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"Doting about questions and strifes of words" (6: 4).
"Good doctrine" (4: 6).
is set over against
"Profane and old wives' fables" (4: 7).
Turning to II Tim. 2: 14-16 we have on either side of the command concerning the
right division of truth:--
"Charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to
the subverting of the hearers, . . . . . But shun profane and vain babblings,"
and in verse 23:--
"But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes."
It may be objected at this point that this series of articles is supposed to be written
with a view to helping those who seek to minister the word now, and who as such are not
likely to have much opposition from "teachers of the law" and Jewish fables. Are we not
somewhat wasting time? To this we must reply: first, that seeing all Scripture is
profitable, there must be some great and satisfactory reason for this iteration, and
secondly, the purpose is made clear in chapter 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 DEMONS."
The early opponents of Paul's doctrine foreshadow those that shall arise at the close of
the dispensation. The character of this early opposition and the instruction given to
Timothy with regard to it will be of great service to any servant of God in these "latter
times" who shall meet with their present-day representatives. It is very probable that
those who opposed the apostle's teaching in these early churches belonged to, or were
influenced by, the teaching of a sect of Jews known as "Essenes", and by the teaching
which later became known as "Gnosticism". Blackader summarizes the tenets of the
Essenes, as gathered from Philo, Josephus and Pliny, as follows:--
"The Essenes held the names of their angels sacred (Col. 2: 18; I Tim. 1: 4); they
abstained from blood, and considered the slaying of beasts as sinful (Col. 2: 22); they
considered wine a poison, and partook of no other food than bread, salt, water, and
hyssop (Eph. 5: 18; Col. 2: 22; I Tim. 4: 3-8; and 5: 23). Many of them ate only
once in three days, and some only once a week, and this only in the night because
they esteemed it a work fit only for darkness to relieve the wants of the body. Most of
them abstained from marriage and thought it an obstacle to the search after wisdom
(I Tim. 2: 2, 11, 12; 4: 3; 5: 14). The places in which they pursued their meditations
were called monasteria (I Tim. 2: 8). All ornamental dress they detested (I Tim. 2: 9).
They believed the soul would live for ever, but they seem to have denied the resurrection
of the body (I Cor. 15: 12, II Tim. 2: 17). They spent most of their time in philosophical
contemplation, pretended to be derived from their ancestors (I Tim. 1: 4; 4: 13; 6: 20,
etc.)."
These people were highly respected for their apparent holiness. The monastic life, the
extreme neglect of the body passes current among many for real spirituality. Paul's