1 Timothy 4 is the fourth chapter of the

First Epistle to Timothy The First Epistle to Timothy is one of three letters in the New Testament of the Bible often grouped together as the pastoral epistles, along with Second Timothy and Titus. The letter, traditionally attributed to the Apostle Paul, consists ma ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. The author has been traditionally identified as Paul the Apostle since as early as AD 180, Halley, Henry H. ''Halley's Bible Handbook'': an abbreviated Bible commentary. 24th edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1965. p. 631Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012. although most modern scholars consider the letter

pseudepigraphical Pseudepigrapha (also anglicized as "pseudepigraph" or "pseudepigraphs") are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past.Bauckham, Richard; "Pseu ...

, perhaps written as late as the first half of the second century AD.

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is divided into 16 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: *Papyrus 133 (200–300; extant verses 3:13–4:8) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(330–360) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(400–440) * Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (c. 450; complete) *

Codex Freerianus Codex Freerianus, designated by I or 016 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1041 ( von Soden), also called the ''Washington Manuscript of the Pauline Epistles'', is a 5th-century manuscript in an uncial hand on vellum in Greek. It is named afte ...

(c. 450; extant verses 1–3, 10–13) *

Uncial 061 Uncial 061 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1035 ( Soden); is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, dated palaeographically to the 5th century. Description The codex contains a part of the First Epistle to Timothy (3:15-16; 4:1- ...

(c. 450; extant verses 1–3) * Codex Claromontanus (c. 550) There has been some claims that the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

contain fragments of Timothy and other Christian Greek scriptures (such as: 7Q4 contains verses 4:1–3), but this is rejected by the majority of scholars.

The Charge to Timothy (4:6–16)

Verse 9

:''This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.'' *"This is a faithful saying" ( grc, Πιστὸς ὁ λόγος, '' ''): is a formula assuming 'general acceptance' and is stated 5 times in the Pastoral Epistles ( 1 Timothy 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Timothy 2:11; Titus 3:8).

Verse 10

:''For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.'' *"Savior" (Greek: , '): The last of three times in this letter (others: 1:1; 2:3) that God is called "Savior", recalling the 'well-known appellation of Yahweh in the Greek Old Testament' (for examples,

LXX The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ).

Verse 16

:''Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.'' NKJV * "Take heed unto yourself": Not only as a Christian, but also as a minister, because every minister should be cautious that his conducts could be exemplary to his gifts () to be used and improved, not to be infected with heresies; that he feed his flock with knowledge and understanding according to the Scriptures, the teaching of Christ and his apostles, according to godliness, so it tend purely to edification and is expressed in the best way and that he defend it against all opposition. * "Continue in them": or "with them", that is, the church members at Ephesus to stay in the doctrines of the Gospel, even though rejected by the learned, wise, and rich people and though loaded with reproach and persecuted, even to death. * "For in doing this, you will both save yourself and those who hear you": that is, by paying attention to himself and the doctrine, a minister saves himself from the pollution of the world, from the heresies of false teachers, to be an example to the congregation and faithfully preach the Gospel to his audience for their eternal salvation, about Jesus Christ as the only Savior, thus being the joyful instruments of converting sinners, and saving them from eternal death (cf. ).''John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible'' – 1 Timothy 4:16
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References

Sources

* *

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{First Epistle to Timothy 04