Clearly Says...

          The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. (I Timothy 4:1-5)

         There are people who like to twist what Scripture says, and this a passage that is easily twisted. Take it to be the only place in Scripture where marriage is mentioned and you can claim that those who forbid any sort of marriage (include 45-year-old men marrying 2-year-old girls) are following things taught by demons.

Some other folks will take the statement that everything God created is good, and tie it with the fact that God created all that is, and proclaim that all that is, is good and acceptable to Him. If that’s the case, however, why does all of Scripture make such a big deal about sin? Why did Jesus come, and die, and rise again? Why does Paul in this same passage say that there are hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron? If we’re all good, then by what right do these people criticize us for criticizing them?

          Clearly, since both they and we can’t be right, we need to look a little harder at what Scripture says, and at what logic teaches. Since it seems obvious to most of us that there are some kinds of “marriage” that should be forbidden, it makes sense that we should explore further than this passage to understand what Paul was preaching against and what he wasn’t. What did Paul mean by “marriage?” It seems reasonable also to consider what “consecrated by the word of God and prayer” means.

           To consecrate is to “make or declare (something, typically a church) sacred; dedicate formally to a religious or divine purpose.” Marriage is consecrated. It is described as being a model of the relationship between Christ and the Church. That means the for the Christian, there are rules about what does and does not constitute a marriage. Those rules aren’t something they decided on.

          What may be more important is a distinction made within the text. There are two areas of restriction, marriage and “certain foods.” Does the “which” that follows the comma after “certain foods” refer to marriage and the certain foods, or only to the certain foods? My theory is that it refers only to the certain foods, because while God instituted marriage, I’m not sure that’s the same as creating it. But God clearly created food.

           The biggest thing I recognize in today’s passage is that we all need to be careful with ideas. Making sure that something fits with Scripture as a whole, and not with one or a few carefully chosen passages is always wise.