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.
“Silly myths”
Church history has many examples of those who sought spiritual attainment through some form of physical self-denial. Some extreme examples include prolonged fasting, self-inflicted physical pain (e.g., self-flagellation), and even allowing insects to feed upon one’s own flesh!3 People assumed that by engaging in such activities it focused the mind upon spiritual concerns. The belief was that such practices tended to purge sin (or was a penance for sin) and would thus make one closer to God.
Paul told Timothy to “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7 ESV). Indeed, such silly myths can be harmful, not only spiritually, but physically as well. The New Testament says such ascetic practices are of no value.
21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Col. 2:21–23 ESV)
Paul says such rigid (and sometimes extreme) self-denial has no value in curbing our fleshly desires.
Didn’t Jesus say we are to deny ourselves?
Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23 ESV). Was Jesus commanding self-inflicted suffering? No, Jesus was not commanding us to inflict harm and discomfort as a means of following Him. In context, Jesus was telling His followers that to follow Him was no easy task. To follow Jesus was to risk persecution and perhaps even death. Many of His followers were imprisoned and put to death in the early days of the church. Even today in many parts of the world Jesus’s followers suffer the same fate. To follow Jesus is to put Him and His will first and subjugate our own will to His. This is what it means to deny self. In God’s kingdom, the way up is down.
Jesus, nor any writer of the New Testament, ever said that asceticism was a means to spiritual gain. This doesn’t mean there isn’t some value to limited self-denial of physical needs if done appropriately.
“Bodily exercise profits a little”
Paul does not deny that there is some value in the here and now for bodily disciplines. Likewise, the New Testament does not forbid bodily discipline in the form of temporary abstinence. There are times when we may benefit from a purely spiritual focus.
“Paul does not deny that fasting and abstinence from conjugal intercourse for a time, with a view to reaching the inward man through the outward, do profit somewhat, Acts 13:3; 1 Corinthians 7:5, 7; 9:26, 27 (though in its degenerate form, asceticism, dwelling solely on what is outward, 1 Timothy 4:3, is not only not profitable but injurious).”4
However, Paul says that whatever we gain from bodily exercise is of benefit only in the here and now.
for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. (1 Tim. 4:8 ESV)
Athletic asceticism
What Paul really wants Timothy to focus on is training which results in godliness (v. 7). Paul expresses this, evidently, to correct notions of athletic asceticism in Ephesus that was resulting in unhealthy church doctrine and practice. Athletics were very important to Greeks and since Ephesus had a Greek history pre-dating the Romans. The culture was predisposed to bodily exercise and athletics.
“‘Physical training’ would be familiar to Timothy. The Greek word for ‘training’ is gymnasia and is the source of our ‘gymnasium.’ There was no institution more characteristic of Hellenistic culture than the gymnasium, where youths in schools were subjected to a rigorous course of athletics. In earlier times, the gymnasium was essential for military training, since a city-state’s army consisted of all male citizens. By NT times, a few noble Greeks might enter the Roman army, but most athletics in the gymnasium – aside from the numerous professional athletes and their guilds – had degenerated into the practice of “body sculpting.” The Romans did not always go in for this, as Plutarch (a first-century Greek) explains:
For the Romans used to be very suspicious of rubbing down with oil, and even today they believe that nothing has been so much to blame for the enslavement and effeminacy of the Greeks as their gymnasia and wrestling-schools, which engender much listless idleness and waste of time in their cities, as well as pederasty and the ruin of the bodies of the young men with regulated sleeping, walking, rhythmical movements, and strict diet; by these practices they have unconsciously lapsed from the practice of arms, and have become content to be termed nimble athletes and handsome wrestlers. (Plutarch, Roman Questions, 40; LCL translation).” 5
Training for godliness
Since Paul brings up bodily exercise in the context of the asceticism mentioned in 1 Timothy 4:3, it would seem that a focus on physical exercise was part of the problem in the Ephesian church. Paul does not deny the value of bodily exercise, but he keeps it in its proper perspective. Paul indicates that our time is much better spent focusing on godliness since it has value now and in the life to come. The few benefits of bodily exercise only have value in this life.
Sports obsessed culture
Sports is an obsession in our modern Western culture. Ironically, 42% of Americans are obese.6 So, while a lot of us aren’t into bodily exercise, we love watching sports.
Of course, no one in the American sports culture sees bodily exercise as a means to attaining spiritual objectives. Therefore, this is not an apples to apples comparison with what Paul wrote to Timothy. Regardless, it is frequently true that American Christians will choose sports over church. When the kids have a ballgame that conflicts with an assembly of the saints, gathering with the church often takes a back seat.
What would Paul write to us?
I wonder what Paul would say if he were writing a letter to a church in modern America? What stern words would he write to rebuke us for skipping church and Bible study to take our kids to their ball game? In the past, schools and other organizations didn’t schedule events on Sundays or Wednesday nights so as not to conflict with church. Those days are gone.
So, it’s up to us, my fellow Christians. What will we choose – bodily exercise or assembling with the church for mutual edification and encouragement? Either way we choose, we send a strong and clear message to our children and the world. What message will that be?
References
- Guralnik, David B., editor. Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language. The Southwestern Company, 1965, s.v. “Asceticism.”
- Ibid., s.v. “Ascetic.”
- https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-60/ascetic-superstars.html.
- Jamieson, Robert, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. 1871, Accordance electronic ed. Altamonte Springs: OakTree Software, 1996.
- Arnold, Clinton E., ed. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2002: Vol 3, 465.
- https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/adult-obesity-facts/.