But refuse profane and old wives' tales, and exercise yourself rather unto godliness.
All Commentaries on 1 Timothy 4:7 Go To 1 Timothy 4
John Chrysostom
AD 407
authority; but all is condescension: he does not say commanding or enjoining, but reminding them: that is, suggest these things as matter of advice, and so enter into discourses with them concerning the faith, being nourished up, he says, meaning to imply constancy in application to these things.
For as we set before us day by day this bodily nourishment, so he means, let us be continually receiving discourses concerning the faith, and ever be nourished with them. What is this, being nourished up? Ruminating upon them; attending ever to the same things, and practicing ever the same, for it is no common nourishment that they supply.
But refuse profane and old wives' fables. By these are meant Jewish traditions, and he calls them fables, either because of their falsehood or their unseasonableness. For what is seasonable is useful, but what is unseasonable is not only useless but injurious. Suppose a man of adult age to be suckled by a nurse, would he not be ridiculous, because it is unseasonable? Profane and old wives' fables, he calls them, partly because of their obsoleteness, and partly because they are impediments to faith. For to bring souls under fear, that are raised above these things, is an impious commandment. Exercise yourself unto godliness. That is, unto a pure faith and a moral life; for this is godliness. So then we need exercise.
