Cx. VI] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 283
Eternal life (ris dvrws Swis). More correctly, the life which is life indeed, or that which is truly life. See on ch. vy. 3.
20. That which is committed to thy trust (rv apa- Onxnv). Only in Pastorals. Comp. 2 Tim. i. 12,14. From mapa beside or with, and riOévat to place. It may mean either something put beside another as an addition or appendix (so Mk. vi. 41; Acts xvi. 34), or something put with or in the keeping of another as a trust or deposit. In the latter sense always in LXX. See Ley. vi. 2, 4; Tob. x. 18; 2 Macc. ili. 10,15. Hdt. vi. 78, of giving hostages; ix. 46, of con- fidential words intrusted to the hearer’s honour. The verb is a favorite with Luke. The meaning here is that teaching which Timothy had received from Paul; the ‘‘sound words” which he was to guard as a sacred trust, and communicate to others.
Vain babblings (xevodwvias). Only in Pastorals. °LXX, Class. From xevos empty and dwvn voice.
Oppositions of science falsely so called (avriOéces Tis Wevdwvduou yvocews). Better, oppositions of the falsely-named knowledge. ’Avrifecis, N. T.°. °LXX. Used here, in its simple sense, of the arguments and teachings of those who opposed the true Christian doctrine as intrusted to Timothy. vac knowledge was the characteristic word of the Gnostic school, the most formidable enemy of the church of the second century. The Gnostics claimed a superior - knowledge peculiar to an intellectual caste. According to them, it was by this philosophic insight, as opposed to faith, that humanity was to be regenerated. Faith was suited only to the rude masses, the animal-men. The intellectual ques- tions which occupied these teachers were two: to explain the work of creation, and to account for the existence of evil. Their ethical problem was how to develop the higher nature in the environment of matter which was essentially evil. In morals they ran to two opposite extremes — asceti- cism and licentiousness. The principal representatives of
284 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. VI.
the school were Basilides, Valentinus, and Marcion. Al- though Gnosticism as a distinct system did not reach its full development until about the middle of the second century, foreshadowings of it appear in the heresy at which Paul’s Colossian letter was aimed. It is not strange if we find in the Pastoral Epistles allusions pointing to Gnostic errors ; but, as already remarked, it is impossible to refer these allus- ions to any one definite system of error. The word yvaois cannot therefore be interpreted to mean the Gnostic system ; while it may properly be understood as referring to that con- ceit of knowledge which opposed itself to the Christian faith. WVevdavupos falsely-named, N. T.°. CLXX. It characterises the yvaous as claiming that name without warrant, and as being mere vain babbling. Comp. Col. ii. 8.
21. Professing. See on ch. ii. 10. Erred (notdyncav). See on ch. i. 6, and comp. 2 Tim. dint:
Grace be with thee. The correct reading is pe? tuav with you. Although addressed to an individual, he is in- cluded in the church. This brief benediction occurs in Paul only in Colossians.