The Doctrine of Devils — 1 Timothy 4:1-5
Scripture Reading
[1] Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
**[2] Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
**[3] Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
**[4] For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
**[5] For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
*> 1 Timothy 4:1-5 (KJV)
Introduction: What Is the "Doctrine of Devils"?
When I was a kid, I remember going through a phase where I was obsessed with demons and the occult. My youth pastor, who was well meaning, had us over his apartment to watch a documentary about the occult and he talked about it often, and somehow I started seeing the devil in everything. Music, movies, books, TV shows — I was convinced that the devil and demons were behind it all.
When you hear the phrase "the doctrine of devils" — what comes to mind for you? Maybe it's something like the church of Satan or the occult. Maybe it's Wiccans or pagans. It's probably people who have a very loose view of morality and live in an openly sinful way.
I have no doubt that the devil involves himself in all of these things, but the surprising thing is that that isn't what Paul is talking about here. The "doctrine of devils" was coming through supposedly Christian teachers who were stricter than God.
The lesson here is that sometimes Satan and demons come to us in the form of paganism and occultism — but we are just as likely to encounter their influence in a church pew by a person who claims to be holy.
Part 1: A Warning for the Latter Days
Paul said that "in the latter days" — and he was talking about the latter days like they were a present reality, not something coming. We've been living in the latter days now for two thousand years. They started when Jesus walked on the earth and they will continue until He comes back.
But in the latter days there are going to be people who depart from the faith. "The faith" is just another word for the doctrines of Christianity. So there were people in Paul's day, as there are people in our day, who look like Christians and talk like Christians — but they left Christianity behind a long time ago.
Well, if they left Christianity, what did they leave it for? They left it for "seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." They left it to follow the teachings of hypocritical liars who were influenced themselves by demons and who have had their consciences seared with a hot iron.
When I was a teenager, I worked for a while as a dishwasher in a restaurant. If you've ever done that, you have to handle very hot dishes and pans all day long. The wise thing to do is to wear some kind of thermal gloves — but we were dumb kids. We just toughed it out and over time, something had to be very hot for my hands to feel any kind of pain from it. I seared the nerve endings in my hands. Not smart.
If you burn something, it stops feeling. These people have stopped feeling wrong for their hypocrisy and their lies. Their conscience is like the nerve endings in my hands.
Part 2: The Surprising Content of the Doctrine of Devils
So what was the awful thing that these people were teaching that was causing people to depart from the faith? What awful teaching was causing people to leave the doctrine of Christ?
Paul gives it to us in verse 3:
Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats
That's it. That's the big awful doctrine of devils Paul is warning against. People who were denying themselves the pleasures of being married and the pleasures of eating good food. They were saying: "If you really want to be holy, if you really want to please God, then you have to swear off sex and good food and live a celibate life."
And people went for it.
Listen — sometimes the message the devil is selling is "be more strict and God will love you more."
A Historical Example: Medieval Asceticism
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church — which was the dominant religion in Europe — embraced something called asceticism.
They started teaching, all the way back in the 200s, that it was better to be celibate than to be married, and that married people would be more holy if they stayed away from each other. This is where you get the idea of the celibate priest: "We want our priests to be holy and focused on God, so they can't be married." This is where you get the idea of monks and nuns, who give up on the pleasures of marriage and go live in monasteries where they deliberately make themselves miserable and eat terrible food.
Over time, the Catholic Church started telling people that there were days when they couldn't eat meat and days when they couldn't have marital relations. It got to the point where it was more than half of the days in the year.
They were selling the idea that this is what holiness looks like. If you really want to please God, then you have to swear off the good things of life.
Now, the same priests and bishops who were selling these ideas to the people were also often eating like kings and sleeping with prostitutes. They were, as our text says, "Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron."
It was actually the Reformation — when people started studying the Bible itself — that shook these ideas loose. Luther taught that God wants us to enjoy the good things He's given to us. The Puritans, despite what the word "puritanical" means today, actually had a very mature view of enjoying marriage and food.
These ideas have duped people. They have caused people to depart from the faith. They were a major part of the errors of the Catholic Church. And the idea that if you really want to be holy you have to give up stuff is a big part of almost every cult that is out there.
But it is wrong. It is very wrong.
Part 3: A Biblical Doctrine of Creation
Paul gives us the answer in verses 4 and 5:
[4] For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
**[5] For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
*> 1 Timothy 4:4-5 (KJV)
One thing to clear up: the word "creature" has come to mean a living thing — we wouldn't call an apple or a stalk of corn a "creature" today. But that is not how the word was used when the King James was translated. Then it carried the meaning of "a created thing." It's more accurate to our modern ears to read it as: "For every thing God created is good."
So let's start there.
A. God's Creation Is Good
At the end of each day of creation in Genesis 1, what does it say? "God saw that it was good." Look how that passage ends:
[29] And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
**[30] And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
**[31] And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
*> Genesis 1:29-31 (KJV)
God looked at creation and said: "I made this for you and it is very good."
Then in chapter 2, God looks at man and says "this is not good." Man by himself is not good. He needs a "help meet for him." So God made it good — God made Eve, gave Eve to Adam, and chapter 2 ends with "they were both naked and were not ashamed."
God's creation is good and God wants mankind to enjoy it.
You might look at something like alcohol and say "that is bad." No, it isn't. That is something God made. It is part of His creation. It kept the ancient world from getting sick by killing the bacteria in their water. It's in our bread. It's in our bananas. It is not an evil substance.
Or the poppy plant — people take that and make heroin from it. Yes. But there are so many pain relievers and legitimate medicines that come from the very same plant.
Sex too is part of God's creation. It is good. God concluded His creation narrative by saying "they were both naked and were not ashamed." Jesus said that a man would leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two would become one flesh. This is a good thing.
God's creation is good.
B. God's Creation Can Be Abused
Because sin entered the world, mankind started using God's creation in ways that God didn't intend. Eve did this when she ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That wasn't a bad tree — it just wasn't meant to be used that way.
Mankind, in our sinful rejection of God, has taken all kinds of good things and figured out ways to abuse them. The poppy plant isn't a bad plant, but it is bad to make heroin from it. Alcohol isn't bad, but it is bad to drink it to get drunk. Sex isn't bad, but used in fornication, adultery, or in any other way outside of the marriage between one man and one woman, it is bad.
There are no bad things — but there are things that can be abused. Throughout history, man has come up with all kinds of ways to abuse God's good creation. But that doesn't mean God's creation is bad.
C. God's Creation, Used as Intended, Is Meant for Our Enjoyment and Worship
So how does God want us to use His creation? Paul tells us:
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
There are two parts to this.
First, we have to use God's creation the way He intended. This reminds me of the meme where an angel in heaven is shaking his head and saying "They are milking almonds now." All jokes aside, most of the time it's pretty clear what God made creation for. As long as we are within those bounds — the second part follows naturally: creation is meant for our enjoyment and worship.
We had BBQ last night. That's so good. God made that stuff for our enjoyment. Brother Scott and I had curry at Thai Noodle earlier this week. I could eat panang curry every day. It's so good. God made all of it for our enjoyment.
Going back to marriage, 1 Peter called the marriage relationship "being heirs together of the grace of life." That is a gift. Enjoy the gift.
God wants us to take His creation and thank Him for it — praying over it, blessing His name for it, understanding how it fits into His word and His plan.
Now, sometimes we fast. But that doesn't mean food is bad. God doesn't want us to fast all the time. Sometimes we may set aside some good thing temporarily — but God is honored when we partake of His creation and bless Him for it.
Conclusion
There is a quote that sums this doctrine up well:
You can't worship the Creator better by denying the quality of His handiwork.
That is the error Paul is correcting here. The doctrine of devils isn't always something that looks dark and wicked. Sometimes it wears the costume of self-denial and religious seriousness. Sometimes it sounds like holiness. But when it causes people to despise the good gifts God has given us — marriage, food, the pleasures of His creation — it is a lie, no matter how pious it sounds.
The answer is not asceticism. The answer is not adding rules that God never gave. The answer is gratitude. Receive what God has made. Use it the way He designed it. Give Him thanks for it. Let every good meal, every joyful evening with your spouse, every pleasure of this life be an act of worship — because that is exactly what God intended when He looked at His creation and said: "It is very good."
Don't let anyone tell you that God loves you more when you make yourself miserable. That is not the gospel. The gospel is that the God who made all good things also redeemed us — so that we might enjoy them to His glory, forever.
