Men who overthrow for who subvert, A.V. Whose mouths must be stopped ( οὒς δεῖ ἐπιστομίζειν); here only in the New Testament, not found in the LXX., but common in classical Greek. "To curb" (comp.
Psalms 32:9; James 3:2, James 3:3). The meaning is nearly the same as that of χαλιναγωγέω in James 1:26; some, however, assign to it the sense of "to muzzle" (Olshausen, etc.) or "stop the mouth," which Bishop Ellicott thinks is "perhaps the most common" and "the most suitable."
£ So also Huther. It often means simply "to silence" (see Stephan, 'Thesaur.'), and is applied to wind instruments. Overthrow ( ἀνατρέπουσι); as 2 Timothy 2:18, which shows the kind of overthrow here meant, that viz.
of the faith of whole families, well expressed in the A.V. by "subvert." The phrase, οἰκίας ἀνατρέπειν, of the literal overthrow of houses, occurs in Plato (Alford). For filthy lucre's sake; contrary to the apostolic precept to bishops and deacons (1 Timothy 3:3, 1 Timothy 3:8, and above, 1 Timothy 3:7).
Polybius has a striking passage on the αἰσχροκερδεία of the Cretans, quoted by Bishop Ellicott ('Hist.,' 6:146.3).