Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Timothy 6:20

παραθήκην. So all the uncials: the rec. text has παρακαταθήκην with many cursives.

κενοφωνίας. So אAD2EKLP &c.; G has καινοφωνίας, by itacism, which the Latin Versions support, vocum novitates.

20. ὦ Τιμόθεε. A solemn and emphatic personal address.

τὴν παραθήκην φύλαξον, guard the deposit, sc. the Christian Creed which has been committed to you in trust, to be transmitted unimpaired to those who shall come after you. You are to guard the depositum fidei with jealous care, “quod accepisti non quod excogitasti” (Vinc. Lir. Common. § 22). Cp. 1 Timothy 1:18; 1 Timothy 5:21; 2 Timothy 1:14, and (for the main thought) Jude 1:3; Revelation 3:3.

παραθήκη is only found in the N.T. again at 2 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 1:14; we have it in Leviticus 6:2; Leviticus 6:4. The rec. reading παρακαταθήκη (see crit. note) does not differ substantially in meaning. Cp. Philo (Quis rer. div. haer. § 21) who in interpreting λάβε μοι of Genesis 15:9 goes on: καὶ ἂν λάβῃς λάβε μὴ σεαυτῷ, δάνειον δὲ ἢ παρακαταθήκην νομίσας τὸ δοθὲν τῷ παρακαταθεμένῳ καὶ συμβαλόντι�. see on 2 Timothy 1:12.

ἐκτρεπόμενος, turning away from; for the word see on 1 Timothy 1:6. Cp. 2 Timothy 3:5.

τὰς βεβήλους κενοφωνίας καὶ�, the profane babblings and oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called. Observe that βεβήλους (for which see note on 1 Timothy 1:9) qualifies both κενοφωνίας and ἀντιθέσεις, as is indicated by the absence of the article before the latter word.

κενοφωνία, empty talk, only occurs in the Greek Bible here and in the parallel passage 2 Timothy 2:16, τὰς δὲ βεβήλους κενοφωνίας περιίστασο; it is a forcible word for the ματαιολογία already mentioned in 1 Timothy 1:6, or for the irrelevant ζητήσεις καὶ λογομαχίαι of 1 Timothy 6:4. Cp. 1 Timothy 4:7, τοὺς δὲ βεβήλους καὶ γραώδεις μύθους παραιτοῦ. In the ἀντιθέσεις τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως some have found the Marcionite oppositions between the Old and New Testaments; but this (see Introd. chap. IV., On the heresies contemplated in the Pastoral Epistles) is to read into the text the ideas of a later age. The phrase probably alludes (to use Dr Hort’s words[534]) to “the endless contrasts of decisions, founded on endless distinctions, which played so large a part in the casuistry of the Scribes as interpreters of the Law.” These dialectic subtleties proceed from that esoteric γνῶσις or technical lore in which the Teachers of the Law revelled; a γνῶσις only to be described as ψευδώνυμος, for it has not the faith and obedience which are the necessary conditions of gaining that true γνῶσις which is itself eternal life (John 7:17; John 17:3).

[534] Judaistic Christianity, p. 140.

The words ἀντίθεσις and ψευδώνυμος do not occur elsewhere in the Greek Bible, but are common in secular Greek literature.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Timothy 6:20

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