1 Timothy 4:1-5, Deceiving spirits, no marriage, no foods

The Spirit says works like thus says the Lord, and later times evokes the promised restoration, now applied to the age between the Messiah's comings (Keener and his notes). Some Jewish groups, Qumran among them, expected end-time apostasy stirred by evil spirits (Keener and his notes), and Arnold reads 4:1 as naming the spiritual source of the teaching, its liars "actually Satan's advocates". The branded conscience is read three ways: owned by evil spirits (Keener), no longer working (his notes), or, for Wright, scarred by past excess so that it now flinches from good things. Asceticism was rising, and though most teachers urged marriage, celibacy was gaining ground, with some Essenes practicing it (Keener and his notes), while Augustus gave tax incentives to marry (the cultural backgrounds article on celibacy). Whether the foods are those of the food laws (Keener; Wright, for whom nothing was unclean in itself) or an ascetic diet (his notes) is left open. Carson, Moo and Morris find nothing here that needs the second century, while Wright and Bird note that Marcion rejected these letters. Jews blessed God before meals, and God had called food and marriage good (Keener and his notes).