| Chapter 4 |
1 | Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons;
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2 | Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
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3 | Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by them who believe and know the truth.
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4 | For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if received with thanksgiving:
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5 | For it is sanctified by the word of God, and prayer.
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6 | If thou shalt put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou wilt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished by the words of faith and of good doctrine, to which thou hast attained.
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7 | But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather to godliness.
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8 | For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
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9 | This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation.
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10 | For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe.
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11 | These things command and teach.
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12 | Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in deportment, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
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13 | Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
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14 | Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
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15 | Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
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16 | Take heed to thyself and to thy doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou wilt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
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