God’s Word Translation
1 Timothy 4:3
3They will try to stop others from getting married and from eating certain foods. God created food to be received with prayers of thanks by those who believe and know the truth.
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
1The Spirit says clearly that in later times some believers will desert the Christian faith. They will follow spirits that deceive, and they will believe the teachings of demons. 2These people will speak lies disguised as truth. Their consciences have been scarred as if branded by a red-hot iron. They will try to stop others from getting married and from eating certain foods. God created food to be received with prayers of thanks by those who believe and know the truth. 4Everything God created is good. Nothing should be rejected if it is received with prayers of thanks. 5God’s word and prayer set it apart as holy.
Read all of 1 Timothy 41 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 interest in the gods of his ancestors or desire for women. He will have no interest in any god, because he will make himself greater than anyone else.
- 1 Corinthians 7:28But if you do get married, you have not sinned. If a virgin gets married, she has not sinned. However, these people will have trouble, and I would like to spare them from that.
- Hebrews 13:4Marriage is honorable in every way, so husbands and wives should be faithful to each other. God will judge those who commit sexual sins, especially those who commit adultery.
- Romans 14:3People who eat all foods should not despise people who eat only vegetables. In the same way, the vegetarians should not criticize people who eat all foods, because God has accepted those people.
- 1 Corinthians 8:8Food will not affect our relationship with God. We are no worse off if we eat ⌞that food⌟ and no better off if we don’t.
- Colossians 2:20If you have died with Christ to the world’s way of doing things, why do you let others tell you how to live? It’s as though you were still under the world’s influence.
- Hebrews 13:9Don’t get carried away by all kinds of unfamiliar teachings. Gaining inner strength from God’s kindness is good for us. This strength does not come from following rules about food, rules that don’t help those who follow them.
- Genesis 1:29God said, “I have given you every plant with seeds on the face of the earth and every tree that has fruit with seeds. This will be your food.
- Genesis 9:3Everything that lives and moves will be your food. I gave you green plants as food; I now give you everything else.
- Ecclesiastes 5:18At last I have seen what is good and beautiful: It is to eat and drink and to enjoy the good in all our hard work under the sun during the brief lives God gives us. That is our lot ⌞in life⌟.
- Acts 10:13A voice told him, “Get up, Peter! Kill these animals, and eat them.”
- 1 Corinthians 6:13Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food, but God will put an end to both of them. However, the body is not for sexual sin but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.
- 1 Timothy 4:4Everything God created is good. Nothing should be rejected if it is received with prayers of thanks.
- 1 Samuel 9:13As you go into the city, you can find him before he goes to the worship site to eat. The people will not eat until he comes, since he blesses the sacrifice. Then those who are invited may eat. Go. You should be able to find him now.”
- Matthew 14:19Then he ordered the people to sit down on the grass. After he took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart, gave them to the disciples, and they gave them to the people.
- Matthew 15:36He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks to God. Then he broke the bread and gave it to the disciples, and they gave the bread and fish 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
In the dictionaries
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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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