Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Timothy 1:6

"from which things some having swerved have turned aside unto vain talking;" — 1 Timothy 1:6 (ASV)

From which some having swerved. The marginal reading is not aiming at. The word used here, astocew—properly means to miss the mark, to err, and then, to swerve from. Compare 1 Timothy 6:21; 2 Timothy 2:18.

This does not mean that they had ever possessed what they are said to have swerved from—for it does not follow that a person who misses a mark has ever hit it—but merely that they failed to attain the things referred to and had turned to vain talk. The word "which" (wn), in the plural, refers not to the law but to the things enumerated: a pure heart, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith.

Have turned aside unto vain jangling: this refers to vain talk, empty declamation, and discourses without sense. The term used here does not mean contention or strife, but rather that kind of discourse not founded on good sense. These were discourses on their pretended distinctions in the law, on their traditions and ceremonies, on their useless genealogies, and on the fabulous statements they had appended to the law of Moses.