(No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)
Paul is in the middle of a solemn charge about purity and about sharing in other people's sins. Then, for one sentence, he turns to Timothy's stomach — a line that raises questions about health, about strong drink, and about why such a small detail sits in Scripture at all.
A parenthesis of affection
One writer reads the verse as a window into both men: Timothy's careful habits and the warm heart of the man writing to him.
J. N. DarbyWe see Timothy's steady self-restraint here. He was weak in body, so the apostle recommends that he use his liberty and take a little wine — a pleasing instance of grace. The Spirit shows us how careful he was never to stir up or feed his desires in the smallest thing. At the same time, there is perfect liberty to use everything that is good when there is a true reason for it. The Spirit also shows the apostle's tender interest in his fellow worker in the gospel. It is a little parenthesis attached to the words, "nor take part in the sins of others," but it has great beauty.
A conscience too strict with the body
Timothy drank only water, and the apostle tells him to stop. One writer sees a gentle correction of a conscience that had grown too hard on the body.
William KellyHere divine wisdom overrules the unhealthy tendency of a truly devoted servant. The body is for the Lord, as the Lord is for the body. So impurity is evil, and harsh self-denial is just as foreign, though the flesh may boast in that self-denial as easily as it indulges in impurity. Christ alone keeps both holiness and liberty. God inspired the apostle to urge this on Timothy.
Kelly adds that Paul did not send this advice privately. He put it in a letter that everyone could read.
William KellyIt was not a private letter. Such a note would no doubt have corrected the mistaken and harmful self-denial of this young servant of the Lord, but it would have left everyone else to suffer in the same way from that day to this.
An ordinary remedy, not a rebuke
Notice what Paul does not say. He never suggests that repeated illness is evidence of a failure in Timothy.
Hamilton SmithWe are not to neglect the needs of a weak and suffering body... Timothy is not blamed for his illnesses. Nothing here suggests that his frequent illness proves any lack of faith. He is not told to ask elders to lay hands on him, or even to pray for his healing. He is told to use an ordinary remedy.
Sickness among those closest to Paul
Timothy's case was not unusual. One writer sets it beside Paul's own thorn in the flesh and beside fellow workers who stayed ill.
Frederick W GrantThe apostle's thorn in the flesh was not removed, nor could it be. God taught him to accept it and profit by it. For Timothy's weak stomach and frequent ailments he prescribes, not the prayer of faith, but "a little wine." He leaves Trophimus sick at Miletus. Epaphroditus too is sick, close to death, right under the apostle's eye... Even in the apostles' days, and with a man like Paul, the gifts of healing served the glory of God. They were never used at random, or for the personal comfort of Christians.
Real wine, but only a little
Was this an unfermented drink rather than real wine? One reply is blunt:
The Bible TreasuryNo, it is not true. There is only one word (oinos) used throughout the New Testament for "wine," and this, both here and in the classical writings of antiquity, in the general sense of "the fermented juice of the grape."
Real permission can be abused. One writer hands the decision back to each person's conscience before God.
C. H. MackintoshWe do not presume to lay down rules, or to dictate to others. Each one must judge, in the fear of God, whether he really needs to "use a little wine." But we have no hesitation in saying this: professing Christians who indulge in strong drink have dishonoured the Lord, grieved His Spirit, injured His cause, spoiled the testimony, and stumbled souls.
Why such a small thing is in the Bible
Some scholars point to this verse, and to Paul's asking for books, as proof that such details cannot be inspired. One reply turns the objection around.
H H SnellLearned men have asked, Can we believe that to be inspired which tells Timothy, "No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments"?... Why not? Does it not show that the Holy Spirit takes account of our bodily need, and of the books and writings His servants find helpful in His blessed service?
Summary
- Weakness — Timothy served God while often ill, and Scripture never treats his illness as proof of weak faith.
- Remedy — Paul points him to an ordinary means, not a miracle. The gifts of healing were never given for the personal comfort of believers.
- Measure — Two words fence the permission: "a little." Each believer must judge before God whether he truly needs it.
- Liberty — The verse frees a strict conscience without excusing indulgence. Holiness and liberty stand together.
- Tenderness — God put a note about one man's stomach into lasting Scripture. That is not evidence against inspiration but proof of His care for our bodies.