προσέχοντες : See on 1 Timothy 1:4. The word implies the giving one's consent, as well as one's attention.

Ἰουδαϊκοῖς : This determines the nature of the μῦθοι referred to in these epistles. See on 1 Timothy 1:4.

ἐντολαῖς ἀνθρώπων ἀποστρεφομένων : We are naturally reminded of Mark 7:7-8, with its antithesis between the ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων and ἐντολὴν τοῦ θεοῦ, and Colossians 2:22, where the same passage of Isaiah (Isaiah 29:13) is echoed. But here the antithesis is not so strongly marked. The commandments are depreciated, not because their authors are men, but because they are men who turn away from the truth, impure men (In 1 Timothy 4:3 “they that believe and know the truth” are men whose thoughts are pure). The truth here, as elsewhere in the Pastorals, is almost a Christian technical term. It can hardly be doubted that the ἐντολαί referred to were of the same nature as those noted in Colossians 2:22, arbitrary ascetic prohibitions.

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Old Testament