1 Timothy 4
The Message
Teach with Your Life
4 1-5 The Spirit makes it clear that as time goes on, some are going to give up on the faith and chase after demonic illusions put forth by professional liars. These liars have lied so well and for so long that they’ve lost their capacity for truth. They will tell you not to get married. They’ll tell you not to eat this or that food—perfectly good food God created to be eaten heartily and with thanksgiving by believers who know better! Everything God created is good, and to be received with thanks. Nothing is to be sneered at and thrown out. God’s Word and our prayers make every item in creation holy.
6-10 You’ve been raised on the Message of the faith and have followed sound teaching. Now pass on this counsel to the followers of Jesus there, and you’ll be a good servant of Jesus. Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart. This is why we’ve thrown ourselves into this venture so totally. We’re banking on the living God, Savior of all men and women, especially believers.
11-14 Get the word out. Teach all these things. And don’t let anyone put you down because you’re young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. And that special gift of ministry you were given when the leaders of the church laid hands on you and prayed—keep that dusted off and in use.
15-16 Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will all see you mature right before their eyes! Keep a firm grasp on both your character and your teaching. Don’t be diverted. Just keep at it. Both you and those who hear you will experience salvation.
提 摩 太 前 書 4
Chinese New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version
对假教师的警告
4 圣灵清楚地表明，日后会有人放弃信仰，去跟随骗人的邪灵和魔鬼的教义。 2 这些教义是出自虚伪的骗子，这些人不能辨别是非，他们的良心就像被热铁打上了烙印。 3 他们禁止婚嫁，告诉人们避免吃某些食物，而上帝创造这些食物，是为了让信仰者和认识真理的人带着感恩之心来领受的。 4 上帝创造的一切都是好的，都不应该拒绝，要带着感恩之心来接受。 5 因为上帝的话和人的祈告使一切都变得圣洁了。
做基督耶稣的好仆人
6 如果你们把这些事向兄弟们指出来，你们就是基督耶稣的好仆人，是在你们信仰的真理和遵循的有益教导的熏陶下成长起来的。 7 不要听老妇人般的世俗之谈，要为侍奉上帝而坚持锻练自己。 8 体力锻炼的益处是有限的，但为上帝服务对各方面都有益处，因为它在今生和来世都把祝福应许给你。 9 我说的是实话，值得完全接受。 10 我们之所以辛劳与奋斗，是因为我们把希望寄托于活生生的上帝，他是全人类、尤其是信仰他的人的救世主。
11 命令和教授这些事情吧。 12 你们虽然年轻，但不要叫人轻视你，相反你要用言行、用爱心、用信仰和你过的纯洁生活，为信徒们树立榜样。 13 你要继续致力于公开宣读《经》 [a]，鼓励、教导他们，直到我来临。 14 不要忽视你得到的恩赐，这恩赐是长老们把手按在你身上 [b]时，通过先知的预言赐给你的。 15 你要继续全神贯注于这些事，使所有的人都能看到你的进步。 16 你在生活和教导中要小心，对此要持之以恒，这样你既能拯救自己，又能拯救那些听从你的人。
Footnotes
- 提 摩 太 前 書 4:13 经： 圣作—旧约。
- 提 摩 太 前 書 4:14 手按在你身上： 表示授予他上帝的特殊使命。
1 Timothy 4
King James Version
4 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;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 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.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
7 But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
8 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.
9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
11 These things command and teach.
12 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.
13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
16 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.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Copyright © 2004 by World Bible Translation Center