1 Timothy 4:8

bodily exercise profiteth little Rather, with R.V., bodily exercise is profitable for a little. The Latin of Theod. Mops. gives the straightforward and natural account: -corporalis exercitatio ad modicum est utilis" (so Vulgate -ad modicum"): -qui enim in agone sunt corporali et ad hoc seipsos exercent usque in praesentem uitam, inde solent habere solatium; nam pietatis agon et istius exercitatio ex multis partibus nobis magnum praebet iumentum promittens nobis in ruturo saeculo magna praebere; nam secundum praesentem uitam conferre nobis non minima potest." St Paul, after choosing the strong metaphorical word to enforce the need for a zealous, painstaking ministry, dwells on the metaphor according to his habit. For his fondness for this metaphor see Howson, Metaphors of St Paul. Cf. Appendix, K.

godliness is profitable The -pietatis agon" affects for good, as Alford puts it, -not one portion only of a mans being, but every portion of it, bodily and spiritual, temporal and eternal."

promise of the life Lit. -promise of life, that which is life now, and that which will be." Bp Ellicott and Dr Alford, both after hesitation, interpret -spiritual happiness and holiness, the highest blessedness of the creature;" but Alford wrongly alters the -promise" into the -blessedness promised" instead of giving -life" its full and proper meaning. Cf. Mark 10:30 and the extract quoted by Dr Maclear from Lange's Life of Christ, iii. 459, -The Christian gains back again already in this world in the higher form of real spiritual essence whatever in the physical and symbolical form of his life he has forfeited; houses enough in the entertainment afforded him by his spiritual associates who receive him; brothers and sisters, in the highest sense of the term; mothers who bless and tend the life of his soul; children of his spirit; lands, of his activity, of his higher enjoyment of nature, of his delights; and all this ever purer, ever richer, as an unfolding of that eternal inheritance of which it is said "All things are yours," in spite of whatever persecutions of the world which dim the glory of these things." See also Bp Westcott's additional note on 1 John 5:20, where he quotes St Paul's phrase, -the life which is life indeed." Observe by the way how there this life needs - to be grasped and laid hold of," as here it is promised to spiritual training and contest. Compare also Ephesians 4:18, -the life of God."

Both -the life now" and -the life to come" are clearly parts of -eternal life." Bp Westcott's concluding paragraph is worthy of St Paul in its realisation of what -the promise" is and its incitement to the necessary -training."

-If now we endeavour to bring together the different traits of "the eternal life," we see that it is a life which with all its fulness and all its potencies is now; a life which extends beyond the limits of the individual, and preserves, completes, crowns individuality by placing the part in connexion with the whole: a life which satisfies while it quickens aspiration: a life which is seen, as we regard it patiently, to be capable of conquering, reconciling, uniting the rebellious discordant broken elements of being on which we look and which we bear about with us; a life which gives unity to the constituent parts and to the complex whole, which brings together heaven and earth, which offers the sum of existence in one thought. As we reach forth to grasp it, the revelation of God is seen to have been unfolded in its parts in Creation; and the parts are seen to have been brought together again by the Incarnation."

Note the direct bearing of the last sentence on St Paul's doctrine here from 1 Timothy 3:15 to 1 Timothy 4:10.