Who is Paul talking about in 1Tim 4:1-5?

[Mark]

(1 Timothy 4:1) Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

(1 Timothy 4:2) Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

(1 Timothy 4:3) Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

(1 Timothy 4:4) For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

(1 Timothy 4:5) For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

There are a couple of things worth mentioning here. First, "meat" is not "meat" but food. The Greek word translated "meat" is the word "bromah" which refers to any sort of food. The word translated "creature" is the word "katiskmah" which is an absolutely generic word that means anything or everything. "All products that come from God..." are stamped with His approval.

So, can we putthe finger on those who are listening to these seducing spirits that deny the goodness that Adonai offers us? There is more than one pulpit from which the finger has pointed toward us. Can we compare this idea to the phrase Paul uses in 1st Corinthians 6:12 and 10:23, "All things are lawful to me..."?

[vegangirl]

So what does the seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and
Forbidding to marry mean?

[Mark]

The term "seducing spirits" is pneumasin planois, the word "spirit" is indefinite; therefore could be interpretted as breezes or whispers. Planois translated "seducing" means misleading. When Messiah was called "this deciever" in Matthew 27:63, they described Him with the word planois. In 2nd John 1:7, the word is also translated "deceivers".

For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
(2 John 1:7)


Seducing spirits then, are not necessarily individuals or specific teachings; but the tendency to catch whatever happens to be in the air, listening to whatever sounds right, or as Paul will later describe to Timothy as that which tickles the ear (2nd Timothy 4:3).

Doctrines are teachings or any kind of instruction, we would presume about spiritual things in any biblical context. Devils, specifically damahion is uniquely a Greek idea to which there is no real Hebrew equivelant. The closest we can presume is one of two ideas, either the he-goat deity sa-eer (which is the god of carnality or sensual pleasure) or shade which simply means that which is cancerous or malignant. Either definition works if you have a grasp on Paul's perspective (see Romans 8:7). So, the doctrines of devils are teachings which appeal to the sensual man.

Now we want to do a little lesson in English and recognize that departing from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and giving heed to the doctrines of devils is a simple list: each predecate (or object noun) of the sentence is attached individually to the subject noun: i.e. some shall depart from the faith, some shall give heed to seducing spirits, some shall give heed to the doctrines of devils. The implication of this statement is that Paul wants us to be aware that we are not fighting this battle on one front; but against three: those who are simply going astray, those who are pursuing empty theological fluff and those with a malignant agenda of self gratification. Now, notice that the sentence is no longer divided by commas but now by semi-colons. We find that the result of all these three collectively is speaking lies in hypocrisy and being without conscience. Now, he goes back to the use of a comma for "forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats..."

Paus is presenting to us a cause and affect. Some are pursuing anti-biblical agendas for their own gratification which will cause them to speak lies in hypocrisy without conscience. The result of this abusiveness will be "forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats."

Now the Greek word translated "forbidding" is the word kolooton which is not the idea of standing against that we assume in our English venacular. That would be the word histemi, from which we get the word antihistamine (sniff-sniff) . koluto is more of the idea of peer pressure, to curtail or threaten as opposed to presenting any real obstacle. We can see this in our culture quite vividly in the devaluation of marriage. Abstaining from meats is the idea of holding oneself off from food; definitely not suggesting that all animal products are fine for human consumption. Recognize the comma, that both marriage and food (the Greek word translated meat in the KJV text is bramah which simply means food) are given from God and to be participated in (metalipsis is translated as received) with thanksgiving. Metalipsis is very important to our understanding of this text. It is the participation in food and marriage that is what is being held apart, not the simple acts of such. This is basically what Paul is saying: people are going to promote their own private ideas and agendas concerning how we ought to practice our religion. They're going to lie to us and conduct themselves unconscionably regarding us. The result will be a schism in relationship between us, them shunning us and the corporate practice of our worship, our eating together and our celebrating marriage unions with disdain.

This puts the rest of 1st Timothy 4 into a cohesive context , as opposed a group of unrelated bullet statements as it is typically understood from the English interpretation.

[vegangirl]

Mark.
I can't say I understand every thing you said. However I do understand enough, I am glad I don't have to run off and marry someone or eat meat from a wonderful looking animal.

Thank you
Bri'gette..