Discovery Box1 Timothy 1:4 
Context1:4 nor to occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. 1 Such things promote useless speculations rather than God’s redemptive plan 2 that operates by faith.
1 Timothy 4:1
Context4:1 Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves 3 with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, 4
1 sn Myths and interminable genealogies. These myths were legendary tales characteristic of the false teachers in Ephesus and Crete. See parallels in 1 Tim 4:7; 2 Tim 4:4; and Titus 1:14. They were perhaps built by speculation from the patriarchal narratives in the OT; hence the connection with genealogies and with wanting to be teachers of the law (v. 7).
2 tc A few Western
tn More literally, “the administration of God that is by faith.”
sn God’s redemptive plan. The basic word (οἰκονομία, oikonomia) denotes the work of a household steward or manager or the arrangement under which he works: “household management.” As a theological term it is used of the order or arrangement by which God brings redemption through Christ (God’s “dispensation, plan of salvation” [Eph 1:10; 3:9]) or of human responsibility to pass on the message of that salvation (“stewardship, commission” [1 Cor 9:17; Eph 3:2; Col 1:25]). Here the former is in view (see the summary of God’s plan in 1 Tim 2:3-6; 2 Tim 1:9-10; Titus 3:4-7), and Paul notes the response people must make to God’s arrangement: It is “in faith” or “by faith.”
3 tn Or “desert the faith by occupying themselves.”
4 tn Grk “teachings of demons” (speaking of the source of these doctrines).
