Train Yourself for Godliness

Timothy is to be nourished by the words of faith and good teaching and to reject irreverent myths. Paul then borrows the language of training: physical exercise has limited benefit, but training for godliness reaches both present life and the life to come.

The athletic image would have been ordinary in the Greco-Roman world, but Paul repurposes it around character and hope. Godliness is not passive respectability; it is practiced devotion shaped by promise. Verse 10 also contains a genuine manuscript difference: the KJV reads that Paul and his coworkers “labour and suffer reproach,” while many critical Greek texts read “toil and strive.” The latter reinforces the athletic vocabulary; the former emphasizes the cost of ministry. Either way, their endurance rests on hope in the living God.