1 Timothy 5:23

But take a little wine. Probably the false teachers prohibited the light wines that were then used. Compare notes on 1 Timothy 4:3; Colossians 2:16; John 2:10. This gives some indication of Timothy's state of health. The Expositor's Greek Testament has Paul saying: "I do not mean you to practice a rigid asceticism; on the contrary, I think that you are likely to injure your health by your complete abstinence from wine; so, be no longer a water-drinker, etc." Johnson says the water of that region is not good, and he spent a fearfully sick day at Ephesus in 1889 because of the water there.