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I. THE PERIL against which the apostle warns Timothy was the intellectual pride and subtle speculation which, afterwards, in the second and third centuries, became formulated into a sort of philosophical system. It was then known as Gnosticism, because it exalted "gnosis" — knowledge — above faith, and was of a decidedly presumptuous and pragmatical tendency. The effect of such knowledge has ever been to cause men to err concerning the faith; to lose simplicity and devoutness; to wander into the pleasant meadows of Doubting Castle, till they are seized and imprisoned by Giant Despair; and unless they there learn to pray, and bethink them of the key of promise, they are left at last to fumble and stumble among the tombs. "He who wandereth out of the way of understanding shall abide in the congregation of the dead."

II. PRESERVATION from such peril is to be found in God's answer to the prayer which Paul breathed over Timothy — "Grace be with thee." We cannot by searching find out God. Intellectual acuteness has never yet succeeded in discovering Him.

(A. Rowland, LL. B.)

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KJV: O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

WEB: Timothy, guard that which is committed to you, turning away from the empty chatter and oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called;