1 Timothy 4:8

1Ti_4:8

For bodily exercise profiteth little; but godliness is profitable unto all things.

The profit of godliness

Not only is this the testimony of a great man, but the testimony of a good man, the testimony of a Christian man; a man, therefore, who had experience as to the utility of that concerning which he makes affirmation. He did not speak on the report of others, but he had brought the matter to the test of personal experiment; and from what he had realized in himself he could say, Godliness is profitable unto all things.

I. What is godliness? It is real, vital, experimental, practical religion--genuine Christianity--a religion concerning God, the great, the wise, the blessed God.

1. Godliness comprehends a genuine fear. For where there is no fear of God there is no genuine piety--there is no religion.

2. Godliness means the saving knowledge of God, whom to know is life eternal.

3. And then, where there is knowledge of God, saving knowledge, there must be love to God; and no man can love an unknown object.

4. Then just in proportion as we love God (and this is essential to godliness) we shall be concerned to entertain intercourse with God.

5. Then perceive that this will lead to conformity to God--likeness to God. Such, indeed, is the very nature, such the constitution of the human mind, that it contracts a resemblance to those objects with which from inclination it is the most conversant. Apply the remark where you will, it will hold. Look at the man of this world; where are his thoughts? Why, the world is his object, and he becomes more and more worldly: and so of every other class. Now look at the man of God: his thoughts rise to God, his affections are spiritually placed on God: there is his object, there is his all; and, beholding the glory of God in the face of Jesus, he catches the impress of it.

6. Let me say, too, that all Scriptural piety is practical. All that godliness which is genuine must lead to holiness of life and conversation.

II. What, then, are the advantages of godliness? Godliness is profitable. As though the apostle had said, It is not merely a very harmless and innocent thing, and therefore no person should be afraid of it. This would have been very low praise, if it had been praise at all. It is not merely said that it is profitable for some things; nor is it affirmed concerning it that it is profitable for many things; but the affirmation is without qualification, Godliness is profitable for all things. The life that now is. You cannot hear this without at once in your minds adverting to the beneficial influence of godliness on a mans external circumstances. Then consistent godliness gives a man character. Besides, godliness saves a man from intemperance: and what a vast benefit is this! When a man becomes truly godly, he becomes industrious. You never saw an idle Christian. And then the Lord will bless the man that fears Him. Besides, godliness is beneficial considered in its influence in preserving and prolonging the life that now is. Then is it not true that ungodliness tends to impair and destroy life? Godliness is profitable in its beneficial influence on all the relations of life--on all the grades in society. Let me just add here that godliness is profitable at all the periods of life. It is profitable in the morning of life. Oh! how it brightens the morning: and is not morning the best part of the day? And if it be bright in the morning, oh! may it not bless the noon? Then if it brighten the morn and bless the noon, how will it cheer the evening of life! Learn the inconsistency and folly of those who, while they admit the profit of godliness, make no effort to avail themselves of its advantages. Let me recommend this religion to you on the principle of self-interest. (R. Newton.)

The advantage of godliness

Among the other advantages which it secures on this side eternity, one is the improvement of the human mind--I mean of his intellectual qualities: the improvement of his judgment, his discrimination, his mental faculties. I shall draw your attention to four reasons why the religion of Christ, when received into the heart, improves the human mind.

I. Its tendency is to subjugate the passions. It is more than its tendency; it is its direct effect. Not that man is wholly without restraint; there are three things which may operate to check the evil passions of the heart.

1. Conscience has some power.

2. Reason.

3. Self-interest.

Self-interest can do something to check the passions, because it will say, This will do you an injury. But they are unable to do this perfectly, and that for two reasons.

1. That passion is greatly assisted by powerful allies. Satan sits at the right hand of the human heart, blowing up the coals of evil which are in the heart into a flame of sin, which marks the demons power over fallen man. But religion comes to counteract this; the grace of God, by applying to the mind Divine truth and disposing the mind to love and embrace it, improves the mind--

(1) By strengthening it. It gives such views, and principles, and motives, as direct the conduct.

(2) By enlightening it. The tendency of religion on the mind is to make it see more accurately, reason more correctly, and feel more properly.

II. It presents right principles of action.

1. It presents a principle extremely weighty to regulate the mind aright and make it decide right on such things as it is called to judge respecting it. It enables the mind to realize eternity; to be influenced by it at such times and in such places as an individual living in preparation for it should be influenced and guided in relation to an appearance before the great tribunal.

2. Religion produces the realization of another object which tends to guide the mind aright. What is that which will decide the rectitude of the whole life? The apostle has stated it--Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God; because all that is not done according to this motive is not done according to the will of God.

3. Religion influences the mind and will aright, and therefore elevates the mind, because it furnishes a directory--the Scriptures. Religion has this influence, because--

III. It presents to the mind the highest subjects of contemplation.

1. It brings to the mind the things of God. It takes the mind, by contemplation, up into the mount, as Moses was taken up to converse with God; or as the disciples were taken up into the Mount of Transfiguration to behold the glory of Christ and to hear Him talk with Moses and Elias. It has an elevating effect.

2. It makes the mind serious; and seriousness improves the mind. Trifling is the mark of a light mind, and does not improve it. Religion, as it induces habits of seriousness, cannot fail to improve the mind.

3. The study of Gods Word tends to strengthen the mind; and that which strengthens the mind improves it.

4. Religion gives acquiescence to the will of God; and this improves the mind. The mind that is opposed to the will of God is always battling; but the mind that yields to the will of God is always going right.

IV. By the internal peace, the peace of soul which religion is calculated to produce, and which it actually does produce; it raises the human mind. When the mind is at peace, it can operate calmly, and is therefore more likely to regulate the judgment and guide it aright. It has often been remarked what effect religion produces in seasons of great danger. This was strikingly observed in the case of the loss of the Kent East Indiaman. There were some persons on board under the influence of religion; and some of these, even females, became objects of admiration, because of their remarkable presence of mind. And this power of religion has often been remarked in our pious soldiers and sailors: their minds have been composed in the hour of danger and of battle; and they have been distinguished by their energy and calmness. In fact, almost all that distinguishes the rational from the irrational is seen in the Christian. The Christian in this world is always in danger. We cannot but observe, then--

1. How superior is the state of the human mind in those who have religion to the state of the mind in those who have it not.

2. In attentively reading the history of the world, we may state, without fear Of contradiction, that the minds of men have been improved in proportion to the degree of religion they have possessed. (R. Sibthorp.)

The advantages of practical religion

1. Godliness is profitable, as it tends greatly to alleviate the sorrows of life.

2. Godliness is profitable because it imparts sweetness to the enjoyments and an additional relish to the pleasures of life. It is a libel on piety, to represent it as something gloomy and morose.

3. Godliness, because it confers upon its possessors pleasures peculiarly its own, is profitable.

4. Godliness is profitable, as it disarms death of its terrors and the grave of its gloom.

5. Godliness is profitable, for it prepares its possessor for eternal glory. From this subject we learn the importance--the value of religion. But, in fine, if religion is so profitable, I need scarcely, except for the purpose of excitement, remind you that it is personal religion that alone can be beneficial to any of you. (Dr. Beattie.)

Godliness

I. The nature of godliness.

1. Knowledge of the perfections of God--of the person and work of Christ as the Mediator--of mans state as a fallen creature--of his duty and privileges as redeemed by Christ.

(1) As to the perfections of God. This knowledge is to be found nowhere but in the Book of God.

(2) Here alone we obtain a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

(3) Here we are made acquainted with mans state as a fallen creature.

(4) As to his duty and privileges. Now, the knowledge of all this is essential to true religion in any soul.

2. Obedience to the commands of God.

3. The transformation of the soul into the image of God.

II. The fruits, or tendencies and effects, of godliness.

1. For the increase of worldly comfort.

2. For the establishment of respectability of character in the world.

3. For the improvement of the human mind. (P. MOwan.)

The gain of godliness

I. And, first, what is godliness? It is a real belief in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; our Maker, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier. It is believing in Him, as He is made known to us in the Bible, in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us see, whether, even in this world, godliness is not great gain. In the first place, the Scripture gives a general promise that the godly man shall have good things in this world.

1. For godliness fits a man for every station. It is that character on which favour, honour, and esteem surely follow.

2. The godly man alone really enjoys the things which God gives him here.

3. But further, the godly man alone has the privilege of know ing that all things shall work together for his good.

4. But after all, if you would know the great gain of godliness, even in this life, you must try it.

II. And this word brings us to the full gain of godliness. If in this life only the believer had hope in Christ, he might still be deemed of all men most miserable. (E. Blencowe, M. A.)

That godliness generally makes men happy in this life

I. It is to be observed that under the Jewish dispensation temporal promises were most expressly made to obedience, and most particularly with regard to the national success of the righteous against their public enemies (Deu_32:29).

II. Therefore it is to be observed in the next place, and the observation holds more universally true, that religion and virtue, whenever they obtain generally so as to prevail in a nation, do bring along with them very great temporal blessings.

III. As to the case of particular and private persons, about whom is much the greatest difficulty, there are several considerations necessary to be taken in in order to determine with any exactness how far godliness having the promise of the present life can be applied to them in this mixed and disorderly state of things. And--

1. Religion and piety does not generally alter the natural circumstances or the relative states and conditions of men. If a man be poor or be a servant or slave, his being pious and religious will not certainly make him rich or gain him his freedom.

2. Godliness and true holiness does not exempt men from the unavoidable casualties of nature, such as sickness, death, and the like.

3. Righteousness and piety do not exempt men from such afflictions as God sees necessary either to make trial of their virtue or to make an example of it.

4. Religion and virtue do not always secure men from all the consequences of their own former sins.

5. Righteousness and true holiness do not secure men from the consequences of other mens sins also: from oppression and unrighteous judgment. (S. Clarke, D. D.)

The profitableness of godliness

How generally men, with most unanimous consent, are devoted to profit, as to the immediate scope of their designs and aim of their doings, if with the slightest attention we view what is acted on this theatre of human affairs, we cannot but discern. Profit is therefore so much affected and pursued, because it is, or doth seem, apt to procure or promote some good desirable to us. It hath been ever a main obstruction to the practice of piety, that it hath been taken for no friend, or rather for an enemy to profit; as both unprofitable and prejudicial to its followers: and many semblances there are countenancing that opinion. For religion seemeth to smother or to slacken the industry and alacrity of men in following profit many ways: by charging them to be content with a little, and careful for nothing; by diverting their affections and cares from worldly affairs to matters of another nature, place, and time, prescribing in the first place to seek things spiritual, heavenly. It favoureth this conceit to observe that often bad men by impious courses do appear to thrive and prosper; while good men seem for their goodness to suffer, or to be nowise visibly better for it, enduring much hardship and distress.

1. We may consider that piety is exceeding useful for all sorts of men, in all capacities, all states, all relations; fitting and disposing them to manage all their respective concernments, to discharge all their peculiar duties, in a proper, just, and decent manner. If then it be a gross absurdity to desire the fruits, and not to take care of the root, not to cultivate the stock, whence they sprout; if every prince gladly would have his subjects loyal and obedient, every master would have his servants honest, diligent, and observant, every parent would have his children officious and grateful, every man would have his friend faithful and kind, every one would have those just and sincere, with whom he doth negotiate or converse; if any one would choose to be related to such, and would esteem their relation a happiness; then consequently should every man in reason strive to further piety, from whence alone those good dispositions and practices do proceed.

2. Piety doth fit a man for all conditions, qualifying him to pass through them all with the best advantage, wisely, cheerfully, and safely; so as to incur no considerable harm or detriment by them. Is a man prosperous, high, or wealthy in condition? Piety guardeth him from all the mischiefs incident to that state, and disposeth him to enjoy the best advantages thereof. It keepeth him from being swelled and puffed up with vain conceit. It preserveth him from being perverted or corrupted with the temptations to which that condition is most liable; from luxury, from sloth, from stupidity, from forgetfulness of God, and of himself; maintaining among the floods of plenty a sober and steady mind. Such a wondrous virtue hath piety to change all things into matter of consolation and joy. No condition in effect can be evil or sad to a pious man: his very sorrows are pleasant, his infirmities are wholesome, his wants enrich him, his disgraces adorn him, his burdens ease him; his duties are privileges, his falls are the grounds of advancement, his very sins (as breeding contrition, humility, circumspection, and vigilance), do better and profit him: whereas impiety doth spoil every condition, doth corrupt and embase all good things, doth embitter all the conveniences and comforts of life.

3. Piety doth virtually comprise within it all other profits, serving all the designs of them all: whatever kind or desirable good we can hope to find from any other profit, we may be assured to enjoy from it. He that hath it is ipso facto vastly rich, is entitled to immense treasures of most precious wealth; in comparison whereto all the gold and all the jewels in the world are mere baubles. He hath interest in God, and can call Him his, who is the all, and in regard to whom all things existent are less than nothing. The pious man is in truth most honourable. The pious man is also the most potent man: he hath a kind of omnipotency, because he can do whatever he will, that is, what he ought to do; and because the Divine power is ever ready to assist him in his pious enterprises, so that he can do all things by Christ that strengtheneth him. The pious man also doth enjoy the only true pleasures; hearty, pure, solid, durable pleasures. As for liberty, the pious man most entirely and truly doth enjoy that; he alone is free from captivity to that cruel tyrant Satan, from the miserable slavery to sin, from the grievous dominion of lust and passion. As for all other profits, secluding it, they are but imaginary and counterfeit, mere shadows and illusions, yielding only painted shows instead of substantial fruit.

4. That commendation is not to be omitted which is nearest at hand, and suggested by St. Paul himself to back this assertion concerning the universal profitableness of piety; For, saith he, it hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. As for the blessings of this life, although God hath not promised to load the godly man with affluence of worldly things, yet hath He promised to furnish him with whatever is needful or convenient for him, in due measure and season, the which he doth best understand. Particularly there are promised to the pious man, A supply of all wants.

The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish. A protection in all dangers.--The eye of the Lord is on them that fear Him, on them that hope in His mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Guidance in all his undertakings and proceedings.--The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Success and prosperity in his designs.--Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Comfortable enjoying the fruits of his industry.--Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands. Satisfaction of all reasonable desires.--The desire of the righteous shall be granted. Firm peace and quiet.--Great peace have they which love Thy law. The fruit of righteousness is sowed in peace. Joy and alacrity.--Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Support and comfort in afflictions.--He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. Deliverance from trouble.--Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Preservation and recovery from mishaps, or miscarriages.--Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand. Preferment of all sorts, to honour and dignity, to wealth and prosperity.--Wait on the Lord, and keep His way; and He shall exalt thee to inherit the land. Long life.--The fear of the Lord prolongeth days. A good name endureth after death.--The memory of the just is blessed. Blessings entailed on posterity.--His seed shall be mighty on earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. The root of the righteous shall not be moved. It is indeed more frequently, abundantly, and explicitly promised unto Gods ancient people, as being a conditional ingredient of the covenant made with them, exhibited in that as a recompense of their external performance of religious works prescribed in their law. The gospel doth not so clearly propound it, or so much insist on it as not principally belonging to the evangelical covenant, the which, in reward to the performance of its conditions by us, peculiarly doth offer blessings spiritual, and relating to the future state; as also scarce deserving to be mentioned in comparison to those superior blessings. But infinitely more profitable it is, as having the promises of the future life, or as procuring a title to those incomparably more excellent blessings of the other world; those indefectible treasures, that incorruptible, undefiled, and never-fading inheritance, reserved in heaven for us. (I. Barrow.)

The profitableness of godliness

1. We may consider that religion doth prescribe the truest and best rules of action; thence enlightening our mind, and rectifying our practice in all matters, and on all occasions, so that whatever is performed according to it, is done well and wisely, with a comely grace in regard to others, with a cheerful satisfaction in our own mind, with the best assurance that things are here capable of, to find happy success and beneficial fruit. Of all things in the world there is nothing more generally profitable than light by it we converse with the world, and have all things set before us; by it we truly and easily discern things in their right magnitude, shape, and colour; by it we guide our steps safely in prosecution of what is good, and shunning what is noxious; by it our spirits are comfortably warmed and cheered, our life consequently, our health, our vigour, and activity, are preserved. The like benefits doth religion, which is the light of our soul, yield to it. Pious men are children of the light; pious works are works of light shining before men. What therefore law and government are to the public, things necessary to preserve the world in order, peace, and safety (that men may know what to do, and distinguish what is their own), that is piety to each mans private state and to ordinary conversation: it freeth a mans own life from disorder and distraction; it prompteth men how to behave themselves toward one another with security and confidence.

2. We may consider more particularly, that piety yieldeth to the practiser all kind of interior content, peace, and joy; freeth him from all kinds of dissatisfaction, regret, and disquiet; which is an inestimably great advantage: for certainly the happiness and misery of men are wholly or chiefly seated and founded in the mind. If that is in a good state of health, rest, and cheerfulness, whatever the persons outward condition or circumstances be, he cannot be wretched: if that be distempered or disturbed, he cannot be happy.

3. Seeing we have mentioned happiness, or the summum bonum, the utmost scope of human desire, we do add, that piety doth surely confer it. Happiness, whatever it be, hath certainly an essential coherence with piety. These are reciprocal propositions, both of them infallibly true, he that is pious is happy; and, he that is happy is pious. All pious dispositions are fountains of pleasant streams, which by their confluence do make up a full sea of felicity.

4. It is a peculiar advantage of piety, that it furnisheth employment fit for us, worthy of us, hugely grateful and highly beneficial to us. Man is a very busy and active creature, which cannot live and do nothing, whose thoughts are in restless motion, whose desires are ever stretching at somewhat, who perpetually will be working either good or evil to himself; wherefore greatly profitable must that thing be which determineth him to act well, to spend his care and pain on that which is truly advantageous to him; and that is religion only. It alone fasteneth our thoughts, affections, and endeavours, on occupations worthy the dignity of our nature.

5. It is a considerable benefit of piety, that it affordeth the best friendships and sweetest society. (I. Barrow.)

Temporal blessings, support under trouble, and sanctified afflictions

I. Godliness is profitable for the obtaining of all temporal good things that we stand in need of. In that catalogue of the Christians possessions and treasures, which St. Paul has drawn up (1Co_3:22).

1. As to riches. The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich (Pro_10:22). To all this we may still add, that religion brings contentment to the mind, and godliness with contentment is great gain (1Ti_6:6). If it does not bring the estate to the mind, it brings the mind to the estate; and that is much the same thing, it is altogether as well. Thus it is that a little that a righteous man hath, is better than the riches of many wicked (Psa_37:16). And he is truly richer with a little, than the others are with a great deal.

2. To honour and good reputation. A blessing which the wise man rates at a higher price than gold and silver, or any of the riches of this world (Pro_22:1).

3. Pleasure. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace (Pro_3:17).

(1) As to bodily health, without which we can neither enjoy ourselves, nor anything.

(2) A peaceable mind, If the mind be not in tune, the sweetest harmony will make no music in our ears. I must not here pass by an objection or two which may possibly be made against the pleasantness of religion. One is, that it requires some difficult and distasteful duties, as repentance, self-denial and mortification. But as well may one object against the pleasantness of health, because it may be sometimes necessary to take distasteful medicines, either to recover or to preserve it. Another objection against the pleasure of godliness is taken from the uncomfortable lives of some godly persons.

II. Godliness is profitable for the life that now is, to support us under troubles and afflictions whenever they befall us. Here let us inquire what those peculiar supports under afflictions are, which are the proper fruits of godliness. They are chiefly these--

1. The testimony of a good conscience. This, St. Paul tells us was his rejoicing in all his tribulations, and at last in the near views of death (2Co_1:12).

2. A sense of pardon and reconciliation with God is a further support under worldly troubles. Pardon takes away the curse from affliction, and a sense of pardon is a sovereign balm to ease the anguish of the mind.

3. The comfortable hope of heaven, where these present afflictions shall be felt no more, and where they shall be abundantly compensated with fulness of joy for ever.

4. There are the supporting influences of the good spirit of God, which are promised in the gospel to all believers.

III. That it secures a sanctified use of afflictions, as well as a happy issue of them; which is therefore a present, as well as a future benefit. (D. Jennings.)

The present life

1. It is a mysterious life.

2. It is a trying life.

3. It is a preparatory life.

4. It is a short life.

5. It is a precarious life. (The Homilist.)

Godliness

I. The principle.

II. The practice. Godliness must be exercised; religion is a personal matter. He must exercise himself vigorously.

III. The profit. (D. Thomas.)

The profit of godliness

I. Bodily exercise is of considerable profit. St. Paul is speaking of the training in the gymnasium. He allows it profits a little. Yet it is not all. No man is necessarily better in heart and life for having the muscles of his arm increased in girth half an inch or an inch. A sound constitution does not necessarily involve goodness in character. If so the Kaffir or Zulu would be the best man upon earth, which he is not. Bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. The discipline of godliness does make a man better inwardly. And the goodness passes from the centre outwards. It includes even that measure of advantage which may be derived from the culture of the body.

II. There is another view of this phrase, bodily exercise, which we ought to notice before passing on. A large class of writers understand by it not so much athleticism as asceticism. The soul should bear empire over the body; but it should also reverence and care for the body. The laws of the body, of health, of sustenance are equally laws of God, with those of the soul. The perfection of manhood is attained when the laws of both, according to their kind and function, are duly observed. Asceticism is immoral, because it violates wantonly the law of God in one of the fairest provinces of His creation--viz., the delicate, sensitive, serviceable body of man. Yet even asceticism, in certain forms, profiteth a little. Allow not nature more than nature needs, says Shakespeare. Self-denial in bodily indulgence might put some of us into more robust mental health, and impart to us a finer spiritual tone. I am not sure but that bodily discipline might (as St. Paul says) profit a little. If any bodily appetite or habit rises into mastery over the mind or soul, it must be put in check with a firm hand, and with patient self-denial. So far bodily exercise, discipline, is not only profitable, but imperative.

III. The higher principle including all that is serviceable in both athleticism and asceticism, and immeasurably more beside, is godliness. It grows also by use. Exercise thyself unto godliness. We grow patient by being patient. We become industrious by refusing to be indolent and by working hard. We learn to love best by loving. We become religious by praying and communion with God. Begin to make Gods law a ruling influence and power in your life. Think out what His will is about, say, that temptation which is coming to you to-morrow; then keep to His will, and pass the temptation by. That is the discipline of godliness.

IV. This is profitable for all things--unlike athleticism, which profits only for soundness of health and toughness of muscle.

1. For the body itself godliness is profitable. Disease, weakness, morbidness are far more the devils work than Gods.

2. For the mind. He who ordered the planets in their orbits, and the seasons in their unvarying round, has not left the human mind without its law; Godliness brings man into harmony with the Author of his being.

3. For faith. But godliness advances faith. The more godlike we grow, the simpler, clearer, stronger is our faith in God. Live holier lives, live less selfish lives, and you will believe more in God and His Son.

4. The affections. This great reverence for the God who is great and good and loving enlarges our heart and our affections. Godliness is instinctive chivalry. If by your evil passion and harshness, your self-indulgence, your weakness and wanton folly, you blight the lives of others, I tell you, you are ungodly men. Godliness is profitable to the home.

5. Business. Be a godly man. Fear God rather than turns of fortune or than opinion. De like God--true, reliable in your word and deeds. (A. J. Griffith.)

The profitableness of godliness

I. A man quickly learns if he wishes to live profitably he must have regard to law. We cannot violate law without suffering for it. Disobedience entails destruction, obedience informs with life.

II. Let us carry this examination into greater detail. The most profitable human existence is that existence which secures the greatest benefit to the greatest number of faculties. If we resolve a human being into its elements, we shall find it divisible into body, mind, and soul, or, as some would put it, moral instincts. The true philosophy of living consists in the development of this tripartite. We pass, then, to consider the influence of rigidly religious life upon these sides of our nature.

1. If we practise the precepts of the gospel we will eschew those evil acts which occasion uneasiness and remorse; our temperament will maintain an even tranquility, our happiness will be full and satisfying. It has been truly said that an atheistic age is a barren age. We may safely say, then, that for the growth of the mind a godly life is best.

2. But the mind sends down its roots deep into the encompassing body upon which it acts and is acted upon. Physiologists tell us that a healthy mind conduces to a healthy body. If a Christian life produces vigour and clearness of intellect, then it must have a similar effect on the body. A religious life, then, we assert to be physically beneficial.

3. Passing to the region of the spiritual we are relieved from all necessity for discussion. Spirituality can only exist amid holy influences. The man who sins deadens his moral instincts, makes them useless here, and entails the penalty which such misuse is visited with hereafter.

4. But we cannot have obtained anything like a reliable knowledge of the relative value of two courses of life if we have excluded from our calculations all thought of suffering and sorrow. As we cannot by human device stave off sorrow, it behoves us to consider how it can be most successfully met. Mr. Spurgeon has said that if we take our troubles to God He will carry them for us; but if we take them anywhere else they will roll back again.

III. Passing from the individual man to his business interests, we proceed to consider whether godliness is inimical to worldly success now, all that Christianity enforces is the necessity of strict honesty. Religion will not transform the dunce into a genius, but sinfulness will transform the genius into a dunce. And if all things are considered, I feel confident that the just man gains in more than mere clear-headedness. Deceit is a most deceitful helper. Henry Ward Beecher tells a story of a man in the Canadian backwoods who, during the summer months, bad procured a stock of fuel sufficient to serve the winters consumption. This man had a neighbour who was very indolent, but not very honest, and who, having neglected to provide against the winter storms, was mean enough to avail himself of his neighbours supplies without the latters permission or knowledge. Mr. Beecher states that it was found, on computation, that the thief had actually spent more time in watching for opportunities to steal, and laboured more arduously to remove the wood (to say nothing of the risk and penalty of detection), than had the man who in open daylight and by honest means had gathered it. And this is oftener the case than we are disposed to allow. What appear to be short cuts to wealth are never safe ones, and very generally they prove to be extremely circuitous. Relaxation, too, is necessary for all men. Consider, then, whether the frivolous and enervating gaiety so frequently indulged in, or the innocent and energizing merriment of the godly, will best enable a man to recuperate the waste occasioned by business life.

IV. We cannot isolate ourselves from others; we are bound by innumerable bonds to the system of human interests. Our welfare is knit up with the welfare of the world. The man, then, who strives to suppress swindling, and who by the nobility of his own character rebukes all cheatery, is doing a grand service for mankind. He is making property more secure, and society more stable. If irreligion was crushed prosperity would visit this country with her brightest blessings and most permanent happiness. The gospel is also the more potent than all the antidotes which economists prescribe for the diminution of crime.

V. It is true godliness, not sham or selfish godliness, that proves profitable.

VI. Having thus glanced at the profitableness of religion in this life, let us bestow a moments thought upon that other life which is eternal. If we lose this, what profit is it that we have been successful in business! We have gained the lesser by losing the greater. The course which in the end will prove profitable cannot be a selfish one. Love to God is indissolubly intertwined with love to man, and the glory of God must issue in mans exaltation in the best and truest sense. (J. G. Henderson.)

What is the profit of godliness?

That men, by godliness, should reap a fruition and harvest hereafter is not surprising to those who have at all been instructed in religious things; but there are many who have supposed that godliness was in a mans way here. What is godliness? So that godliness means something more than merely religion, in the narrow and technical sense of the term. It means having a wise view of all the laws of our being and condition, and living in conformity to them. Moreover, when it is said that it has in it the promise of the life that now is, we are not to narrowly interpret it. A man with a clumsy hand, without skill and without inventive thought, is not justified in attempting to be an inventor simply on the general ground of godliness. We are not to suppose that a man who has no commercial training is to plunge into business and make this plea: I live in conformity to the laws of my being, and shall be prospered in my pursuits. We are to have a larger idea of prosperity than is seen in any of these special things. That which, on the whole, promotes their greatest happiness must be considered. Their prosperity now means their welfare. It does not consist in the development of any one part of their nature, but the whole of it. Godliness has an immediate relation to that which is the foundation of all enjoyment--a good, sound bodily condition. The condition of enjoyment in this life is that one is in a sound state of bodily health. Godliness, or a conformity to the great laws of our condition, includes physical health--works toward it. Moderation of appetite; restraint of undue desires; that quietness of spirit which comes from the belief in an overruling Providence; that undisturbed equilibrium which comes from faith in God--all these are, looking at them in their very lowest relations, elements of health--of a sound physical condition. Next consider how much a mans happiness in this life depends upon his disposition--both with reference to himself and with reference to his social surrounding. It is not what you have about you, but what you are, that determines how happy you shall be. Excessive pride takes away from the power of enjoyment. Godliness, by its very nature, reduces a man to a certain conformity with the laws of his condition, and makes him content therein, and so works upon his disposition that it becomes amenable to the law of happiness. It is made to be more childlike and simple. It is brought into conditions in which happiness may distil upon it from ten thousand little things. A man who wishes to see beauty in nature must not watch for it in gorgeous sunsets always--though they will come once in a while. Let him watch for it in ten million little facets which glisten in the light of the sum by the roadside as well as in the rich mans adorned grounds. We must see it in the motes and bugs, in the minutest insects, everywhere. So, then, we are to reap happiness and satisfaction, not so much from great cataclysms and paroxysms as in little things, that have the power to make us supremely happy. Another thing. Mens happiness depends more upon their relations to society than we are apt to think. Where men have the art of fitting themselves to their circumstances and their companions there is great satisfaction in these also. There is a true sympathy, a true benevolence, which is godly. If you go among men with a mean, selfish spirit, how little happiness will you find in your social intercourse[ But if in the child and in its sports you see something to make you smile; if toward the labouring man you have a kindly good will, and if you find companionship with all who are virtuous in the various walks of life--with those who are high for certain reasons, and those who are low for certain other reasons; if you feel a generous brotherhood and sympathy of men, then there is a vast deal of enjoyment for you in this life, which comes simply from your aptitudes for fellowship and friendship. Now it is the peculiar office of a true godliness to subdue the heart to this universal amnesty and sympathy, so that they who are godly, who live in conformity to the will of God, in all their circumstances, shall reap more or less enjoyment. Godliness, by changing mens condition, prepares them to be happy; and by giving them affinities for things about them produces conditions of happiness. There are also other ways in which godliness works towards happiness. It gives to men a motive in this life without concentrating on their worldly endeavours the utmost of their powers. The outgoing of a mans own self, legitimately and industriously, with the constant expectation of success--there is great enjoyment in this. At the same time, let this enjoyment be coupled with the moderating, restraining feeling that if earthly enterprises fail and come short, this world is not the only refuge, and worldly affairs are not the only things of value--that though the house perish, and the garments be wasted, and the gold and silver take wings and fly away, and all things perish, yet there is a God, there is a providence, there is hope, there is a home, and there is immortality; then the happiness is greatly increased. Then there is the consideration of those qualities which go to make success in business. Men do not believe you are as honest or as faithful and prompt as you believe yourself to be. But where all the parts of a man are morally sound; where he is free from vices of every sort; where he has fidelity, conscientiousness, industry, good judgment, and intelligence; where he is so trustworthy that you can bring the screw to bear upon him, and, though you turn it never so many times, not be able to break him until you crush him to death--he is invaluable. And I say that just in proportion as men approach to that, they are more and more important in a commercial age, and in a great commercial community. Now, it is the tendency of the ethics of Christianity to produce just such men. If religion does not produce them, it is so far spuriously or imperfectly administered. There is a difference between ethical religion and ecclesiastical and doctrinal religion. But where a man has Christian ethics; where a man is truth-speaking and reliable; where a man is founded upon the rock Christ Jesus, and cannot be moved from it, I say that godliness tends to success in commercial affairs. If you take the different classes of religionists, where shall you find more Christian ethics than among the Quakers? Where shall you find more carefulness in daily life? And among what class will you find more worldly prosperity, and more enjoyment in it, than among them? When I lived in the West, a merchant told me that during twenty years he never suffered the loss of a quarter of a dollar from a whole Quaker neighbourhood. You might take whole settlements, and say that they were exemplifications of the fact that godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Many a poor man goes along the street whose name would not be worth a snap on a note. He could not get a bank in New York to lend him a hundred dollars for a month. He is of no market value whatever. But if your dear child was dying, and you did not know how to pray, he is the very man that you would send for. You would say to him when you were in distress, Come to our house. Ah! a man may not have outward prosperity, and yet prosper. He may have that which money cannot buy--peace, happiness, joy. The power of making joy he has; and is he not prospered? Is he not well off? Finally, taking society at large, those who get the furthest from the rules of morality; those who have the most doubt and distrust in regard to the overruling providence of God; those who have s leaning to their own wisdom; those who are proud and selfish, and do what they have a mind to regardless of the welfare of others--they are not pre-eminently prosperous, even in material and commercial things. (H. W. Beecher.)

The profit of godliness in this life

With regard to this life, let it be remarked that the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ neither undervalues nor overvalues this present life. It does not sneer at this life as though it were nothing; on the contrary, it ennobles it, and shows the relation which it has to the higher and eternal life. There are many who undervalue this life; let me mention some of them to you. Those undervalue it who sacrifice it to indulge their passions or to gratify their appetites. Too many for the sake of momentary gratifications have shortened their lives, and rendered their latter end bitterly painful to themselves. Some evidently undervalue their lives, because they make them wretched through envy. Others are richer than they are, and they think it a miserable thing to be alive at all while others possess more of this worlds goods than they. Oh poison not life by envy of others, for if you do so you miserably undervalue it! The slaves of avarice undervalue their lives, for they do not care to make life happy, but pinch themselves in order to accumulate wealth. The miser who starves himself in order that he may fill his bags may well be reasons with in this way: Is not the life more than the meat, and the body than raiment? So also do they undervalue it who in foolhardiness are ready to throw it away on the slightest pretext. He that for his countrys sake, or for the love of his fellow-creatures, risks life and loses it, truly deserves to be called a hero; but he who, to provoke laughter and to win the applause of fools, will venture limb and life without need is but a fool himself, and deserves no praise whatever. Yet there can be such a thing as overvaluing this life, and multitudes have fallen into that error. Those overvalue it who prefer it to eternal life. Why, it is but as a drop compared with the ocean, if you measure time with eternity. They overvalue this life who consider it to be a better thing than Divine love, for the love of God is better than life. Some would give anything for their lives, but they would give nothing for Gods love. It appears from the text that godliness influences this present life, puts it in its true position, and becomes profitable to it.

I. First, let me observe that godliness changes the tenure of the life that now is. It hath the promise of the life that now is. I want you to mark the word--it hath the promise of the life that now is. An ungodly man lives, but; how? He lives in a very different respect from a godly man. Sit down in the cell of Newgate with a man condemned to die. That man lives, but he is reckoned dead in law. He has been condemned. If he is now enjoying a reprieve, yet he holds his life at anothers pleasure, and soon he must surrender it to the demands of justice. I, sitting by the side of him, breathing the same air, and enjoying what in many respects is only the selfsame life, yet live in a totally different sense. I have not forfeited my life to the law, I enjoy it, as far as the law is concerned, as my own proper right: the law protects my life, though it destroys his life. The ungodly man is condemned already, condemned to die, for the wages of sin is death; and his whole life here is nothing but a reprieve granted by the longsuffering of God. But a Christian man is pardoned and absolved; he owes not his life now to penal justice; when death comes to him it will not be at all in the sense of an infliction of a punishment; it will not be death, it will be the transfer of his spirit to a better state, the slumbering of his body for a little while in its proper couch to be awakened in a nobler likeness by the trump of the archangel. Now, is not life itself changed when held on so different a tenure? Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is. That word changes the tenure of our present life in this respect, that it removes in a sense the uncertainty of it. God hath given to none of you unconverted ones any promise of the life that now is. You are like squatters on a common, who pitch their tents, and by the sufferance of the lord of the manor may remain there for awhile, but at a moments notice you must up tents and away. But the Christian hath the promise of the life that now is; that is to say, he has the freehold of it; it is life given to him of God, and he really enjoys it, and has an absolute certainty about it; in fact, the life that now is has become to the Christian a foretaste of the life to come. The tenure is very different between the uncertainty of the ungodly who has no rights and no legal titles, and the blessed certainty of the child of God who lives by promise. Let me add that this word seems to me to sweeten the whole of human life to the man that hath it. Godliness hath the promise of life that now is; that is to say, everything that comes to a godly man comes to him by promise, whereas if the ungodly man hath any blessing apparent, it does not come by promise, it comes overshadowed by a terrible guilt which curses his very blessings, and makes the responsibilities of his wealth and of his health and position redound to his own destruction, working as a savour of death unto death through his wilful disobedience. There is a vast difference between having the life that now is and having the promise of the life that now is--having Gods promise about it to make it all gracious, to make it all certain, and to make it all blessed as a token of love from God.

II. The benefit which godliness bestows in this life. Perhaps the fulness of the text is the fact that the highest blessedness of life, is secured to us by godliness. Under ordinary circumstances it is true that godliness wears a propitious face both towards health and wealth and name, and he who has respect to these things shall not find himself, as a rule, injured in the pursuit of them by his godliness; but still I disdain altogether the idea that all these three things together, are or even make up a part of the promise of the life that now is. I believe some persons have the life that now is in its fulness, and the promise of it in its richest fulfilment, who have neither wealth, health, nor fame; for being blessed with the suffering Masters smile and presence, they are happier far than those who roll in wealth, who luxuriate in fame, and have all the rich blessings which health includes. Let me now show you what I think is the promise of the life that now is. I believe it to be an inward happiness, which is altogether independent of outward circumstances, which is something richer than wealth, fairer than health, and more substantial than fame. This secret of the Lord, this deep delight, this calm repose, godliness always brings in proportion as it reigns in the heart. Let us try and show that this is even so. A godly man, is one who is at one with his Maker.

1. It must always be right with the creature when it is at one with the Creator. But when godliness puts our will into conformity with the Divine will, the more fully it does so, the more certainly it secures to us happiness even in the life that now is. I am not happy necessarily because I am in health, but I am happy if I am content to be out of health when God wills it. I am not happy because I am wealthy, but I am happy if it pleases me to be poor because it pleases God I should be.

2. The Christian man starting in life as such is best accoutred for this life. He is like a vessel fittingly stored for all the storms and contrary currents that may await it. The Christian is like a soldier, who must fain go to battle, but he is protected by the best armour that can be procured.

3. With a Christian all things that happen to him work for good. Is not this a rich part of the promise of the life that now is? What if the waves roar against him, they speed his bark towards the haven?

4. The Christian enjoys his God under all circumstances. That, again, is the promise of the life that now is.

5. I am sure you will agree with me that the genuine possessor of godliness has the promise of the life that now is in his freedom from many of those cares and fears which rob life of all its lustre. The man without godliness is weighted with the care of every day, and of all the days that are to come, the dread remembrance of the past, and the terror of the future as well.

6. And as he is thus free from care, so is he free from the fear of men.

7. Moreover, the fear of death has gone from the Christian. This with many deprives the life that now is of everything that is happy and consoling. Another application of the text is this. There is a bearing of it upon the sinner. It is quite certain, O ungodly man, that the promise of the life that now is belongs only to those who are godly. Are you content to miss the cream of this life? I pray you, if you will not think of the life to come, at least think of this. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Happiness of godliness

Christianity a gloomy system! The world and devils may say so; but a thousand eyes that sparkle with a hope that maketh not ashamed, and a thousand hearts that beat happily with the full pulse of spiritual life, can tell thee thou liest. Christianity a gloomy system! Why, it is the Christian only that can thoroughly enjoy the world. To him, to his grateful vision, earth is garlanded with fairer beauty, heaven sparkles with serener smiles; to him the landscape is the more lovely, because it reminds him of the paradise of his hope in prospect which his father once lost, but which his Saviour has brought back again, as a family inheritance for ever; to him the ocean rolls the more grandly, because it figures out the duration of his promised life; to him the birds in their forest minstrelsy warble the more sweetly, because their woodland music takes him upwards to the harpers harping with their harps in heaven; to him the mountains tower the more sublimely, because their heaven-pointing summits are the emblems of his own majestic hopes. (W. M. Punshon.)

Secret of happiness

A thoroughly loyal subject of Gods kingdom is qualified to dwell happily in any world to which God may call him. Because he is what he is, it matters less where he chances to be. The star which shines by its own light may traverse the infinite space of the heavens, but it can never know eclipse. On the other hand, a peevish, uneasy, and wilful spirit is not much helped by outward condition. King Ahab, in his palace, turns his face to the wall and will eat no bread, because he cannot have Naboths vineyard. How many a proud man is so unweaned and pulpy that he cannot bear a cloudy day, an east wind, the loss of a dinner, the creaking of a shutter by night, or a plain word! You will meet travellers who take their care with them as they do their luggage, and grasp it tightly wherever they go, or check it forward from place to place, although, unlike their luggage, it never gets lost. You may carry an instrument out of tune all over the world, and every breath of heaven and every hand of man that sweeps over its strings shall produce only discord. Such a mans trouble is in his temper, not in his place. You can hardly call it borrowed trouble either, for it is mostly made, and so is his own by the clearest of all titles. (Win. Crawford.)

The blessedness of religion

Religion makes a man happier all the way through. You may have to work hard for your daily bread, but you hear reports of a land where they neither hunger nor thirst. You may have a great many physical distresses and pangs of pain, but you hear of the land where the head never aches, and where the respiration is not painful, and where the pulse throbs with the life of God! You may have to weep among the graves of the dead, but against the tombstone leans the Risen One pointing you up to that sphere where God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes. Ask those who are before the throne, ask those who have plucked the fruit of the tree of life, ask those who are waving the palms in glory whether this is the happy side or not. I knew a minister in Philadelphia (he was not poetic, he was not romantic--they called him a very plain man), who, in his last moment, as he passed out of life, looked up and said, I move into the light. Oh! it is the happy side--happy here--it is happy for ever. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

Happiness is attainable in this life--

Is happiness attainable? First, there is something in our condition as sinners against God, that militates against our happiness. God made man upright, but he hath sought out many inventions.

I. In order to show that happiness is attainable, I shall first appeal to the infallible assurances of Gods inspired word (2Ch_20:20; 2Ch_26:5; Job_36:11). In the first Psalm there is an encomium upon the happiness of the godly (Mat_6:33).

II. The manifest and unquestionable tendency of true godliness to impart and insure happiness. Health is by universal consent considered an essential ingredient to happiness. Cheerfulness is a part of happiness. And who can pretend to cheerfulness on such just grounds as the real Christian, the man of genuine godliness? His principles make him happy. Look at the influence of those principles on friendship; which is essential to happiness. Mark how the principles of godliness bear upon a mans usefulness. How can I be happy unless I am useful?

III. The experience of the power of the God whom we serve. If I can show you that happiness has been actually attained, it will be quite clear that it is attainable. Look, therefore, at the history and experience of the servants of God. I will grant the straitness of their circumstances, for they are often a poor and an afflicted people. Let me call your attention to the case of the prophet Habbakuk. Although the fig tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olive shall fail and the field shall yield no meat, the flocks shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Look at Paul and Silas--their backs lacerated with the Roman scourge, their feet made fast in the stocks, condemned to spend the night in a prison; at midnight they prayed and sang praises to God; and the prisoners heard them. Now either these persons must be grossly deceived, or happiness is attainable.

IV. In the fourth place, I must make an appeal to the fact of the existence of hypocrites in the Church. The counterfeit itself proves the value and the existence of the genuine coin.

V. Finally, I make my appeal to the confessions and lamentations of the ungodly themselves; who, having discarded religion, both in principle and in practice, have been left to rue their own folly, and to admit that their happiness was indeed illusory and vain, ending in bitter disappointment. Some have been honest enough to confess this; that they have forsaken the fountain of living waters, and they have heaped to themselves immeasurable bitterness and sorrow of heart.

1. In conclusion, then, let this subject, in the first place, rectify our judgments.

2. In the next place, let this subject decide our choice. The consideration of it will do us good, if the decisions of the will should follow the enlightenment of the understanding.

3. Let this subject, thirdly, awaken our gratitude.

4. Finally, let this subject serve to stimulate our desire for a more full and complete and final happiness beyond the grave. (G. Clayton.)

The profit of godliness in the life to come

There is another life beyond this fleeting existence. This fact was dimly guessed by heathens. What was thus surmised by the great thinkers of antiquity, has been brought to light in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I. Godliness concerning the life to come possesses a promise unique and unrivalled.

1. I say a unique promise, for, observe, infidelity makes no promise of a life to come. It is the express business of infidelity to deny that there is such a life, and to blot out all the comfort which can be promised concerning it. Man is like a prisoner shut up in his cell, a cell all dark and cheerless save that there is a window through which he can gaze upon a glorious landscape.

2. No system based upon human merit ever gives its votaries a promise of the life to come, which they can really grasp and be assured of. No self-righteous man will venture to speak of the assurance of faith; in fact, he denounces it as presumption. Godliness hath a monopoly of heavenly promise as to the blessed future. There is nothing else beneath high heaven to which any such promise has ever been given by God, or of which any such promise can be supposed. Look at vice, for instance, with its pretended pleasures--what does it offer you? And it is equally certain that no promise of the life that is to come is given to wealth. Nay, ye may grasp the Indies if ye will; ye may seek to compass within your estates all the lands that ye can see far and wide, but ye shall be none the nearer to heaven when ye have reached the climax of your avarice. There is no promise of the life that is to come in the pursuits of usury and covetousness. Nor is there any such promise to personal accomplishments and beauty. How many live for that poor bodily form of theirs which so soon must moulder back to the dust! Nor even to higher accomplishments than these is there given any promise of the life to come. For instance, the attainment of learning, or the possession of that which often stands men in as good stead as learning, namely, cleverness, brings therewith no promise of future bliss. Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, but to nothing else anywhere, search for it high or low, on earth or sea, to nothing else is the promise given save to godliness alone.

II. I pass on to notice, in the second place, that the promise given to godliness is as comprehensive as it is unique. In the moment of death the Christian will begin to enjoy this eternal life in the form of wonderful felicity in the company of Christ, in the presence of God, in the society of disembodied spirits and holy angels.

III. I have shown you that the promise appended to godliness is unique and comprehensive, and now observe that it is sure. Godliness hath promise; that is to say, it hath Gods promise. Now, Gods promise is firmer than the hills. He is God, and cannot lie. He will never retract the promise, nor will He leave it unfulfilled. He was too wise to give a rash promise: he is too powerful to be unable to fulfil it.

IV. This promise is a present promise. You should notice the participle, having promise. It does not say that godliness after awhile will get the promise, but godliness has promise now at this very moment. When we get a mans promise in whom we trust, we feel quite easy about the matter under concern. A note of hand from many a firm in the city of London would pass current for gold any day in the week; and surely when God gives the promise, it is safe and right for us to accept it as if it were the fulfilment itself, for it is quite as sure. You cannot enjoy heaven, for you are not there, but you can enjoy the promise of it. Many a dear child, if it has a promise of a treat in a weeks time, will go skipping among its little companions as merry as a lark about it. When the crusaders first came in sight of Jerusalem, though they had a hard battle before them ere they could win it, yet they fell down in ecstacy at the sight of the holy city. When the brave soldiers, of whom Xenophon tells us, came at last in sight of the sea, from which they had been so long separated, they cried out, Thallasse! Thallasse!--The sea! the sea! and we, though death appears between us and the better land, can yet look beyond it.

V. This promise which is appended to godliness is a very needful one. It is a very needful one, for ah! if I have no promise of the life that is to come, where am I? and where shall I be? Oh! how much I want the promise of the life to come, for if I have not that I have a curse for the life to come. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The life to come

It is a singular and lamentable fact, that while men are so sensitive and eager in pursuing temporal interests, they are so obstinately careless with regard to those spiritual interests, which are far more expanded and enduring. The correction of the evil now adverted to, must of course be considered as a matter of transcendant importance.

I. First, notice some of the proofs that a life to come does really exist. There are evidences upon the subject of a future life, apart from any direct connection with revelation, to which nevertheless no insignificant weight must be assigned. I refer you especially to the masterly work of Dr. Butler, whence I imagine no candid mind can arise, without being satisfied that there is a strong probability, arising from analogy, of the continuance of conscious being after the death of the body, and entirely and absolutely uninjured by it. We may notice, again, the common consent of mankind, who, in all nations and in all ages, have admitted a futurity, although frequently with acknowledged and grievous defects: a fact, I conceive, which can only be properly accounted for by receiving the substantial and final truth of the thing which is believed. We may notice, again, the aspirations after something far beyond this transitory and mortal sphere--longings of immortality. We may notice, again, the operations of the momentous faculty of conscience, in the judgment which it forms as to the moral qualities and deserts of actions and thoughts, and the feelings which it inspires in the bosom (by reason of its decisions) of pleasure or pain, hope or fear, satisfaction or remorse; and all these, which are entirely independent of the opinions of other men, are to be regarded as prophetic indications of a subjection to other principles of decision, and to a great system of moral government, the sanctions of which are to be found in the yet impervious and impalpable future. But we must direct our regard to revelation itself: by which, of course, we mean the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, given by inspiration of God, and unfolding all the truths relating to the condition and to the destinies of man.

II. The characteristics by which the life to come is distinguished. It will appear to you important, besides the contemplation of the general fact, to notice the particular attributes, which the fact involves. It is very possible, to admit the general fact, and yet to indulge great and perhaps fatal mistakes as to the detail. The heathen admits the general fact, but grievously errs as to the detail.

1. And we observe, in the first place, that the life to come will comprehend the whole nature of man.

2. We are to observe, that the life to come is purely and entirely retributive. God has arranged it as the scene, where He will apply to His intelligent creation the sanctions of that great system of moral government, under which they have existed.

3. Again, the life to come, which thus will comprehend the whole nature of man, and which is purely retributive, will be unchangeable and eternal. We can conceive nothing of what is indestructible in the life that now is; all around us breathes with decay arid dissolution. The attributes which now are noticed do not merely apply to abstract existence, but to the condition of existence. In other words, the rewards and the punishments, which have been adverted to, will be unchanging and will be everlasting too.

III. The power, which the prospect of the life which is to come should possess over the minds and habits of men.

1. First, the life which is to come ought to be habitually contemplated. It has surely been revealed that it might be pondered; and admitting the fact that there is a life to come, a mere sciolist, a child, would be able to arrive at the conclusion, how it ought to be made the object of thought and of pondering. Think how noble and how solemn is your existence.

2. Again the life to come ought to be diligently prepared for. Your contemplations are for the purpose of leading you to preparation. And how are we to prepare, so as to escape the world of punishment and to receive the world of reward? The merit of penitence is nothing; the merit of what you regard good works is nothing. There is only one method of preparation; and that is, according to the announcements of the system of grace, in the volume which is before us. For the life to come many of you are prepared. Arc there not some, who have never offered these aspirations, who themselves are not vet prepared? (J. Parsons.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ti 4:8. For bodily exercise profiteth little — That is, say Estius, Whitby, Doddridge, and some others, the exercises about which many are so solicitous, and in the pursuit of which they go through so many fatigues, namely, in preparing for and attending the public games, are but of little use, the best rewards of them being of a very transient and fading nature. Or by bodily exercise may be understood rather the mortifications which the Jewish fables were framed to recommend, and the austerities and labours of the Essenes and Pythagoreans, according to the rules and institutions of their sects: to which we may add, All the diligence that can be used in mere external duties, however laboriously and punctually performed, and with whatever degree of self-denial and punctuality, even although commanded of God, can be of little use to any man, separated from the devotion of the heart; and all inventions and observances merely human, must be still more useless and vain. The apostle, however, may be understood in a yet different sense. He had said in the preceding verse, Exercise thyself unto godliness; including in that term all the graces and virtues of the Christian life. He then adds, η γαρ σωματικη γυμνασια προς ολιγον εστιν ωφελιμος; literally, for bodily exercise profiteth a little; that is, the exercise of the body is of some use, increasing its health and strength; but godliness — In all its branches, namely, true, substantial, and practical godliness, the worship and service of God, by both the inward and outward man, the heart and life; is profitable for all things — Benefits a man in every respect; is useful to him in things temporal as well as spiritual, in his domestic and civil, as well as religious affairs and in all his relations and connections in the present world; having the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come — Christ having assured us that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, things necessary shall be added unto us, Mat 6:33. And moreover, that as he gives grace and glory, he will withhold no good thing from them that walk uprightly, Psa 84:11. It is true these, and such like promises, do not ascertain to all who live in a godly manner, health, and wealth, and reputation; but they assure us that true piety and virtue have a natural tendency to promote our happiness even in this world, and indeed do promote it, not only in being attended with peace of mind, a conscience void of offence, a well-grounded and lively hope of future felicity, and communion with God, which is heaven begun on earth; but with protection in dangers, succour in temptations, support and comfort in troubles, with an assurance that all things which God may permit to happen to us, even poverty, reproach, affliction, and death, shall work together for our good.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

1Ti_4:8. For bodily exercise profiteth little.—The meaning which seems simplest may here be the correct one, as many able scholars think—bodily exercise, development of the body’s powers, is profitable in some small way, and for a short time. Godliness is profitable unto all things.—“Thrift is blessing, if men steal it not”; but when the only godliness is the spirit of Shylock’s thrift (as in 1Ti_6:5), it is unblest enough.

1Ti_4:10. We both labour and suffer reproach.—R.V. “we labour and strive.” Though the changed reading of the R.V. is highly attested, Ellicott thinks it suspicious and prefers the A.V. Specially of those that believe.—He is the Saviour of all in that He would have all men to be saved—the Saviour showed the consequence of opposing that universal and gracious purpose (Mat_23:38); but where the human will is one with the Divine, there is a specially effective salvation unto the uttermost.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Ti_4:8-11

Athletics and Religion.

I. Athletic exercise has some advantage.—“For bodily exercise profiteth little” (1Ti_4:8). The apostle is using terms employed in describing the gymnastic contests in the public games, and the training necessary for the athletes. Bodily exercise taken in moderation profiteth a little. It improves health, develops physique, strengthens us to labour for God and man. But athletics may be overdone. An abnormal development of muscle deteriorates the quality of the brain and impairs the general health. Plato says of the wrestlers of his day that they were a sluggish set and of dubious health, that they slept out their lives, and if they varied their regular diet in the least degree they became extensively and deeply diseased. The disciplining of the body by abstinence may also be some advantage in the suppression and control of the passions; but the advantage is limited. It is an attempt to reach the inward life by outward means, which is a reversal of the Christian method, which seeks to regulate the outward life from within.

II. Religion has every advantage.—

1. It is best for the present life. “But godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is” (1Ti_4:8). It tends to health and longevity by teaching us the proper use of the body, and shows that true happiness and prosperity are secured by promoting the welfare of both body and soul.

2. It is best for the future life. “And of that which is to come” (1Ti_4:8). It ensures an eternity of blessedness. The condition of our bodily and mental powers attained by judicious exercise must have an important influence upon our spiritual state. The degree of moral excellence attained in this life will be the basis of development and enjoyment in the life to come.

III. Religion involves fatigue and shame, but it means salvation to the believing.—“For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God” (1Ti_4:10). Religion is not obtained without effort: we must “strive to enter in at the strait gate,” and we must labour to maintain our integrity, notwithstanding the opposition and reproach of the world; but trusting in the living God, we shall be able to endure and finally conquer.

1. This is an undoubted and universal fact. “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation” (1Ti_4:9). It may seem to some that godly men suffer loss as to this life; but it is not so. The labour and reproach of the good man do not deprive him of the best blessings of the present life, which he enjoys in rich abundance, though with persecutions (Mar_10:30); and he has the assurance of yet greater blessings in the future life.

2. As the living God is willing to save all, He will certainly save those who believe in Him. “The living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe” (1Ti_4:10). If God is the Saviour of all men, even of those who do not believe in Him, and is their benefactor and preserver, much more, and in a most blessed sense, is He the Saviour of those who fully trust in Him. He is the Saviour of all men potentially, as He has provided and offers salvation to all; but to those who believe in Him He is their Saviour experimentally and really—they become conscious of their salvation by their faith in Him.

IV. The distinction between athletics and religion should be authoritatively insisted on.—“These things command and teach” (1Ti_4:11). In opposition to the false views of the Judaisers, Timothy must reiterate the truth concerning true godliness. “You can always show what a life of godliness really is,—that it is full of joyousness, and that its joys are neither fitful nor uncertain; that it is no foe to what is bright and beautiful, and is neither morose in itself nor apt to frown at light-heartedness in others; that it does not interfere with the most strenuous attention to business and the most capable despatch of it. Men refuse to listen to or to be moved by words; but they cannot help noticing and being influenced by facts which are all round them in their daily lives. So far as man can judge, the number of vicious, mean, and unworthy lives is far in excess of those which are pure and lofty. Each one of us can do something towards throwing the balance the other way. We can prove to all the world that godliness is not an unreality, that it enhances the brightness of all that is really beautiful in life, while it raises to a higher power all natural gifts and abilities” (Plummer).

Lessons.—

1. Bodily athletics may be carried to injurious excess.

2. The noblest athletics are spiritual, and seek to promote genuine godliness.

3. Religion is best for both worlds.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

1Ti_4:8. The Life that now is.

I. It is short.

II. Uncertain.

III. Chequered.

IV. Important.—It has a relation to that which is to come.—G. Brooks.

The Life which is to come.

I. Mention some of the proofs that there is a life to come.—Proofs from reason—analogy, common consent, the desire of immortality, conscience. Proofs from revelation.

II. Mention some of the characteristics of the life to come.—

1. It will comprehend man’s whole nature.

2. It will be purely and entirely retributive.

3. It will be unchangeable and eternal.

III. Mention some of our duties in reference to the life to come.—

1. We should habitually contemplate it.

2. We should diligently prepare for it.—G. Brooks.

The Profitableness of Godliness.

I. The nature of godliness.—

1. It comprehends the fear of God.

2. The saving knowledge of God.

3. Supreme love to God.

4. Intercourse with God.

5. The practice of righteousness.

6. Implies a humble and supreme regard to the honour and glory of God in all things.

II. The advantages of godliness.—

1. It is profitable for the present life.

(1) Consider its influence on a man’s external circumstances.

(2) Is calculated to promote a man’s worldly prosperity.

(3) It elevates and expands the mind.

(4) Gives real excellence and sterling worth to a man’s character.

(5) Has a tendency to prolong life.

(6) Profitable to individual happiness.

(7) To mankind in their social capacity and in all the diversified relations of life.

(8) Is profitable during every stage of life—in the morning, noon, and eventide of life.

2. Profitable for the life to come.

(1) If there were no positive certainty of a future life, godliness is profitable.

(2) It is certain there is another life.

Lessons.—

1. We see the fallacy and impiety of those who say, “What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? and what profit shall we have if we pray unto Him?”

2. The inconsistency and folly of those who, while admitting the profit of godliness, make no practical efforts to realise its advantages.

3. We commend godliness on the principle of enlightened self-interest.—Dr. Robert Newton.

1Ti_4:10. Christ the Saviour of All Men.

I. As He is the embodiment of the truest and noblest manhood.

II. Therefore all men may be saved.

III. Therefore the gospel should be proclaimed to all.

IV. Men are truly saved only as they believe in Christ as the Saviour.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:8-9 physical training . . . godliness: Cp. 1 Cor 9:24-27; Col 2:23. • benefits in this life . . . the life to come: Cp. 1 Tim 4:16; 6:6-8; Mark 10:29-30; Eph 6:2-3. • trustworthy saying: See study note on 1 Tim 1:15.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Ti 4:8. Ἡ σωματικὴ γυμνασία, bodily exercise) and that, whether violent or pleasant.—πρὸς ὀλίγον, is profitable to but a short extent) viz. its benefit extends only to the private fortune, to one’s reputation, to one’s enjoyment, to the promotion of long life; and therefore it is terminated in this life of the body. Timothy, as a young man, seems to have sometimes used some bodily exercise [ch. 1Ti 5:23], which Paul does not so much forbid as not praise. He mixes up a similar admonition, salutary to a young man, with the same argument against profane doctrines, 2Ti 2:22.—πρὸς πάντα, unto all things) in the case of body and soul.—ἐπαγγελίαν, promise) on which hope (‘trust’) is brought to bear, 1Ti 4:10. Whatever does not serve this purpose is scarcely profitable.—ζωῆς τῆς νῦν, of the life that now is) the advantage of which they who exercise the body seem in other respects to consult.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ti_4:8. The reason for the previous exhortation is given by contrasting the σωματικὴ γυμνασία with the γυμνασία πρὸς εὐσέβειαν.

ἡ γὰρ σωματικὴ γυμνασία πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶν ὠφέλιμος] Regarding the meaning of σωματ. γυμν., there are two opinions which need no refutation: the one is that it means the ceremonial law (Braun, Selecta sacra, i. 10, § 156); the other is that of Chrysostom, who understands by it disputation with the heretics.[159] It is a question whether Paul makes use of the word with or without reference to the heretics. Many expositors (of the older, Ambrosius, Thomas; of the more recent, Calvin, Grotius; also Heydenreich, Leo, Matthies) adopt the former view, and explain the σωματικὴ γυμνασία to mean the practice prevailing among the heretics of abstaining from marriage and from certain meats. The connection of ideas is against this view, since in the words immediately preceding he was not speaking of rules of abstinence, but of the myths of the heretics; the sense is also against it, for Paul could not possible say of the heretics mode of life, which before he had called devilish, that it was πρὸς ὀλίγον ὠφέλιμος κ.τ.λ. Wiesinger thinks the apostle had in mind, not that degenerate form of asceticism which was to appear in the future, as he described in 1Ti_4:3, but the phenomena of the present, viz. an asceticism to which even Timothy (1Ti_5:23) had some inclination. But since, in Wiesingers opinion, even this asceticism is to be regarded as an error, we cannot well refer to it the words πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶν ὠφέλιμος.

Hofmann understands the σωματικὴ γυμνασία to be a discipline such as the apostle practised on himself in abstaining from things permitted; not, however, as if the self-denial were anything in itself, but only lest he should be hindered by the needs of the body from attaining the goal. For this Hofmann quotes 1Co_9:27. But the discipline which Paul practised on himself was by no means a purely bodily one; it was rather a γυμνασία πρὸς εὐσέβειαν, since the faithful fulfilment of official duty formed part of the εὐσέβεια. The expression is therefore to be explained simply from itself, and we must understand by it the exercise of the body in general, as Theodoret, Pelagius, Wolf, and others (of those more recent, Mack, de Wette, and van Oosterzee) have rightly explained it.

The reason why Paul here speaks of bodily exercise is contained in the previous exhortation: γύμναζε σὲ πρὸς εὐσέβειαν. This he wishes to make emphatic by contrasting with it the γυμνάζειν practised so carefully among the Greeks, though only πρὸς ὀλίγον ὠφέλιμον. The connection of ideas is by no means, as de Wette thinks, a mere lexical allusion, nor is the idea itself superfluous.

πρὸς ὀλίγον is in Jam_4:14 used of time: for a short time. In this sense many have taken it here; but the contrasted πρὸς πάντα is against this. It is inaccurate also to regard, as Heumann does, πρὸς ὀλίγον as equivalent to ὀλίγῳ (Luther: of little use); it means for little. Paul does not mean to say that the σωμ. γυμνασία is of no use, but that its use extends to little, only to some relations of the present, earthly life.[160] It is different with that to which Timothy is exhorted: Ἡ ΔῈ ΕὐΣΈΒΕΙΑ ΠΡῸς ΠΆΝΤΑ ὨΦΈΛΙΜΌς ἘΣΤΙΝ] A more exact contrast would have been presented by Ἡ ΔῈ ΓΥΜΝΑΣΊΑ Ἡ ΠΡῸς ΕὐΣΈΒΕΙΑΝ; but Paul could here speak at once of the use of ΕὐΣΈΒΕΙΑ in order to strengthen the previous exhortation. ΠΡῸς ΠΆΝΤΑ is here opposed to ΠΡῸς ὈΛΊΓΟΝ. The general reference thus given must not be arbitrarily limited. There is nothing, no active occupation, no condition, no human relation, on which the ΕὐΣΈΒΕΙΑ does not exercise an influence for good.

ἘΠΑΓΓΕΛΊΑΝ ἜΧΟΥΣΑ ΖΩῆς Τῆς ΝῦΝ ΚΑῚ Τῆς ΜΕΛΛΟΎΣΗς] This participial clause gives a reason for the words immediately preceding, and confirms them. De Wette, and following him Wiesinger, explain (by appealing to passages such as Exo_20:12; Deu_4:40; Mat_6:33; Eph_6:2, and others) ΖΩῊ Ἡ ΝῦΝ as equivalent to a long and happy life. But ΖΩΉ with Ἡ ΝῦΝ cannot have a meaning different from that which it has with Ἡ ΜΕΛΛΟῦΣΑ. It is incorrect also to understand by ΖΩΉ eternal life, life in the full and true sense of the word (Hofmann),[161] for it is arbitrary to maintain that Τῆς ΝῦΝ ΚΑῚ Τῆς ΜΕΛΛΟΎΣΗς was added to ΖΩῆς only as an after-thought. This contrast forbids us to understand ΖΩΉ as anything else than simply life; ΖΩῊ Ἡ ΝῦΝ is the present, ΖΩῊ Ἡ ΜΕΛΛΟῦΣΑ is the future life which follows the earthly. The genitive is to be taken as a more remote objective genitive,promise for the present and the future life (so, too, van Oosterzee and Plitt). The thing promised is not indeed named, but it can be easily supplied.

[159] Chrysost. μηδὲ εἰς γυμνασίαν ποτὲ καταθὲς σεαυτὸν, διαλεγόμενος πρὸς ἐκείνους· οὐ γάρ ἐστι πρὸς τοὺς διεστραμμένους μαχόμενον ὀνῆσαι τί ποτέ.

[160] If ὀλίγον (without πρός), the reading of א, is correct, then the meaning is that which Luther has expressed. Still ὀλίγον might be taken also as a milder expression for the absolute negation: of little use, i.e. properly speaking, of no use, viz. for the calling of a Christian. But even this view does not justify the interpretation of γυμνασία which we have rejected above.

[161] It is clear that ζωή is not the blessed life (Matthies), since εὐσέβεια itself denotes the blessed life.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ti 4:8 . σωματικὴ γυμνασία : The parallel cited by Lightfoot ( Philippians , p. 290) from Seneca ( Ep. Mor . xv. 2, 5) renders it almost certain that the primary reference is to gymnastic exercises (as Chrys., etc., take it); but there is as certainly in σωματικὴ γυμνασία a connotation of ascetic practices as the outward expression of the theories underlying the fables of 1Ti 4:7 . παραιτοῦ elsewhere in the Pastorals is followed by reasons why the particular thing or person should be avoided. The teaching is identical with that in Col 2:23 . St. Paul makes his case all the stronger by conceding that an asceticism which terminates in the body is of some use. The contrast then is not so much between bodily exercise , commonly so called, and piety , as between piety (which includes a discipline of the body) and an absurd and profane theosophy of which discipline of the body was the chief or only practical expression.

πρὸς ὀλίγον : to a slight extent ; as contrasted with πρὸς πάντα . πρὸς ὀλίγον means for a little while in Jas 4:14 . This notion is included in the other. The R.V., for a little is ambiguous; perhaps intentionally so. In view of the genuine asceticism of St. Paul himself, not to mention other examples, it is unreasonable to think him inconsistent in making this concession.

ἐπαγγελίαν ἔχουσα ζωῆς ; If we take ἐπαγγελία to signify the thing promised (as in Luk 24:49 , Act 1:4 ; Act 13:32 ), rather than a promise , we can give an appropriate force to the rest of the sentence. A consistent Christian walk possesses, does not forfeit, that which this life promises; in a very real sense “it makes the best of both worlds”. ἔχω will then have its usual meaning; and ζωῆς is the genitive of possession, as in Luk 24:49 , Act 1:4 ( ἐπ . τοῦ πατρός ). It is not the genitive of apposition, piety promises life . That which is given by life to Christians is the best thing that life has to give. Von Soden compares πάντα ὑμῶν , 1Co 3:21 sq. Bacon’s saying “Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; Adversity is the blessing of the New” is only half a truth. If religion does not make us happy in this life, we have needlessly missed our inheritance (see Mat 6:33 ; Mar 10:30 ). On the other hand, though piety does bring happiness in this life, the exercise of it deliberately with that end in view is impious; as Whately said, “Honesty is the best policy, but the man who is honest for that reason is not honest”.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Godliness consisteth in spiritual exercise, and not in outward austereness of life, which though it be something to be accounteth of, if it be rightly used, yet is it in no wise comparable with godliness: For it profiteth not of itself, but through the benefit of another, but this hath the promise both of the life present, and of that that is to come.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

profiteth little--Greek, "profiteth to (but) a small extent." Paul does not deny that fasting and abstinence from conjugal intercourse for a time, with a view to reaching the inward man through the outward, do profit somewhat, Act 13:3; Co1 7:5, Co1 7:7; Co1 9:26-27 (though in its degenerate form, asceticism, dwelling solely on what is outward, Ti1 4:3, is not only not profitable but injurious). Timothy seems to have had a leaning to such outward self-discipline (compare Ti1 5:23). Paul, therefore, while not disapproving of this in its due proportion and place, shows the vast superiority of godliness or piety, as being profitable not merely "to a small extent," but unto all things; for, having its seat within, it extends thence to the whole outward life of a man. Not unto one portion only of his being, but to every portion of it, bodily and spiritual, temporal and eternal [ALFORD]. "He who has piety (which is 'profitable unto all things') wants nothing needed to his well-being, even though he be without those helps which, 'to a small extent,' bodily exercise furnishes" [CALVIN]. "Piety," which is the end for which thou art to "exercise thyself" (Ti1 4:7), is the essential thing: the means are secondary.

having promise, &c.--Translate as Greek, "Having promise of life, that which now is, and that which is to come." "Life" in its truest and best sense now and hereafter (Ti2 1:1). Length of life now so far as it is really good for the believer; life in its truest enjoyments and employments now, and life blessed and eternal hereafter (Mat 6:33; Mar 10:29-30). "Now in this time" (Psa 84:11; Psa 112:1-10; Rom 8:28; Co1 3:21-22, "all things are yours . . . the world, life . . . things present, things to come"). Christianity, which seems to aim only at our happiness hereafter, effectually promotes it here (Ti1 6:6; Pe2 1:3). Compare Solomon's prayer and the answer (Kg1 3:7-13).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. For bodily exercise profiteth little] Προς ολιγον εστιν ωφελιμος. Those gymnastic exercises, so highly esteemed among the Greeks, are but little worth; they are but of short duration; they refer only to this life, and to the applause of men: but godliness has the promise of this life, and the life to come; it is profitable for all things; and for both time and eternity.

But godliness is profitable unto all things] By godliness we are to understand every thing that the Christian religion either promises or prescribes: the life of God in the soul of man; and the glory of God as the object and end of that life. To receive the first, a man must renounce his sins, deny himself, take up his cross, and follow his Lord through evil and through good report. To obtain the latter, a man must labour to enter into that rest which remains for the people of God.

Having promise, of the life that now is] The man that fears, loves, and serves God, has God's blessing all through life. His religion saves him from all those excesses, both in action and passion, which sap the foundations of life, and render existence itself often a burden. The peace and love of God in the heart produces a serenity and calm which cause the lamp of life to burn clear, strong, and permanent. Evil and disorderly passions obscure and stifle the vital spark. Every truly religious man extracts the uttermost good out of life itself, and through the Divine blessing gets the uttermost good that is in life; and, what is better than all, acquires a full preparation here below for an eternal life of glory above. Thus godliness has the promise of, and secures the blessings of, both worlds.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8 For bodily exercise is of little profit. By the exercise “of the body,” he does not mean that which lies in hunting, or in the race-course, or in wrestling, or in digging, or in the mechanical occupations; but he gives that name to all the outward actions that are undertaken, for the sake of religion, such as watchings, long fasts, lying on the earth, and such like. Yet he does not here censure the superstitious observance of those things; otherwise he would totally condemn them, as he does in the Epistle to the Colossians, (Colossians 2:21,) but at present he only speaks slightingly of them, and says that they are of little advantage. So, then though the heart be altogether upright, and the object proper, yet, in outward actions, Paul finds nothing that he can value highly.

This is a very necessary warning; for the world will always lean to the side of wishing to worship God by outward services; which is an exceedingly dangerous imagination. But — to say nothing about the wicked opinion of merit — our nature always disposes us strongly to attribute more than we ought to austerity of life; as if it were no ordinary portion of Christian holiness. A clearer view of this cannot be adduced, than the fact, that, shortly after the publication of this command, the whole world was ravished with immoderate admiration of the empty form of bodily exercises. Hence arose the order of monks and nuns, and nearly all the most excellent discipline of the ancient Church, or, at least, that part of it which was most highly esteemed by the common people. If the ancient monks had not dreamed that there was some indescribably divine or angelical perfection in their austere manner of living, they would never have pursued it with so much ardor. In like manner, if pastors had not attached undue value to the ceremonies which were then observed for the mortification of the flesh, they would never have been so rigid in exacting them. And what does Paul say on the other hand? That, when any one shall have labored much and long in those exercises, the profit will be small and inconsiderable; for they are nothing but the rudiments of childish discipline.

But godliness is profitable for all things That is, he who has godliness wants nothing, though he has not those little aids; for godliness alone is able to conduct a man to complete perfection. It is the beginning, the middle, and the end, of Christian life; and, therefore, where that is entire, nothing is imperfect. Christ did not lead so austere a manner of life as John the Baptist; was he, therefore, any whit inferior? Let the meaning be thus summed up. “We ought to apply ourselves altogether to piety alone; because when we have once attained it, God asks nothing more from us; and we ought to give attention to bodily exercises in such a manner as not to hinder or retard the practice of godliness.”

Which hath the promises It is a very great consolation, that God does not wish the godly to be in want of anything; for, having made our perfection to consist in godliness, he now makes it the perfection of all happiness. As it is the beginning of happiness in this life, so he likewise extends to it the promise of divine grace, which alone makes us happy, and without which we are very miserable; for God testifies that, even in this life, he will be our Father.

But let us remember to distinguish between the good things of the present and of the future life; for God bestows kindness on us in this world, in order that he may give us only a taste of his goodness, and by such a taste may allure us to the desire of heavenly benefits, that in them we may find satisfaction. The consequence is, that the good things of the present life are not only mingled with very many afflictions, but, we may almost say, overwhelmed by them; for it is not expedient for us to have abundance in this world, lest we should indulge in luxury. Again, lest any one should found on this passage the merits of works, we ought to keep in mind what we have already said, that godliness includes not only a good conscience toward men, and the fear of God, but likewise faith and calling upon him.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(8) For bodily exercise profiteth little.—More accurately rendered, bodily exercise is profitable for little. St. Paul here, no doubt, was thinking of those bodily austerities alluded to in 1Ti_4:3. The stern repression of all human passions and desires, the abstinence from all compliance with the natural impulses of the flesh—such an unnatural warfare, such an exercise, such a training of the body, no doubt in many cases would lead, in many cases certainly has led, the individual to a higher spiritual state. Such a total surrender for the one who so exercises himself is, no doubt, in a certain sense, “profitable.” But then it must be remembered that this kind of victory over the flesh, in very many instances, leads to an unnatural state of mind; for the rigid ascetic has removed himself from the platform on which ordinary men and women move. His thoughts have ceased to be their thoughts, his ways are no longer their ways. For practical everyday life such an influence, always limited, is at times positively harmful, as its tendency is to depreciate that home-life and family-life, to raise and elevate which is the true object of Christian teaching. Still, the Apostle, while remembering, and in his teaching ever carrying out, the spirit of the Lord’s solemn prayer to the Father, “I pray, not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil,” refrains from an entire condemnation of a life which received, on more than one occasion, from the lips of the Sinless One a guarded commendation (Mat_17:21; Mat_19:12).

St. Paul, in his divinely-taught wisdom, recognises that such an austere and severe example and life, though by no means the ideal life of a Christian teacher, yet in the great world workshop of the Master might receive a blessing as “profitable for little.”

But godliness is profitable unto all things.—Better, for all things. But while this “bodily exorcise,” this austere subduing of the flesh, can only weigh with a narrow and circumscribed group, St. Paul points out that the influence of “godliness is world-wide;” a godliness, not merely an inward holiness, but an operative, active piety, which, springing from an intense love for Christ, manifests itself in love for His creatures. This godliness transfigures, and illumines with its divine radiance all busy, active life—every condition, every rank, all ages. That surely is what the good minister of Jesus Christ must aim at!

Having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.—For this godliness, which may and ought to enter into all states, all ages of life, promises the greatest happiness to those who struggle after it. It promises “life”—that is, the highest blessedness which the creature can enjoy in this world—as well as the rich prospect of the endless life with God in the world to come; whereas a false asceticism crushes out all the joy and gladness of this present life, and is an unreal preparation for that which is future.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. bodily exercise profiteth little] Rather, with R.V., bodily exercise is profitable for a little. The Latin of Theod. Mops. gives the straightforward and natural account: ‘corporalis exercitatio ad modicum est utilis’ (so Vulgate ‘ad modicum’): ‘qui enim in agone sunt corporali et ad hoc seipsos exercent usque in praesentem uitam, inde solent habere solatium; nam pietatis agon et istius exercitatio ex multis partibus nobis magnum praebet iumentum promittens nobis in ruturo saeculo magna praebere; nam secundum praesentem uitam conferre nobis non minima potest.’ St Paul, after choosing the strong metaphorical word to enforce the need for a zealous, painstaking ministry, dwells on the metaphor according to his habit. For his fondness for this metaphor see Howson, Metaphors of St Paul. Cf. Appendix, K.

godliness is profitable] The ‘pietatis agon’ affects for good, as Alford puts it, ‘not one portion only of a mans being, but every portion of it, bodily and spiritual, temporal and eternal.’

promise of the life] Lit. ‘promise of life, that which is life now, and that which will be.’ Bp Ellicott and Dr Alford, both after hesitation, interpret ‘spiritual happiness and holiness, the highest blessedness of the creature;’ but Alford wrongly alters the ‘promise’ into the ‘blessedness promised’ instead of giving ‘life’ its full and proper meaning. Cf. Mar_10:30 and the extract quoted by Dr Maclear from Lange’s Life of Christ, iii. 459, ‘The Christian gains back again already in this world in the higher form of real spiritual essence whatever in the physical and symbolical form of his life he has forfeited; houses enough in the entertainment afforded him by his spiritual associates who receive him; brothers and sisters, in the highest sense of the term; mothers who bless and tend the life of his soul; children of his spirit; lands, of his activity, of his higher enjoyment of nature, of his delights; and all this ever purer, ever richer, as an unfolding of that eternal inheritance of which it is said “All things are yours,” in spite of whatever persecutions of the world which dim the glory of these things.’ See also Bp Westcott’s additional note on 1Jn_5:20, where he quotes St Paul’s phrase, ‘the life which is life indeed.’ Observe by the way how there this life needs ‘to be grasped and laid hold of,’ as here it is promised to spiritual training and contest. Compare also Eph_4:18, ‘the life of God.’

Both ‘the life now’ and ‘the life to come’ are clearly parts of ‘eternal life.’ Bp Westcott’s concluding paragraph is worthy of St Paul in its realisation of what ‘the promise’ is and its incitement to the necessary ‘training.’

‘If now we endeavour to bring together the different traits of “the eternal life,” we see that it is a life which with all its fulness and all its potencies is now; a life which extends beyond the limits of the individual, and preserves, completes, crowns individuality by placing the part in connexion with the whole: a life which satisfies while it quickens aspiration: a life which is seen, as we regard it patiently, to be capable of conquering, reconciling, uniting the rebellious discordant broken elements of being on which we look and which we bear about with us; a life which gives unity to the constituent parts and to the complex whole, which brings together heaven and earth, which offers the sum of existence in one thought. As we reach forth to grasp it, the revelation of God is seen to have been unfolded in its parts in Creation; and the parts are seen to have been brought together again by the Incarnation.’

Note the direct bearing of the last sentence on St Paul’s doctrine here from 1Ti_3:15 to 1Ti_4:10.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For bodily exercise profiteth little,.... Meaning not the exercise of the body in the Olympic games, as by running, wrestling, &c. which profited but little, for the obtaining of a corruptible crown at most; though since a word is used here, and in the preceding verse, borrowed from thence, there may be an allusion to it: much less exercise of the body for health or recreation, as riding, walking, playing at any innocent diversion; which profits but for a little time, as the Syriac and Arabic versions read; and the latter renders the phrase "bodily recreation": nor is the exercise of the body in the proper employment of trade and business, to which a man is called, and which profits for the support of life for a little while, intended; nor any methods made use of for the mortification of the body, and the keeping of it under, as watchings, fastings, lying on the ground, scourging, &c. but rather mere formal external worship, as opposed to godliness, or spiritual worship. There ought to be an exercise of the body, or a presenting of that in religious worship before God; there should be an outward attendance on the word and ordinances; but then, without internal godliness, this will be of little advantage: it is indeed showing an outward regard to public worship, and may be a means of keeping persons out of bad company, and from doing evil things; but if this is trusted to, and depended on, it will be of no avail to everlasting life; see Luk 13:26

but godliness is profitable unto all things; to the health of the body, and the welfare of the soul; to the things of this life, and of that which is to come; to themselves and others, though not to God, or in a way of merit:

having promise of the life that now is; of the continuance of it, of length of days, of living long in the earth, and of enjoying all necessary temporal good things, the mercies of life; for God has promised to his spiritual worshippers, to them that fear him, and walk uprightly, that their days shall be prolonged, that they shall want no good thing, nor will he withhold any from them that is for their good, that is proper and convenient for them:

and of that which is to come; even of eternal life; not that eternal life is received or procured hereby; for it is the free gift of God, and is not by any works of men, for otherwise it would not be by promise; for its being by promise shows it to be of grace: there is nothing more or less in it than this, that God promises glory to his own grace; for internal godliness, which animates and maintains spiritual worship, is of God, is of his own grace, and every part of it is a free gift of his, as faith, hope, love, fear, &c.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

Ver. 8. For bodily exercise profiteth little] Somewhat it doth (if rightly used) toward the strengthening of the body, preserving of the health, subduing of the flesh.

But godliness is profitable to all things] The Babylonians are said to make 360 several commodities of the palm tree (Plutarch); but there is a μυριομακαριοτης, a thousand benefits to be got by godliness. Godly persons are said in Latin, Deum colere, to cherish God, because they are sure by sowing to the Spirit to "reap of the Spirit life everlasting," Gal 6:8. Besides that, in this world they "shall obtain joy and gladness" (outward and inward comforts), but "sorrow and sighing shall flee away," Isa 35:10.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For bodily exercise profiteth little - Margin, “for a little time.” The Greek will admit of either interpretation, and what is here affirmed is true in either sense. The bodily exercise to which the apostle refers is of little advantage compared with that piety which he recommended Timothy to cultivate, and whatever advantage could be derived from it, would be but of short duration. “Bodily exercise” here refers, doubtless, to the mortifications of the body by abstinence and penance which the ancient devotees, and particularly the Essenes, made so important as a part of their religion. The apostle does not mean to say that bodily exercise is in itself improper, or that no advantage can be derived from it in the preservation of health, but he refers to it solely as a means of religion; as supposed to promote holiness of heart and of life. By these bodily austerities it was supposed that the corrupt passions would be subdued, the wanderings of an unholy fancy lettered down, and the soul brought into conformity to God. In opposition to this supposition, the apostle has here stated a great principle which experience has shown to be universally correct, that such austerities do little to promote holiness, but much to promote superstition. There must be a deeper work on the soul than any which can be accomplished by the mere mortification of the body; see the notes on Col 2:23, and compare 1Co 9:25-27.

But godliness - Piety or religion.

Is profitable unto all things - In every respect. There is not an interest of man, in reference to this life, or to the life to come, which it would not promote. It is favorable to health of body, by promoting temperance, industry, and frugality; to clearness and vigor of intellect, by giving just views of truth, and of the relative value of objects; to peace of conscience, by leading to the faithful performance of duty; to prosperity in business, by making a man sober, honest, prudent, and industrious; to a good name, by leading a man to pursue such a course of life as shall deserve it; and to comfort in trial, calmness in death, and immortal peace beyond the grave. Religion injures no one. It does not destroy health; it does not enfeeble the intellect; it does not disturb the conscience; it does not pander to raging and consuming passions; it does not diminish the honor of a good name; it furnishes no subject of bitter reflection on a bed of death.

It makes no one the poorer; it prompts to no crime; it engenders no disease. If a man should do that which would most certainly make him happy, he would be decidedly and conscientiously religious; and though piety promises no earthly possessions directly as its reward, and secures no immunity from sickness, bereavement, and death, yet there is nothing which so certainly secures a steady growth of prosperity in a community as the virtues which it engenders and sustains, and there is nothing else that will certainly meet the ills to which man is subject. I have no doubt that it is the real conviction of every man, that if he ever becomes certainly “happy,” he will be a Christian; and I presume that it is the honest belief of every one that the true and consistent Christian is the most happy of people. And yet, with this conviction, people seek everything else rather than religion, and in the pursuit of baubles, which they know cannot confer happiness, they defer religion - the only certain source of happiness at any time - to the last period of life, or reject it altogether.

Having promise of the life that now is - That is, it furnishes the promise of whatever is really necessary for us in this life. The promises of the Scriptures on this subject are abundant, and there is probably not a lack of our nature for which there might not be found a specific promise in the Bible; compare Psa 23:1; Psa 84:11; Phi 4:19. Religion promises us needful food and raiment, Mat 6:25-33; Isa 33:16; comfort in affliction, Deu 33:27; Job 5:19; Psa 46:1-11; Heb 13:5; support in old age and death, Isa 46:4; Psa 23:4; compare Isa 43:2; and a good reputation, an honored name when we are dead; Psa 37:1-6. There is nothing which man really “needs” in this life, which is not promised by religion; and if the inquiry were made, it would be surprising to many, even with our imperfect religion, how literally these promises are fulfilled. David, near the close of a long life, was able to bear this remarkable testimony on this subject: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread;” Psa 37:25. And now, of the beggars that come to our doors, to how few of them can we give a cup of cold water, feeling that we are giving it to a disciple! How rare is it that a true Christian becomes a beggar! Of the inmates of our alms-houses, how very few give any evidence that they have religion! They have been brought there by vice, not by religion. True piety sends none to the alms-house; it would have saved the great mass of those who are there from ever needing the charity of their fellow-men.

And of that which is to come - Eternal life. And it is the only thing that “promises” such a life. Infidelity makes no “promise” of future happiness. Its business is to take away all the comforts which religion gives, and to leave people to go to a dark eternity with no promise or hope of eternal joy. Vice “promises” pleasures in the present life, but only to disappoint its votaries here; it makes no promise of happiness in the future world. There is nothing that furnishes any certain “promises” of happiness hereafter, in this world or the next, but religion. God makes no promise of such happiness to beauty, birth, or blood; to the possession of honors or wealth; to great attainments in science and learning, or to the graces of external accomplishment. All these, whatever flattering hopes of happiness they may hold out here, have no assurance of future eternal bliss. It is not by such things that God graduates the rewards of heaven, and it is only “piety” or “true religion” that furnishes any assurance of happiness in the world to come.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Some think St. Paul alludes in this verse to the corporal exercises of wrestlers, which procured them but a little short renown, whereas the works of piety have a more lasting reward. (Menochius, Tirinus) --- Corporal exercises of temperance, mortification, &c. are good, but not to be compared with the spiritual virtues of charity, piety, &c. (St. Bernard)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

For bodily exercise profiteth little; bodily discipline, lying in abstaining from certain meats, keeping set fasts, watchings, lying upon the ground, going barefoot, wearing sackcloth or haircloth, abstaining from wine or marriage, is of little advantage, the mind and soul of man is not bettered by them: the apostle doth not altogether despise these things, some of which may be useful (moderately used) to make us more fit for prayer, especially upon solemn occasions; but these are not things wherein religion is to be put, and alone they are of no avail.

But godliness is profitable unto all things; but godliness, which lieth in the true worship and service of God, out of a true principle of the fear of God and faith in him; or (more generally) holiness of life in obedience to God’s commandments, is of universal advantage;

having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come; not from any meritoriousness in it, but from the free grace of God, which hath annexed to it not only the promises of health, peace, and prosperity, and all good things while we live here upon the earth, but also the promises of salvation and eternal happiness when this life shall be determined.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Bodily exercise—Paul is led by his word gymnastize to a brief parallelism between gymnasticism, corporeal and spiritual. The former profiteth little; that is, so far as human salvation is concerned. It may invigorate the body, improve the health, and prolong the life; but not save the soul. We could almost imagine, however, that these ascetics, like our modern Shakers, as well as the Turkish dervishes, practised dancing, or some other activity, as a religious exercise.

All things—For body and soul, and in regard to time and eternity.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Is profitable for a little for profiteth little, A.V; for, for unto, A.V; which for that, A.V Bodily exercise. Exercise which only affects the body, such as those rules which the Jewish ascetics enforced. Gumnasia only occurs here in the New Testament, and not at all in the LXX, but is not uncommon in classical Greek. Another form is gumnasiv, and gumnasion is the place where such gumnasiv takes place. For a little ; margin, for little, which is the best rendering, Progon, as Ellicott well remarks, may mean either "for a little while" or "for a little" (better, "for little"), but cannot mean both. The contrast with pronta determines its meaning here to be "for little," which is exactly the same meaning as the A.V Promise of the life. The genitive here is the genitive of the thing promised, as in Act_2:33; Gal_3:14; 2Ti_1:1. And the thing promised is "the life that now is," meaning, of course, its enjoyment in peace and happiness (comp. Psa_34:12 Psa 34:33., LXX., where qelwn zwhn is parallel to ajgapwn hJmerav... ajgaqav); and "that which is to come," viz. eternal life). There is no occasion to strain after greater grammatical precision. There is no contradiction between tiffs statement of the happiness of a godly life and St. Paul"s statement in 1Co_15:19. Another possible way of construing the words is that of Bishop Ellicott and the "Speaker"s Commentary:" "Having the promise of life, both the present and the future." But in this case we should have had thv te nun kai k.t.l.

Vers. 8, 9.

The advantage of true godliness.

The apostle gives a reason for his exhortation to godliness.

II THE SUPERIORITY OF GODLINESS TO ANY MERE BODILY EXERCISE. "For bodily exercise profiteth to a small extent.

1. The allusion here is not to the ascetic discipline already noticed, because:

(1) Though it might apply to the more developed austerities of later times flagellations, pilgrimages, and weary vigils it cannot fairly apply to the disuse of marriage and of certain kinds of food. There is no bodily exercise implied in such a quiescent habit or aspect of life.

(2) It is impossible to think that the apostle should even concede that such austerity was profitable to the smallest extent, for he is opposed to the whole idea of it.

(3) Besides, this was not the immediate subject in hand, which was the excellence of true piety.

2. The allusion is to the gymnastic training which occupied so much of the time and energy of the Greek youth. It was profitable for the healthful development of bodily life, but by its very nature it was both temporal and temporary in its results and its rewards.

II THE GROUND OF THE SUPERIORITY OF GODLINESS. "But godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." It has the profit and the promise of a double life.

1. It has the profit and the promise of this present life.

(1) There is the promise of length of days. "The wicked live not half their days.

(2) There is the prophetic promise that they "shall inherit the earth.

(3) There is the profit

(a) of a good name,

(b) of riches and honor; for they will want no good thing.

(4) Godliness is profitable for all things included in the scheme of a holy life.

2. It has the profit and the promise of the life to come.

(1) This does not signify that it merits eternal life, but that it is essentially connected with it in the Divine scheme of salvation.

(2) Thus godliness is "great gain" for the whole life of man in the next life. It involves the highest blessedness of man.

(3) Happy is the man whose future is provided for as well as his present.

III CORROBORATION OF THE APOSTLE"S ASSERTION RESPECTING GODLINESS. "Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation." It was a truth of universal acceptance among Christian people, because, in spite of all the drawbacks of a persecuting time, it had been happily realized in their checkered experience. T.C.

Religious recompense.

is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is." It is a fair charge against mediaevalism, that it left out of sight the Christianization of this present life, and became only another-worldism. The host carried to the dying was everything; the elevation of the earthly life was nothing. Marshes might remain undrained, habitations unimproved, knowledge be imprisoned, science be garroted, and this earth neglected, provided the people became true sons of the Church and possessed the priestly passports to eternity! The religious nature (and there is that in every man) was perverted. Man became the subject-power of those who, in the name of God, darkened the moral sense, and degraded human nature under the pretence of saving it. The gospel has always had the promise of the life that now is; it saves men from selfishness and sin, as well as from Gehenna.

I THE LIFE THAT NOW IS WAS CREATED BY GOD. Human life and human history are not accidents. God created us, and not we ourselves. Better to be born and to die in the same hour, than to live on through weary years, if human life has not a heavenly purpose in it. God thought out this world. God designed us to use it; and when we mourn over sin and ignorance and darkness, we rejoice that Christ came to put away sin, and to bring in an everlasting righteousness, Nature is ours, with all her mountains and seas, her pastures and flocks, the silvery thread of her rivers, and the Gothic arches of her forests, richly to enjoy. Christ came to claim humanity, to redeem humanity. The broken harp he will restring and set to divinest music. We will not put sepia into all the pictures of earth"s to-morrow; for "the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord be revealed, and all flesh see it together.

II THE LIFE THAT NOW IS TO BE MOULDED BY GOSPEL INFLUENCES. We read that Paul "persuaded and turned away much people." If the gospel has the promise, we must help in the fulfillment of the promise. When we see wrongs, we must try to remedy them. When God gives us the remedy, we must take care to point to the great Physician alone. We need not be afraid. The gospel is unique; it stands alone. It has done more for this sin-stricken world than any words of man can tell. And Christ still lives on, and his Spirit is one of restraint in men, even when it is not a salvation. If caricature could have crushed Christianity, it would have been silenced long ago. The life that now is was molded by the gospel, so that men who were once darkness had light in the Lord. Humanity breathed again; slavery felt its grasp grow weaker; polygamy became a cruelty and a shame; and as we look at its beneficent progress, and see orphanages and homes and refuges rising up on every hand, we have abundant evidence that the gospel is promise of the life that now is. Suicide, that had been the euthanasia of Rome, ceased, Men who had lost their love of life in the satiety of its pleasures, and to whom death was a relief from its ennui, gave place to a race who found new hope and new joy in the pursuit and pleasures of the life that now is, under the lordship of Christ. W.M.S.

The great beyond.

of that which is to come." It is not too much to say that the gospel alone, in this age, is the witness to immortality a witness preserved in three aspects: it is taught by Christ"s words; illustrated in Christ"s life; and attested by Christ"s resurrection. Outside the gospel we Lave materialism, which denies it; agnosticism, which says it does not know about it; and the modern school who use the word "immortality," but mean immortality of influence, or a life which has on earth its permanent pervasive power after we are gone: just as the oak is immortal which sends on, from acorn to acorn, its being. Before Christ came:

1. Immortality had its place as an instinct. The philosophers admitted that.

2. It had its place as an imagination. The poets made dreams out of it.

3. It had its place as an ancient revelation.

The Hebrews had knowledge of it. But secularism, in the fashionable school of Sadducees, had darkened it. Christ came to bring life and immortality to light by the gospel. It is this light in which the gospel is bathed; the perspective behind all its picture-teachings; the consolation of apostles, confessors, and martyrs. But Paul links it with the life that now is, because he would not let the doctrine of immortality become basely used, as it was in Persia. There slavery and wrong were unredressed. Persia said to the oppressed, the poor, the serf, the miserable, "Never mind, Ormuzd will make it right hereafter!" Not so says Paul. Religion has its rectitude"s and its rewards here as well. The gospel has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

I THEN LIFE IS CONTINUOUS; THERE IS NO BREAK. Death is not a dividing power. It is a dark arch through which the river flows. If a pure river, then he which is holy shall be holy still. If a fetid river, then he which is filthy shall be filthy still. This is life eternal to know Christ; and, having him, we have glory and immortality. The insect does not die when it changes its garment from the grub to the winged being, when it exchanges earth for air. Nor do we die. We are unclothed that we may be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. The body sheds itself often. At seventy we have had ten bodies; but the mind, the heart, the conscience, the memory, have a consciously unbroken continuity. We never shed them! The road is seen today from the child"s first step; the river flows through town and city, but it is the same river. We feel this; it is the mystery of personality; it is the symbol of continuity. Through all the years we have had one being, and through the dark arch of death it flows on into the life that is to come.

II THEN LIFE IS A PROPHECY. There is no difficulty here. As the child is the prophecy of the man, so the man is the prophecy of the immortal. In a mirror, and that mirror himself, man may read the future world. His tastes, desires, pursuits, pleasures, all globe themselves in the microcosm of his heart. He need consult no augurs about future destiny. Here are the mystic pages: "He that believeth on the Son hath life;" its form, shape, color, quality. Christ has changed the nature, and made it God-like and Divine. The Christian life may be shady, imperfect, and stained with evil; but it is a God-like thing; its pity, purity, righteousness, holiness, are attested. Perfect it, and you have heaven. It were well for men to think, not only of what is, but of what is to come. Even bad men hope to alter. Men think a sudden change at last may come; a turn of the helm just as the vessel nears the rapids may cause it to glide into the river of life. But life here is a prophecy. It is the earnest of the inheritance of reward or shame the life that is to come, with its advent hour so quiet, so sure, so solemn; coming but once, but coming to all. We thank God for the great sky of immortality above us, and for the rest that remaineth for the people of God. W.M.S.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bodily exercise profiteth a little - Increases the health and strength of the body.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Ver. 8. The reason follows: for bodily exercise is profitable unto little, but godliness is profitable unto all things. Commentators have long been, and still are, divided as to what should be understood by the bodily exercise (σωματικὴ γυμνασία): whether of such exercise as pertains to the health and vigour of the bodily frame, more particularly the gymnastics of the athlete; or of the ascetic discipline spoken of before in connection with the banning of marriage and abstinence from certain kinds of food—bodily restraints, but with a view to spiritual results. In this latter sense it was taken by Ambrose, many Catholic interpreters, also by Calvin, Grotius, latterly by Wiesinger and Ellicott. Two considerations especially are urged in support of it (for example by Ellicott): first, that the connection seems to demand that the contrast should lie between external observances and inward holiness; and second, that ascetic practices formed a very distinctive feature of that current Jewish theosophy which is specially alluded to in this part of the epistle. The considerations, however, are by no means decisive; and, indeed, the latter seems rather to point in the opposite direction: for, just because the ascetic practices in question had obtained such a place in the prevalent false religionism of the time, and were threatening to usurp a yet larger one in the future, we might expect the apostle to be chary of meting to them even the smallest commendation. He had already characterized things of this description as doctrines of demons, propagated by hypocrisy, and inimical to the true faith of the gospel; and could he now consistently turn round, and say that they were not altogether worthless—that they did bring a little profit? The tendency of his preceding statements was to separate between ascetic notions of excellence and those of genuine Christianity—to show that the one is rather the subtle counterfeit than the proper exhibition and development of the other. Besides, bodily exercise is not the natural or fitting expression for such things, at least in the incipient stage at which the apostle appears to be contemplating them. It might suit well enough for the more advanced stages—pilgrimages, flagellations, laborious vigils, or the constrained positions of pillar saints; but not for the disuse of certain kinds of food, or abstinence from marriage as a relatively impure condition of life. This is too negative and quiescent a species of asceticism to be appropriately designated a corporeal gymnastics. The literal sense of the expression, therefore, seems plainly entitled to the preference, which also has the support of the three ancient Greek expositors, Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophylact, and among the moderns, besides many others, of Bengel, De Wette, Huther, and Alford. The athletic mode of expression which had just been employed by the apostle to characterize the earnest application that should be made to a life of godliness (γύμναζε), called up to his mind the gymnastic training which consumed so much time and energy among the ancient Greeks; and he takes occasion from the allusion to commend that higher kind of energetic striving which became the spiritual athletes of the gospel. The one had a measure of good attending it; it was profitable within a certain limited sphere, since it contributed to the healthfulness and agility of the bodily frame, and brought its successful cultivator a present recompense of honour or reward. But the sincere and strenuous cultivation of vital godliness rises immensely above this; it carries in its train the highest good of which man is capable, and that not merely for a few fleeting seasons of time, but throughout the ages of eternity. For such is the explanation the apostle himself gives in the words that follow of the all things unto which godliness is profitable.

Having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. By life is evidently meant one’s proper being and well-being, whatever goes to make up a well-conditioned and happy state of existence. Life in this higher sense is inseparably connected with godliness. The possession of it was originally suspended on the actual and unfailing exercise of godliness; and now, since the original title to the possession has been forfeited by sin, the promise of regaining what has been lost, though it cannot indeed be meritoriously secured by any amount of personal goodness, yet neither can it be realized otherwise than in connection with this; for only as men become established in the love and practice of goodness, do they become qualified for the possession and enjoyment of life. Interest in Christ goes first, then likeness to Christ; and as this grows, their meetness also increases for an inheritance in His blessedness and glory. A stimulating thought surely for the people of Christ generally, but especially for such as devote themselves to active work in His spiritual vineyard! It is work emphatically which is twice blessed: they reap even while they are sowing; lay up treasures for themselves while they are spending for the good of others; do best for themselves when they do most for God.

Patrick Fairbairn — An Exposition of Ezekiel (1851), Jonah (1849), and The Pastoral Epistles (1874) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By bodily exercise he meaneth corporal austerities, abstinence from meats and marriage; all the external exercises of religion; these do profit a little, though but a little, in comparsion of the profit of godliness.

Where note, That fastings, humiliations, and watchings, with other bodily exercises, which serve to bring down the pride and wantonness of the body, have their proper and necessary use, and are expressive of a just revenge which a sinner takes upon himself for former excesses; they are, when wisely managed, what God accepts, but the least that God expects from us: Bodily exercise profiteth little.

But observe, The universal usefulness of godliness to all the purposes of life, Godliness is profitable to all things.

1. It is profitable to make a man rich, to help him to get and increase an estate; because it makes a man wise and prudent, diligent and industrious, thrifty and frugal.

2. It is profitable to make a man renowned as well as rich; it is the only way to attain a good name and reputation: the godly man is a worthy and excellent man, and he is an useful and servicable man, and such do seldom miss of a good reputation in the world; those that want goodness themselves, will yet commend it in others.

3. It is profitable for pleasure, as well as for riches and honour; for a life of religion doth increase the relish and sweetness of all our sensible enjoyments, so far is it from abridging us of any earthly delights: and besides, it adds to us a world of pleasures of its own; thus godliness is profitable unto men in all things, having the promise of happiness both in this life, and that which is to come, annexed to it.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. For bodily exercise. The Greeks gave great attention to bodily training. At Ephesus, where Timothy was, may still be seen the remains of the stadium where the athletes displayed their skill. Let Christians display the same assiduity in training for godliness. For the bodily exercise profits little, while the godly training is profitable in all things. It makes men happier, more prosperous, more healthy here, and in addition it prepares them for the life to come. The way to reach heaven is not either to starve, or to exercise the body.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

8. ἡ γὰρ σωμ. γυμν. κ.τ.λ. For the discipline of the body is profitable for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things. We should not understand either γύμναζε or γυμνασία of gymnastic training for the games or athletic exercise, although the words are so taken by Chrysostom and others; any such idea is foreign to the context. In contrast with the extravagant asceticism which St Paul fears in the future, the true γυμνασία or discipline of the body (a) is only to be practised in moderation; it is profitable πρὸς ὀλίγον (ad modicum, not as in Jas 4:14 for a little time); and (b) is undertaken, not because of false views of the impurity of matter, but as a means to an end, πρὸς εὐσέβειαν. Cp. 1Co 9:27. This εὐσέβεια is profitable (ὠφέλιμος does not occur in the Greek Bible outside the Pastorals, but St Paul has ὠφέλεια and ὠφελεῖν) for all things. See note on 1Ti 2:2.

ἐπαγγελίαν ἔχουσα κ.τ.λ. Inasmuch as it has (the causal use of the participle) promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come. Observe that here is no guarantee of the worldly prosperity of the εὐσεβής (as in Psa 1:3 and often in the O.T.); ζωή is the higher principle of life, in contrast with βίος which takes account of the man’s environment; cp. Luk 12:15 οὐκ ἐν τῷ περισσεύειν τινὶ ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ ἐστὶν ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ and 2Ti 1:1. See Heb 9:15.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8.] for the exercise (gymnastic training: see below) of the body is to small extent (‘for but little,’—in reference only to a small department of a man’s being: not as in ref. James, ‘for a short time,’ as the contrast πρὸς πάντα below shews) profitable (to what sort of exercise does he allude? Ambr., Thom.-Aq., Lyra, Calv., Grot., Heydenr., Leo, Matthies, al., take it as alluding to corporal austerities for religion’s sake: ‘hoc nomine appellat quæcunque religiouis causa suscipiuntur externæ actiones, ut sunt vigiliæ, longa inedia, humi cubatio, et similia,’ Calv. But against this are two considerations: 1) that these are not now in question, but the immediate subject is the excellence of being trained and thoroughly exercised in piety: 2) that if they were, it would hardly be consistent with his previous severe characterization of these austerities, ver. 3, to introduce them thus with even so much creditable mention.

Wiesinger has taken up this meaning again and contended very strongly for it, maintaining that the πρὸς ὀλίγον ὠφέλιμος must be moral, not corporeal. But it may fairly be answered, if it be moral, then it cannot be said to be πρὸς ὀλίγον, for it would contribute to εὐσέβεια. And indeed he may be refuted on his own ground: he says that the σωματ. γυμνασία must belong to εὐσεβεια: for that if it meant bodily exercise merely, πνευματικὴ γυμνασία, not εὐσέβεια, would be the proper contrast to it. But surely we may say, if σωματικὴ γυμν, does belong to εὐσέβεια, how can it form a contrast to it? On his hypothesis, not on the other, we should require πνευματικὴ γυμνασία as the contrast. A part cannot be thus eontrasted with the whole.

It is therefore far better to understand the words, as Chrys., Till., Thdrt. (οἱ τῆς τοῦ σώματος, φησίν, εὐεξίας ἐπιμελούμενοι πρὸς ὀλίγον ταύτης ἀπολαύουσιν), Pel., Corn.-a-lap., Estius, Wolf, al., Bengel, Mack, De W., Huther, of mere gymnastic bodily exercise, of which the Apostle says, that it has indeed its uses, but those uses partial only. Bengel adds, perhaps more ingeniously than conclusively, “Videtur Timotheus juvenis interdum usus fuisse aliqua exercitatione corporis (ch. 5:23) quam Paulus non tam prohibet quam non laudat.” Two curious interpretations of the expression have been given; one by Chrys., as a sort of afterthought: ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστι· μηδὲ εἰς γυμνασίαν ποτε καταθῇς σεαυτὸν διαλεγόμενος πρὸς ἐκείνους, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα τοῖς αὑτοῦ παραίνει. οὐ γάρ ἐστι πρὸς τοὺς διεστραμμένους μαχόμενον ὀνῆσαί τί ποτε,—the other by Braun (Selecta sacra i. 10. 156, cited by Huther), who understands by it the ceremonial law): but piety (the first member of the antithesis contained the means, ἡ σωμστικὴ γυμνασία: this, the end, εὐσέβεια;—that which is sought by γυμνασία πρὸς εὐσέβειαν) is profitable for all things (not one portion only of a man’s being, but every portion of it, bodily and spiritual, temporal and eternal), having (seeing that it has) promise of the life (we may, as far as the construction is concerned, take ζωῆς, as Ellic., abstract, of life, and then divide it off into τῆς νῦν and τῆς μελλούσης. But see below), which is now and which is to come (how is the genitive ζωῆς to be taken? is it the objective genitive, giving the substance of the promise, life, in its highest sense? in this case it would be ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι. And seeing it is not that, but τῆς νῦν κ. τῆς μελλούσης, we should have to understand ζωή in two different meanings,—long and happy life here, and eternal life hereafter—it bears a promise of this life and of the life to come. This to say the least is harsh. It would be better therefore to take ἐπαγγελία as ‘the promise,’ in the sense of ‘the chief blessedness promised by God,’ the blessed contents of His promise, whatever they be, and ζωῆς as the possessive genitive: the best promise belonging to this life and to that which is to come. It may be said, this also is harsh; and to some extent I acknowledge it,—it is not however a harshness in thought, as the other, but only in construction, such as need not surprise us in these Epistles. The concrete ἐπαγγελία instead of the abstract is already familiar to us, Luk 24:19: Act 1:4; Act 13:32, al.: and the possessive genitive after ἐπαγγ. is justified by Rom 15:8, ἑπαγγ. τῶν πατέρων, and by the arrangement of the sentence).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. ἡ σωμ. γυμν] “corporalis exercitatio,” Vulg. The reference is to either: (i) ascetic discipline, the thought of 3 being still in his mind: you, too, will need discipline of the body, but it must be from a right motive, and only as a means to an end, for in itself it goes a very little way. On this interpretation the best comment is Col 2:20-23; or (ii) athletic discipline: an illustration from the ordinary training in the gymnasium; and the best comment 1Co 9:24-27. This is the more probable, as the subject of 3 seems to have been dropped at 5, and it is supported by ἀγωνιζόμεθα 10.

πρὸς ὀλίγον] e.g. πρὸς φθαρτὸν στέφανον (1Co 9:25) πρὸς ὑγιείαν (Lucian, Macrob. 6, οἱ γυμνασίοις . . . πρὸς ὑγιείαν χρώμενοι).

ἐπαγγ. ἔχουσα κ.τ.λ.] cf. Tit 1:2 εὐσεβείαν . . . ζωῆς . . . ἐπηγγείλατο; Jas 1:12, 1Jn 2:25, Rev 2:10. The saying may have been based on the Lord’s own words, Luk 18:30 ὃς οὐ μὴ ἀπολάβῃ πολλαπλασίονα ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τούτῳ καὶ ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τῷ ἐρχομένῳ ζωὴν αἰώνιον, cf. Luk 12:15 for the thought, but it has earlier Jewish analogies; cf. Pirke Aboth iv. 2. “Who is rich? He that is contented with his lot: for it is said, Happy art thou in this world, and it shall be well with thee in the world to come.” True life lies in contentment (6:6), in the glad acceptance of our lot, in gratitude for God’s common blessings, in the sense that all things are ours through union with Christ, 1Co 3:22; cf. Chrys. ad loc., or Traherne’s Meditations.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bodily exercise [η σωματικη γυμνασια] . With gumnasia comp. gumnaze, ver. 7. N. T. o. Swmatikov bodily only here and Luk 3:22. o LXX The adverb swmatikwv bodily - wise, Col 2:9. The words are to be taken in their literal sense as referring to physical training in the palaestra - boxing, racing, etc. Comp. 1Co 9:24 - 27. Some, however, find in them an allusion to current ascetic practices; against which is the statement that such exercise is profitable, though only for a little.

Profiteth little [προς ολιγον εστιν ωφελιμος] . Lit. is profitable for a little. The phrase prov ojligon only here and Jas 5:14. In the latter passage it means for a little while. Comp. Heb 12:10, prov ojligav hJmerav for a few days. According to some, this is the meaning here; but against this is the antithesis prov panta unto all things. The meaning is rather, the use of the athlete's training extends to only a few things. Wfelimov useful or profitable, only in Pastorals. Comp. 2Ti 3:16; Tit 3:8. o LXX

Godliness [ευσεβεια] . See on ch. 1ti 2:2, and Introduction, 6

Having promise [επαγγελιαν εχουσα] . The exact phrase only here. Comp. 2Co 7:1; Heb 7:6. The participle is explanatory, since it has promise. For ejpaggelia promise see on Act 1:4.

The life that now is [ζωης της νυν] . According to the strict Greek idiom, life the now. This idiom and the following, thv melloushv N. T. o. The phrase oJ nun aijwn the present aeon, 1Ti 6:17; 2Ti 4:10; Tit 2:12. O aijwn ou=tov this aeon, a few times in the Gospels, often in Paul, nowhere else. We have oJ aijwn oJ mellwn the aeon which is to be, and oJ aijwn oJ ejrcomenov or ejpercomenov the aeon which is coming on, in the Gospels, once in Paul (Eph 2:7), and in Hebrews once, mellwn aijwn without the article. En tw kairw toutw in this time, of the present as contrasted with the future life, Mr 10:30; Luk 18:30. O nun kairov the now time, in the same relation, Rom 8:18. For zwh life see on Joh 1:4. The force of the genitive with ejpaggelia promise may be expressed by for. Godliness involves a promise for this life and for the next; but for this life as it reflects the heavenly life, is shaped and controlled by it, and bears its impress. Godliness has promise for the present life because it has promise for the life which is to come. Only the life which is in Christ Jesus (2Ti 1:1) is life indeed, 1Ti 6:19. Comp. 1Pe 3:10; 1Co 3:21 - 23.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.