6 By pointing out such things to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, having nourished yourself on the words of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.
7 But reject those myths fit only for the godless and gullible, and train yourself for godliness.
8 For physical exercise has some value, but godliness is valuable in every way. It holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.
9 This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance.
10 In fact this is why we work hard and struggle, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of believers.
11 Command and teach these things.
Vs. 6: - By pointing out such things to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, having nourished yourself on the words of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.
"you will be a good servant" - Does this sound like the beginning of 'Mission Impossible', "Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."? Too often in our culture, we are told (or we tell ourselves) it is not our job to point out errors or sins. We are told not to judge the actions of others. There are a couple of ways to respond to these warnings. We can shut up, and let the people go. Or, we can acknowledge that we will all be judged, by God Himself. (See: Eze. 3:18-19 "When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself.”)
God does not force us to behave in any certain way. He is not “telling us what to do". So many of us do not want to be told what to do by anyone - neighbors, fellow Christians, or Jesus. God always give us a choice. "If you want to live, come with me" ('Terminator 2'). If you follow Jesus, you live. If you reject Jesus, you die. It's your choice.
Paul is telling Timothy that it is his job to point out behavior and belief systems that will cause the fellow church members to fall away from Jesus. Those heresies prevent believers from living abundantly, and can also lead others to not accept and follow Jesus to life. Pointing out such things" is not judging, it throwing a life saver to someone who may not know they are drowning. Do your job. Christ approves.
"nourished yourself" - This may be taken as praise and as a warning. As praise,Timothy is being commended for using the teachings of the apostles as his guidelines for his ministry. As a warning, he is counseled to not take off on his own, but adhere closely to faith in Christ, and the teachings provided by Paul, Barnabas, Peter, James, Luke, Matthew, John and Mark. We also are given the same praise and warning. Hold on to Jesus and faith in Him. Trust in the Bible, and use it as your guide. Compare the instructions of other teachers to the Scripture. See: "Test the spirits..." (1 John 4:1)
Vs. 7: - But reject those myths fit only for the godless and gullible, and train yourself for godliness.
"reject those myths" - The NASB translates the word 'myths' as 'worldly fables'. Paul has slapped the Jews silly - the Jews who were adding the Law and Hebrew ritual to the faith - and now takes on the Greeks and the Romans. The Jews were the only monotheistic peoples at that time, people who worshipped one God. Paul is not picking on the Greeks, but he knows these religions will lead to death. Look at the pantheon of gods in the Greek and Roman religions - Zeus, Aphrodite, Mars, Vulcan, Pluto, Mercury, Venus, etc. Pay attention to the relationship of mankind and these gods. They toy with men, doing things just to watch them suffer. The multitudes of gods is replicated in the Hindu religion, in the North American Indian, as well as the tribes and peoples of Central and South America.
The idea is worldly fables are not righteous and holy stories, but are profane.
"godless and gullible" - Again, other translations are closer to the original words - "worldly fables fit only for old women". Note the NET (New English Translation) is more politically correct using 'godless and gullible'. In the phrase 'old wives tales' (OWTs), the emphasis is not on 'old wives', but 'old... tales'. These stories are not true, but have the ring of truth, told to children to scare them into behaving. Ghost stories, or boogie men, or monsters under the bed are all samples.
Our modern OWTs are 'cops are pigs, out to kill blacks', or 'black people are lazy, and only want to rob you', or 'all Mexicans are criminals, coming to steal our jobs', or 'white people have privilege and are racists.'
Some theological OWTs include: 'God is dead', or 'God is too busy to care about your little problems', or 'religion is a crutch, only the weak believe', or 'You believe in God? How can you reject science?', or 'Through the advances in science, we can perfect our society so we do not need God." All of these types of statements are attempts to divert your focus from the only One who can save you - Jesus Christ the Lord. When Paul wrote this, he was dealing with predominant world religions - those of the Greeks, Romans, and the Jews. 'Worldly fables' did not apply to the Jewish faith (Judaism and Christianity were the only monotheistic religions in the world at that time).
The reason that 'godless' and 'gullible' go together is when a person rejects God and His guidance in life, that person has no reliable standard on which to base his life decisions. Anything is possible, nothing is forbidden. That person has no basis to discern good and evil.
"train yourself for godliness" - The Christian faith is simple, but not easy. Do not expect to drift along the stream of life, like a 'Pooh-stick' dropped off the bridge (See the Winnie the Pooh stories). We are to be fully involved in living and growing in the faith. He has designed 'work' for us to do. (Eph. 2:10) We to 'work out' our salvation - not work for salvation, but to do the deeds for which we have been designed. (Phi. 2:12) We are grow and mature in our faith. In Hebrews, the writer is chiding us for stagnating in our growth. (Heb 5:12-14) The exhortation in those verses is to not maintain the status quo, go along to get along, go with the flow, but work at it, grow in it, use your faith to be a better Christian, a better witness, to be able to tell the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. Discipline yourself for His sake, to demonstrate His work in you. It was said that a person had been a Christian for 30 years. A sage asked if that was 30 years of experience, or just one year of experience 30 times?
Vs. 8: - For physical exercise has some value, but godliness is valuable in every way. It holds promise for the present life and for the life to come."physical exercise has some value" - Paul is not dismissing physical discipline - exercise or dieting. Remember, Paul also told us that our bodies are 'temples' for the Holy Spirit. (See: 1 Cor. 3:16,17; 6:19) Picture in your mind the National Cathederal in Washington, D.C., or St. Paul's Cathedral in London, St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, Norte Dame in Paris. These magnificent 'temples' are garbage compared to you. The most Holy God, the Savior Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit does not live in any of those buildings. God may be in those buildings, but only when a believer is there. If you are horrified if a terrorist or a vandal defaces one those temples, good. Do not deface your body by neglect or abuse. Physical exercise and discipline is important in order to present a credible witness for Jesus. On the other hand, these temporary temples (tabernacles, or so to speak) will be replaced by a new and perfect body, suitable for heaven.
"godliness is valuable in every way" - So, while it is important to stay healthy, it is more important that your spiritual condition is growing and maturing in Christ. Jesus said, "Follow me", and "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength", and "Love your neighbor as you love yourself", and "Do unto others as you would have them do to you", and "Love one another", and "Go into all the world." Pretty simple, don't you think? Almost the whole rest of the New Testament is dedicated to helping us know how to pull off those simple commands. We are to do these things while being controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. He has been given to as a guarantee to the promises made by Jesus. He has been given to us to teach us how to "work out our salvation in fear and trembling."
"It holds promise" - Do not misunderstand what I am about to say. There is the promise of heaven - "the life that is to come." It would be kind of discouraging if our only hope is heaven. Some one once described that as 'Pie in the sky, bye and bye." The opportunity to go to heaven is wonderful. But, if that is all there is, you could almost feel cheated. Why do I say that? Life here on earth is messy, hard, dirty. We face frustrations, limitations, pain and suffering, as well as joy. If we must endure life on earth just to get to heaven (because heaven is all there is), why wait? Let's get there, right now! However, for our benefit and because of God's mercy, heaven is not all there is. There also is the promise for the "present life." Just as the Jews were to be ambassadors for God to the unsaved world, we too are here to help others come to know Him. More than that, without that "something else" life here would be a slog through the messy, hard, dirty world with a job we have to do. We would be in a world that is antithetical to Jesus and His message of salvation. Godliness, becoming more and more like Jesus, is not all on us. We need to be available, ready to go, and willing. WE ARE NOT ALONE. (This is not a science fiction or horror movie.) Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit as our Helper and Teacher. (See: John 14:13-17, 26-27; John 10:11) Living 'abundantly' is not a slog through misery. Working out your salvation is not stumbling along as though in darkness (See: Isa. 59:9-10 - Yes, I know this verse is about the Jews stumbling along because of their rebellion against the commands of God, and were beset all round). Yet, if you and I do not rely on the Helper and His teaching, we are stumbling along a dark path at dusk without a flashlight, groping our way along. That is the promise for this life - joy and guidance for you and I. Paul emphasizes this in 1 Cor. 15:19, Jesus has given us hope for living here and now, in this dark and sinful world, but there is more! Praise the Lord!
Vs. 9: - This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance."trustworthy" - Paul uses this phrase three times in this letter - see 1 Tim. 1:15, 3:1 (twice in two other letters). You can stake your life on this. The 'this' is that godliness is profitable in all things, and that godliness is believing in Christ, crucified for our sins and resurrected to His and our glory. Our glory is based on His work, not on what we have done. Godliness is also avoiding myths and fables, holding to the truth and basing your life and behavior on that faith. I know I have said this several times, but it is worth repeating. You are not the same person you were before Jesus became your savior. You should not live as if Christ is not in your life. You are a new creature, the old has passed away, behold the new has come. 2 Cor. 5:17
Vs.10: - In fact this is why we work hard and struggle, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of believers."this is why we work hard" - Paul's life had changed - from a persecutor and a prosecutor of believers to the most effective evangelist and prolific defender of the faith. He had hated Christians, hunting them, running them to ground. Arresting them. Delivering them to the authorities. Now, in Christ he preaches the gospel, builds churches, and is delivered to the authorities. I doubt that many of us has had such a dramatic change in our lives. I fully understand that we should not compare ourselves to others - we each are responsible for ourselves.
There are two (2) possible places to which "this is why" refers:
- the trustworthiness of godliness being applicable to this life and the life to come
- the hope fixed on the living God, the Savior.
"set our hope" - Our hope is set on the promises the God who spoke the universe into existence, who knows us and loves us anyway, who wants a personal loving relationship with each of us. God is eternal, and is in your life, here and now.
"Savior of all people, especially of believers" - Jesus came to save the world, the whole world. (I think a case could be made that He came not just to save humans, but the world. It was not just humans that suffered from the Fall, but all creation groans. (Rom. 8:22) However, Jesus indicated that not all people will be saved. (Matt. 22:14) Those of us who know and accept the gift of salvation are now different than non-believers. (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 17:14) Salvation is offered to all. God does not force you to accept His gift. There are consequences to rejecting his offer. Until you die, the choice will always be offered. After that, there are no 'do-overs' - (see: Heb. 9:27, 28). Jesus came the first time to save you. The next time He comes, it will be for judgement. The big question, perhaps the only question is, "Is your name in the Lamb's Book of Life?" (See - Rev. 20:12, 15; 21:27; 22:19).
Vs. 11: - Command and teach these things."Command and teach" - Timothy, as well as other teachers and preachers in the following centuries to declare, announce, or charge fellow believers with the message to seek godliness through Jesus Christ our Lord. We also are to discuss with others in order to instruct them, and to deliver didactic discourses, that is teach others that they met teach others also. (See: 2 Tim. 2:2). We are not be left alone, to fumble our way along. We have other Christians who have lived and learned, and they can share their successes and failures. We have the Holy Spirit to teach us.
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