Understanding 1st Timothy 4:1-5

The Prophecy and Its Implications

Welcome Prayer Song

THREE OCLOCK FROM THIS TIME FORWARD.

Okay, so last week we read and covered the last verse of 1st Timothy 3:16 which says:

16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: who was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

And that brings us to chapter four. Now, as we read, we have the choice on how we are going to understand these passages more than others because these have Paul speaking to a future time, and like all prophetic utterances, they can be taken and applied to all sorts of time periods. And as it goes with all scriptural interpretation of prophecy, we can see them as speaking to the future, as having already happened, as happening over and over again (the historical method), or as representing an ideal.

The Spirit's Clear Message

So, let’s read beginning at verse one where Paul now writes:

1st 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; 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.

Alright, back to verse 1

1st 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;

When Pauls says, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly,” he is evidently talking about the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of inspiration. But what we cannot tell is whether Paul is saying that the Spirit revealed what he says to him or if he is saying that the Spirit reveals this expressly to all people who are in tune with it. Paul refers to this same prophecy in 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-17 (which we just covered in Milk) and John touches on them both in 1st John 2:18. When Paul says, “the Spirit speaketh expressly,” he is saying that the Spirit spoke not through shadowy symbols or hints but speaks plainly – that this “will be the case?”

What would be the case?

“That in the latter times, some would depart from the faith.” So, latter times to them/then? Latter times for us now? Latter times in the future? Bottom line, I suggest that some are always “departing from the faith,” no matter what the age. From the beginning of faith people have been departing from it. Because Paul is writing a letter to Timothy who was overseeing the church at Ephesus in his absence, and this is the context of his remarks, I suggest that he is speaking of two situations: To them/then and then to epochs of time in the future where the same themes and situations would unfold, making his words pertinent even today.

Causes of Departing from Faith

So, the Latter times to them/then were speaking of the wrapping up of the last daysThe final years of the old covenant age—fulfilled in the first century, not future end times. of that age, where all the things of the former covenant were going to be wrapped up. Paul wrote to the believers at Thessalonica that the coming of the Lord would not occur until there was a falling away first and the man of sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. be revealed the son of perdition, and the Greek translated “falling away” is the same Greek term translated “depart from the faith here” which is apostatize.

The latter days when people would apostatize would also then speak to days following (after Paul wrote these words) historically. And this means we can apply them to people even now. When Paul says that some would depart this does not necessarily convey a few, but could speak to a large sum too. It is my belief that the Bride of Christ, at the time of Jerusalem’s fall, was small, and that via deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God., martyrdom and apostasy the large number of those “called to the faith” had waned to a very small number of faithful, holy, unspotted souls.

And what would the departing from the faith be caused by? Paul lists:

• Giving heed to seducing spirits,
• And (giving heed to) doctrines of devils;
• Speaking lies in hypocrisy;
• Having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
• Forbidding to marry, and
• Commanding to abstain from meats,

So, “giving heed to seducing spirits.” In that day,

Seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Demons

Demons, (in the days thereafter, perhaps the same, perhaps the spirit of the age, perhaps the Dark with a capital D – whatever spirits are not the Spirit of God) could seduce believers. Unquestionably, human beings of all ages are prone to give heed to seducing spirits; but remember, the thing referred to here by Paul is related to “a grand apostasy occurring in the last days.” Are there seducing spirits in our lives? I am certain of it. In fact, I have been under the seductive spirit of adultery in my life, and have watched others under the same.

Teachings of Demons

Then secondly, and more specifically, “and doctrines of devils.” In the Greek, “the teachings of demons.” Interestingly, the Greek allows (because of the Genitive case) for this to mean actual teachings “about demons” or “teachings from demons” – and no one can say otherwise relative to this. However, context seems to suggest that Paul is talking about the teachings that demons do rather than teachings about demons. What we can say is that believers in that day, and even in ours, "give heed to," or embrace, some peculiar views respecting demons.

As I mentioned last week, I do not find it meaningless that Paul wrote this after composing a passage just prior that has been tampered with relative to the make-up of God. Just saying. And as a personal aside, which I can only state with some conjecture, if the former age has been wrapped up (as scripture describes) and Satan and his angels have been done away with, and if there are demons out in the world still tempting and misleading people in the form of darkness, I cannot help but wonder if those demons do not consist of those souls existing outside the New JerusalemThe spiritual reality of God's fulfilled presence with humanity—replacing Sheol after 70 A.D. (meaning in some measure of darkness) who choose to somehow work against the light especially when it comes to living human beings. Just a thought.

Nevertheless, demons were abundant still in the New Testament age and to me this is what Paul is speaking about here. Now, can we assign these descriptions to other periods of time that followed the wrapping up of that age? Many people have – even out to our day. Some look back to the early Catholic church and see believers fitting these descriptions. Others look around at our day and say the same. But I can assure you believers have for 2000 years been giving heed to seducing spirits, and (given heed to) doctrines of devils. Some consider the extra biblical practices and doctrines found in Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy, a number of Protestant sects, along with other restorational offshoots like Mormonism, as coming from seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.

Examples Within Religious Practices

For instance, relative to Roman Catholicism alone, they teach:

The Catholic Church is the one true church (CCC 2105), Only the Roman Catholic Church has authority to interpret Scripture (CCC 100), The Pope is the head of the church and has the authority of Christ (CCC 2034), The Roman Catholic Church is necessary for salvation (CCC 846), Sacred Traditions are equal to scripture (CCC 82), Forgiveness of sins, salvation, is by faith and works (CCC 2036 CCC 2080 2068), Full benefit of Salvation is only through the Roman Catholic Church (Vatican 2, Decree on Ecumenism, 3), Grace can be merited (CCC 2010 CCC 2027), The merit of Mary and the Saints can be applied to Catholics and others (1477), Penance is necessary for salvation (CCC 980), Purgatory (CCC 1031 CCC 1475), Indulgences (CCC 1471 CCC 1478 CCC 1498 CCC 1472), Mary is Mediatrix (CCC 969), Mary brings us the gifts of eternal salvation (CCC 969), Mary delivers souls from death (CCC 966), Prayer to the saints (CCC 2677), The Communion elements become the actual body and blood of Christ (CCC 1374 CCC 1376).

So, Catholicism seems to fit the bill. Of course, we could list things with the other groups too, but my point is schisms and apostasies are historically rampant and can be assigned both to demons, darknesses, and to all ages. Again, Paul is writing to Timothy then – so there is no reason to suggest that these words only apply to a futuristic sense but instead I would say we reasonably apply them first to them/then – and perhaps us later. Paul continues and says

2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

“Speaking lies in hypocrisy;” Speaking lies hypocritically, feigning one thing, saying another, “having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” We can see this in living color in our…

Conscience and Hypocrisy

Day and age in some of our religious leaders, right? They outright lie in their hypocritical stances – so a principle applicable to them/then as to now. And Paul explains how they are able to do it: “Having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” The picture is of taking a hot iron and pressing it onto a fleshly part of the body. The affect lead to a deadening of the nerves and the hardening of the skin due to scabs. Taking that imagery Paul says this is what is happening to some people’s conscience’s, which enables them to “speak lies in hypocrisy.”

We recall what Paul said in the first chapter of this letter, at verse 5:

1st Timothy 1:5 “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:”

And it is a well-known fact that human beings are very susceptible to “cauterized consciences” and that it typically occurs over time and by increasing exposure to elements that deaden our otherwise thriving sensitivities. It is at this point and in the shadow of these descriptions that Paul now adds:

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.

Historical Practices and Beliefs

Let me state here clearly and plainly – these practices of forbidding marriage and commanding people to abstain from meats are riddled through history, and have their origins going way back to ancient history. I say this because MANY people read this and automatically assign what Paul says to the Catholics, who forbid marriage of their priests and for a good amount of time forbade eating meat on Fridays. Many commentaries speak directly to Catholics with reference to these verses but they all convenient ignore the historical realities of people and people of faith throughout the ages.

First of all, let’s remember that in that day even Paul suggested that remaining unmarried was a good thing and he also stated indirectly that abstaining from meat sacrificed to idols would in some ways be beneficial. So, these were topics at hand even at that time and I suggest that as a result, Paul was talking to Timothy about the believers in Judea and Asia Minor who may have been, or potentially could get, caught up in some practices that were sucking people away from the faith.

I’ve witnessed this even in my life with believers who take the Good News and insert (or even replace part of it) with radical forms of man-made practices, many of them relative to diet or sex. In time, I’ve watched some depart from the faith due to more fully embracing these other things, like Bikram Yoga, Veganism, Meditations, fasting, celibacy, or open marriage. So, I suggest that Paul was simply addressing something similar in his day, which again, is universally known over the course of human history.

Context and Religious Practices

Let’s also know that the Greek word, translated “meats” here, is a word for food. And when scripture has someone say, “Have you any meat?” it does not always or necessarily mean animal flesh. It could mean animal flesh, and frankly does seem, in context, to mean this, but we cannot be 100% certain, and because of that he could be referring to extreme fasting – which some people groups are prone to do.

Finally, we note that abstaining from specific types of food (usually flesh of animals) was a HUGE part of Judaism, and so to tie what he is saying to the Catholic church (or others) that have health codes or dietary rules (and therefore to tie them to the last days) isn’t a really reasonable interpretation of scripture in my estimation.

Buddhist sources show that the principle of nonviolence toward animals was an established rule as early as the 6th century BC. The Jain practice, which was particularly strict, may be even older. Hinduism has the most profound connection with a vegetarian way of life and the strongest claim to fostering and supporting it. In the ancient Vedic period (between 1500 and 500 BCE), although the laws allowed the consumption of some kinds of meat, vegetarianism was encouraged and a number of Hindu texts place injunctions against meat eating while advocating for a vegetarian diet. Remember, in Hinduism, killing a cow is traditionally considered a sin.

Interestingly enough, the Greek religious teacher Pythagoras (570 BC – 495 BC) is said to have advocated vegetarianism and in fact, before the development of the term “vegetarian,” people who refused to eat meat.

Vegetarianism and Early Beliefs

Were often called, “Pythagoreans.” Eudoxus of Cnidus, a student of Archytas and Plato, writes that "Pythagoras was distinguished by such purity and so avoided killing and killers that he not only abstained from animal foods, but even kept his distance from cooks and hunters."

When Jesus was approached with a man blind from birth, they asked him if this man did sin or his parents that he was born blind. The belief that he could have sinned before birth was part of a mythical belief embraced by some Jews (taken from the Greeks) called the transmigration of souls (or metempsychosis). Jesus clears it up readily and says neither were true, but the Greek originating myth of the transmigration of souls was a direct reason for early vegetarianism in Hellenistic culture.

There was a widely held belief, popular among both vegetarians and non-vegetarians, that in the "Golden Age of the beginning of humanity" (a time going way back) mankind was strictly non-violent. In that utopian state of the world hunting, livestock breeding, and meat-eating, as well as agriculture, were virtually unknown and unnecessary, as the earth spontaneously produced in abundance all the food its inhabitants needed. This myth is recorded by Hesiod (Works and Days 109sqq.), Plato (Statesman 271–2), the famous Roman poet Ovid (Metamorphoses 1,89sqq.), among others.

In any case, an attempt to try and recreate this Golden Age of non-violence, many Greeks promoted vegetarianism – Pythagoras being one of them. So Paul could have easily been trying to keep the Bride from the influence of these special groups that abounded in his day rather than speaking directly to the future laws of diet that would unfold in the world of Christian believers.

Biblical Insights on Diet

Anyway, back to our text in 1st Timothy, where Paul writing to Timothy THEN says the following:

1st 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;
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.”

So, let’s get this right – in the beginning God created all the creatures – including man.

Original Diet in Genesis

There exists two major classes of animals that eat meat. The first, called omnivores (e.g. bears), who live off a mix of both flesh and plant-based food sources. The second class of animals, called carnivores (e.g. lions, tigers, snakes, etc.), solely or primarily consume flesh as the main part of their diet. Human beings are omnivores. Scripture clearly states that God did not originally require animals (including humans) to ingest meat as part of their diets.

Genesis 1:29-30 reads God saying to Adam:

Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so.

From this, all living things were commanded to eat only plant-based foods for their daily sustenance. As hard as it is to understand this, God did not apparently create animals to be predators and to kill and eat each other. He did not create beasts that needed to hunt down, kill, tear up and devour their fellow creatures. Instead, he brought everything into existence in a state of perfection. This perfection is based on his way of life, which is founded on selfless love for others (1st John 4:8).

In the Garden of Eden God states that everything brought into existence was "exceedingly good." This perfection manifested itself when, before sin entered the world as Adam was blessed with the task of naming all land-based creatures including birds (Genesis 2:19). There is no indication that any lion, bear, or other present-day carnivores tried to attack or kill him during this process. All life was gentle and appeared to be docile and herbivore.

Two major factors led to this radical departure from what was originally…

The Consequences of the Fall

First, when Adam and Eve sinned by taking from the tree of good and evil, they rejected trusting in God and replaced it with believing in Satan's (and their own) deceptions. This sin brought with it manifold consequences that affected not only the physical world (e.g., animals) but also the spiritual one. The first humans, from the moment they disobeyed, began to decline, ultimately leading to their death—first spiritually, then of the soul, and ultimately in the flesh. Additionally, their sin appears to have also cursed all animals as Genesis 3:14 says:

“And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.”

And Genesis 3:21 reads "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them."

Gotta kills animals to make coats of skins and so the shedding of animal life as a result of the Fall may have launched the whole carnivore side to both animals and humans at that time. Apparently, the Fall also changed the plant world too, as Genesis 3:17 has God say, "Cursed is the ground for your sake," which Genesis 5:29 confirms. It appears from (John 12:31 and 14:30, 16:11, Ephesians 2:2, 6:12) that Satan himself, having reign over the world, also contributed to the animals adopting carnivorous traits.

I always wonder about God making meat taste so good from the start and giving bears claws and snakes fangs relative to all of this, but it seems that both the Fall and then Satan are the factors that moved things in this direction. In other words, the supposition is that where God created all things nicely and kindly, and said the earth was to feed us all, Satan, a murderer from the beginning, changed things up after getting Adam and Eve to rebel.

Dietary Laws and Their Evolution

What is interesting is that God took the Nation of Israel and gave them regimented diets relative to animals that they could eat, and then God (to Peter) opened the way up for all animals to be consumed again. Now Paul is telling the believers in that day to watch out for those who taught eating meats was forbidden, saying that the meats are . . . “what God hath created.”

So, we have to wonder and ask: What God created in the Garden was not what God had Adam and Eve eat—he had them eat of the earth, right? And then in establishing the Nation of Israel, he allowed for some meats to be eaten, but forbade others. And then God lowers a net down to Peter, post the death and resurrection of Christ, and tells him to eat, and when Peter resists, he tells Peter, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” And now Paul is writing relative to all 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.”

A New Understanding Through Christ

What happened? Apparently, Jesus happened. In the Garden, everything was materially good and at peace. At the Fall, everything fell into material chaos and evil. At the death and resurrection of Christ, the second Adam, EVERYTHING was restored to a state of spiritual security, and nothing in and of itself materially is any longer evil.

That is why Paul says “God hath created (meat) 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.”

In Christ, Paul says, all things are lawful. In Christ, not all things are expedient. Where the Spirit of Christ is, the second Adam, there is liberty. We are free to consume or to refuse, to eat armadillo or to only vegetables. The faith is no longer based at all in any external observances. The faith is not in what goes into the belly but what comes out of the mouth. A creation eaten by a believer with thankfulness has been sanctified, made holy, by the Word of God and prayer. (Which I think is a nod to blessing)

Understanding Dietary Freedom and Gratitude

Gone are the days of special dietary commands which organized religions LOVE to impose upon people. We are not Jews. We are not restricted. That being said, in this liberty there is also the freedom to refrain from any foods a person feels so inclined to resist. Omnivore, carnivore, herbivore – whatever: let every person answer to their maker and hold their tongue against all other choices people make.

I get really frustrated by carnivores pushing and promoting eating red meat and herbivores pushing vegetarianism. Leave me the hell alone – I will stand before God conscience clear if he is willing. Paul seems to be saying, warning, at this place, that specialty groups were going to come in at the wrap up of that age and get people to follow their demands. That was the real danger – both then and now.

The Importance of Thankfulness

The only principle that I think is good for us to take from these passages is that, as Christians, we ought to be thankful, and to be grateful to God for whatever we have before us, as this was the way of the Lord whenever he ate. Paul adds (to Timothy):

Guidance from Paul to Timothy

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.

And I think we will stop here for today.

REMEMBER, THREE OCLOCK START TIME FOR MEAT FROM NOW ON OUT.

Comments? Questions?
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