1 Timothy 4

Note: Today I'm trying a new idea, after I write my post as usual, I'm going to look at a bible commentary and insert relevant things into this post. These things will be in blue. Let me know what you think, I will test this idea out for a little while and decide if it is worth keeping.

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Some Will Depart from the Faith (v. 1-5)

In the later times, some will depart the faith in favor of deceitful spirits and demons.

This is more of this divisive language, people who don't agree with us must be following demons.

Everything created by God is good.

I thought everything was created by God. Does that mean everything is good? Including demons, murderers, and even women who talk in church?

According to bibleexplained.com, this only applies to creatures, (I looked at some other translations and it usually says "everything created" not "every creature"). They say that Timothy should know to avoid poisonous creatures because they were already warned about why Paul warned him against myths. But that makes no sense to me because he was warning him to not follow those myths.

David Guzik claims that the purpose of this is to not restrict our diets. Nothing is off limits is the message, getting rid of kosher laws I guess is the point of it. That makes a little more sense.

A Good Servant of Christ Jesus (v. 6-16)

Relay these messages to the brothers and be a good servant of Christ. Don't have anything to do with irreverent, silly myths.

Here he says to avoid myths again. I know that last time this came up I put it as a good thing, but now I'm not so sure. It's clear he's talking about another religion (I'm pretty sure paganism) and he is exempting his own myths. This is just more of that divisive stuff that is littered throughout all of this writing.

Again from David Guzik, he pretty much confirms what I was thinking here. He's talking about rejecting the words of man and following the words of God. Of course he is assuming his religion is right and all others are fiction created by man.

We work hard to spread the word of God to everyone, because he is the savior of all people, especially those who believe.

This is verse 10 and I find it interesting. It says God is the savior of all people, so why does anyone go to hell? I guess the answer is that he is potentially the savior of everyone, but some people reject being saved, that's the best I can come up with. It doesn't really seem to gel with the passage though.

Let no one discount you because you are young, set a good example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.

This is a really good message, I like it a lot. Just because you are young, don't let people judge you based on that. Convince them you are worthy of your position based on your actions. He is essentially telling Timothy to prove that he deserves the position he is in. I like the message and I think it extends to a great many situations. If you are in a position where people are going to prejudge you, you should just do a great job and prove them wrong. Demonstrate that the prejudice is misplaced and you deserve the spot. Also, from the other side it says give people a chance and let them convince you they are worthy. (I hope this made sense, I tried to make it vague so it would apply to a lot of different situations)

Do not neglect your gifts.

I like this too, whatever natural talents you have, you should make good use of them and cultivate them for the good of yourself and those around you.

For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Good:

4:12 Prove your worth with actions

"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity"

4:14 do not neglect your gifts

"Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you."

Bad:

4:1 People who disagree with us follow demons

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons"

4:7 Divisive, calls other religions silly myths

"Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness"