Add parallel Print Page Options

Timothy’s Ministry in the Later Times

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves[a] with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings,[b] influenced by the hypocrisy of liars[c] whose consciences are seared.[d] They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creation of God is good and no food[e] is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Timothy 4:1 tn Or “desert the faith by occupying themselves.”
  2. 1 Timothy 4:1 tn Grk “teachings of demons” (speaking of the source of these doctrines).
  3. 1 Timothy 4:2 tn Grk “in the hypocrisy of liars.”
  4. 1 Timothy 4:2 tn Or “branded.” The Greek verb καυστηριάζω (kaustēriazō) can be used to refer either to the cause (“brand”) or the effect (“seared”).sn Consciences are seared. The precise meaning of this phrase is somewhat debated. Three primary interpretations are (1) the consciences of these false teachers are “branded” with Satan’s mark to indicate ownership, (2) their consciences are “branded” with a penal mark to show they are lawbreakers, or (3) their consciences have been “seared” (i.e., totally burnt and desensitized) so that they are unable to notice the difference between right and wrong. See G. W. Knight, Pastoral Epistles (NIGTC), 189.
  5. 1 Timothy 4:4 tn Grk “nothing.”

But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron, forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.

Read full chapter