Hi guys,

Almost coming to the end of chapter 5. Hope you will enjoy this verse.

Here is the text:

1 Timothy 5:23, “Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.”

Interesting points:
1. This verse seems out of place as Paul is speaking about managing elders properly. However, the preceding words provide us a clue: “…keep yourself pure.” Timothy may have gone to extremes to avoid every perception of evil, refraining from consuming alcohol to stand in sharp contrast to the behavior of the false teachers.

2. Paul recognized that Timothy frequently had stomach problems and, knowing that Timothy refrained from consuming alcohol, advised him to add some wine to his water to improve his health. Today we recognize that alcohol can kill water-borne, single-cell organisms that can cause diarrhea, stomach pain and other unpleasant symptoms for those unaccustomed to these organisms.

3. Paul does not address the reason for Timothy’s decision to not consume wine. But we can suppose that he wished to avoid any question about his use of alcohol. In any case, by following his words about keeping himself pure with the remedy to consume a little wine moderately (and for health), Paul obviously saw no conflict or incongruency in Timothy’s constrained use of alcohol and remaining pure.

Application.
Brothers, alcohol is an area for abuse for some, a form of addiction for others, and a pleasant drink for the majority of us. In consuming it, we ought to be discerning and wise, with addicts and the abusive refraining from it because it unravels their self-control. Knowing this, we ought to refrain from putting such people in temptation’s way.

This verse is a wonderful contrast to the previous one which told us, “… do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.” For those of us, who like Timothy, refrain from alcohol, associating with sinners, or any semblance of evil, we ought to check on the attitude of our heart and reflect on the ramification of our decisions. Are we setting a good example or saying to others, “I am so holy…”?

Sometimes the best example is to exercise self-control, demonstrating by example how/when to draw the line on consuming too much. To limit our lives to avoid any semblance of evil, we miss the opportunity to show discernment to the watching World of how we effectively avoid sinning with great discipline and by tapping into the Lord for strength. Naturally, if we lack the ability to refrain from evil, avoiding temptation completely is the best course of action.