New Living Translation
1 Timothy 6:4
4Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions.
1 Timothy 6:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
- New International Version (NIV)they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions
- English Standard Version (ESV)he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,
- New King James Version (NKJV)he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions,
Context of 1 Timothy 6:4
2If the masters are believers, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. Those slaves should work all the harder because their efforts are helping other believers who are well loved. Teach these things, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them. 3Some people may contradict our teaching, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. These teachings promote a godly life. Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions. 5These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy. 6Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.
Read all of 1 Timothy 61 Timothy 6:4 word by word
τετύφωται μηδὲν ἐπιστάμενος ἀλλὰ νοσῶν περὶ ζητήσεις καὶ λογομαχίας, ἐξ ὧν γίνεται φθόνος, ἔρις, βλασφημίαι, ὑπόνοιαι πονηραί,Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- He is proudτυφόωtuphoō · be conceitedG5187
- knowingἐπίσταμαιepistamai · to know/understandG1987
- nothingμηδείςmēdeis mēdemia mēden · nothingG3367
- butἀλλάalla · butG235
- dotingνοσέωnoseō · be sickG3552
- aboutπερίperi · aboutG4012
- questionsζήτησιςzētēsis · controversyG2214
- andκαίkai · andG2532
- strifes of wordsλογομαχίαlogomachia · quarrelG3055
- whereofἐκek ex · out fromG1537
- whereofὅςhos hē ho · whichG3739
- comethγίνομαιginomai · to beG1096
- envyφθόνοςphthonos · envyG5355
- strifeἔριςeris · quarrelG2054
- railingsβλασφημίαblasphēmia · blasphemyG988
- evilπονηρόςponēros · evil/badG4190
- surmisingsὑπόνοιαhuponoia · suspicionG5283
Cross-references for 1 Timothy 6:4
- 1 Timothy 1:7They want to be known as teachers of the law of Moses, but they don’t know what they are talking about, even though they speak so confidently.
- 1 Timothy 3:6A church leader must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall.
- Proverbs 13:7Some who are poor pretend to be rich; others who are rich pretend to be poor.
- Proverbs 25:14A person who promises a gift but doesn’t give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain.
- Proverbs 26:12There is more hope for fools than for people who think they are wise.
- Acts 8:9A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be someone great.
- Romans 12:16Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
- 1 Corinthians 3:18Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.
- 1 Corinthians 8:1Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.
- Galatians 6:3If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
- Colossians 2:18Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud,
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.
- 2 Timothy 3:4They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.
- 2 Peter 2:12These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed.
- Jude 1:10But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction.
- Revelation 3:17You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
Commentaries on 1 Timothy 6:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4He is proud - · He is blown up, or inflated with a vain opinion of his own knowledge; whereas his knowledge is foolishness, for he knows nothing. Doting about questions - He is sick, distempered, about these questions relative to the Mosaic law and the traditions of the elders; for it is most evident that the apostle has the Judaizing teachers in view, who were ever, in questions of theology, straining out a gnat, and swallowing a camel. Strifes of words…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4He is proud - That is, he is lifted up with his fancied superior acquaintance with the nature of religion. The Greek verb means, properly, “to smoke, to fume;” and then to be inflated, to “be conceited, etc.” The idea is, that he has no proper knowledge of the nature of the gospel, and yet he values himself on a fancied superior acquaintance with its principles. Knowing nothing - Margin, “a fool.” That is, that he does not understand the nature of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4he has an unhealthy interest in controversies and semantics: It is the same problem as in 1:4 (see also 2 Timothy 2:23–24; Titus 3:9).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. He is proud--literally, "wrapt in smoke"; filled with the fumes of self-conceit (1Ti 3:6) while "knowing nothing," namely, of the doctrine which is according to godliness (1Ti 6:3), though arrogating pre-eminent knowledge (1Ti 1:7). doting about--literally, "sick about"; the opposite of "wholesome" (1Ti 6:3). Truth is not the center about which his investigations move, but mere word-strifes. questions--of controversy. strifes of words--rather than…Read the comment
Topics related to 1 Timothy 6:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 Timothy 6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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