What did Paul mean in 1 Tim 4:7-8?

[Jason]

I'm curious to know your opinions on what Paul meant by: "Train (or exercise) yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." What is the application of his teaching here? He goes from making a point about not believing in certain myths to an exhortation to work or practice godliness, but I don't consider ignoring false teachings to be analogous to physical exercise (except in the sense that I avoid both).

Was Paul making reference to certain spiritual disciplines? I recently read Foster's book, The Celebration of Discipline. I see a comparison here in the fact that exercise of any sort requires repetition of challenging actions over time.

[steve]

The word "exercise" in verses 7 (verb) and 8 (noun) comes from the Greek word "nude," and was a reference to Greek athletes who trained in the nude. The words came to refer to "training" in general—we might even say today "conditioning." The noun only occurs once in the New Testament, but the verb occurs in the following places:

Hebrews 5:14:
But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. [The reference is to the conditioning, training or developing of the spiritual senses so as to become more discerning].

Hebrews 12:11:
Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. [Again, the discipline of the Lord is said to train us toward maturity].

2 Peter 2:14:
having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. [These people have "trained" their hearts in the opposite direction to that which Paul recommends to Timothy in 4:7].

In my opinion, Paul's reference to "physical exercise" is merely an aside. He has already made the perfectly sensible stand-alone exhortation that Timothy should "exercise" himself toward godliness. I believe Paul was using the metaphor of physical training to speak of spiritual training, in order to liken the levels of commitment and exertion required for both.

Having introduced the metaphor of physical exercise, in verse 7, I believe he intends to milk the same analogy for additional lessons. Everyone knows that athletes train hard and earn only a temporal benefit (cf., 1 Cor.9:24-27). Paul mentions that, not to inform, but to set up a contrast: if the temporal ("a little") rewards are deemed to be worth so much effort by the athlete, how much more worthwhile is the striving for the eternal benefits that come to those who do what he is recommending.

I am sure that this "exercise...to godliness" is simply a reference to the many exertion required to fight off temptation and to establish godly values and habits of mind in an ungodly, resisting world. I do not think that special disciplines (such as Richard Foster recommends) are necessarily implied in the exhortation.

[Jason]

Thanks, Steve. A follow-up question...

I am sure that this "exercise...to godliness" is simply a reference to the many exertion required to fight off temptation and to establish godly values and habits of mind in an ungodly, resisting world. I do not think that special disciplines (such as Richard Foster recommends) are necessarily implied in the exhortation.

I'm curious about the bolded part. Do you think the type of spiritual disciplines recommended by Foster and other mystics such as St. Francis are worthy of our attention if our goal is that which you've stated above? I also read Hannah Whitall Smith's popular book recently on holiness and she makes the case that abandonment and entrusting one's sanctification to God entirely is preferred over the type of exertion required by the mystics (who were/are borderline ascetics). Or can abandonment also be seen as exercising oneself toward godliness? For some reason, I'm seeing them in contrast to one another.

Both Smith and Foster write about how one should go about increasing in holiness, yet their advice seems to be philosophically opposite. That's why I was wondering if Paul was recommending one or the other in this passage.

[steve]

Jason wrote:

Or can abandonment also be seen as exercising oneself toward godliness? For some reason, I'm seeing them in contrast to one another.

Consider the paradoxical nature of this verse:

"Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest..." (Heb.4:11)

"Rest" does not mean that we do nothing—since we must always be doing one thing or another. Resting in God does not mean the neglect of obedience, but the refusal to fret.

Do not fret...
Trust in the LORD, and do good...
Delight yourself also in the LORD...
Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him...
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret...
Do not fret—it only causes harm.
(Psalm 37:1-8)

Jason wrote:

Both Smith and Foster write about how one should go about increasing in holiness, yet their advice seems to be philosophically opposite. That's why I was wondering if Paul was recommending one or the other in this passage.

I incline toward Hannah's view. Her illustration of the potter and the clay (actually, Isaiah's, Jeremiah's, and Paul's, originally), suggests that the clay is yielded to the potter, and can do nothing to bring about its own transformation (Paul seems to think the same way, as in Col.2:20-23). However, yielding to God means obeying His direction and conforming to the pressure He brings upon the heart and conscience. It may mean that we adopt one discipline or another, but only if that is His direction.

I have concerns about Foster's book. In particular, his chapter on Meditation recommends an occult form of visualization. Some disciplines can be helpful at certain seasons, if the Lord directs. The danger is in looking to them as methods to holiness, rather than looking only to God.

My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. (Psalm 62:5)

[Jason]

To a simpleton like me, this idea of abandoning the work of sanctification entirely to God and yielding to him like clay makes a good picture. Psalm 37 does shed some light on the subject so thank you for that. I love the idea of engaging in daily spiritual exercises but I've never been able to do it consistently. Although, to be fair to the mystics, I've also failed to consistently yield myself to the potter's hands as Hanna advises. Do you think this focus on sanctification is wrong or misplaced? In the Psalm you quoted, the writer speaks of waiting on the Lord but to the person who wants to be holy consistently, how can we not fret when the transformation is not immediate? Is our job simply to trust, delight in him, and wait, since we can't in our own power transform ourselves?

[Paidion]

We being clay that is simply molded into a vessel for the maker's use, may be a useful metaphor in once sense, in emphasizing our submission. In another sense, it is a poor metaphor, since clay has no ability to choose, whereas we do. So God provides enabling grace (Titus 2), but we give acquiescence. We must coöperate with God's grace. We cannot become righteous by self-effort, but neither will God cause us to be righteous apart from our wills. So Paul integrates the two in this way:

Working together with Him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. (2 Corinthians 6:1)

So synergy is the means to righteousness, not the Calvinistic monergy whereby God sovereignly causes the "elect" to become righteous.

Unless we work together with Him, we receive the grace of God in vain. The grace of God can do nothing to deliver us from unrighteousness unless we actively coöperate with it.

[Perry]

Jason,

As it happens this a very timely topic for me. Last Friday I just completed the P90X exercise program. (I had gotten pretty hefty and I finally decided to do something about it.) Anyway, that program took, for me at least, quite a bit of discipline. I've never been very good at self-discipline, and completing P90X was a bit of a confidence booster in that regard, and the physical benefits have been obvious. (BTW, I'm not trying to promote p90x here.) To help me get through the program, I had a calendar prominently posted in a bulletin board in the kitchen, and I made a pact with my nephew that we would do it together. Another thing that helped me get through the program was the testimony of Jeremy Yost.

I thought, if I can complete P90X then surely I can complete what I laughingly refer to as "B"90X. So I googled for through the Bible in 90 days reading programs and found several. I've just started that, and I have a similar prompting calendar for it in the kitchen.

I don't think that reading through the bible like this will make me any holier or more righteous or more sure in my salvation. I do think it will require a certain amount of discipline to get through it. I certainly don’t think it’ll do me any harm, and can, hopefully, do me some good. I want to be on guard of the daily reading being a vain ritual.

I think Hebrews 12:1-2 is somewhat applicable in this context and speaks to the synergy working together with God.

[Jason]

Perry, it sounds like you found success in discipline by counting down toward the end goal, right? In that sense, I do see a parallel with Hebrews 12:1-2 which urges us to finish the race set out for us and affirms that Jesus went to the cross for the joy set before him. I am starting to see a working analogy between physical exercise and training toward godliness. So in your mind, where does trusting God play into this effort of striving after holiness? The psalm that Steve quoted speaks of waiting on the Lord. That's the part I find most difficult in my own experience.

[Perry]

Hi Jason,
I'm not sure I have a very complete answer to your question, or even have a settled answer to it in my own mind yet.

So I will muse and see what comes of it.

I think, for me, it has to do with trusting that God will do and is doing His part, even if it doesn't seem particularly evident to us. I was doing p90x for a month before I could see differences in my body. Near the end, counting down toward the end goal absolutely made it easier. By then I had a lot invested and I didn't want to blow it after having put so much work into it already.

To switch back to the race metaphor, our striving for holiness might be a great deal easier if we knew precisely where the finish line is. I'm told that in some training programs for special forces, the soldiers are required to do timed marches, but are not told how long the march will actually be. That is, they have to complete the march within a certain time frame, but they are told neither the time frame nor the distance of the march, and they have to do this while carrying heavy packs.

I guess I see this as a pretty good metaphor (except for the heavy pack. Jesus said his yoke is light.) We don't really know how far we have to go, or how much time we have, we just know that we have to keep going (making course corrections as we see the need), and trust that our efforts are not in vain. Someone once said it this way. "You can't stir a parked car." (How many metaphors can I throw in?) Driving, even in the wrong direction, is better than nothing, and I think God can bless our efforts, even when we're going the wrong way.

So, in my fumbling way, I think what I'm saying is that trust in God, in this context, is trusting that He can make something good out of my clumsy efforts, even when I don't immediately see or appreciate it.