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For some have already turned aside after Satan.
1 Timothy 5:15 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB For already some have turned aside after Satan.
  • KJV For some are already turned aside after Satan.
  • BSB For some have already turned aside to follow Satan.
  • NASB for some have already turned away to follow Satan.
  • NLT For I am afraid that some of them have already gone astray and now follow Satan.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Paul warns that some have already turned aside to follow Satan, showing the danger is real. His counsel aims to prevent further spiritual shipwreck.

Overview

The sober note for already some have turned aside after Satan explains why Paul gives such practical guidance: the drift into idleness and sin had already claimed some. Following Satan here means abandoning the path of faithful living for his deceptions. The warning underscores that ordinary obedience guards against spiritual ruin, and that Christ's people must remain vigilant.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • 2 Pet 2:2Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned.
  • Jude 1:4–5For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.
  • 2 Pet 2:20–22For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
  • 1 Tim 1:20of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I delivered to Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme.
  • 1 Jn 2:19They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us.
  • Phil 3:18–19For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ,
  • 2 Tim 4:10for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.
  • Rev 12:9The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
  • 2 Tim 1:15This you know, that all who are in Asia turned away from me; of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.
  • 2 Tim 2:18men who have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and overthrowing the faith of some.
  • 2 Pet 3:16as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
  • Matt 4:10Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — 1 Timothy videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on 1 Timothy 5:15YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on 1 TimothyMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

There is 'one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all' — the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.

How 1 Timothy 5:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.