1 Timothy 4:1-5 False Footholds

False doctrines will lead even some believers astray. Paul shares this sad but sobering fact with Timothy. He focuses on two specific areas prone to attack. Maybe because that was the trouble spots in the body being addressed.

Paul flat out calls those teaching things not found in the gospel liars and led by deceitful spirits. He says their teachings come from demons. That sounds like it would be a scary doctrine and people would easily recognize it. But the examples Paul uses aren’t scary at all. They are swallowed even today as gospel truths.

Satan is REALLY good as twisting the truth just a little bit to make it sound plausible and desirable. But, just like a true/false statement, if even ONE part is false the whole is false. That little twist makes a lot of difference.

While writing to the Corinthian church Paul spoke of being single. He says that he wishes everyone could remain single but that life wasn’t for everyone. It looks like some tried to make a doctrine point out of his statement. He did NOT prohibit ministers from being married in his letters. This was a twist of his words.

Under the law many foods were off limits for the Jews. Since Jesus fulfilled the law those restrictions no longer apply. God shared this with Peter on the housetop. I believe the vision was more than just symbolic. I also believe that a lot of the dietary restrictions were for health reasons. Sanitation and disease were bigger problems then than they are now. There is even a difference in when God first gave Moses the laws and when Paul was penning his letters. Wandering in the desert doesn’t make food storage very easy.

I have a strange question that has popped into my head on several occasions. When the Jews were wandering in the desert why didn’t they eat from their herds? God fed them manna and they whined about not having meat. Didn’t they have livestock? Was it because feeding themselves from the herds would decimate them? Maybe they didn’t have livestock. Just a question I have.

Lord Jesus, thank You for fulfilling the Law. There is NO WAY I would survive living under it. None of us could completely. That’s why You came in the first place. Thank You for the freedoms Your blood bought too. Please protect me from carrying those freedoms too far. Protect me from twisted truths too; even the ones that look harmless.

Thank You for helping me bring myself closer to the speed limits. Thank You for calming my heart while I’m driving. I know it is a work in progress but I trust that You will take me as far as You want me to go, when You know the time is right. There is a “twisted truth” in there too. Thank You for pointing it out. Now help me live it out.