1 Timothy 4:7

τοὺς δὲ βεβήλους καὶ γραώδεις μύθους παραιτοῦ. But eschew profane and old wives’ fables. παραιτεῖσθαι, ‘to refuse,’ ‘to have nothing to do with,’ does not occur in St Paul outside the Pastorals (1 Timothy 5:11; 2 Timothy 2:23; Titus 3:10), but is found in St Luke (Luke 14:18; Acts 25:11) and in Hebrews 12:25 &c., as well as in the LXX. The def. art. τούς suggests that current and familiar myths are in the writer’s mind; he is not speaking now of the ascetic extravagances of the future, but of the trivial and foolish teachings with which Timothy was in contact at Ephesus. For μύθους see above on 1 Timothy 1:4, and for βεβήλους on 1 Timothy 1:9.

γραώδεις, ‘anile.’ The word does not occur elsewhere in the Greek Bible, but is found in Strabo and other writers. It is quite unnecessary and far-fetched to see here, with Baur, a reference to the Valentinian story of Sophia Achamoth (Iren. Haer. I. 4. 5).

γύμναζε δὲ σεαυτὸν πρὸς εὐσέβειαν. But (in contrast to any such false asceticism as that foreshadowed in 1 Timothy 4:3) discipline thyself unto godliness. πρός is used of the aim and motive of the discipline; cp. 1 Corinthians 7:35. See note on 1 Timothy 3:7.