I think Paul is suggesting that if we are diligent in our godly service of Christ, we have great encouragement as we do that because of what he says in verses 9 and 10: “This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.”
In the area of physical exercise, Paul says it is of some value. It’s better to be in good shape than in poor shape. But even if you are in the best physical condition and health, no matter how hard you work to keep it that way, Paul knows that there is a limit to which that will be beneficial. For one thing, your body will get weaker and weaker as it ages, no matter what you do. And for another thing, it is the wrong priority to be more concerned with the condition of your physical body than with your spiritual person and the means by which we are to grow in holiness. No matter how much time and money is put into taking care of your body, it will eventually die and there’s nothing you can do to stop the process. But the spirit and the soul are going to live forever.
It’s important to notice that as Paul writes, he is talking about teaching. When he’s talking about godliness, he’s not putting Christian experience over against teaching, as if now suddenly we’re going to live by experience and not by the Word of God. Paul has already told Timothy to stand fast on and uphold sound doctrine. Make sure Jesus Christ is at the center of your faith because he is the only mediator on our behalf before God. Paul who began that way is not suddenly shifting gears and saying that now his emphasis is on experience. Rather, what he means is that any balanced Christian life is going to have teaching and experience going together. Doctrine and life must belong together because the life is going to be determined by the doctrine.
One part of this teaching is false theology, which Paul has been concerned about from the very beginning. In verse 7 he speaks of “godless myths” that take the place of true religion. The other is what today we would call “asceticism.” These two things really indicate two different tools the devil uses to get people either not to take religion seriously and, therefore, never come to faith in Christ in the first place, or, if the person is a Christian, to try to get them off the track by dealing with things that are of no profit. One is the error of dabbling with spiritual things, and that has to do with a mythology. The other is the area of fanaticism, where we become so fanatic about certain particulars of the faith that we really miss the heart of it.
Godliness is certainly not a popular idea in our time, nor even the word itself. A generation or two ago, people at least used it in sayings like “cleanliness is next to godliness.” But today you don’t even hear it used in that way. But although “godliness” has practically dropped out of our cultural vocabulary, it’s an important biblical idea.
