1 Timothy 4:8 - Exposition

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. γυμνασία only occurs here in the New Testament, and not at all in the LXX ., but is not uncommon in classical Greek. Another form is γύμνασις , and γυμνάσιον is the place where such γύμνασις takes place. For a little ; margin, for little , which is the best rendering, πρὸς ὀλίγον , 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 πρὸς πάντα 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 Acts 2:33 ; Galatians 3:14 ; 2 Timothy 1:1 . And the thing promised is "the life that now is," meaning, of course, its enjoyment in peace and happiness (comp. Psalms 34:12 [33., LXX ]., where θέλων ζωήν is parallel to ἀγαπῶν ἡμέρας .. ἀγαθάς ); 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 1 Corinthians 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 τῆς τε νῦν καὶ κ . τ . λ .