1 Timothy 5:23
23 Drink [hudropoteo] no longer [meketi] water, [hudropoteo] but [alla] use [chraomai] a little [oligos] wine [oinos] for [dia] thy [sou] stomach's sake [stomachos] and [kai] thine [sou] often [puknos] infirmities. [astheneia] KJV-Interlinear
23 No longer drink water
exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your
frequent ailments. NASB
We have a brief peek
into the life of Timothy.He apparently
went full bore into preserving his lifestyle, so that he would not be a target
for gossip or accusation, and as such he tried to keep himself as pure as is possible,
even to the point of not drinking alcoholic beverages.
This, asceticism, is
not the intent of Bible instruction.You
purity is in the soul, not in the body or anything that you do in life. Your life habits will grow out of your
beliefs, and out of doctrine as you learn it, but the spiritual life is from
what you learn, and does not come out of what you do.
By implication, the
water in the ancient world was not the purest.
One could catch all kinds of diseases or illnesses from drinking only
water.
And so Paul tells
Timothy, and you and me, that we need to use some
common sense when taking medicinal treatments for our various ailments.
A little wine (medicine
or treatment) is not a sin, but is in fact good for you. However, wine here is used in the sense of medicinal
treatment, and not for social consumption.
Jesus drank wine in social settings, for meals and so forth.
Only when you drink too
much, do you cross the line of drunkenness and sin.
Likewise, Timothy does
not pray for the cure for his stomach ailments.
He takes something that is readily available for his ailment. And so too, we have the
principle for seeking medical help when we are in need of it.
Some folks think that
they can pray and receive some kind of miracle cure for whatever it is that
they have.However, God has already
answered those prayers by providing many of the medical solutions that are available
today.We have modern medicines,
hospitals, doctors galore, professional help, resources for intervention, and
more.So do not ignore the many things
that are already available.
How does this broader
principle apply here?Paul told Timothy
to use whatever is necessary for his often infirmities, puknos
astheneia. This
is a plural reference to all sorts of human ailments of the mind and body
(mental and physical), which includes but is not limited to disease,
infirmities, sickness, weakness and so forth.
And these apply to both the mental and the physical. Any kind of ailment you can think of, is
covered here.
And since we know that
wine in small doses is not the cure for most ailments, then we should
understand that the wine reference is used only as an example. There were medicines and treatments back
then, and so too we are no different except that we just have more options
today.
For those who ignore
their options for help, then that is a violation of this principle of common
sense, and a slap in Gods face, who in effect has provided all of the options
that we have.
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