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Is there any spiritual value in denying ourselves of things which are not sinful and which God created for our pleasure (1 Tim 6:17)? Church history is full of examples of people who engaged in various forms of rigid self-denial assuming that it would bring them closer to God. Does bodily exercise have spiritual benefits? In 1 Timothy 4:7-8, Paul deals with another facet of asceticism that was a problem in the Ephesian church. It took the form of physical training.

The definition of asceticism is “1. the practices or way of life of an ascetic. 2. the religious doctrine that one can reach a higher spiritual state by rigorous self-discipline and self-denial.”¹ In turn, an ascetic is “a person who leads a life of contemplation and rigorous self-denial, especially for religious purposes.”² What Paul is addressing in his letter to Timothy is severe bodily self-denial which they believed to be a means of attaining some spiritual objective.

In the prior articles we’ve noted that Christians who believe all foods are clean under the New Covenant are correct. However, they may be correct for the wrong reasons. This is because Mark 7:19 and Acts 10:5-10 do not actually teach that the Old Testament dietary laws are no longer in effect.

If these passages do not teach that it is acceptable for Christians to eat all foods, which ones do? Romans 14 and 1 Timothy 4 are two chapters that plainly and directly state that all food is clean and therefore fit for human consumption. However, there is a little catch. 

Paul taught that if we are in the presence of those who believe that some foods are off limits, we must abstain if our eating tempts them to violate their conscience. This isn’t much of a problem in most modern settings. However, in the early church (as in some circumstances today) there were those whose scruples would not allow them to eat certain foods.