Click
here to show/hide instructions.
Instructions on how to use the page:
The commentary for the selected verse is is displayed below.
All commentary was produced against the King James, so the same verse from that translation may appear as well. Hovering your mouse over a commentary's scripture reference attempts to show those verses.
Use the browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Or you can also select a feature from the Just Verses menu appearing at the top of the page.
Selected Verse: 1 Timothy 4:4 - Darby
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| 1Ti 4:4 |
Darby |
For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, being received with thanksgiving; |
| |
King James |
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Translate as Greek, "Because" (expressing a reason resting on an objective fact; or, as here, a Scripture quotation)--"For" (a reason resting on something subjective in the writer's mind).
every creature . . . good-- (Gen 1:31; Rom 14:14, Rom 14:20). A refutation by anticipation of the Gnostic opposition to creation: the seeds of which were now lurking latently in the Church. Judaism (Act 10:11-16; Co1 10:25-26) was the starting-point of the error as to meats: Oriental Gnosis added new elements. The old Gnostic heresy is now almost extinct; but its remains in the celibacy of Rome's priesthood, and in its fasts from animal meats, enjoined under the penalty of mortal sin, remain.
if . . . with thanksgiving--Meats, though pure in themselves, become impure by being received with an unthankful mind (Rom 14:6; Tit 1:15). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
For every creature of God is good - Greek, "all the creatures, or all that God has created" - πᾶν κτίσμα pan ktisma: that is, as he made it; compare Gen 1:10, Gen 1:12, Gen 1:18, Gen 1:31. It does not mean that every moral agent remains good as long as he is "a creature of God," but moral agents, human beings and angels, were good as they were made at first; Gen 1:31. Nor does it mean that all that God has made is good "for every object to which it can be applied." It is good in its place; good for the purpose for which he made it. But it should not be inferred that a thing which is poisonous in its nature is good for food, "because" it is a creation of God. It is good only in its place, and for the ends for which he intended it. Nor should it be inferred that what God has made is necessarily good "after" it has been perverted by man. As God made it originally, it might have been used without injury.
Apples and peaches were made good, and are still useful and proper as articles of food; rye and Indian-corn are good, and are admirably adapted to the support of man and beast, but it does not follow that all that "man" can make of them is necessarily good. He extracts from them a poisonous liquid, and then says that "every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused." But is this a fair use of this passage of Scripture? True, they "are" good - they "are" to be received with gratitude as he made them, and as applied to the uses for which he designed them; but why apply this passage to prove that a deleterious beverage, which "man" has extracted from what God has made, is good also, and good for all the purposes to which it can be applied? As "God" made these things, they are good. As man perverts them, it is no longer proper to call them the "creation of God," and they may be injurious in the highest degree. This passage, therefore, should not be adduced to vindicate the use of intoxicating drinks. As employed by the apostle, it had no such reference, nor does it contain any "principle" which can properly receive any such application.
And nothing to be refused - Nothing that God has made, for the purposes for which he designed it. The necessity of the case the "exigency of the passage" - requires this interpretation. It "cannot" mean that we are not to refuse poison if offered in our food, or that we are never to refuse food that is to us injurious or offensive; nor can it anymore mean that we are to receive "all" that may be offered to us as a beverage. The sense is, that as God made it, and for the purposes for which he designed it, it is not to be held to be evil; or, which is the same thing, it is not to be prohibited as if there were merit in abstaining from it. It is not to be regarded as a religious duty to abstain from food which God has appointed for the support of man.
If it be received with thanksgiving - see the Co1 10:31 note; Eph 5:20 note; Phi 4:6 note. |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Creature (κτίσμα)
Not in Paul. See Jam 1:18; Rev 5:13; Rev 8:9. A created thing. For κτίσις creation or creature, frequent in Paul, see on Rom 8:19; see on Co2 5:17; see on Col 1:15. Κτίσμα in lxx, Wisd. 9:2; 13:5; 14:11; Sir. 38:34; 3 Macc. 5:11.
Refused (ἀπὸβλητον)
Lit. thrown away. N.T.o. In ecclesiastical writings, excommunicated. On the whole verse, comp. Act 10:15; Rom 11:15; Co1 10:25, Co1 10:26, Co1 10:30, Co1 10:31. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| For every creature of God is good - That is: Every creature which God has made for man's nourishment is good for that purpose, and to be thankfully received whenever necessary for the support of human life; and nothing of that sort is at any time to be refused, ουδεν αποβλητον, rejected or despised. We find a saying very similar to this in Lucian's Timon: Ουτοι αποβλητα εισι δωρα τα παρα Διος. The gifts which are from Jove ought not to be Despised. This appears to have been a proverbial saying among the heathens. |
15 All things are pure to the pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
6 He that regards the day, regards it to the Lord. And he that eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he that does not eat, it is to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.
25 Everything sold in the shambles eat, making no inquiry for conscience sake.
26 For the earth is the Lord's and its fulness.
11 and he beholds the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as a great sheet, bound by the four corners and let down to the earth;
12 in which were all the quadrupeds and creeping things of the earth, and the fowls of the heaven.
13 And there was a voice to him, Rise, Peter, slay and eat.
14 And Peter said, In no wise, Lord; for I have never eaten anything common or unclean.
15 And there was a voice again the second time to him, What God has cleansed, do not thou make common.
16 And this took place thrice, and the vessel was straightway taken up into heaven.
20 For the sake of meat do not destroy the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil to that man who eats while stumbling in doing so.
14 I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; except to him who reckons anything to be unclean, to that man it is unclean.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning -- the sixth day.
6 Be careful about nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
20 giving thanks at all times for all things to him who is God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatever ye do, do all things to God's glory.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning -- the sixth day.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning -- the sixth day.
18 and to rule during the day and during the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, herb producing seed after its kind, and trees yielding fruit, the seed of which is in them, after their kind. And God saw that it was good.
10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatever ye do, do all things to God's glory.
30 If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I spoken evil of for what I give thanks for?
26 For the earth is the Lord's and its fulness.
25 Everything sold in the shambles eat, making no inquiry for conscience sake.
15 For if their casting away be the world's reconciliation, what their reception but life from among the dead?
15 And there was a voice again the second time to him, What God has cleansed, do not thou make common.
15 who is image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation;
17 So if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new:
19 For the anxious looking out of the creature expects the revelation of the sons of God:
9 and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea which had life died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
13 And every creature which is in the heaven and upon the earth and under the earth, and those that are upon the sea, and all things in them, heard I saying, To him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb, blessing, and honour, and glory, and might, to the ages of ages.
18 According to his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a certain first-fruits of his creatures.