Verses 1-16
Chapter 4
4:1-5 The Spirit
clearly says that in the later times some will desert from the faith,
through paying attention to spirits who can do nothing but lead them
astray, and to teachings which come from the demons, teachings of false
men whose characteristic is insincerity, teachings of men whose
conscience has been branded with the mark of Satan, teachings of those
who forbid marriage, and who order men to abstain from foods which God
created in order that men might gratefully take their share of them in
the company of those who believe and who really know the truth; for
everything that God has made is good, and nothing is to be rejected, but
it is to be gratefully received; for it is hallowed by the word of God
and by prayer.
The Christian Church had inherited from the Jews the belief
that in this world things would be a great deal worse before they were
better. The Jews always thought of time in terms of two ages. There was
this present age, which was altogether bad and in the grip of the evil
powers; there was the age to come, which was to be the perfect age of
God and of goodness. But the one age would not pass into the other
without a last convulsive struggle. In between the two ages would come
The Day of the Lord. On that day the world would be shaken to its
foundations; there would be a last supreme battle with evil, a last
universal judgment, and then the new day would dawn.
The New Testament writers took over that picture. Being Jews,
they had been brought up in it. One of the expected features of the last
age was heresies and false teachers. "Many false prophets will arise,
and lead many astray" (Matthew 24:11). "False Christs and false prophets will arise, and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect" (Mark 13:22).
In these last days Paul looks for the emergence of "the man of sin, the
son of perdition," who would set himself up against God (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
Into the Church at Ephesus such false teachers had come. The way
in which their false teaching is regarded in this passage should make
us think very seriously. At that time men believed in evil spirits who
haunted the air and were out to ruin men. It was from them that this
false teaching came. But though it came from the demons, it came through
men. It came through men whose characteristic was a smooth hypocrisy
and whose consciences had been branded by Satan. It sometimes happened
that a slave was branded with a mark identifying him as belonging to a
certain owner. These false teachers bear upon their consciences the very
brand of Satan, marking them out as his property.
Here is the threatening and the terrible thing. God is always
searching for men who will be his instruments in the world; but the
terrible fact is that the forces of evil are also looking for men to
use. Here is the terrible responsibility of manhood. Men may accept the
service of God or the service of the devil. Whose service are they to
choose?
The heretics of Ephesus were propagating a heresy with very definite
consequences for life. As we have already seen, these heretics were
Gnostics; and the essence of Gnosticism was that spirit is altogether
good and matter altogether evil. One of the consequences was that there
were men who preached that everything to do with the body was evil and
that everything in the world was evil. In Ephesus this issued in two
definite errors. The heretics insisted that men must, as far as
possible, abstain from food, for food was material and therefore evil;
food ministered to the body and the body was evil. They also insisted
that a man must abstain from marriage, for the instincts of the body
were evil and must be entirely suppressed.
This was an ever-recurring heresy in the Church; in every
generation men arose who tried to be stricter than God. When the
Apostolic Canons came to be written, it was necessary to set it down in
black and white: "If any overseer, priest or deacon, or anyone on the
priestly list, abstains from marriage and flesh and wine, not on the
ground of asceticism (that is, for the sake of discipline), but through
abhorrence of them as evil in themselves, forgetting that all things are
very good, and that God made man male and female, but blaspheming and
slandering the workmanship of God, either let him amend, or be deposed
and cast out of the Church. Likewise a layman also" (Apostolic Canons
51). Irenaeus, writing towards the end of the second century, tells how
certain followers of Saturninus "declare that marriage and generation
are from Satan. Many likewise abstain from animal food, and draw away
multitudes by a feigned temperance of this kind" (Irenaeus, Against
Heresies, 1, 24, 2). This kind of thing came to a head in the monks and
hermits of the fourth century. They went away and lived in the Egyptian
desert, entirely cut off from men. They spent their lives mortifying the
flesh. One never ate cooked food and was famous for his
"fleshlessness." Another stood all night by a jutting crag so that it
was impossible for him to sleep. Another was famous because he allowed
his body to become so dirty and neglected that vermin dropped from him
as he walked. Another deliberately ate salt in midsummer and then
abstained from drinking water. "A clean body," they said, "necessarily
means an unclean soul."
The answer to these men was that by doing things like that they
were insulting God, for he is the creator of the world and repeatedly
his creation is said to be good. "And God saw everything that he had
made and behold it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). "Every moving thing that lives shall be meat for you" (Genesis 9:3).
"God created man in his own image...male and female he created them.
And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and
fill the earth" (Genesis 1:27-28).
But all God's gifts have to be used in a certain way.
(i) They have to be used in the memory that they are gifts of
God There are things which come to us so unfailingly that we begin to
forget that they are gifts and begin to take them as rights. We are to
remember that all that we have is a gift from God and that there is not a
living thing which could have life apart from him.
(ii) They have to be used in sharing. All selfish use is
forbidden. No man can monopolize God's gifts; every man must share them.
(iii) They are to be used with gratitude. Always there is to be
grace before meat. The Jew always said his grace. He had a grace for
different things. When he ate fruits he said: "Blessed art thou, King of
the Universe, who createst the fruit of the tree." When he drank wine
he said: "Blessed art thou, King of the Universe, who createst the fruit
of the vine." When he ate vegetables he said: "Blessed art thou, King
of the Universe, who createst the fruit of the earth." When he ate bread
he said: "Blessed art thou, King of the Universe, who bringest forth
bread from the ground." The very fact that we thank God for it makes a
thing sacred. Not even the demons can touch it when it has been touched
by the Spirit of God.
The true Christian does not serve God by enslaving himself with
rules and regulations and insulting his creation; he serves him by
gratefully accepting his good gifts and remembering that this is a world
where God made all things well and by never forgetting to share God's
gifts with others.
4:6-10 If you lay
these things before the brothers, you will be a fine servant of Jesus
Christ, if you feed your life on the words of faith, and of the fine
teaching of which you have been a student and a follower. Refuse to have
anything to do with irreligious stories like the tales old women tell
to children. Train yourself towards the goal of true godliness. The
training of the body has only a limited value; but training in godliness
has a universal value for mankind, because it has the promise of life
in this present age, and life in the age to come. This is a saying which
deserves to be accepted by all. The reason why we toil and struggle so
hard is that we have set our hopes on the living God, who is the Saviour
of all men, and especially of those who believe.
This passage is close--packed with practical advice, not only
for Timothy, but for any servant of the Church who is charged with the
duty of work and leadership.
(i) It tells us how to instruct others. The word used for laying
these things before the brothers is most suggestive (hupotithesthai, Greek #5294).
It does not mean to issue orders but rather to advise, to suggest. It
is a gentle, humble, and modest word. It means that the teacher must
never dogmatically and pugnaciously lay down the law. It means that he
must act rather as if he was reminding men of what they already knew or
suggesting to them, not that they should learn from him, but that they
should discover from their own hearts what is right. Guidance given in
gentleness will always be more effective than bullying instructions laid
down with force. Men may be led when they will refuse to be driven.
(ii) It tells us how to face the task of teaching. Timothy is
told that he must feed his life on the words of faith. No man can give
out without taking in. He who would teach must be continually learning.
It is the reverse of the truth that when a man becomes a teacher he
ceases to be a learner; he must daily know Jesus Christ better before he
can bring him to others.
(iii) It tells us what to avoid. Timothy is to avoid profitless
tales like those which old women tell to children. It is easy to get
lost in side-issues and to get entangled in things which are at best
embroideries. It is on the great central truths that a man must ever
feed his mind and nourish his faith.
(iv) It tells us what to seek. Timothy is told that as an
athlete trains his body, so the Christian must train his soul. It is not
that bodily fitness is despised. The Christian faith believes that the
body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. But there are certain things in
Paul's mind. First, in the ancient world, especially in Greece, the
gymnasia were dangerous places. Every town had its gymnasium; for the
Greek youth between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, gymnastics were
the main part of education. But the ancient world was riddled with
homosexuality and the gymnasia were notorious as hotbeds of that
particular sin. Second, Paul is pleading for a sense of proportion.
Physical training is good, and even essential; but its use is limited.
It develops. only part of a man; and it produces only results which last
for so short a time, for the body passes away. Training in godliness
develops the whole man in body, mind and spirit, and its results affect
not only time, but eternity as well. The Christian is not the athlete of
the gymnasium, he is the athlete of God. The greatest of the Greeks
well recognized this. Isocrates wrote: "No ascetic ought to train his
body as a king ought to train his soul." "Train yourself by submitting
willingly to toils, so that when they come on you unwillingly you will
be able to endure them."
(v) It shows us the basis of the whole matter. No one has ever
claimed that the Christian life is an easy way; but its goal is God It
is because life is lived in the presence of God and ends in his still
nearer presence, that the Christian is willing to endure as he does. The
greatness of the goal makes the toil worth while.
4:11-16 Make it your
business to hand on and to teach these commandments. Do not give anyone a
chance to despise you because you are young; but in your words and in
your conduct, in love, in loyalty and in purity, show yourself an
example of what believing people should be. Until I come, devote your
attention to the public reading of the scriptures, to exhortation and to
teaching. Do not neglect the special gift which was given to you, when
the voices of the prophets picked you out for the charge which has been
given to you, when the body of the elders laid their hands upon you.
Think about these things; find your whole life in them, that your
progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to your
teaching; stick to them; for if you do, you will save yourself and those
who hear you.
One of the difficulties Timothy had to overcome was that he was
young. We are not to think of him as a mere stripling. After all, it
was fifteen years since he had first become Paul's helper. The word used
for youth (neotes, Greek #3503)
can in Greek describe anyone of military age, that is up to the age of
forty. But the Church has generally liked its office-bearers to be men
of maturity. The Apostolic Canons laid it down that a man was not to
become a bishop until he was over fifty, for by then "he will be past
youthful disorders." Timothy was young in comparison with Paul, and
there would be many who would watch him with a critical eye. When the
elder William Pitt was making a speech in the House of Commons at the
age of thirty-three, he said: "The atrocious crime of being a young
man...I will neither attempt to palliate or deny." The Church has always
regarded youth with a certain suspicion, and under that suspicion
Timothy inevitably fell.
The advice given to Timothy is the hardest of all to follow, and
yet it was the only possible advice. It was that he must silence
criticism by conduct. Plato was once falsely accused of dishonourable
conduct. "Well," he said, "we must live in such a way that all men will
see that the charge is false." Verbal defences may not silence
criticism; conduct will. What then were to be the marks of Timothy's
conduct?
(i) First, there was to be love. Agape (Greek #26),
the Greek word for the greatest of the Christian virtues, is largely
untranslatable. Its real meaning is unconquerable benevolence. If a man
has agape (Greek #26),
no matter what other people do to him or say of him, he will seek
nothing but their good. He will never be bitter, never resentful, never
vengeful; he will never allow himself to hate; he will never refuse to
forgive. Clearly this is the kind of love which takes the whole of a
man's personality to achieve. Ordinarily love is something which we
cannot help. Love of our nearest and dearest is an instinctive thing.
The love of a man for a maid is an experience unsought. Ordinarily love
is a thing of the heart; but clearly this Christian love is a thing of
the will. It is that conquest of self whereby we develop an
unconquerable caring for other people. So then the first authenticating
mark of the Christian leader is that he cares for others, no matter what
they do to him. That is something of which any Christian leader quick
to take offence and prone to bear grudges should constantly think.
(ii) Second, there was to be loyalty. Loyalty is an
unconquerable fidelity to Christ, no matter what it may cost. It is not
difficult to be a good soldier when things are going well. But the
really valuable soldier is he who can fight well when his body is weary
and his stomach empty, when the situation seems hopeless and he is in
the midst of a campaign the movements of which he cannot understand. The
second authenticating mark of the Christian leader is a loyalty to
Christ which defies circumstances.
(iii) Third, there was to be purity. Purity is unconquerable
allegiance to the standards of Christ. When Pliny was reporting back to
Trajan about the Christians in Bithynia, where he was governor, he
wrote: "They are accustomed to bind themselves by an oath to commit
neither theft, nor robbery, nor adultery; never to break their word;
never to deny a pledge that has been made when summoned to answer for
it." The Christian pledge is to a life of purity. The Christian ought to
have a standard of honour and honesty, of self-control and chastity, of
discipline and consideration, far above the standards of the world. The
simple fact is that the world will never have any use for Christianity,
unless it can prove that it produces the best men and women. The third
authenticating mark of the Christian leader is a life lived on the
standards of Jesus Christ.
Certain duties are laid upon Timothy, the young leader designate of
the Church. He is to devote himself to the public reading of scripture,
to exhortation and to teaching. Here we have the pattern of the
Christian Church service.
The very first description of a church service which we possess
is in the works of Justin Martyr. About the year A.D. 170 he wrote a
defence of Christianity to the Roman government, and in it (Justin
Martyr: First Apology, 1: 67) he says: "On the day called the day of the
Sun a gathering takes place of all who live in the towns or in the
country in one place. The Memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the
prophets are read as long as time permits. Then the reader stops, and
the leader by word of mouth impresses and urges to the imitation of
these good things. Then we all stand together and send forth prayers."
So then in the pattern of any Christian service there should be four
things.
(i) There should be the reading and exposition of scripture. Men
ultimately do not gather together to hear the opinions of a preacher;
they gather together to hear the word of God. The Christian service is
Bible-centred.
(ii) There should be teaching. The Bible is a difficult book,
and therefore it has to be explained. Christian doctrine is not easy to
understand, but a man must be able to give a reason for the hope that is
in him. There is little use in exhorting a man to be a Christian, if he
does not know what being a Christian is. The Christian preacher has
given many years of his life to gain the necessary equipment to explain
the faith to others. He has been set free from the ordinary duties of
life in order to think, to study and to pray that he may better expound
the word of God. There can be no lasting Christian faith in any Church
without a teaching ministry.
(iii) There should be exhortation. The Christian message must
always end in Christian action. Someone has said that every sermon
should end with the challenge: "What about it, chum?" It is not enough
to present the Christian message as something to be studied and
understood; it has to be presented as something to be done. Christianity
is truth, but it is truth in action.
(iv) There should be prayer. The gathering meets in the presence
of God; it thinks in the Spirit of God; it goes out in the strength of
God. Neither the preaching nor the listening during the service, nor the
consequent action in the world, is possible without the help of the
Spirit of God.
It would do us no harm sometimes to test our modern services
against the pattern of the first services of the Christian Church.
Here in this passage is set out in the most vivid way the personal duty of the Christian leader.
(i) He must remember that he is a man set apart for a special
task by the Church. The Christian leader does not make sense apart from
the Church. His commission came from it; his work is within its
fellowship; his duty is to build others into it. That is why the really
important work of the Christian Church is never done by any itinerant
evangelist but always by its settled ministry.
(ii) He must remember the duty to think about these things. His
great danger is intellectual sloth and the shut mind, neglecting, to
study and allowing his thoughts to continue in well-worn grooves. The
danger is that new truths, new methods and the attempt to restate the
faith in contemporary terms may merely annoy him. The Christian leader
must be a Christian thinker or he fails in his task; and to be a
Christian thinker is to be an adventurous thinker so long as life lasts.
(iii) He must remember the duty of concentration. The danger is
that he may dissipate his energies on many things which are not central
to the Christian faith. He is presented with the invitation to many
duties and confronted with the claims of many spheres of service. There
was a prophet who confronted Ahab with a kind of parable. He said that
in a battle a man brought him a prisoner to guard, telling him that if
the prisoner escaped his own life would be forfeit; but he allowed his
attention to wander, and "as your servant was busy here and there he was
gone" (1 Kings 20:35-43).
It is easy for the Christian leader to be busy here and there, and to
let the central things go. Concentration is a prime duty of the
Christian leader.
(iv) He must remember the duty of progress. His progress must be
evident to all men. It is all too true of most of us that the same
things conquer us year in and year out; that as year succeeds year, we
are no further on. The Christian leader pleads with others to become
more like Christ. How can he do so with honesty unless he himself from
day to day becomes more like the Master whose he is and whom he seeks to
serve? When Kagawa decided to become a Christian, his first prayer was:
"God, make me like Christ." The Christian leader's prayer must first be
that he may grow more like Christ, for only thus will he be able to
lead others to him.
-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)