1 Timothy 4:9
in 1 Timothy 4This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation.
KJV
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
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This verse in 1 Timothy 4
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThis is a faithful saying,.... A true one, and to be believed, that godliness has such promises annexed to it; see 1Pe 3:10. and worthy of all acceptation; by all godly persons, to encourage them to the exercise of godliness.
This site's exposition
This is a faithful saying
on 1 Timothy 4:9-10
The letter's third faithful saying is named here and its content is the verse just given, godliness profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, an anchor for the labor Paul describes next. We both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God names the cost of ministry honestly rather than glossing it, reproach the world's answer to a life staked on an unseen hope. Who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe draws the same universal-and-particular scope the letter opened with at 2:4, salvation offered to all and effectually received by those who believe.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end we both labor and suffer criticism, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all, especially of those who believe. This is a faithful saying and worthy …
"This is a faithful saying," that is, it is true that godliness is profitable both here and hereafter. Observe how everywhere he brings in this, he needs no demonstration, but simply declares it, for he was addressing Timothy. So then even here, we have good hopes? For he who is conscious to himself of no evil, and who has been fruitful in good, rejoices even here: as the wicked man on the other hand is punished here as well as hereafter. He lives in perpetual fear, he can look no one in the face with confidence, he is pale, trembling, and full of anxiety. Is it not so with the fraudulent, and with thieves, who have no satisfaction even in what they possess? Is not the life of murderers and adulterers most wretched, who look upon the sun itself with suspicion? Is this to be called life? No; rather a horrid death!
The Medieval Church2 voices
That is, this saying is true and worthy of being accepted by all as undoubted. And what is this saying? That godliness is profitable both here and there. Everywhere in the epistle the apostle points this out, having no need to confirm it, but simply …
Then when he says, a faithful saying, he shows that a future life is promised us: first, he shows this from the labor of the saints; second, from their hope, at because we hope; third, from God's benignity, at who is the Savior. He says, …
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
YOUR attention will be the more readily given to this passage, because Paul declares it to be a "faithful"—a most true and certain saying—and "worthy of all acceptation," that is to say, worthy to be received and practiced by us all. Paul has four of these faithful sayings. The first, occurs in 1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." The second is our text.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
This verse (Greek), "faithful is the saying, " &c. confirms the assertion as to the "promise" attached to "godliness," 1Ti 4:8, and forms a prefatory introduction to 1Ti 4:10, which is joined to 1Ti 4:9 by "For." So 2Ti 2:11.
YOUR attention will be the more readily given to this passage, because Paul declares it to be a "faithful"—a most true and certain saying—and "worthy of all acceptation," that is to say, worthy to be received and practiced by us all. Paul has four of these faithful sayings. The first, occurs in 1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." The second is our text. The third is in 2 Timothy 2:12, "It is a faithful saying, if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." And the fourth is in Titus 3:8, "This is a faithful saying, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works." We may trace a connection between these faithful sayings. The first one lays the foundation of our eternal salvation in the free Grace of God, as shown to us in the mission of the great Redeemer. The next affirms the double blessedness which we obtain through this salvation—the blessings of the upper and nether springs of time and of eternity. The third shows one of the duties to which the chosen people are called—we are ordained to suffer for Christ with the promise that "if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." The last sets forth the active form of Christian service, bidding us diligently to maintain good works. Thus we have the root of salvation in free Grace. Next, we have the privileges of that salvation in the life which now is, and in that which is to come. And we have also the two great branches of suffering with Christ and serving with Christ, loaded with the fruits of the Spirit. Let us treasure up these faithful sayings. Let them be the guides of our life, our comfort, and our instruction. The Apostle of the Gentiles proved them to be faithful. They are faithful still, not one word shall fall to the ground.
This is a faithful saying - The truth of this doctrine none need doubt; and every man has it in his power to put this to the proof. See on 1Ti 1:15 (note).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
This is a faithful saying - see the notes on 1Ti 1:15.
The words behind it
7 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| πιστὸς | pistos | Trustworthy [is] | G4103 → | 67 times |
| ὁ | ho | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| λόγος | logos | saying | G3056 → | 329 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| πάσης | pases | of full | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| ἀποδοχῆς | apodoches | acceptance | G594 → | |
| ἄξιος. | axios | worthy. | G514 → | 41 times |
πιστὸςTrustworthy [is]
pistosG4103 →67 times
ὁthe
hoG3588 →19766 times
λόγοςsaying
logosG3056 →329 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
πάσηςof full
pasesG3956 →1235 times
ἀποδοχῆςacceptance
apodochesG594 →
ἄξιος.worthy.
axiosG514 →41 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Timothy 1:15This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.
it leads to
- Mark 2:17
On hearing this, Jesus told them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
- Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
- John 3:16–17
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- John 12:47
As for anyone who hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
- John 1:12
But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—
- Mark 2:17
About 1 Timothy
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 937: “The Profit Of Godliness In This Life” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on 1 Timothy; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Timothy 12; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Oecumenius, COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Timothy and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Timothy.