A Departure from the Faith

1 Timothy 4:1-4 Now the Spirit expressly ( rhetos, in specific terms, clearly) says that in later times (already operating since the day of pentecost in Acts 2) some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Ti 4:1–5.

verse 1

Paul already gave this warning in Acts 20:29 “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;”

2 Thess. 2:1–12 “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing b…”

some will turn away -The Greek verb means to “apostatize” or “renounice

from the true faith. The NLT adds “true.” “The faith” is the orthodox body of teaching affirmed and transmitted from one generation to the next.

The Greek prosechontes [4337, 4668] means “to attend to” or “give allegiance to” something.

deceptive spirits. The adjective planos [4108, 4418], only used here and in 2 Cor 6:8, refers to Satanic activity

These deceivers are not acting under delusion, but deliberately, and against their conscience. They wear the form of godliness, and contradict their profession by their crooked conduct (2 Tim. 3:5). The brand is not on their brow, but on their conscience. Comp. Tit. 1:15 “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.”

Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 4 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887), 245.