New English Translation
1 Timothy 4:3
3They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving 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
1Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, 2influenced by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4For every creation of God is good and no food is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. 5For it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer.
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 not respect the gods of his fathers – not even the god loved by women. He will not respect any god; he will elevate himself above them all.
- 1 Corinthians 7:28But if you marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face difficult circumstances, and I am trying to spare you such problems.
- Hebrews 13:4Marriage must be honored among all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.
- Romans 14:3The one who eats everything must not despise the one who does not, and the one who abstains must not judge the one who eats everything, for God has accepted him.
- 1 Corinthians 8:8Now food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.
- Colossians 2:20If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?
- Hebrews 13:9Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not ritual meals, which have never benefited those who participated in them.
- Genesis 1:29Then God said, “I now give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
- Genesis 9:3You may eat any moving thing that lives. As I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
- Ecclesiastes 5:18I have seen personally what is the only beneficial and appropriate course of action for people: to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in all their hard work on earth during the few days of their life which God has given them, for this is their reward.
- Acts 10:13Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; slaughter and eat!”
- 1 Corinthians 6:13“Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both.” The body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
- 1 Timothy 4:4For every creation of God is good and no food is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.
- 1 Samuel 9:13When you enter the town, you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people won’t eat until he arrives, for he must bless the sacrifice. Once that happens, those who have been invited will eat. Now go on up, for this is the time when you can find him!”
- Matthew 14:19Then he instructed the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven he gave thanks and broke the loaves. He gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.
- Matthew 15:36he took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples, who then 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
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
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