1 Timothy 6:21 – profane prattlings

… turning aside from the profane prattlings and antipathies of falsely named ‘knowledge’, which some are professing.  As to the faith they swerve. Grace be with you! Amen!

The so-called knowledge and science that some people liked to boast about was misplaced. It presented itself impressively, perhaps relying on sounding names. But her premises were flawed and therefore her conclusions are incorrect. Her statements are at odds (“vain sounds and contradictions”) to what was committed to Timothy.

The fact that Timothy is warned about the pretensions that some claimed regarding “so-called knowledge” presupposes that such people also tried to find a platform in the ecclesia at Ephesus. As far as faith was concerned they had lost track. This letter began with a warning about deviant teaching and it ends with it. “The ecclesia of the living God” is the “pillar and seat of the truth” (3:15) and in education there is no place for “profane prattlings” and “falsely so-called knowledge.” Timothy would mainly supervise this.

Only by maintaining “sound teaching” will the grace that is so characteristic of Paul’s teaching actually be understood and experienced. As in all his letters, he therefore ends with this promise.

Delen: