1 Timothy 4

Let No One Despise Your Youth

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Departure from the Faith Foretold

4:1But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will depart from the faith, attending to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons,

4:2through the hypocrisy of liars, seared in their own conscience,

4:3who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

4:4For every creation of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected when received with thanksgiving,

4:5for it is sanctified through the word of God and intercession.

A Good Servant of Christ Jesus

4:6By laying these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith and of the good teaching which you have followed.

4:7But reject profane and old women’s myths, and train yourself for godliness.

4:8For bodily training is beneficial for a little, but godliness is beneficial for all things, having a promise of life both now and to come.

4:9The saying is faithful and worthy of full acceptance.

4:10For to this end we labor and suffer reproach, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is Savior of all human beings, especially of believers.

Be an Example to the Believers

4:11Command and teach these things.

4:12Let no one despise your youth, but become a pattern for believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

4:13Until I come, attend to the reading, the exhortation, the teaching.

4:14Do not neglect the gift in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the council of elders.

4:15Practice these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be manifest to all.

4:16Pay attention to yourself and to the teaching; continue in them, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.