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| 1 Timothy 4:4 |
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be
refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
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Note:
before doing a study on any
single verse, read all the verses from the beginning
of the chapter to this point and maybe a verse or
two beyond. Do this so you have the verse in context
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We will begin in the Barclay's commentary...
I will begin with the text from Barclay's that I
read as the introduction to our lesson on Verse 3 as
it applies to what we will discuss today. I
will then read a bit more of the commentary that was
written for the first five verses.
INSULTING GOD
THE heretics of Ephesus were teaching a heresy with
very definite consequences for life. As we have
already seen, these heretics were Gnostics; and the
essence of Gnosticism was that spirit is altogether
good and matter altogether evil. One of the
consequences was that there were some who preached
that everything to do with the body was evil and
that everything in the world was evil. In Ephesus,
this resulted in two definite errors. The heretics
insisted that people must, as far as possible,
abstain from food, for food was material and
therefore evil; food ministered to the body, and the
body was evil. They also insisted that people must
abstain from marriage, for the instincts of the body
were evil and must be entirely suppressed.
This was a constantly recurring heresy in the
Church; in every generation, there were some who
tried to be stricter than God. When the Apostolic
Canons came to be written, it was necessary to set
it down in black and white: ‘If any overseer, priest
or deacon, or anyone on the priestly list, abstains
from marriage and flesh and wine, not on the ground
of asceticism [ə-sĕt'ĭ-sĭz'əm
- extreme self-denial] (that
is, for the sake of discipline), but
through abhorrence of them as evil in themselves,
forgetting that all things are very good, and that
God made man male and female, but blaspheming and
slandering the workmanship of God, either let him
amend, or be deposed and cast out of the Church.
Likewise a layman also’ (Apostolic
Canons, 51). Irenaeus, the Bishop of
Lyons, writing towards the end of the second
century, tells how certain followers of Saturninus
‘declare that marriage and generation are from
Satan. Many likewise abstain from animal food, and
draw away multitudes by a feigned temperance of this
kind’ (Against Heresies,
1:24:2) This kind of thing reached its
peak in the fourth century. At that time, monks went
away and lived in the Egyptian desert, entirely cut
off from other people. They spent their lives in
self-denial and physical deprivation. One never ate
cooked food and was famous for his ‘fleshlessness’.
Another stood all night by a jutting crag so that it
was impossible for him to sleep. Another was famous
because he allowed his body to become so dirty and
neglected that vermin dropped from him as he walked.
Another deliberately ate salt in midsummer and then
abstained from drinking water. ‘A clean body’, they
said, ‘necessarily means an unclean soul.’
~Barclays commentary
This is where we ended in the Barclay's last time.
Continuing...
The answer to those who lived in this way was that,
by doing things like that, they were insulting God –
for he is the creator of the world, and repeatedly
his creation is said to be good. ‘God saw everything
that he had made, and indeed it was very good’
(Genesis 1:31). ‘Every moving thing that lives shall
be food for you’ (Genesis 9:3). ‘God created
humankind in his image . . . male and female he
created them. God blessed them, and God said to
them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth”
’ (Genesis 1:27–8).
But all God’s gifts have to be used in a certain
way.
(1) They have to be used in the memory that they are
gifts of God. There are things which come to us so
unfailingly that we begin to forget that they are
gifts and begin to take them as rights. We are to
remember that all that we have is a gift from God
and that there is not a living thing which could
have life without him.
(2) They have to be used in sharing. All selfish use
is forbidden. No one can monopolize God’s gifts;
everyone must share them.
(3) They are to be used with gratitude. Grace is
always to be said before a meal. The Jews always
said grace. They had a grace for different things.
When they ate fruit, they said: ‘Blessed art thou,
King of the Universe, who createst the fruit of the
tree.’ When they drank wine, they said: ‘Blessed art
thou, King of the Universe, who createst the fruit
of the vine.’ When they ate vegetables, they said:
‘Blessed art thou, King of the Universe, who
createst the fruit of the earth.’ When they ate
bread, they said: ‘Blessed art thou, King of the
Universe, who bringest forth bread from the ground.’
True Christians do not serve God by enslaving
themselves with rules and regulations and insulting
his creation; they serve him by gratefully accepting
his good gifts and remembering that this is a world
where God made all things well, and by never
forgetting to share God’s gifts with others.
~Barclay's Commentary
We discussed in the lesson on verse 3, in addition
to clean and unclean meats, that God made all
things. We are not to condemn unclean animals
simply because we do not eat them. Despite
being unclean, they have purpose and God is to be
praise for everyone and everything to which He gives
purpose.
Now to the commentaries:
First from John Gill:
For every creature of God is
good - For food; and should be taken and used
for that purpose, at all times, without distinction;
even every creature which is made for food, and
which is easy to be discerned by men:
Note: Do you see
how that commentary is structured? It is not
saying that all creatures are good for food.
It is saying that all creatures good for food should
be taken and used for that purpose. The
commentary says it is easy to be discerned by men,
which is to say that clean food is easy to be
discerned.
and nothing to be refused
- or rejected as common and unclean, or to be
abstained from at certain times:
Note: This is
speaking to the idea of condemning unclean creatures
as having no purpose. Pigs and crabs and
lobsters have a purpose and we should give God
acknowledgement and thanks for them.
if it be received with
thanksgiving - if not, persons are very
ungrateful, and very unworthy of such favours; and
it would be just in God to withhold them from them;
and this they may expect at his hands, who reject
them with contempt, or receive them with
unthankfulness, or abstain from them in a religious
way he never enjoined.
~John Gill
Note:
Again speaking to the purpose of the various
elements of creation.
Now from Barnes Notes. This one will confirm what we
discussed from John Gill.
For every creature of God is
good - Greek, “all the creatures, or all that
God has created” - pan ktisma: that is, as he made
it; compare Genesis 1:10, Genesis 1:12, Genesis
1:18, Genesis 1:31 [these
all speak to God stating that everything He made was
good]. It does not mean that every moral
agent remains good as long as he is “a creature of
God,” but moral agents, human beings and angels,
were good as they were made at first; Genesis 1:31.
Nor does it mean that all that God has made is good
“for every object to which it can be applied.” It is
good in its place; good for the purpose for which he
made it. But it should not be inferred that a thing
which is poisonous in its nature is good for food,
“because” it is a creation of God. It is good only
in its place, and for the ends for which he intended
it. Nor should it be inferred that what God has made
is necessarily good “after” it has been perverted by
man. As God made it originally, it might have been
used without injury.
Quoted verse:
Genesis 1:31 And
God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold,
it was very good. And the evening and the morning
were the sixth day.
Apples and peaches were made good, and are still
useful and proper as articles of food; rye and
Indian-corn are good, and are admirably adapted to
the support of man and beast, but it does not follow
that all that “man” can make of them is necessarily
good. He extracts from them a poisonous liquid, and
then says that “every creature of God is good, and
nothing to be refused.” But is this a fair use of
this passage of Scripture? True, they “are” good -
they “are” to be received with gratitude as he made
them, and as applied to the uses for which he
designed them; but why apply this passage to prove
that a deleterious [harmful]
beverage, which “man” has extracted from what God
has made, is good also, and good for all the
purposes to which it can be applied? As “God” made
these things, they are good. As man perverts them,
it is no longer proper to call them the “creation of
God,” and they may be injurious in the highest
degree. This passage, therefore, should not be
adduced to vindicate the use of intoxicating drinks.
As employed by the apostle, it had no such
reference, nor does it contain any “principle” which
can properly receive any such application.
And nothing to be refused
- Nothing that God has made, for the purposes for
which he designed it. The necessity of the case the
“exigency of the passage” - requires this
interpretation. It “cannot” mean that we are not to
refuse poison if offered in our food, or that we are
never to refuse food that is to us injurious or
offensive; nor can it anymore mean that we are to
receive “all” that may be offered to us as a
beverage. The sense is, that as God made it, and for
the purposes for which he designed it, it is not to
be held to be evil; or, which is the same thing, it
is not to be prohibited as if there were merit in
abstaining from it. It is not to be regarded as a
religious duty to abstain from food which God has
appointed for the support of man.
If it be received with
thanksgiving - see the Ephesians 5:20 note;
Philippians 4:6 note; 1 Corinthians 10:31 note.
Quoted verses [emphasis
mine]:
Ephesians 5:20
Giving thanks always for
all things unto God and the Father in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Philippians 4:6
Be careful for nothing; but
in every thing by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known
unto God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye
do, do all to
the glory of God.
By understanding this verse 4, we begin to get an
enhanced perspective on Thankfulness. I want
to focus on this for the rest of the lesson.
Ephesians 5:20
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the
Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
For all things - One
effect would be to make us feel a deeper interest in
the condition of our fellow creatures. Another would
be to elevate and enlarge our conceptions of the
goodness of God - directing the mind to all the
favors which he has bestowed on the race. Man has
much for which to be grateful; and the duty of
acknowledging the mercy of God to the race should
not be forgotten. We are often prone so to magnify
our calamities, and to contemplate the woes of the
race, that we overlook the occasions for gratitude;
and we should, therefore, look upon the “mercies”
which we enjoy as well as the miseries which we
endure, that our hearts may be right. He who looks
only on his trials will soon find his mind soured
and complaining; he who endeavors to find how many
occasions for gratitude he has, will soon find the
burden of his sorrows alleviated, and his mind
tranquil and calm. Yet, if the words here are to be
taken as in our translation, “for all things.” they
are full of force and beauty. At the close of life,
and in [the Kingdom],
we shall see occasion to bless God for all his
dealings with us. We shall see that we have not
suffered one pang too much, or been required to
perform one duty too severe. We shall see that all
our afflictions, as well as our mercies were
designed for our good, and were needful for us. Why
then should we not bless God in the furnace as well
as in the palace; on a bed of pain as well as on a
bed of down; in want as well as when sitting down at
the splendid banquet? God knows what is best for us;
and the way in which he leads us, mysterious though
it seem to be now, will yet be seen to have been
full of goodness and mercy.
~Barnes Notes
Philippians 4:6
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests
be made known unto God.
Be careful for nothing
- That is, be not anxious or solicitous about the
things of the present life. The word used here -
merimnate - does not mean that we are to exercise no
care about worldly matters - no care to preserve our
property, or to provide for our families (compare 1
Timothy 5:8); but that there is to be such
confidence in God as to free the mind from anxiety,
and such a sense of dependence on him as to keep it
calm; see the subject explained in the notes on
Matthew 6:25. ~Barnes Notes
Quoted verses:
1 Timothy 5:8
But if any provide not for his own, and specially
for those of his own house, he hath denied the
faith, and is worse than an infidel.
Matthew 6:25
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your
life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor
yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the
life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Now still in Philippians 4:6 commentary...
But in everything -
Everything in reference to the supply of your wants,
and the wants of your families; everything in
respect to afflictions, embarrassments, and trials;
and everything relating to your spiritual condition.
There is nothing which pertains to body, mind,
estate, friends, conflicts, losses, trials, hopes,
fears, in reference to which we may not go and
spread it all out before the Lord.
By prayer and supplication
- The word rendered “supplication” is a stronger
term than the former [prayer].
It is the mode of prayer which especially arises
from the sense of “need,” or “want” - from deomai,
“to want, to need.”
With thanksgiving -
Thanksgiving connected with prayer. We can always
find something to be thankful for, no matter what
may be the burden of our wants, or the special
subject of our petitions. When we pray for the
supply of our wants, we may be thankful for that
kind providence which has hitherto befriended us;
when we pray for restoration from sickness, we may
be thankful for the health we have hitherto enjoyed,
and for God’s merciful interposition in the former
days of trial, and for his goodness in now sparing
our lives; when we pray that our children and
friends may be preserved from danger and death, we
may remember how often God has interposed to save
them; when, oppressed with a sense of sin, we pray
for pardon, we have abundant cause of thanksgiving
that there is a glorious way by which we may be
saved. The greatest sufferer that lives in this
world of redeeming love, and who has the offer of
[the Kingdom] before him, has cause of gratitude.
Let your request be made known
unto God - Not as if you were to give him
information, but to express to him your wants. God
needs not to be informed of our necessities, but he
requires that we come and express them to him;
compare Ezekiel 36:37 which read, “Thus saith the
Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the
house of Israel to do it for them.”
~Barnes Notes
1 Corinthians 10:31
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye
do, do all to the glory of God.
Do all to the glory of God
- The phrase “the glory of God” is equivalent to the
honor of God; and the direction is, that we should
so act in all things as to “honor” him as our
Lawgiver, our Creator, our Redeemer; and so as to
lead others by our example to praise him and to
embrace His gospel. A child acts so as to honor a
father when he always cherishes reverential and
proper thoughts of him; when he is thankful for his
favors; when he keeps his laws; when he endeavors to
advance his plans and his interests; and when he so
acts as to lead all around him to cherish elevated
opinions of the character of a father. He
“dishonorers” him when he has no respect to his
authority; when he breaks his laws; when he leads
others to treat him with disrespect. In like manner,
we live to the glory of God when we honor him in all
the relations which he sustains to us; when we keep
his laws; when we partake of his favors with
thankfulness, and with a deep sense of our
dependence; when we pray unto him; and when we so
live as to lead those around us to cherish elevated
conceptions of his goodness, and mercy, and
holiness. Whatever plan or purpose will tend to
advance His kingdom, and to make him better known
and loved, will be to His glory. We may observe in
regard to this:
(1) That the rule is “universal.” It extends to
everything. If in so small matters as eating and
drinking we should seek to honor God, assuredly we
should in all other things.
(2) it is designed that this should be the constant
rule of conduct, and that we should be often
reminded of it. The acts of eating and drinking must
be performed often; and the command is attached to
that which must often occur, that we may be often
reminded of it, and that we may be kept from
forgetting it.
(3) it is intended that we should honor God in our
families and among our friends. We eat with them; we
share together the bounties of Providence; and God
designs that we should honor Him when we partake of
His mercies, and that thus our daily enjoyments
should be sanctified by a constant effort to glorify
Him.
(4) we should devote the strength which we derive
from the bounties of His hand to His honor and in
His service. He gives us food; He makes it
nourishing; He invigorates our frame; and that
strength should not be devoted to purposes of sin,
and profligacy, and corruption. it is an act of high
dishonor to God, when he gives us strength, that we
should at once devote that strength to pollution and
to sin.
(5) this rule is designed to be one of the chief
directors of our lives. It is to guide all our
conduct, and to constitute a “test” by which to try
our actions. Whatever can be done to advance the
honor of God is right; whatever cannot be done with
that end is wrong. Whatever plan a man can form that
will have this end is a good plan; whatever cannot
be made to have this tendency, and that cannot be
commended, continued, and ended with a distinct and
definite desire to promote His honor, is wrong, and
should be immediately abandoned.
(6) what a change would it make in the world if this
rule were every where followed! How differently
would even professing Christians live! How many of
their plans would they be constrained at once to
abandon! And what a mighty revolution would it at
once make on earth should all the actions of people
begin to be performed to promote the glory of God!
~Barnes Notes
Let me boil all this commentary on thankfulness down
and put it into my words. When it comes to
Thankfulness, I believe we are missing both the
broader perspective and the many opportunities for
not just being thankful but putting God in
everything. The scriptures we just
read say:
"give thanks always for all things."
"in everything by prayer and supplication."
"and do all to the glory of the Lord."
This means everything. Everything we do, think
and plan. Every action, every event and every
situation, whether they be good, bad or mundane.
If I can be so bold, we have but three types of
actions in our lives:
1] Actions based on good decisions and laws [physical
and spiritual].
2] Actions based on bad decisions and the breaking
of laws [physical and
spiritual].
3] All the mundane [commonplace]
life actions--eating, sleeping, daily chores,
personal hygiene and constant body eliminations [going
to the restroom].
God wants and demands that we have Him in the
forefront of all three types. When we follow a
law or command of God and reap success, we must give
both thanks and glory to God. When we reap the
consequences of sin or a bad decision we have to
acknowledge God and give Him glory for having those
consequences in place. They lead me back to
Him and the path He has me walking. We also
cannot take the commonplace actions for granted.
Thank God we have something to eat, thank God for
sweet sleep and thank God for accomplishment in
daily chores. Acknowledge and give thanks and
glory to God that this body can be physically
cleaned and that He has a bodily function in place
to eliminate body wastes [thank God for the
toilet]!!
I suppose it is easy to thank God and
give Him glory when we are full of happiness,
contentment and enjoying pleasure and success but we
must have this same thankfulness, acknowledgement
and glory to God in our trials, tribulations,
negative consequences and hardships. He has
purpose in setting all of these up in His plan for
us and in His laws and ways.
Verse 4 says in essence, "For every thing of God is
good and nothing of His is to be condemned or
rejected if we understand it, receive it and
acknowledge Him in all these things and give Him
both thanks and glory for them."
Do all to the glory of God. Give Him the glory
in equal measures for both the success and the
hardship; for both the blessing and the trial and
for both the dynamic and the mundane situations of
our lives. This is the lesson we find in 1
Timothy 4 and verse 4. |
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