1Ti 6:3-5 If anyone teaches false doctrine and does not agree with the sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching that promotes godliness, (4) he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in disputes and arguments over words. From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, (5) and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain.
Doctrinal error is seldom merely a case of being innocently mistaken. There is almost always some degree of culpability. The false teachers in Ephesus were conceited, with inflated egos. Such a person understands nothing. They are diseased with arguments, out of which come only envy, quarreling, malicious talk, evil suspicions, and constant friction. This contrasts strikingly with Paul’s instruction.
Such evil fruits seem the inevitable external products of false teachers once one understands their true inner motives. They are men: (1) whose minds have been corrupted; (2) who have been robbed of the truth by Satan; (3) who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. Greed was their core motivation.
