1 Timothy 6:4

“He is conceited”: Puffed up, that is blinded by pride, literally the term here means to “wrap in smoke”. The idea is to be wrapped in the clouds of arrogance and thus blinded. “His desire is not to display Christ, but to display himself. There are still preachers and teachers who are more concerned to gain. following for themselves than for Jesus Christ” (Barclay p. 146).. person would have to be arrogant to claim that their own views were better than what God teaches or that they have the right to change what God has decreed.. tremendous amount of error is simply rooted in the ego of the teacher. “Paul certainly does not mince words. He does not handle men who teach differently with kid gloves” (Lenski p. 697).

1 Timothy 6:4 “And understands nothing”: He may think that he is extremely smart, but Paul notes that he is ignorant. Compare with 1 Timothy 1:4-7; 1 Timothy 6:5. His head is filled with all sorts of bits and pieces of information but he has everything mixed up, he is ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7). He knows nothing of real importance.

1 Timothy 6:4 “But he has. morbid interest”: The term “morbid” means “to be sick” (Thayer p. 429). Instead of having. love for the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10), they have an unhealthy addiction and craving for other things. “He is word-sick, and the morbid state of his mind manifests itself in subtle discussions and angry disputes centering around trifling distinctions between different words” (Hiebert pp. 110-111).

1 Timothy 6:4 “Controversial questions”: Please note that Paul is not condemning the discussion of Biblical truths that are “controversial” with unbelievers, for every Biblical topic is probably. controversial question to someone. Neither is God condemning controversy, for Jesus and the apostles were often in the thick of controversy (Acts 15:2; Acts 17:1; Matthew 22:1). In fact, Jesus got involved in answering questions that were controversial (John 4:19 ff; Matthew 19:3 ff). Rather, God here is condemning questions and disputes about words that have nothing to do with sound doctrine or the truth. These men are not trying to discover the truth, rather they are deprived of the truth (1 Timothy 6:5).

Unfortunately, some commentators try to toss some legitimate Biblical questions or topics into the above category.

1 Timothy 6:4 “Disputes about words”: Literally,. word-fight or word-battle. Again, God is not saying that we should ignore the importance of the words revealed by the Holy Spirit. Jesus and Paul made arguments based on the meaning of. single word (Matthew 22:32; Galatians 3:16). Jesus also noted that every word in Scripture was important (Matthew 5:17). Rather, these are arguments about words that do not promote sound doctrine (2 Timothy 2:14). By contrast, the words of Christ are the final authority (John 12:48; 1 Corinthians 14:37).

Barclay notes that in the first century (and the same type of people exist today), there were many speakers who were skilled in “making the worse appear the better reason” (p. 143). That is people who are not really interested in God's truth but who are simply interested in either winning an argument, building up their own reputation, or intentionally confusing the issue so that the truth would be obscured.

1 Timothy 6:4 “ Out of which arise envy”: We should not be envious if someone with the Scriptures proves that we are in the wrong, rather we should be grateful. Thus this is probably not an envy of someone with more Bible knowledge, but rather, an envy of the person who unfortunately is using his time and talents to twist the truth and come up with clever yet evil arguments. “Secret annoyance at the success of their rivals in the same futile efforts” (Hiebert p. 111).

1 Timothy 6:4 “Strife”: Contention, bitter discord. This is not. division produced by the truth (Matthew 10:34), but by error.

1 Timothy 6:4 “ Abusive language”: Slander, name calling, speech that is injurious to another's reputation. Note this abusive language is often directed at those who are seeking to correct the error.

1 Timothy 6:4 “ Evil suspicions”: Evil conjectures and false suspicions, these are all the products of. mind that does not love the truth. Timothy will find that when he encounters such men and seeks to teach them the truth that they will accuse him of all sorts of horrible things. Those in error often accuse the faithful of having unloving or dishonest motives.