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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - 1 Timothy 6:20 - 6:21
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Ti_6:20-21
20O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge" 21which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.
1Ti_6:20-21 These closing verses (also possibly 1Ti_6:17-19) may have been hand written by Paul himself to authenticate the letter (cf. 2Th_3:17-18).
1Ti_6:20 "guard what has been entrusted to you" The verb is an aorist active imperative. The term "entrusted" is related to the banking term for "deposit," which is used three times in the Pastoral Letters for "the gospel" (cf. 1Ti_1:11, see full note at 1Ti_1:18) or the body of Christian truth (cf. Act_6:7; Act_13:8; Act_14:22; Gal_1:23; Gal_3:23; Gal_6:10; Php_1:27; Jud_1:3; Jud_1:20). Believers are stewards of the gospel (cf. 1Co_4:1-2; 2Ti_1:12; 2Ti_1:14).
▣ "avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge" "Avoiding" is a present middle participle used as an imperative. 1 Timothy is a letter primarily about heresy, not church organization. The guidelines in the book are directly related to the problems caused by the false teachers, not necessarily universal guidelines for all churches of all times in all places.
▣ "knowledge" The false teachers in the Pastoral Letters are a combination of "Jewish legalists" and Greek Gnostics (much like those in Colossians and Ephesians). "Knowledge," usually secret or specially revealed knowledge, was the claim of these teachers. These false teachers separated truth from life, justification from sanctification, and turned salvation into a secret, special knowledge divorced from godliness.
1Ti_6:21
NASB "which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith"
NKJV "by professing it, some have strayed concerning the faith"
NRSV "by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith"
TEV "for some have claimed to possess it, and as a result they have lost the way of faith"
NJB "by adopting this, some have missed the goal of faith"
This same word is used in 1Ti_1:6 to describe the false teachers; also notice 1Ti_1:19; 1Ti_4:1-2; 1Ti_5:15; 1Ti_6:10. There are so many strong warnings in this book!
Remember Christianity is (1) a person to be welcomed; (2) doctrine to be believed; and (3) a corresponding life to be lived! If any one of these is de-emphasized or left out, then tremendous problems occur (cf. Mat_7:21-27).
▣ "Grace be with you" The "you" is plural (MS D). This shows that the letter, although addressed to an individual (singular "you" in MSS à , A, F, G), was to be read publicly. Notice Paul prays for them God's grace and true knowledge (cf. 1Ti_6:20)! This same plural ending is in all the Pastoral Letters (cf. 2Ti_4:22; Tit_3:15).
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