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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 1 Timothy 4:8 - 4:8
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8. ἡ γὰρ σωμ. γυμν. κ.τ.λ. For the discipline of the body is profitable for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things. We should not understand either γύμναζε or γυμνασία of gymnastic training for the games or athletic exercise, although the words are so taken by Chrysostom and others; any such idea is foreign to the context. In contrast with the extravagant asceticism which St Paul fears in the future, the true γυμνασία or discipline of the body (a) is only to be practised in moderation; it is profitable πρὸς ὀλίγον (ad modicum, not as in Jam 4:14 for a little time); and (b) is undertaken, not because of false views of the impurity of matter, but as a means to an end, πρὸς εὐσέβειαν. Cp. 1Co 9:27. This εὐσέβεια is profitable (ὠφέλιμος does not occur in the Greek Bible outside the Pastorals, but St Paul has ὠφέλεια and ὠφελεῖν) for all things. See note on 1Ti 2:2.
ἐπαγγελίαν ἔχουσα κ.τ.λ. Inasmuch as it has (the causal use of the participle) promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come. Observe that here is no guarantee of the worldly prosperity of the εὐσεβής (as in Psa 1:3 and often in the O.T.); ζωή is the higher principle of life, in contrast with βίος which takes account of the man’s environment; cp. Luk 12:15 οὐκ ἐν τῷ περισσεύειν τινὶ ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ ἐστὶν ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ and 2Ti 1:1. See Heb 9:15.