Passage

1 Timothy 1.8

Book: 1 Timothy · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

6. from which things some having swerved have turned aside unto vain talking; 7. desiring to be teachers of the law, though they understand neither what they say, nor whereof they confidently affirm.

8. But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully,

as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10. for fornicators, for abusers of themselves with men, for menstealers, for liars, for false swearers, and if there be any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine; (1 Timothy 1:6-10, ASV)

WEB

6. from which things some, having missed the mark, have turned aside to vain talking; 7. desiring to be teachers of the law, though they understand neither what they say, nor about what they strongly affirm.

8. But we know that the law is good, if a person uses it lawfully,

as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10. for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine; (1 Timothy 1:6-10, WEB)

KJV

6. From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; ^{having: or, not aiming at} 7. Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.

8. But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10. For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; (1 Timothy 1:6-10, KJV)

YLT

6. from which certain, having swerved, did turn aside to vain discourse, 7. willing to be teachers of law, not understanding either the things they say, nor concerning what they asseverate,

8. and we have known that the law [is] good, if any one may use it lawfully;

having known this, that for a righteous man law is not set, but for lawless and insubordinate persons, ungodly and sinners, impious and profane, parricides and matricides, men-slayers, 10. whoremongers, sodomites, men-stealers, liars, perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that to sound doctrine is adverse, (1 Timothy 1:6-10, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul, who names himself in the opening line (1:1) and writes in the first person throughout. Authorship of the three Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus) is disputed. Many critical scholars hold that a later follower wrote them in Paul's name, pointing to differences of vocabulary and style from the undisputed letters and to a more settled church order. Others defend Paul's authorship, among them Luke Timothy Johnson (Anchor Bible, 2001), William Mounce (Word Biblical Commentary, 2000) and Philip Towner (NICNT, 2006), citing the letter's personal details and its acceptance in the second-century church.
Audience: Timothy, Paul's "true child in faith" (1:2), whom Paul had urged to stay on at Ephesus to stop certain men from teaching "a different doctrine" (1:3). Timothy came from Lystra, the son of a believing Jewish mother and a Greek father, and had travelled with Paul since the second missionary journey (Acts 16:1-3). The letter is addressed to him, but its directions on prayer, worship, overseers, deacons and widows are meant to order the church at Ephesus as a whole (3:14-15).
Location: not stated. Paul says he left Timothy at Ephesus "when I was going into Macedonia" (1:3) and hopes to rejoin him soon (3:14; 4:13), so Macedonia is the usual suggestion for where the letter was written.
Time period: on Pauline authorship, usually c. AD 62-65, after Paul's release from the Roman imprisonment that ends Acts, since the journey in 1:3 is hard to fit into the Acts narrative. Scholars who regard the letter as pseudonymous usually place it late in the first century or early in the second. The reading below does not depend on the choice.
Literary context: Paul's reply to the would-be "teachers of the law" (1:7). He affirms the law, then explains its proper use (1:9-11).

Theological reading

"But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully," (1 Timothy 1:8, ASV)

A play on words. The Greek sets nomos, "law", beside nomimōs, "lawfully": the law is good if it is used in keeping with its own nature. The teachers at Ephesus were using it for speculation, "fables and endless genealogies" (1:4), which was not its purpose.

Common ground. "We know" appeals to a conviction Paul expects any believer to share. He uses the same formula in Romans 7:14, "we know that the law is spiritual", and calls the commandment "holy, and righteous, and good" (Romans 7:12).

What lawful use is. The next verses state it: the law is laid down for the lawless, to expose and restrain sin (1:9-10), as in Romans 3:20, "through the law cometh the knowledge of sin". The measure of doctrine is the gospel (1:11). See 1 Timothy 1.8-11, Mosaic Law and Grace vs Law.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Lexicon:

G3551 - nomos, via 1 Timothy 1.7-9

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.