1 Timothy 6:20 - Exposition

Guard for keep, A.V.; unto thee for to thy trust, A.V.; turning away from for avoiding, A.V.; the profane for profane and vain, A.V.; the knowledge which is falsely for science, falsely, A.V. Guard that which is committed unto thee ; τὴν παραθήκην ( παρακαταθήκην , T.R.). Guard for keep is hardly an improvement. The meaning of "keep," like that of φυλάττω , is to guard, keep watch over, and, by so doing, to preserve safe and uninjured. This meaning is well brought out in the familiar words of Psalms 121:1-8 ., "He that keepeth thee will not slumber.... He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord himself is thy Keeper" (so too Psalms 127:1 ; Genesis 28:15 , etc.). παραθήκη or παρακαταθήκη , occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in 2 Timothy 1:12 , 2 Timothy 1:14 , where the apostle uses it (in 2 Timothy 1:12 ) of his own soul, which he has committed to the safe and faithful keeping of the Lord Jesus Christ; but in 2 Timothy 1:14 in the same sense as here. "That good thing which was committed unto thee guard ['keep,' A.V.]." There does not seem to be any difference between παραθήκη and παρακαταθήκη , which both mean "a deposit," and are used indifferently in classical Greek, though the latter is the more common. The precept to Timothy here is to keep diligent and watchful guard over the faith committed to his trust; to preserve it unaltered and uncorrupt, so as to hand it down to his successors exactly the same as he had received it. Oh that the successors of the apostles had always kept this precept (see Ordination of Priests)! Turning away from ( ἐκτρεπόμενος ); only here in the middle voice, "turning from," "avoiding," with a transitive sense. In the passive voice it means "to turn out of the path," as in 1 Timothy 1:6 ; 1 Timothy 5:15 ; 2 Timothy 4:4 . The profane babblings (see 1 Timothy 4:7 ; 2 Timothy 2:16 ); κενοφωνία ; only here and 2 Timothy 2:16 , "the utterance of empty words," "words of the lips" ( 2 Kings 18:20 ). Oppositions ( ἀντιθέσεις ); here only in the New Testament. It is a term used in logic and in rhetoric by Plato, Aristotle, etc., for "oppositions" and "antitheses," laying one doctrine by the side of another for comparison, or contrast, or refutation. It seems to allude to the particular method used by the heretics to establish their tenets, in opposition to the statements of the Church on particular points—such as the Law, the Resurrection, etc. The knowledge which is falsely so called. There is a very similar intimation of the growth of an empty philosophy, whose teaching was antagonistic to the teaching of Christ in Colossians 2:8 , and with which St. Paul contrasts the true γνώσις in Colossians 2:3 . This was clearly the germ (called by Bishop Lightfoot "Gnostic Judaism") of what was later more fully developed as the Gnostic heresy, which, of course, derived its name from γνῶσις , knowledge or science, to which they laid claim.