Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Timothy 5:15

"for already some are turned aside after Satan." — 1 Timothy 5:15 (ASV)

For some are already turned aside.—It was probably the backsliding of these “nameless” ones that was the immediate occasion for these directions to Timothy. Although these unhappy sisters had caused such great harm to the cause of Christ, St. Paul, with his tender grace and love, still refrained from mentioning any by name. They had undertaken a task too severe for them to carry out and had miserably failed. He spares these poor, erring sisters, but directs the chief pastor of the Church at Ephesus how to guard against such fatal results for the future.

After Satan.—They had swerved from the narrow, thorny road of self-denial which they had chosen for themselves, and perhaps dreading, after their public profession, to newly form any legal marriage ties, had followed that downward path of sensuality which surely leads to Satan.