1 Timothy 6:20, 21 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to your trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings… The parting counsel of the apostle goes back upon the substance of all his past counsels. It includes a positive and a negative counsel. I. A POSITIVE COUNSEL. "O Timothy, keep the deposit" entrusted to thee. This refers to the doctrine of the gospel. It is "the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). 1. The doctrine of the gospel is thus not something discovered by man, but delivered to man. 2. It is placed in the hands of Timothy as a trustee, to be kept for the use of others. It is a treasure in earthen vessels, to be jealously guarded against robbers and foes. 3. If it is kept, it will in turn keep us. II. A NEGATIVE COUNSEL. "Avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called: which some professing erred concerning the faith." 1. The duty of turning away from empty discourses and the ideas of a false knowledge. (1) Such things were utterly profitless as to spiritual result. (2) They were antagonistic to the doctrine of godliness; for they represented theories of knowledge put forth by false teachers, which ripened in due time into the bitter Gnosticism of later times. It was a knowledge that falsely arrogated to itself that name, for it was based on ignorance or denial of God's truth. 2. The danger of such teachings. (1) Some members of the Church were led to profess such doctrines, perhaps because they wore a seductive aspect of asceticism, or pretended to show a shorter cut to heaven. (2) But they lost their way and "erred concerning the faith." This false teaching undermined the true faith of the gospel. (3) As the tense implies an event that occurred in the past, these persons were not now in the communion of the Ephesian Church. - T.C. Parallel Verses KJV: O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: |
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