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 Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5for it is sanctified 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

• forbidκωλύωkōluō · to preventG2967
• marriageγαμέωgameō · to marryG1060
• abstainingἀπέχωapechō · to have in fullG568
• from foodsβρῶμαbrōma · foodG1033
• whichὅςhos hē ho · whichG3739
• Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
• has createdκτίζωktizō · to createG2936
• gratefullyμετάmeta · with/afterG3326
• gratefullyεὐχαριστίαeucharistia · thankfulnessG2169
• sharedμετάληψιςmetalēpsis · partaking ofG3336
• by thoseὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• who believeπιστόςpistos · faithfulG4103
• and knowἐπιγινώσκωepiginōskō · to come to knowG1921
• the truthἀλήθειαalētheia · truthG225

Cross-references for 1 Timothy 4:3

• Daniel 11:37And he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will boast against them all.
• 1 Corinthians 7:28But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such people as yourselves will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.
• Hebrews 13:4Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
• Romans 14:3The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.
• 1 Corinthians 8:8Now food will not bring us close to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the 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 living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
• Hebrews 13:9Do not be misled by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.
• Genesis 1:29Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
• Genesis 9:3Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I have given everything to you, as I gave the green plant.
• Ecclesiastes 5:18Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink, and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he labors under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his 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 is for food, however God will do away with both of them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.
• 1 Timothy 4:4For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;
• 1 Samuel 9:13As soon as 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 bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. Now then, go up, for you will find him about this time.”
• Matthew 14:19And ordering the crowds to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looked up toward heaven. He blessed the food and breaking the loaves, He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
• Matthew 15:36and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

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