1 Timothy 6:20 (KJV)

What does 1 Timothy 6:20 mean?

In 1 Timothy 6:20, Paul urges Timothy to protect the teaching entrusted to him and to turn away from talk and arguments that falsely claim the status of knowledge. Paul treats Timothy’s responsibility as a matter of keeping something valuable safe from misleading claims.

The phrase “committed to thy trust” pictures something placed in another person’s care. Paul addresses Timothy directly and ends the letter with this personal charge. The next verse says that some who professed such knowledge had wandered away from the faith.

The Greek behind 1 Timothy 6:20

• “trust” — παραθήκη (parathēkē): This word carries the sense of a deposit placed in someone’s care. The image helps explain why Paul tells Timothy to “keep” it.
• “oppositions” — ἀντιθέσεις (antitheseis): This word can refer to opposing claims or arguments. Here it points to disputes associated with what Paul calls false knowledge.
• “science” — γνῶσις (gnōsis): This word means knowledge. The KJV’s “science” uses an older sense of the English word; the phrase should not be read as a reference to modern science as a whole.

Why 1 Timothy 6:20 matters

• Paul objects to a particular claim to knowledge, not to knowledge simply as such. He calls it “science falsely so called,” marking the claim as misleading.
• The warning concerns speech as well as ideas. “Profane and vain babblings” describes talk Paul regards as empty and unworthy of what has been entrusted to Timothy.
• The warning is connected to a concern about people’s direction, not merely their skill in debate. Verse 21 says some who professed this knowledge had “erred concerning the faith.”