth. “But be thou an example of the believers.” How could Timothy keep people from despising his youth? By not acting like a young fool. When I began as a young minister, even before I was ordained, I told an old, retired minister that I felt a little embarrassed and even frightened when someone with gray hair would come into the church to hear this young preacher who was still a student. He advised me, “Don’t ever worry about that. Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but make dead sure you are an example of the believers.” The important thing is not your age, but whether you are an example. Paul tells Timothy in what ways he is to be an example: “in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” There is nothing new about the “new morality” today, but believe me, the morality of the Bible is brand new to some folk! This is God’s standardsix ways in which we should be an example.
1 Timothy 4:13
The minister is to read the Scripture publicly. For what purpose? To comfort and to teach. The Word of God needs to be read, and until the church is getting people into the Word of God, it is missing its main function. This was applicable to Timothy personally also. The minister can grow personally only by reading the Word for his exhortation and instruction. A growing minister will make a growing church. One of the greatest things ever said concerning Dwight L. Moody was said by a neighbor: “Every time Mr. Moody comes home, you can just tell how much he’s grown spiritually.” Are you further along spiritually today than you were this time last year? Are you growing in grace and the knowledge of Christ? The only way to do so is by reading the great truths of the Word of God.
1 Timothy 4:14
“Neglect not the gift that is in thee.” The Spirit of God gives to every believer a gift, and Timothy had a gift that he was to use. “Which was given thee by prophecy"evidently Paul had predicted what this young man would do. “With the laying on of the hands of the presbytery"the laying on of the hands of the officers of the church. The laying on of hands never communicates anything, my friend. There are those who believe that something will be transferred to the person by the laying on of hands, but the only thing that will be transferred is disease germsthat’s all! Laying on of hands indicates partnership in the ministry. I always insisted that my church officers lay their hands on every missionary we commissioned. Every minister who is ordained should have hands put on him by those who are partners with him. That is what it means, and it is quite meaningful.
1 Timothy 4:15
“Meditate upon these things"be diligent in your study. There is no excuse for a minister not to study the Word of God, and there is no excuse for any Christian not to study the Word of God. “Give thyself wholly to them.” I will not accept a daily devotional time as a substitute for reading and studying the Word of God. It will not work to open your Bible to read a chapter at night when you have one eye closed and both feet already in bed. Nor will it work in the morning when you are half awake, or at the breakfast table when you are about to take off for work. My friend, you couldn’t study geometry, higher mathematics, or science like that. The Word of God is worthy of all that you and I can give to it, and we can never give as much as it should have. “That thy profiting may appear to all.” The greatest compliment you could give your preacher would be to be able to say, “You are really improving in your preaching.” That’s the best thing you could say.
1 Timothy 4:16
May I say this kindly, but I must say it: God have mercy on the minister who is not giving out the Word of God! That is a frightful sin. It would be better to be a gangster than to be a man who is supposed to give out the Word of God and fails to do so.