1 Timothy 4:3

1 Timothy 4:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)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.
• New International Version (NIV)They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
• English Standard Version (ESV)who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
• New King James Version (NKJV)forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Context of 1 Timothy 4:3

1But the [Holy] Spirit explicitly and unmistakably declares that in later times some will turn away from the faith, paying attention instead to deceitful and seductive spirits and doctrines of demons, 2[misled] by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared as with a branding iron [leaving them incapable of ethical functioning], who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from [certain kinds of] foods which God has created to be gratefully shared by those who believe and have [a clear] knowledge of the truth. 4For everything God has created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5for it is sanctified [set apart, dedicated to God] by means of the word of God and prayer.

1 Timothy 4:3 word by word

κωλυόντων γαμεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων ἃ ὁ θεὸς ἔκτισεν εἰς μετάλημψιν μετὰ εὐχαριστίας τοῖς πιστοῖς καὶ ἐπεγνωκόσιν τὴν ἀλήθειαν.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Forbiddingκωλύωkōluō · to preventG2967
• to marryγαμέωgameō · to marryG1060
• to abstain fromἀπέχωapechō · to have in fullG568
• meatsβρῶμαbrōma · foodG1033
• whichὅςhos hē ho · whichG3739
• Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
• hath createdκτίζωktizō · to createG2936
• toεἰςeis · towardG1519
• be receivedμετάληψιςmetalēpsis · partaking ofG3336
• withμετάmeta · with/afterG3326
• thanksgivingεὐχαριστίαeucharistia · thankfulnessG2169
• of them which believeπιστόςpistos · faithfulG4103
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• knowἐπιγινώσκωepiginōskō · to come to knowG1921
• the truthἀλήθειαalētheia · truthG225

Cross-references for 1 Timothy 4:3

• Daniel 11:37He will have no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he have regard for any other god, for he shall magnify himself above them all.
• 1 Corinthians 7:28But if you do marry, you have not sinned [in doing so]; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned [in doing so]. Yet those [who marry] will have troubles (special challenges) in this life, and I am trying to spare you that.
• Hebrews 13:4Marriage is to be held in honor among all [that is, regarded as something of great value], and the marriage bed undefiled [by immorality or by any sexual sin]; for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
• Romans 14:3The one who eats [everything] is not to look down on the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat must not criticize or pass judgment on the one who eats [everything], for God has accepted him.
• 1 Corinthians 8:8Now food will not commend us to God nor bring us close to Him; we are no worse off if we do not eat, nor are we better if we do eat.
• Colossians 2:20If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were still living in the world, do you submit to rules and regulations, such as,
• Hebrews 13:9Do not be carried away by diverse and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established and strengthened by grace and not by foods [rules of diet and ritualistic meals], which bring no benefit or spiritual growth to those who observe them.
• Genesis 1:29So God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the entire earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
• Genesis 9:3Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; I give you everything, as I gave you the green plants and vegetables.
• Ecclesiastes 5:18Behold, here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find enjoyment in all the labor in which he labors under the sun during the few days of his life which God gives him—for this is his [allotted] reward.
• Acts 10:13A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!”
• 1 Corinthians 6:13Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will do away with both of them. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body [to save, sanctify, and raise it again because of the sacrifice of the cross].
• 1 Timothy 4:4For everything God has created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;
• 1 Samuel 9:13As you enter the city you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat, for the people will not eat until he comes, because he must ask the blessing on the sacrifice; afterward, those who are invited will eat. So go up now, for about now you will find him.”
• Matthew 14:19Then He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and He took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up toward heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people,
• Matthew 15:36and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and when He had given thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples [gave them] to the people.

Commentaries on 1 Timothy 4:3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Forbidding to marry - These hypocritical priests pretending that a single life was much more favorable to devotion, and to the perfection of the Christian life. This sentiment was held by the Essenes, a religious sect among the Jews; and we know that it is a favourite opinion among the Romanists, who oblige all their clergy to live a single life by a vow of continency. To abstain from meats - Both among the heathens, Jews, and Romanists, certain meats…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3Forbidding to marry - That is, “They will depart from the faith through the hypocritical teaching - of those who forbid to marry;” see notes on 1 Timothy 4:2. This does not necessarily mean that they would prohibit marriage altogether, but that it would be a characteristic of their teaching that marriage would “be forbidden,” whether of one class of persons or many. They would “commend” and “enjoin” celibacy and virginity. They would regard such a state…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-5Paul’s plain teaching contrasts with the false teachings he criticizes (3:16).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. Sensuality leads to false spiritualism. Their own inward impurity is reflected in their eyes in the world without them, and hence their asceticism (Tit 1:14, 15) [Wiesinger]. By a spurious spiritualism (2Ti 2:18), which made moral perfection consist in abstinence from outward things, they pretended to attain to a higher perfection. Mt 19:10-12 (compare 1Co 7:8, 26, 38) gave a seeming handle to their "forbidding marriage" (contrast 1Ti 5:14); and the…Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Timothy 4:3

• Animals
• Apostasy
• Asceticism
• Celibacy
• Commandments
• Doctrines
• Food
• Marriage
• Minister, Christian
• Prayer
• Thankfulness
• Truth

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Attendance
• Charge
• Example
• Faithful
• Godliness
• Marriage
• Nourish
• Presbytery

Commentaries on 1 Timothy 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings