1 Timothy 6:20–21, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
1 Timothy 6:20–21
Guard the Deposit and End in Communal Grace
Timothy must guard the entrusted deposit, avoid empty and contradictory claims marketed as knowledge, learn from those who deviated, and receive grace with the wider community.
Why this sits here
The conclusion returns to the opening charge and places guarding truth inside grace shared with more people than Timothy alone.
What helps us understand it
Earlier material that actually helps
1 Timothy 6:17–19Taking hold of true life leads into guarding the entrusted truth and receiving communal grace.
1 Timothy 6:19 in 1 Timothy 6:17–19 is the reviewed hinge that connects the two units.
'Knowledge falsely so called' is not the modern scientific method or every academic discipline. It names claims that contradict the entrusted faith in this letter's context.
How the passage moves
Timothy is addressed personally and told to guard the deposit.
Profane empty speech and oppositions of falsely named knowledge are avoided.
Some who professed it deviated concerning the faith.
Grace closes with a plural recipient.
What the author is communicating
Why this reading fits
Deposit returns to charge
The final appeal gathers the letter's sound-teaching concern.
False naming is the issue
The target is a knowledge claim that fails its name, not careful inquiry itself.
Grace is plural
The final blessing widens the audience beyond a private leader-to-leader note.
A needed correction
Reading 1 Timothy 6:20–21 inside 1 Timothy's full letter rules out these uses:
The passage does not condemn science, medicine, scholarship, education, questions, evidence, or correction of leaders.
Guarding the deposit does not authorize censorship by force, information control, abuse concealment, or treating one interpretation as private property.
Avoidance does not remove the duty to investigate harmful claims or answer sincere questions.
What remains true
Guarded truth welcomes evidence and accountable inquiry while resisting impressive but empty claims.
How this should shape us
How should this shape us today?
Test claims by Scripture in context, credible evidence, source transparency, and observed fruit, and keep leaders open to correction.
Teach it back
Explain 1 Timothy 6:20–21 in your own words. Include its place in 1 Timothy's movement, the unit's logic, one material uncertainty, and one misuse the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
Deposit returns to charge
The final appeal gathers the letter's sound-teaching concern.
False naming is the issue
The target is a knowledge claim that fails its name, not careful inquiry itself.
Grace is plural
The final blessing widens the audience beyond a private leader-to-leader note.
Original-language wording and grammarTechnical detail appears only where it helps
deposit / entrusted good
The teaching is held in trust and therefore guarded through fidelity, not owned for personal control.
How certain? probableempty chatter
The phrase criticizes speech empty of faithful substance, not questioning or research as such.
How certain? probableoppositions / contradictions
The term may describe counterclaims; identifying a later work titled Antitheses is anachronistic.
How certain? probablefalsely named
The knowledge is criticized because the name does not match reality, inviting evidence rather than anti-intellectualism.
How certain? probableWhat the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
Historical setting and reconstruction limits
The conclusion may have been heard by a gathered community. Proposals linking 'oppositions' to later second-century systems are possible but cannot be proved from the term alone.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
KJV wording and material alternatives
KJV 'science' meant knowledge and must not be read as a condemnation of modern science. The final 'thee' is plural in Greek, and the earliest witnesses lack the added 'Amen.'
How certain? probableEarlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Israel's Scriptures and Jewish traditions
Entrusted teaching and communal grace continue scriptural patterns of receiving, guarding, and transmitting wisdom.
How certain? strongHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Responsible canonical connections
Pauline letters value knowledge disciplined by love and truth. This ending cannot cancel careful observation, medicine, history, or scientific inquiry.
How certain? probableTextual variantsManuscript differences only when they affect meaning
Textual, grammatical, and translation care
Later manuscripts add Amen; the earlier ending is the plural grace blessing. The precise referent of 'oppositions' is uncertain.
How certain? probableWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters differ over whether 'oppositions' names general counterclaims or an identifiable system. The KJV's historical meaning of science and the plural final grace are clear.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
Truth is entrusted rather than possessed; error can deviate; grace sustains the whole receiving community.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
This unit advances 1 Timothy's movement from love-centered correction and received mercy through all-people prayer, accountable household conduct, creation-shaped godliness, vulnerable-person care, leader scrutiny, economic warning, and guarded grace: Timothy must guard the entrusted deposit, avoid empty and contradictory claims marketed as knowledge, learn from those who deviated, and receive grace with the wider community.
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The passage does not condemn science, medicine, scholarship, education, questions, evidence, or correction of leaders.
A vivid phrase can feel easier to reuse than the complete thought unit.
Timothy and the community should preserve life-giving teaching by testing impressive claims and refusing empty contradiction, without turning guardianship into anti-intellectual control.
Guarded truth welcomes evidence and accountable inquiry while resisting impressive but empty claims.
The passage does not condemn science, medicine, scholarship, education, questions, evidence, or correction of leaders.
Guarding the deposit does not authorize censorship by force, information control, abuse concealment, or treating one interpretation as private property.
A strong command can be detached from the manner, limits, and divine accountability around it.
Timothy and the community should preserve life-giving teaching by testing impressive claims and refusing empty contradiction, without turning guardianship into anti-intellectual control.
Guarded truth welcomes evidence and accountable inquiry while resisting impressive but empty claims.
Guarding the deposit does not authorize censorship by force, information control, abuse concealment, or treating one interpretation as private property.
Avoidance does not remove the duty to investigate harmful claims or answer sincere questions.
Readers may prefer certainty or control where the passage preserves historical, grammatical, or pastoral limits.
Timothy and the community should preserve life-giving teaching by testing impressive claims and refusing empty contradiction, without turning guardianship into anti-intellectual control.
Guarded truth welcomes evidence and accountable inquiry while resisting impressive but empty claims.
Avoidance does not remove the duty to investigate harmful claims or answer sincere questions.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
1 Timothy 6:20–21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, morphology targets, and base text for original-language discussion.
Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/1Tim.txt, 6:20–21
Supports: Verse-level syntax, KJV-era wording, textual alternatives, and interpretive notes.
NET Bible official 1 Timothy PDF, 6:20–21 translation and attached translator, study, and textual notes
Supports: Historical-critical orientation, authorship and date alternatives, opponent limits, office and widow uncertainty, gender, slavery, wealth, and whole-letter theology.
Enter the Bible 1 Timothy course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, and Bible in the World; applied to 1 Timothy 6:20–21
Supports: Direct-Pauline alternative, rhetorical whole-letter flow, verse exposition, office, gender, care, wealth, and confessional application.
Jeon, '1 Timothy,' section covering 6:20–21, plus Authority and Audience, Purpose, outline, bibliography, and endnotes
Supports: Full-letter historical exegesis, Greek and KJV-language notes, unit boundaries, historical alternatives, and verse-level interpretation.
Lock, ICC Pastoral Epistles PDF, 1 Timothy introduction printed pp. 1–4 and commentary printed pp. 75–76
Supports: Independent morphology, form, and lexical-range cross-check for material Greek claims.
STEP Bible Data repository, Greek morphology and lexical records for 1 Timothy 6:20–21
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 1 Timothy 6:20–21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, morphology targets, and base text for original-language discussion.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/1Tim.txt, 6:20–21
Open the 1 Timothy Greek text file ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — 1 Timothy with translators' and textual notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005–2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-level syntax, KJV-era wording, textual alternatives, and interpretive notes.
Exact location: NET Bible official 1 Timothy PDF, 6:20–21 translation and attached translator, study, and textual notes
Open the official NET 1 Timothy PDF ↗modern scholarly book introduction
1 Timothy course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Arland J. Hultgren; revised by Mary Hinkle Shore
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, 2023 revision
Supports: Historical-critical orientation, authorship and date alternatives, opponent limits, office and widow uncertainty, gender, slavery, wealth, and whole-letter theology.
Exact location: Enter the Bible 1 Timothy course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, and Bible in the World; applied to 1 Timothy 6:20–21
Open source ↗modern open commentary
1 Timothy
Paul Jeon
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: Direct-Pauline alternative, rhetorical whole-letter flow, verse exposition, office, gender, care, wealth, and confessional application.
Exact location: Jeon, '1 Timothy,' section covering 6:20–21, plus Authority and Audience, Purpose, outline, bibliography, and endnotes
Open source ↗public domain critical commentary
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles
Walter Lock
T&T Clark, International Critical Commentary, 1924
Supports: Full-letter historical exegesis, Greek and KJV-language notes, unit boundaries, historical alternatives, and verse-level interpretation.
Exact location: Lock, ICC Pastoral Epistles PDF, 1 Timothy introduction printed pp. 1–4 and commentary printed pp. 75–76
Open source ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Independent morphology, form, and lexical-range cross-check for material Greek claims.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data repository, Greek morphology and lexical records for 1 Timothy 6:20–21
Open source ↗