Note 13 at 1 Tim. 1:6: The English word "swerved" was translated from the Greek word ASTOCHEO. This is a compound Greek word with the first part being A which is an absolute negative and the second part being STOCHEO which means "to aim". So this compound Greek word literally means "not to aim".

This is not describing the action of swerving to avoid something in our path the way we use this word today, but this is describing a person who has failed to aim and therefore misses the mark.

This paints a word picture which is very helpful. The aim of all Christian commands and actions should be love for God and love for our fellow man (see note 8 at v. 5, p. 1264). Failure to constantly take aim at that goal will lead to the error Paul is describing here.

This is what happened with the Pharisees of Jesus' day. They were so caught up in the enforcement of God's commands that they lost sight of the reason God had given the commands. They failed to keep their sights on the ultimate goal of love which caused gross errors producing oppression and hypocrisy. This is what Paul is warning against.