Medicine and Good Works
W e looked at verse 22 yesterday, but it is worth looking at Timothy 5:22-252 together. What I find interesting is that in 22 Paul is talking about sin that Timothy is supposed to keep himself from and in 24 and 25 he is talking about sin, but verse 23 seems out of place. “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thy frequent infirmities.” Paul appears to be prescribing a medicinal aid for Timothy, then returning to his previous thought. But is that the case or are they somehow connected? I’m not sure, but they may be more connected than they look at first. Paul has just told Timothy to keep himself pure, then he tells him to drink wine instead of water. Today, we think of water as being clean and pure, but in those days they didn’t have our water treatment facilities. The alcohol in wine killed the impurities. So when we get to 24 and it says that some men’s sins are open before judgment and some are after, we can think of water and wine. Water do...