1 Timothy 4:1 to 1 Timothy 6:2 a. The Charge respecting Timothy's own Behaviour within the Church.
(a) 1 Timothy 4:1-16. Timothys Attitude to Error.
1 Timothy 4:1-5. The False Asceticism. Despite the greatness of the revelation, however, even within the Church error will arise. Prophets, inspired by the Spirit, foretell an apostasy which will be brought about by men inspired by evil spirits (cf. 1 John 4:1 ff.) and bearing on their conscience the mark of their master, Satan (contrast Galatians 6:17). Already there flourished outside the Church e.g. among the Essenes (p. 624) and the Therapeutæ, a false asceticism by which marriage and certain foods were regarded as impure. Such conceptions would and, indeed, in respect to food (Colossians 2:16), had begun to invade the Church itself, despite the fact that everything created by God is good (cf. Mark 7:15; Acts 10:15), if it be consecrated by the scriptural grace pronounced over it by every Christian (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:30; Romans 14:6).
1 Timothy 4:2. branded: other interpretations are: (a) with conscience made non-sensitive (AV), (b) with the penal branding of criminals.
1 Timothy 4:3. and commanding, etc.; Hort suspects corruption of the text, and conjectures either or to touch or and to take. Neither form of asceticism in this verse requires a late date for the epistle.