For bodily exercise has some value, but godliness has value for all things, having the promise of the life which is now, and of that which is to come.
In view of the context (1 Timothy 4:3) Paul may have had the asceticism the false teachers advocated in mind in his reference to "bodily discipline" (1 Timothy 4:8). The Greek word translated "life" (1 Timothy 4:8) is zoe, the higher principle of life, the perfect antithesis to death (cf. 1 Timothy 4:1-3), rather than bios, the physical aspect of life. [Note: Richard C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, pp. 86-90.] 