That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.
Summary: This passage is a hum-dinger. Paul’s words leave us with a paradox wrapped up in a controversy.
This verse, like so many others in this letter to Timothy, is difficult. It can be analyzed from several different angles, but for the sake of this meditation, we are going to use a very simple analysis. Paul’s sentence can be divided into two parts. One is paradoxical, and the other is controversial.
The first part is this: “That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior…”
Paul has been talking about how we should train ourselves to be godly (1 Timothy 4:7). The paradox is that it is God who saves us by grace, not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9), so why do we have to “labor and strive”?
Now, before we answer that question, let’s go on to part two, the controversial portion:
“…[God, who is the Savior] of all people, and especially of those who believe.”
What does Paul mean by saying that God is the “Savior of all people”? What does he mean by “especially of those who believe”? Depending on your theological views, there might be sixteen or more different interpretations of what Paul meant.
Without attempting to answer these questions, let me ask two more: Assuming there are sixteen different interpretations of this verse, can they all be right? Alternatively, can they all be wrong?
Now, another question: If some, most, or all of these potential interpretations are wrong, do the wrong ones qualify as the “godless myths and old wives’ tales” that Paul talks about in verse seven?
While we ponder the possibility that some or all of the traditional interpretations are wrong, let’s return to the paradoxical portion of the verse: Why do we have to put out an effort to be “godly?”
Before Adam and Eve sinned by eating from the forbidden tree (Genesis 3:1-7), there was no need to be “godly.” Adam and Eve walked in God’s garden where God had placed them. When they rebelled and disobeyed God, their eyes were opened, and like God, they (and we) now know “good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). The difference is that, unlike God, we are not strong enough to ignore the evil and be unaffected by it. We have to work to resist evil. That is to say, we have to work to do God’s will (Matthew 22:37-40).
We don’t “train ourselves to be godly” so that we can earn our way into heaven. We train ourselves to be godly so that we can try to stop digging the hole we are in deeper.
Application: Strive to love God above all else and our neighbors as ourselves.
Food for Thought: If we don’t understand something in the Bible, how should we deal with that situation?
Please click ‘’Continue Reading” for comments.
Continue reading “1 Timothy 4:10 – Why We Train”