1 Timothy 6:5

wranglings of men corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth, supposing that godliness is a way of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain:

Bereft of the truth ... "Bereft implies that they once had had possession of the truth, but had lost it by their own fault."[13] Thus, these were not outside agitators who were disturbing churches, but were good apples gone bad.

Supposing that godliness is a way of gain ... This applies to all who misuse sacred work for secular profit or personal benefit; but the implication is also inescapable that this relates to the slave problem. If the false teachers were advocating emancipation as a corollary of salvation, then indeed godliness would have been great gain; and there is the strongest possibility that there are echoes of that position here. Turning quickly to the counterpart of his truth, namely, that in one sense godliness is indeed great gain, he wrote the next line (1 Timothy 6:6).