“χ δittlἷ Winἷ”μ 1 Timothy ημἀἁ and Greco-Roman Youth Christopher R. Hutson Abilene Christian University Thἷ ἷxhortation, “σo longἷr ἶrink only watἷr, but usἷ a littlἷ winἷ on account of your stomach anἶ your frἷquἷnt ailmἷnts” (1 Tim ημἀἁ) is commonly seen as a rejection of extreme asceticism (as if it were an after-thought to the instructions regarding marriage and diet in 1 Tim 4:3), and treated with some perfunctory observations on the medicinal use of wine in antiquity. In this study, after discussing (a) the problems with the common reading of 5:23 as anti-ascetic polemic, I shall discuss (b) the literary context of instructions regarding how a youthful Timothy is to interact with older men, (c) the medicinal use of wine in terms of ancient humoral theory, (d) the application of humoral theory to youth and wine, and (e) abstinence from wine within a philosophical training regimen. I hope to show that in its context this verse makes sense as advice for a young minister. 1 a. Corrective of Asceticism? Many interpret 1Timothy 5:23 as a reaction against an extreme asceticism 2 and sometimes as polemic against some form of early Gnosticism. 3 But this oft-repeated assumption is questionable. First, our verse appears not in a polemical context like 4:1-5 but in a didactic context of instructions pertaining to elders. Second, to the extent that Gnostic sects practiced asceticism, they were concerned primarily with renouncing sex. 4 Gnostic views on diet were not uniform, but they did not place any particular emphasis on abstinence from wine. 5 Dἷspitἷ thἷir insistἷncἷ that ημἀἁ is an “anti- ύnostic motif,” Dibἷlius-Conzelmann cannot identify the Pastoral Epistles (PE) with any known Gnostic sect. 6 Third, early Christian groups did not quarrel over abstinence from wine. The closest we come to that is a few criticisms of the Encratites, an ascetic movement that arose among followers of Tatian in the mid second century. 7 Irenaeus criticizes them for abstaining from marriage and from meat but says nothing about abstinence from wine. 8 Clement of Alexandria, after citing examples of Jesus drinking winἷ, says, “δἷt this bἷ aἶἶucἷἶ by us against thἷ so-called Encratitἷsέ” 9 And yet this polemical side note comes near the end of a