Doctrine and Godliness (I Timothy 4:7-11)

(Class Notes)

• A Faithful Saying (I Timothy 4:7-9)
  • Paul exhorts Timothy not to give consideration to (refuse) secular (profane) stories (old wives' fables), but rather to give himself unto godliness (I Timothy 4:7)
    • Secular tradition (I Timothy 4:3) stands in contrast to the "words of faith and of good doctrine" (I Timothy 4:6)
  • Bodily exercise may profit this present body a little, but godliness is profitable unto ALL things (I Timothy 4:8) and is "a faithful saying worthy of ALL acceptation" (I Timothy 4:9)
    • Bodily exercise is a reference to the previously mentioned abstinence from marriage and meats (I Timothy 4:3)
    • Godliness is "abstinence from all appearance of evil" (I Thessalonians 5:22), which is profitable unto all things - body / soul / spirit (I Thessalonians 5:23)
  • Godliness has the promise of the present life and the life to come (I Timothy 4:8)
    • The promise of the present life - deliverance from the power of sin (Galatians 5:16-17 cf.
      Romans 6:9,11,13; Ephesians 4:22,24)
    • The promise of the life to come - deliverance from the presence of sin (Romans 8:22-25 cf. Philippians 3:20-21)

• The Living God (I Timothy 4:10-11)
  • Trusting in the Living God is a life of labor and suffering (I Timothy 4:10)
    • The labor of love (I Thessalonians 1:3) is to serve the Living and True God (I Thessalonians 1:9)
    • Suffering with Him in this life is reigning with Him in the next life (II Timothy 2:12 cf. Romans 8:17-18; II Corinthians 4:17-18)
  • The Living God is the Savior of all and especially of the believers (I Timothy 4:10)
    • One died for all, because all were dead (II Corinthians 5:14)
    • He died for all, but they which live should live unto Him (II Corinthians 5:15)
  • The things which Paul enjoined Timothy to teach (I Timothy 4:11) were none other than the words of the Lord Jesus Christ (I Timothy 6:3)

Study Outline

Audio Message #1

Audio Message #2