The Weekly Perspective
by Burke Shade, Associate Pastor
1 Timothy 4:1-5 is another one of those passages that Christians often get snookered by, because they don’t know the context. Paul is talking about the later times, how bad things will be, and other Christians read that and turn to you and say, “We are in the last days; this passage sounds just like what is happening today. Start looking for the rapture or the antichrist! The Spirit says so!”
But is Paul talking about our day, or future days? How do we answer that question? By reading the context! Paul does say that in later times some will depart from the faith by failing to be faithful. So he warns Timothy to mention those things to his flock. Verse 6: “If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.”
Notice what Paul directs Timothy to do: tell and explain to the brothers alive in that day in Timothy’s ministry, about what the Spirit says would happen in the later times. Why? Because Timothy and Paul are living in the later times! Paul is clear that those things are happening in Timothy’s day, and he needs to warn his hearers. The warnings are not really for our day, but for Timothy’s day. Yes, our culture does look like that somewhat, which means we can learn to apply the passage today in our situation. But we aren’t living in the “later times” as they did.
So what are the “later times”? Based on the similar phrase “last days” in Joel 2, Acts 2, Hebrews 1, etc., and Jesus’ discussion of the end of the old covenant temple and worship in Matthew 24, the “later times” are referring to the days of the end of the old covenant around 66-70 AD. Days long gone for us!