Pastoral Epistles: 1 Timothy 4:3-4 - The Self-Righteous Rejection of God’s Gifts

The teaching of these false teachers was characterized by avoiding marriage and abstaining from certain foods. It is not wrong for one not to be married. Paul was an example of a single man. It was not wrong to practice fasting, as it’s an important spiritual discipline. What is wrong is to demand it as a means of salvation. It is to teach that one must not be married and must adhere to certain fasting practices that moved this into the realm of false teaching.