1 Timothy 5:15
in 1 Timothy 5For some have already turned aside to follow Satan.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
for already some are turned aside after Satan.
KJV
For some are already turned aside after Satan.
⋯
This verse in 1 Timothy 5
Commentary
11 notes on this verseHis reason is this: for some are already turned aside after Satan, i.e., some who have vowed chastity have looked back, avoiding their vow, and they walk after Satan by imitating him who apostatized from the angel's ranks.
This site's exposition
I advise the younger widows to marry
on 1 Timothy 5:14-15
Paul advises the younger widows to marry, have children, and manage their households, oikodespotein, rule the house. The counsel denies the adversary occasion for slander, and verse 15 names the danger: some have already turned aside to follow Satan.
This site's exposition
turned aside to follow Satan
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the turning aside as the faults of verses 11 to 13 rather than a denial of the whole faith. Chrysostom notes that Paul had no quarrel with younger widows as such. He wanted none of them idle or unfaithful to a vow.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Therefore, I wish the younger women to marry, bear children, manage the household, and give no opportunity to the adversary to have a cause for slander. For already some have turned aside after Satan. The good aspect was that, once the widows were instructed, they …
"For some are already turned aside after Satan." Such widows as these then he would have refused, not meaning that there should be no younger widows, but that there should be no adulteresses, that none should be idle, busy-bodies, speaking things that they ought not, that no occasion should be given to the adversary. Had nothing of this kind taken place, he would not have forbidden them.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Since he said: "that they manage the house," lest it seem that he gives them freedom to indulge in worldly pleasures, he added: "give no occasion to the adversary for slander." Take care of the house in such a way, he says, that you do …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. 24 Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. 25 Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
For some are already turned aside after Satan.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
For--For in the case of some this result has already ensued; "Some (widows) are already turned aside after Satan," the seducer (not by falling away from the faith in general, but) by such errors as are stigmatized in 1Ti 5:11-13, sexual passion, idleness, &c., and so have given occasion of reproach (1Ti 5:14).
For some are already turned aside - Some of these young widows, for he appears to be still treating of them, are turned aside to idolatry, to follow Satan instead of Christ. Slight deviations, in the first instance, from a right line, may lead at last to an infinite distance from Christ.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For some are already turned aside after Satan - That is, some young widows. The meaning is, that in the respects above mentioned 1Ti 5:13, they had followed the great Tempter, rather than the Lord Jesus. This is stated as a reason why they should not be admitted into the number of the widows who were to be maintained at the expense of the church, and to whom the care of the younger female members was to be committed.
The words behind it
7 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἤδη | ede | Already | G2235 → | |
| γάρ | gar | for | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| τινες | tines | some | G5100 → | 528 times |
| ἐξετράπησαν | exetrapesan | have turned aside | G1624 → | 5 times |
| ὀπίσω | opiso | after | G3694 → | |
| τοῦ | tou | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| σατανᾶ. | satana | Satan. | G4567 → |
ἤδηAlready
edeG2235 →
γάρfor
garG1063 →1039 times
τινεςsome
tinesG5100 →528 times
ἐξετράπησανhave turned aside
exetrapesanG1624 →5 times
ὀπίσωafter
opisoG3694 →
τοῦ<the>
touG3588 →19766 times
σατανᾶ.Satan.
satanaG4567 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 John 2:19They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of…
it leads to
- Acts 20:30
Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.
- 1 Corinthians 11:19
And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved.
- Jude 1:19
These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit.
- Luke 8:13
The seeds on rocky ground are those who hear the word and receive it with joy, but they have no root. They believe for a season, but in the time of testing, they fall…
- 2 Peter 2:20–21
If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse…
- Acts 20:30
Through
1 Timothy 1:20Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 5:4–5
When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of the Lord Jesus,
- 2 Timothy 2:17
and the talk of such men will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
- 1 Corinthians 11:32
But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
- 1 Corinthians 5:4–5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Timothy
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Timothy 15; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Timothy and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Timothy.