depraved mind: The Greek words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as of depraved mind refer to people whose minds can no longer discern the difference between right and wrong. (Knight, page 252, says that the devil is in view here as the one who causes the corruption. He says that the devil is also the subject in 6:5c. However, it would probably be a mistake to translate this explicitly with the devil as the agent/subject, here. It would highlight the role of the devil too much, perhaps making it seem that the false teachers were not to blame. Paul himself does not highlight the devil here. He keeps the focus on the actual state of the false teachers. That is why we suggest translating it as a simple fact that their minds are corrupt, without stating that the devil causes the corruption.) The Greek text does not say who made these people’s minds depraved, and you should avoid trying to make that explicit in your translation.

mind: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as mind refers to a person’s “way of thinking,” or “thoughts.” You should use an expression in your language for the part of a person that “thinks.”

6:5b

devoid of the truth: Paul did not say who had made the false teachers devoid of the truth. You also should avoid trying to make that explicit in your translation. Rather, Paul was emphasizing that the false teachers could no longer understand what was true.

6:5c

These men regard: Here Paul talked about one of the lies that the false teachers thought was true.

godliness as a means of gain:

Some translations include the words “from such withdraw thyself” (King James Version) at the end of this verse. However, most people who study the Greek texts agree that these words were not present in Paul’s original letter to Timothy. The Editorial Committee of the UBS Handbook New Testament (4
th edition) gives the reading without “from such withdraw thyself” an {A} rating, indicating that the text is almost certain. Metzger, page 643, says, “Although the reading is ancient, as appears from patristic testimony, it must be rejected as a pious but banal gloss, because (a) the best manuscripts of both the Alexandrian and the Western types of text…support the shorter reading, and (b) if it were present originally, no good reason can be assigned for its omission.”) The false teachers hoped that when they behaved in a godly manner, they would make lots of money. One way to express this is:

godliness is a good way to make a lot of money.

godliness: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as godliness normally refers to the way people behave when they respect God. Paul used the word godliness in this way in 2:2c, 3:16a, 4:7b and 4:8b. However, here in 6:5c, the context is different.

It is most likely that godliness here refers to teaching about God. The false teachers wanted to teach about God so that they could become rich by charging money for people to listen to them. In Paul’s time, people often gained money by going from town to town teaching different religions. That is what the false teachers in Ephesus were also trying to do. They were trying to become rich by teaching about God. (Kelly, page 135, says, “It has been disputed whether the charge is that they used their show of piety as a lever for material advancement, or that they exacted fees for the esoteric religious instruction they gave to their adherents. The latter is almost certainly correct, for it coheres better with what follows, and also (if we are justified in regarding it as a parallel) with the picture of their strenuous propagandist methods given in Tit. i. ii. Further, it is inconceivable that the profession of Christianity was materially advantageous at any of the times which have been seriously proposed for the composition of the Pastorals. As we have seen (v. 17 f.: cf. 2 Tim. ii. 6), Paul has no objection to church officials, least of all teachers, receiving emoluments. His complaint against the sectaries seems to be that they make money their prime objective and set a specific price upon their wares.”)

Paragraph 6:6–10

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.