Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.
No longer - as a habit. This injunction to drink wine occasionally modifies "keep thyself pure." The presbyter and deacon were to be "not given to wine" (1 Timothy 3:3; 1 Timothy 3:8). Timothy perhaps had a tendency to ascetical strictness (cf. note, 1 Timothy 4:8: cf. the Nazarene vow, Numbers 6:1-4; John Baptist, Luke 1:15; Romans 14:21). Paul modifies the preceding "keep thyself pure." 'Not that I enjoin that purity which consists in asceticism; nay, no longer drink only water, but use a little wine, as is needed for thy health' (Ellicott). The Essenes avoided wine, especially in their weekly festival. Alford thus: Timothy was of a feeble frame (note, 1 Corinthians 16:10-11), timid as overseer, where vigorous action was needed: Hence, Paul exhorts him to take means to raise his bodily condition. God commands believers to use all due means for preserving health, and condemns, by anticipation, the human traditions which among various sects have denied wine to the faithful.