4:3a

They will prohibit marriage: Paul did not use a future tense here, but a present tense, as in the New International Version (2011 Revision): “They forbid people to marry.” The false teachers were already spreading their wrong teaching and telling people that it was wrong to get married. (By saying that believers should not get married, the false teachers were saying that a man and a women should not have any kind of sexual relationship. See also 1 Corinthians 7:3–5, where Paul implied that there were people who were teaching that even married couples should not have sex. There have been people throughout history who have taught that sex is bad. Among these are the Essenes, the Encratites (described by Irenaeus), and Tertullian. For more details, see Stott, page 113.)

Paul implied that it is wrong to forbid people to marry. In some languages, you will need to make it clear in the translation that Paul implied that this was wrong.

4:3b

require abstinence from certain foods: That is, the false teachers taught the people not to eat some kinds of food.

certain foods: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as certain foods is a general word that refers to any kind of solid food. It does not refer to drinks. The false teachers were saying that there were some kinds of food that believers should not eat. For example, they may have been saying that it was not good to eat meat. It is possible that they considered certain foods unclean or impure, as the Old Testament law had said.

4:3c

that: That is, the kinds of food that the false teachers were telling the believers not to eat.

to be received: God created food for people to eat. When Paul said that they receive it from God, he meant that God supplies the food. Paul implied that it cannot be bad because it comes from God and everything that God created is good (see 4:4a).

with thanksgiving: This means that people should thank God for their food.

by those who believe and know the truth: Paul implied that believers may eat all foods because God made food for people to receive with thanksgiving. Be careful that your translation does not make people think that God made food only for believers.

believe and know: Paul was not talking about two groups of people (one that believes, and another one that knows). He was talking about only one group of people, true believers.

the truth: The expression the truth is also used in 2:7d and 3:15d. It refers to the gospel, the message from God about Christ.

© 2003 by SIL International®

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.