I Timothy 4:1-5

Evangelist Kelly McDonald, Jr.

“1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. 6 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed” (I Timothy 4:1-6, NIV).

Common Arguments: It is commonly thought that I Timothy 4:1-6 was written to anyone who follows the distinction between clean and unclean animals. These verses are also used to claim that we can pray over any animal meat, and it will be clean.

Think it Through: If the first argument is true, then Jesus, Peter, and Paul were all hypocrites because they never ate anything unclean. We know that Jesus lived a perfect life (I John 3:1-6). If the second argument is true, then our prayers should be able to change the biology of an unclean animal to make it clean. Since this has never been done, then this argument is also not true. Also consider the following: Why would God allow us to pray over something and change what He said in the Bible? What else can we change to pray? This is very problematic. Unclean animals are still mentioned in 2 Cor. 6:17 and Rev 18:2, so they can’t be done away with by these verses.

Short Answer: The heresy involves people who do two things: 1) forbid marriage AND 2) forbid people from eating clean animal meat.

Longer Answer: Paul, speaking about the times after him, mentions those who will depart from the faith and follow the teachings of demons. These ‘hypocritical liars’ will teach people to abstain from marriage AND

“from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.”

Some people have tried to apply these verses to Leviticus 11, which explains the difference between clean and unclean animals. This interpretation is problematic. First, Paul said in verse 1 that this false teaching comes from demons. Did a demon speak Leviticus 11? Absolutely not! The LORD spoke in this chapter (see Lev. 11:1).

Paul also speaks about this teaching with future implications, meaning it is a teaching which would come forth after him. Leviticus 11 was given by God many centuries before. These two points alone eliminate the possibility that I Timothy 4:1-6 refers to the dietary instructions on clean and unclean!

What foods did God create to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth? The Greek word translated as food in verse 3 is bromaton. It is translated as ‘certain foods.’ This word refers that which God created to be eaten according to Leviticus 11. In that chapter, we learn that God made clean animals as food. The other animals are simply unclean. They are not considered food.

The false teaching mentioned in I Timothy 4 prohibits people from eating clean animals. He also referenced ‘the truth’ in verse 3. Jesus said that the Word is Truth (John 17:17). Since the New Testament was not yet compiled at that time, this is a reference to the Old Testament.

Paul then said that everything we eat should be consecrated or made holy by two things: the word of God AND prayer. In the word of God, pigs, shellfish, and other unclean animals were never set apart for humans to eat. From the beginning, unclean animals were made for certain purposes like cleaning up the earth, but never for human consumption! Prayer will not make a pig chew the cud or a shrimp grow fins and scales because God did not make those animals with those character- istics. Since the word of God consecrates clean animals for food or broma, then this confirms the interpretation provided in this article.

For even more confirmation, consider verse 6. In it, Paul mentioned that Timothy was brought up in this vital truth. This is an interesting statement based on two facts about Timothy. First, Paul said that Timothy has known the Scriptures since infancy (2 Tim. 3:15). As aforementioned, this is a reference to the Old Testament Scriptures. Secondly, Timothy’s mother was a Jewess (Acts 16:1). What truth was Timothy reared into? The dietary distinction between clean and unclean animals. No one would be able to convince Timothy, a person who knows the truth of God’s Word, that clean animal meat can be forbidden by God.

To learn more about how God views food, download the free booklet Does God Care What You Eat? from www. hungryheartsministry.com (Free Resources page).

What is the false teaching? When did it manifest in history? There are two things to consider. In verse 1, Paul said that this teaching would come after him. In verse 3, he wrote that these false teachers will instruct people to abstain from the clean animals and to abstain from marriage. The word ‘and’ is critical in understanding these verses.

The first historical fulfillment of these verses started to occur in the second century AD. This is among the proofs that the Pastoral epistles were written in the first century by Paul. If this heresy started while he was alive, then he would have described it as existing in his day.

In the second century, several false teachers rose to prominence in Christian circles. Many of them were Gnostics. The word Gnostic comes from Greek word gnosis; it means knowledge. While it was not a unified belief system, there were beliefs commonly found among those given this label.

Most Gnostics viewed the material world as evil and the spiritual world as good. This is called dualism. To this end, they rejected marriage because reproduction generated more material beings. They focused on obtaining special knowledge (gnosis) so that they could leave the bondage of this material world and ascend into the good, spiritual world.

However, they neglected Biblical precepts relating to lifestyle (after all, the material world was considered evil). They adhered to heretical beliefs such as the de- nial of Jesus’ bodily birth and suffering. This explains why Paul warned Timothy in the same letter to: “Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge…” (I Timothy 6:20).

Among the false teachers of this time were Basilides, Saturninus (sometimes listed as Saturnilus), and Marcion. Below we have quotes from Christian authors who were contemporaries to them and combated their heresies.

“…They declare also, that marriage and generation are from Satan. Many of those, too, who belong to his school, abstain from animal food, and draw away multitudes by a feigned temperance of this kind…” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1.24.2).

“But one Saturnilus, who flourished about the same period with Basilides, but spent his time in Antioch…And he affirms that marriage and procreation are from Satan. The majority, however, of those who belong to this (heretic’s school) abstain from animal food likewise, (and) by this affectation of asceticism (make many their dupes)…” (Pseudo-Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, 7.16).

“49. There are some who say outright that marriage is fornication and teach that it was introduced by the devil…60. But those who from a hatred for the flesh ungratefully long to have nothing to do with the marriage union and the eating of reasonable food, are both blockheads and atheists, and exercise an irrational chastity like the other heathen…102…They say: Man became like the beasts when he came to practice martial relations…And if the serpent took the use of marital relations from the irrational animals and persuaded Adam to agree to have union with Eve, as though the couple first created did not have such union by nature, as some think, this again is blasphemy against the creation. For it makes human nature weaker than that of the brute beasts if in this matter those who were first created by God copied them….104. Furthermore they wish to maintain that the relations of man and wife in marriage, which is called knowledge, is a sin; this sin is referred to as eating of the tree of good and evil, and the phrase ‘he knew’ signifies transgression of the commandment….” (Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 3.17.49, 60, 102, 104).

“We must now encounter the subject of marriage, which Marcion, more continent than the apostle, prohibits. For the apostle, although preferring the grace of continence, yet permits the contraction of marriage and the enjoyment of it, and advises the continuance therein

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Commonly Misunderstood Verses, continued rather than the dissolution thereof” (Tertullian, Against Marcion, 5.7).

In these quotes, the influence of Gnostic dualism is evident. Because they considered the material world to be evil, they rejected the eating of meat and marriage. Some of them thought that the serpent beguiled Adam and Eve to have relations with each other; they claimed that this was eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They went so far as to call marital relations a sin!

The Gnostic claim is totally inaccurate and contradicts the plain text of Genesis chapter 3 (as well as many other Scriptures!) As you can tell, they relied heavily on allegory to explain away the literal meaning of the text. God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply in Genesis 1:27-28.

While this heresy started in the second century, it would manifest itself again over the centuries in groups such as the Messalians, Bogomils, and Cathari. Some ‘mainstream’ churches, such as that in Rome, accepted variations of this teaching such as forbidding priests from marrying and forbidding food on certain days of the week (such as Friday and Saturday).

Biblical Archeological Corner, continued subjects of extensive archaeological excavations, this has not occurred at Gaza.

In 1997, a French team of archaeologists managed to identify the ruins of the ancient port, but their efforts ended abruptly. Gaza is still a thriving city, and a major dig would have been highly disruptive. Also, this city, unlike the others, is under Palestinian control and they were not willing to allow operations to continue.

The remainder of the book of Judges concerns not judges themselves, but rather incidents of lawlessness and recklessness that cause harm to the Chosen People’s relationship with their Adonai. We will mention these in passing as they do not involve judges per se. The first incident recounts an abuse of the Torah as to the laws governing the priesthood and the use of idols. The second incident is of great consequence to the well-being of the Israelite tribal confederation. It chronicles the near destruction of the tribe of Benjamin at the hands of the other tribes.

After reading these final chapters of the book, it becomes easy to understand why Adonai so often had to punish His set-apart people! The writer of Judges includes these incidents as part of his own agenda. The

Once we examine I Timothy 4:1-5 very carefully, we can see that Paul did not contradict any practices from the Old Testament. He was speaking prophetically by the Holy Spirit about a false teaching which would come after his time. It led people away from the faith by convincing them to abstain from clean animal meat and to forbid marriage. History confirms the people and groups which were seduced by these teachings.

Now that we know the truth about these verses, we can avoid this false doctrine!

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 3.17.49, 60, 102, 104. The Library of Christian Classics, vol. 2. Selected Translations of Clement and Origin with Introduction and Notes by John Ernest Leonard Oulton, D.D., Henry Chadwick, B.D. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1954. pp 48, 62-63, 68, 88, 89.

Irenaeus. Against Heresies, 1.24.2-4, Translated by Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1899. pp 349.

Pseudo-Hippolytus. Refutation of all Heresies, 7.16. Translated by J.H. MacMahon. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: The Christian Literature Company, 1886. p 109.

Tertullian. Against Marcion, 5.7. Translated by Peter Holmes. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: The Christian Literature Publishing Company,1885. p 443.

book ends with the sentence, “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 21:25). The writer clearly felt it was time for a king to rule this unruly people.

Yet the advent of the earthly Israelite monarchy would have to wait a little longer. There was still one more judge to come; arguably the greatest of them all. He will be the topic of our next article as well as we look at the Archaeological site of Shiloh.

http://hermeneutics.kulikovskyonline.net accessed Aug 13, 2022. Lacey, Troy. Feedback: How Could Samson Kill 1,000 Men with the Jawbone of a Donkey? www.answersingenesis.org accessed Aug 12, 2022.

Merrill, Eugene H. Kingdom Of Priests: A History Of Old Testament Israel. 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids, MI, 2008.

New American Standard Bible. Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible. Chattanooga, 2008.

Shanks, Hershel. Gaza Report. Biblical Archaeological Review. Mar/Apr 1997. Washington, D. C. Strong’s Interlinear Concordance.