1 Timothy 4: Paul Warns About Forbidding and Neglecting

On Monday it was Ben's turn to say the blessing on the food, and he folded his arms so hard his chin went down with them. "Bless the food and bless Biscuit, amen." Caleb pointed out that Biscuit isn't food, so Ben said it again with Biscuit in it, and nobody at the table had the heart to stop him.

Verse 5 of 1 Timothy 4 is about that sort of moment, but the chapter starts somewhere heavier.

What does "the latter times" mean in 1 Timothy 4:1?

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

1 Timothy 4:1

Paul says "some" and doesn't say who and he doesn't give a year. What he does give, in verse 2, is a description of how those people talk: "Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron." That's about conduct. A person can hold a wrong idea and still be honest about it, and the people in verse 2 aren't that. The verse calls what the people in verse 2 say lies, which is a harder word than mistaken.

The Church teaches that after the ancient apostles were gone, authority and doctrine were lost in a general falling away, and that the Restoration answered it. A verse like this one is read as part of that background. Paul doesn't point from his sentence to a particular century. That link comes from the Church's teaching, not from his text.

Then in verse 3 he gets specific, and the two examples are odd ones to pick: "Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."

Why is forbidding marriage and meats a sign of falling away?

Look at the verbs. Paul doesn't complain that somebody eats too little or marries too late. The charge sits in "forbidding" and "commanding." The error is turning something God did not require into a requirement, and doing it in God's name.

The Doctrine and Covenants has the nearest parallel I know of. D&C 49:15 says "whoso forbiddeth to marry is not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man." Three verses later, D&C 49:18 reads "And whoso forbiddeth to abstain from meats, that man should not eat the same, is not ordained of God." It sits beside verse 3 and goes after the same problem, the person doing the forbidding.

Paul's answer comes in verses 4 and 5.

For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

1 Timothy 4:4-5

Food is made right by two things, the word of God and prayer. It is a short list for a meal, and Paul doesn't add to it. In 1 Timothy 2 the prayer comes first, ahead of any instruction about order, and here it turns up again doing the quieter job of making an ordinary meal something you can receive without apology.

Readers who know the Word of Wisdom will want to set it beside verse 3. Section 89 opens by saying it was given "not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom" (D&C 89:2), which is a different kind of statement from the one Paul is attacking. Thanksgiving shows up there too: verse 11 has herbs and fruits used "with prudence and thanksgiving," and verse 12 has the flesh of beasts and fowls ordained "for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly."

Is "exercise thyself unto godliness" a dig at the gym?

But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

1 Timothy 4:7-8

"Profiteth little" is not the same as nothing. Paul is ranking two kinds of training, and the gym gets a fair mention before he moves on. Verse 8 doesn't promise an easy life either. The same sentence reaches to "that which is to come," and verse 10 follows with "we both labour and suffer reproach."

Verse 10 ends on a phrase people bend in both directions: God "is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe." The Church reads that as the Atonement reaching everyone, with resurrection for all and exaltation depending on faith and obedience.

What gift was Timothy told not to neglect?

At verse 6 the chapter changes from "some" to "thou." The rest of the chapter is aimed at one man, and it's more practical than the first five verses.

Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

1 Timothy 4:12

That is a long list for a man whose main problem, as far as the congregation was concerned, was that he looked young. The text doesn't give Timothy's age, so "youth" tells us only that the congregation thought of him as the young one. Paul doesn't tell him to argue for his standing. He tells him to be a pattern, and then in verse 13 he names three habits, "to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine," with reading first and a time limit on all three: "Till I come."

Verse 14 is the one the chapter turns on, for me anyway.

Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

1 Timothy 4:14

Paul doesn't say what the gift was. "Presbytery" means a body of elders. In 2 Timothy 1:6 he comes back to it: "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands." Between the two letters the instruction changes from "neglect not" to "stir up," and in both the work of keeping the gift falls to Timothy. D&C 46:11 says "to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God," and verse 8 of that section attaches a condition, to seek the best gifts "always remembering for what they are given."

Verse 15 covers the daily part, "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all." Then verse 16 closes the chapter: "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee."

Frequently Asked Questions

Does 1 Timothy 4:3 mean Paul was against celibacy?

The verse is against forbidding, which is about who gets to impose the rule. Someone choosing a path is not the same as a teacher telling everybody else that God requires it.

What does "doctrines of devils" mean in verse 1?

It's teaching passed along under the influence of seducing spirits, so Paul is putting the source behind the human speakers. He then describes the speakers in verse 2 by their lying and their seared conscience, and that description is a better guide than anyone's list of who qualifies.

Is the gift in verse 14 a spiritual gift or a calling?

The text doesn't say what kind of gift it was, only that it came by prophecy and the laying on of hands and that Timothy is not to neglect it. Either could fit, and the verse doesn't make you choose.

Does "Saviour of all men" mean everyone is saved no matter what?

No. The verse says "specially of those that believe," and the Book of Mormon puts the condition plainly: "it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23). Resurrection reaches everyone, and I keep that separate from exaltation.

Why take heed to himself first?

Because verse 16 puts himself ahead of the people who hear him. The order is in the text, and Paul doesn't explain it.

What I still don't care for here

The last clause of verse 16 is the part I would rather not have. "Save thyself, and them that hear thee" hangs part of the listeners' outcome on the speaker's attention to himself, and I don't see the verse softening that anywhere. The other complaint is smaller. I would have liked one concrete example in verse 14. A sentence naming the gift would have saved a good many commentaries, and what the verse gives us is prophecy and hands and nothing else.

— D.