Timothy’s Stomach
If you have done any amount of Bible study on the subject of healing, you have likely come across material that uses Timothy’s stomach problems as evidence for a belief that sometimes sickness is in the will of God for Christians.
“Timothy’s stomach” is usually brought in to the discussion along with Paul’s thorn. (I covered Paul’s thorn in another post, so please read that post if you are interested in this subject.)
The way I have heard this come into the conversation usually goes something like this: “What about Timothy’s stomach? Paul couldn’t heal Timothy, so healing is not always God’s will.” Here is the passage that is being referred to in those statements:
1 Timothy 5:23
No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.
In this verse we see that Timothy has been struggling with “frequent infirmities.” Timothy has been getting sick a lot. He is having stomach problems. I don’t think there is any way to deny that point, nor is there any reason to. However, I believe that it is problematic to use this passage as proof that healing is not always God’s will, and that sometimes God wants us to remain sick.
When you read the passage, you see very clearly that Paul is telling Timothy how to avoid getting sick so often, and how to relieve his symptoms. The goal of the advice is that Timothy is not sick anymore. If it was God’s will for Timothy to be sick and suffer, then Paul was telling Timothy to go against the will of God when he gave him advice on how to feel better.
If Paul actually believed that Timothy’s frequent illnesses were God’s will, then he should have been saying something like “This physical illness and suffering are from God. It is part of His mysterious plan, and He is using it to teach you something. So, don’t do anything that would relieve your symptoms. Timothy, if you want God’s will to happen, you need to be as sick and miserable as possible.”
Of course, that is ridiculous on many levels, and the hyperbole is intended. But it does make a point. If sickness is God’s will for Timothy, then it would be wrong for Paul to provide medical advice. And from what we know of Paul’s character, he would not be contradicting God’s will like that. Since Paul is telling Timothy how to get better, then Paul must believe that it is God’s will for Timothy to be healthy. And that means Paul would not believe that God’s wants Timothy to be sick. Jesus viewed sickness as an enemy (Acts 10:38), and so did his followers, including Paul.
So, I believe that should settle the biggest part of the confusion that surrounds this verse. “Timothy’s stomach” cannot be used to prove that sometimes sickness is God’s will, because Paul is telling Timothy how to avoid being sick. Wholeness, health, and wellness is what Paul’s advice is supposed to lead to, and we are on safe ground if we assume that Paul’s advice in 1 Timothy lines up with God’s will.
But why is he advising him to “stop drinking only water,” but to add some wine into his diet? Why is he not ministering healing to Timothy, or telling Timothy to believe for his own healing, etc?
If you live in an area with unclean water, and you drink that water, and you aren’t used to it, you are likely to have frequent stomach problems. However, if you use wine or some other beverage with antiseptic qualities, you can decrease your chance of getting sick. This is what Paul was telling Timothy to do. That is why Paul is telling him to drink wine.
That tells me that sometimes some good advice on how to avoid getting sick in the first place is appropriate. But It absolutely does not tell me that sometimes God wants people to be sick.
Let me compare this to something that is more common today. What if someone is smoking 2 packs of cigarettes per day, and they have developed lung problems as a result. You could minister healing to them and see God heal all their lung problems. But if the person continues the behavior that caused the problem in the first place, the condition is likely to return even after they have been healed. Some practical advice, wisdom, and common sense is appropriate sometimes.
This passage in 1 Timothy doesn’t teach us that God wants Timothy to be sick. In fact, it means the opposite. The purpose of the passage was to get Timothy to be strong again, and to help him avoid being sick. This is offering practical wisdom on how to avoid a recurring problem that is hindering Timothy.
Read the passage again, and ask yourself this question. Does God want Timothy to be sick, or to be healthy and well?
That is so well-done! So well-written, and full of both good sense and the Gospel! Jesus heals, and sometimes He shows us how to help ourselves. God is so good! Good job Neal!
Thank you Janis! Yes, God is so good!!!
Glad I stumbled upon this. Thank you!
You are welcome!
Thanks for your comment! I personally do not believe that Paul’s thorn was some kind of sickness, so that has no application to Timothy’s stomach in my view.
I agree that illness is not always a result of personal sin. Sometimes it is the result of living in a fallen world, or a variety of other factors.
I also agree that this passage does not indicate that Timothy was healed. That is not my point, and if that was not clear, my apologies. My point was that if God did not want Timothy to be well and whole, then He would not have inspired Paul to tell him how to avoid stomach problems. And since God did inspire Paul to tell Timothy how to avoid sickness, then this passage cannot be used to imply that sometimes sickness is God’s will. Stomach illness was definitely not God’s will for Timothy.
Well I was asking questions about Timothy and found your blog. Thanks for your thoughts. They make absolute sense to me. I am just wondering since you believe in casting out demons (which many Christians) don’t, do you think Timothy had a demon that caused him frequent sicknesses? I wonder why he had stomach troubles. Thanks.
Thanks for your comment! To answer your question, I do not believe that demonic influence was the cause of Timothy’s stomach issues. Paul was advising him to drink wine, which had antiseptic qualities, rather than just drinking water. Since that is the advice Paul gave, I have to assume that the cause of the illness was the poor quality of the water where he was. If the illness was caused by a demon, then practical/medical advice would not have helped his situation. Instead, Paul would have advised him to drive out the demon using his God-given authority, or something like that. Thanks again. I hope that helps.
Oh your thoughts definitely make sense to me. I have a question which no Christian has manage to answer me. Why did Prophet Elisha die of a sickness? Since healing is God’s will. Do you have any insight on this? Love your website :)
Since the Bible doesn’t tell us the specific reason that he died from sickness, I can only give you my opinion. I wrote another article entitled “Does God’s Will Always Happen.” In that article I show how sometimes God’s will doesn’t happen because people (or angels or demons) have chosen to do things contrary to God’s will. So, I do not believe that sickness was God’s will for Elisha. There must have been some other factors involved that were operating contrary to God’s will. As far as I know, the Bible does not tell us what those factors are, so that is as far as I can take it.
Thank you Neal. I actually have the same thoughts as you. I haven’t got an answer from God regarding Elisa but I also reasoned that perhaps Elisha was a glutton of some sort who did not exercise self-control in his choice of diet? LOL.
I really feel (although feel is not a good word to use) or maybe the word ‘convicted’ is the right word…that it is always God’s will that we are healed..although very very often that does not happen for many many people. I just heard of my ex-pastor’s wife passing away at 89 from bone cancer. People talk about her passing to God’s glory and that’s great especially she has lived such a long life BUT I just don’t believe it is God’s will she died through cancer. I believe cancer is a demon and I believe we are able to manifest God’s supernatural healing if we have mustard seed faith without unbelief. Over a short few months, I heard of Christians dying of various conditions at a young age of 37 or 50! So many Christians do not believe in demons and deliverance and that really pains me. I am not at the place where I see myself casting out demons and laying hands on the sick and see them recover but as I journey, I am more and more convicted, even though I am swimming against the tide, that it’s God’s will for people to be delivered/healed.
Dear mum. Its time to lay hands on the sick and cast out demons. Its the great commission.
Shalom.
What about a Christian who dies of Cancer? Is that God’s Will or is he not really a Christian?
I believe you are asking two separate questions, so I will answer what I think is being asked.
1 – I do not believe it is God’s will for people to die of cancer whether or not they are Christians.
2 – Unfortunately both Christians and non-Christians die from cancer. I have family members die from cancer that were Christians.
I hope that helps.
Isaiah 53 and psalm 103: by His stripes were healed.We must always stay in the word,not opinion or experience.One time the disciples could not heal a man,(experience),that did not mean it was not God’s will,I’m fact Jesus healed him
I agree.
What if Gods will is to grant you grace to go through the sickness? and isn’t it a testimony to the world to see a believer joyfully go through sickness?
1Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
The Bible does not say that healing from sickness is 100% for every person but healing from sin is 100% for every person who repents and comes to Jesus
SOMETIMES God HEALS ,SOMETIMES God gives GRACE to go through the sickness
Hi Phebe. Than you for your comment. I know that many people have that perspective, and I used to believe that myself actually. And I am fine if people have a different view than I do. The most important thing is to have a relationship with Jesus and to love one another.
Regarding your question, I do have a different perspective. When sick people came to Jesus while he was on the earth, he never said “I won’t heal you, but instead I will give you grace to go through the sickness.” And since he never said that, I do not have the right to make that kind of assumption about his will if I am trying to represent him as a follower.
Jesus only did what the Father showed him, and he was the exact representation of God’s character and nature (Heb 1:3). During his earthly ministry, Jesus healed every person that came to him with 100% consistency. Therefore if I am going to make assumptions about God’s will, then I feel like I am on safe ground assuming that healing is God’s will, and that I am not supposed to make up things like “God’s will is for you to remain sick, but he will give you grace for that.” In my opinion, that is contradicting the life of Jesus.
The verse from 1 Peter shows that 2000 years ago, Jesus paid for all our sin and for all healing…physical healing. By his wounds we were healed..healed from sickness. You can prove this out yourself by looking at the context in Matthew 8:16-17 where the author quotes from the same passage (Isa 53) proving that physical healing is a part of the atonement being talked about in Isaiah 53.
Enjoyed article, comments, and author replies.
Thank you!
Great article! I really enjoyed it as well as the questions and thoughtful replies in the comment section.
Thank you Angela! Be blessed!
Am glad and answered
2 Corinthians 12:9 and He said to me, ” My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast In my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Hi John. Thank you for your comment. I am not sure if you have a question?
According Acts 10:38, sickness is an oppression of the devil and we saw how Jesus demonstrated His will by healing all.
Again we read how Jesus expressed his will for our healing and wholeness in the life of the man with leprosy in
Matt 8:2-3
2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Hi Abraham. Thank you for your comment. I agree completely! Be blessed!
For those Christians who believe that healing is available in the atonement of Christ at the cross, they tend to use the 4 gospel accounts and the book of Acts.
The key is to rightly divide the word of truth for Israel and the Body of Christ (2 Timothy 2:15)
Jesus was sent to save Israel in his first coming (Romans 15:8, Matthew 1:21, Matthew 15:24, Luke 1:68-75)
Like how Moses was recognized by Israel thru signs (Exodus 4:29-31), Israel will likewise recognize Jesus by the signs that he will perform, which certainly includes all the healings he did (Deuteronomy 18:15, Luke 7:20-22, Acts 3:22-23, John 11:45-48).
Israel’s correct response to those signs is to believe that he is THAT promised Messiah (Deuteronomy 34:10-12, Exodus 34:10, John 6:28-29, John 20:30-31, John 10:37-38).
So, us gentiles in the Body of Christ should not directly look at Jesus first coming to claim those same healings that is a central feature of the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 10:5-8).
We can certainly commit to Christ all our requests, including healing from our physical diseases, since Paul our apostle instructed us to (Philippians 4:6)
The main difference is that Paul did not teach us that healing is promised to us in the Body of Christ. the only promise is that God will send to us his peace, that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7)
Hi Kelvin. Thank you for your comment. I have a different view.
Paul did teach that healing is promised to all of us. He said so explicitly when he wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:20 that all of God’s promises apply to us who are in Christ. This includes the promise of forgiveness of sins and physical healing as mentioned in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 103.
Regarding Jews and Gentiles, Paul did not present the gospel to the Gentiles without accompanying signs and wonders and healings, as he mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
In Paul’s opinion, signs should accompany the preaching of the gospel, whether the audience is Jewish or Gentile. He relied on and expected signs and wonders to accompany his preaching. He considered miracles to be a part of fully preaching the gospel. Preaching without signs would be incomplete.
Romans 15:18-19 “For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in order to bring about the obedience 1 of the Gentiles, by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem even as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.”
Jesus never sent out anyone to represent him without instructing them and empowering them to heal the sick and drive out demons. Those activities are necessary to fully represent him and show the world what he is like.
Matt 16:20 They went out and preached everywhere,the Lord confirmed the word by signs,we must still preach the same gospel today.Acts 8:5-8 Philip preached Christ unto them and the people gave heed unto those things which Philip SPOKE, HEARING and SEEING miracles.
Well said. Thank you.
He said so explicitly when he wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:20 that all of God’s promises apply to us who are in Christ. This includes the promise of forgiveness of sins and physical healing as mentioned in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 103.
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I think almost all Word of faith churches, including the one that I am from where the well known preacher Joseph Prince preaches, like this particular verse, and often use it to claim the physical healing and the financial prosperity that God gave to various people in scripture.
Now strictly speaking, no one who reason like this really thinks that “all of God’s promises apply to us who are in Christ”.
If it is so, we can also claim one of the 12 thrones that will be judging the tribes of Israel that Jesus promised to this 12 apostles in Matthew 19:28. Can we also claim God’s promises to Abraham that he will be a father to many nations in Genesis 12 and Genesis 15?
No one who reads 2 Corinthians 1:20 will ever think that those promises are also for us to claim. But hey, these are also God’s promises correct?
Again, the key is to rightly divide the word of truth. God made promises to various individuals and various groups of people in scripture. It will be intellectual dishonest to think that we can claim any of those promises and apply to us.
Another way you can understand my point above is by imagining this argument:
My boss promise me my wages if I am to work for him
My boss also promise my coworker his wages if he was to work for him.
All of these promises of my boss are, based on my country’s laws regarding workplace compensation, Yes and amen.
Therefore I am also entitled to my coworker’s wages.
That conclusion is non-sequitur, does not follow from the 3 premises.
Therefore, we know Paul cannot be teaching us, in that verse, that any promises that God ever make in scripture, we can claim it because we are in Christ
As for Romans 15:18-19, do understand that God gave Paul signs to authenticate his apostleship to the Jewish little flock, including the 12. We know that from Acts 15:12 and 2 Corinthians 12:12.
So when Paul made that statement in Romans 15:18-19, he is justifying his apostleship and the legitimacy of the gospel he preached to us gentiles, he is not saying that we are to preach like him.
Israel always required signs in order to believe (Exodus 4).
Jesus’s first coming was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:5, Matthew 15:24, Romans 15:8).
So naturally, signs and wonders are a key feature of the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom. (Matthew 10:7)
But we are not Israel, but we received the gospel because Israel has fallen (Romans 11:11).
So when Paul, our apostle (Romans 11:13), preached to us, he never tell us to perform signs, nor promise us signs and wonders when we preach the gospel that the ascended Christ gave him.
Your last comment “Those activities are necessary to fully represent him and show the world what he is like” is not truth and is wrong and I frankly think it is weakening the church! Verse after verse of the ‘New Testament’ taken out of the context of the entirety of scripture. The people of the world in Noah’s time saw the signs and wonders of an ark being built, and animals loaded on it and still laughed. Did it bring them to ‘believe’? Pharoh saw the signs and wonders of God, did he come to be a believer? The children of Israel, did they all get a solid ‘faith’ from the signs and wonders? And one could go on with more.
It’s about the faith OF Christ, as mentioned multiple times in Romans and other places. And it’s about the entirety of scripture, about a world and generations of people that were created to be a part of waring against the rebellion of Satan. EVERYTHING being made in him for him and through him.
Tie it all together like one should and go back and read Isa 53 again and count how many times it says he, or him, and quit taking it out of context and just focusing on the two lines that are then quoted in Mathew.
I’ve been miraculously healed, and I’ve been through trials and tribulations; it takes both to win the war.
Hi David. Thank you for your comment.
There seems to be some misunderstanding, so I will try to clarify.
1 – I am not implying that signs and wonders will cause everyone to believe. That is definitely an unbiblical position. But it is true that many people (not all) came to faith in Christ because of signs and wonders, healings, and so forth.
2 – I am not implying anywhere that we don’t go through trials and tribulations. I am not sure what you are referencing there. Jesus told us there will be trials, so we should expect them. I believe that because Jesus said it.
That being said….it is true and biblical to state that Jesus expects his followers to present the good news with signs following. Every time he sent out people to represent him, he gave them authority to heal the sick and cast out demons. This is true of the 12 (Luke 9:1-2). the 70 (Luke 10:9, Luke 10:17-19) and the great commission (Mat 28, Mark 16). When you look at the book of Acts, you see it taking place. The apostles healing people and casting out demons (Acts 5:12-16). And others that are not apostles are doing the exact same things…like Stephen in Acts 6:8, or Philip in Acts 8:6-7. Even the Corinthian believers, with all of their flaws and errors, were operating in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus taught about the kingdom, healed the sick, and cast out demons. He empowered his followers to do the same. He said very clearly that we would do what he did: John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
So I stand by my statement – “Those activities are necessary to fully represent him and show the world what he is like”
Since Israel was formed at Mount Sinai, sickness and disease was always punishment due to disobedience and unbelief but that was under the Law
Under the Law, God literally promised Israel that if they obey him, they will never fall sick (Deuteronomy 7:15, Exodus 15:26)
Under the promised kingdom of heaven on Earth, no one in Israel will be maim or sick too (Isaiah 33:24, Psalms 103:1-5).
Israel broke their covenant of Law that was given at Mount Sinai. They killed or ignored all the prophets that God repeatedly sent to them when they were separated into 2 kingdoms and went into captivity under Babylon, and then under Persia. (Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19).
Thus, at the time of Jesus’s first coming to Israel, many people in Israel are sick, demon possessed, precisely because they have forsaken that Law covenant. (Luke 13:11, Acts 3:2)
Jesus thus healed all of them to give them a sign that he was indeed their promised Messiah (John 20:30-31, Luke 7:19-23. Luke 4:27).
Acts 10:38 is an especially beautiful summary by Peter to show that
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
But now, God no longer relates to us under the Law (Romans 6:14, 1 Timothy 1:9).
So when we believers are sick nowadays, we can be rest assured that it is not because we have disobeyed God in anyway.
Conversely, if we find ourselves getting better, it is NOT because we are currently doing something that pleases God.
That is what I believe Paul is teaching us now when he shared with us Romans 8:18-25 and 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, and when he gave Timothy common sense advice regarding his frequent stomach ailments.