Let as many as are bondservants under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine not be blasphemed. Those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brothers, but rather let them serve them, because those who partake of the benefit are believing and beloved. Teach and exhort these things.
If anyone teaches a different doctrine, and doesn’t consent to sound words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is conceited, knowing nothing, but obsessed with arguments, disputes, and word battles, from which come envy, strife, insulting, evil suspicions, constant friction of people of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Withdraw yourself from such.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out. But having food and clothing, we will be content with that. But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But you, man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. I command you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession, that you keep the commandment without spot, blameless, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in its own times he will show, who is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.
Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to share; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.
Timothy, guard that which is committed to you, turning away from the empty chatter and oppositions of what is falsely called knowledge, which some profess, and thus have wandered from the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–21 It appears that, at the beginning of the gospel,…
It appears that, at the beginning of the gospel, slaves cheered their hearts, as if the signal had been given for their emancipation; for Paul labors hard, in all his writings, to repress that desire; and indeed the condition of slavery was so hard that we need not wonder that it was exceedingly hateful. Now, it is customary to seize, for the advantage of the flesh, everything that has the slightest appearance of being in our favor. Thus when they were told that we are all brethren, they instantly concluded that it was unreasonable that they should be the slaves of brethren. But although nothing of all this had come into their mind, still wretched men are always in need of consolation, that may allay the bitterness of their afflictions. Besides, they could not without difficulty be persuaded to bend their necks, willingly and cheerfully, to so harsh a yoke. Such, then, is the object of the present doctrine.
1 They who are slaves under the yoke Owing to the false opinion of his own excellence which every person entertains, there is no one who patiently endures that others should rule over him. They who cannot avoid the necessity do, indeed, reluctantly obey those who are above them; but inwardly they fret and rage, because they think that they suffer wrong. The Apostle cuts off, by a single word, all disputes of this kind, by demanding that all who live “under the yoke” shall submit to it willingly. He means that they must not inquire whether they deserve that lot or a better one; for it is enough that they are bound to this condition.
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When he enjoins them to esteem worthy of all honor the masters whom they serve, he requires them not only to be faithful and diligent in performing their duties, but to regard and sincerely respect them as persons placed in a higher rank than themselves. No man renders either to a prince or to a master what he owes to them, unless, looking at the eminence to which God has raised them, he honor them, because he is subject to them; for, however unworthy of it they may often be, still that very authority which God bestows on them always entitles them to honor. Besides, no one willingly renders service or obedience to his master, unless he is convinced that he is bound to do so. Hence it follows, that subjection begins with that honor of which Paul wishes that they who rule should be accounted worthy.
That the name and doctrine of God may not be blasphemed We are always too ingenious in our behalf. Thus slaves, who have unbelieving masters, are ready enough with the objection, that it is unreasonable that they who serve the devil should have dominion over the children of God. But Paul throws back the argument to the opposite side, that they ought to obey unbelieving masters, in order that the name of God and the gospel may not be evil spoken of; as if God, whom we worship, incited us to rebellion, and as if the gospel rendered obstinate and disobedient those who ought to be subject to others.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21 He addeth also rules for the servants’ duty towards…
He addeth also rules for the servants’ duty towards their masters: whereupon no doubt there were many questions then moved by them which took occasion by the Gospel to trouble the common state. And this is the first rule: Let servants that are come to the faith, and have infidels to their masters, serve them notwithstanding with great fidelity.
The reason: lest God should seem by the Doctrine of the Gospel to stir up men to rebellion and all wickedness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–21 1 Let as many servants as are under the…
1 Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.
Ver. 1. Count their own masters] And not under a pretence of Christian liberty, and because in Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free, seek to shake off the yoke of obedience that God hath hung upon their necks. See 1Pe 2:18.
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That the name of God and his doctrine, &c.] Be traduced as a doctrine of liberty. Heathens lay at the catch, 1Pe 2:12, spying and prying (as the word εποπτευσαντες there signifies), and imputing all public judgments to Christian miscarriages. Nunc male audiunt castiganturque vulgo Christiani (saith Lactantius, de opif. Dei ad Demet.) quod aliter quam sapientibus convenit, vivent, et vitia sub obtentu nominis celent. Christians are very hardly spoken of to this very day, because their conversation is not as becometh the gospel of Christ, but they think to cover their faults with the fig leaves of profession.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–21 Let as many servants as are under the yoke;…
Let as many servants as are under the yoke; under the yoke of servitude, not being manumised, or made free.
Count their own masters worthy of all honour; abundant honour: let Christian servants give their masters, instead of less, double the honour which pagan servants do. That the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed; for the credit of the gospel, and for the honour of God; that none may say that religion teacheth servants any disobedience, or breaketh the bands of civil relations: but on the contrary, that it obligeth professors to a more faithful and full discharge of such duties, servants to be the best of servants, &c.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 20 Our apostle having, in the preceding chapters, instructed Timothy…
Our apostle having, in the preceding chapters, instructed Timothy to give the necessary directions for the performances of several relative duties, in this chapter he particularly directs him to instruct Christian servants to the acceptable performance of that great duty of obedience which they owe to their respective masters, whether infidels or Christians.
Christianity frees persons from sinful slavery or bondage, but not from civil servitude and subjection. Religion does not level persons, but allows of an inequality amongst men, superiors and inferiors; and as it gives the former a power to command, so it lays the latter under an obligation to obey.
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Observe, 2. The general duty required of all servants towards their masters, and that is, to give them all the honour and obedience which is due in that relation: let them account their masters worthy of all honour.
What masters?
1. Their infidel and unbelieving masters; they are required to carry it dutifully and respectfully towards them.
2. Their believing or Christian masters: they should not despise them because they are brethren; for Christian brotherhood consists with inequality of place and relation, and with subjection of one person to another: but they ought to serve such masters the more readily and cheerfully, because brethren beloved of God, and partakers of the benefit, namely, of redemption by Christ, and of the sanctifying grace of God.
Observe lastly, The grand argument which St. Paul uses to enforce the duty of obedience upon all servants, That the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed; that is, the men of the world will reproach religion, revile Christianity, and say that it teaches, or allows at least, that men be stubborn and disobedient.
Where note, That the poorest and meanest professor of Christianity may do much good or much hurt to religion: some might be ready to say "Alas, what credit or discredit can a poor servant do to religion? Much every way: he may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, Tit 2:9 by his Christian behaviour; and the name of God, and his doctrine, may be blasphemed by him, if he be negligent in his duty.
None are so inconsiderable but they are capable of serving the great ends of religion, and may honour God in some measure; and are capable of being honoured by him upon earth, and with him in the highest heavens.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 6, 13 I. Here is the duty of servants. The apostle…
I. Here is the duty of servants. The apostle had spoken before of church-relations, here of our family-relations. Servants are here said to be under the yoke, which denotes both subjection and labour; they are yoked to work, not to be idle. If Christianity finds servants under the yoke, it continues them under it; for the gospel does not cancel the obligations any lie under either by the law of nature or by mutual consent. They must respect their masters, count them worthy of all honour (because they are their masters), of all the respect, observance, compliance, and obedience, that are justly expected from servants to their masters. Not that they were to think that of them which they were not; but as their masters they must count them worthy of all that honour which was fit for them to receive, that the name of God be not blasphemed. If servants that embraced the Christian religion should grow insolent and disobedient to their masters, the doctrine of Christ would be reflected on for their sakes, as if it had made men worse livers than they had been before they received the gospel. Observe, If the professors of religion misbehave themselves, the name of God and his doctrine are in danger of being blasphemed by those who seek occasion to speak evil of that worthy name by which we are called. And this is a good reason why we should all conduct ourselves well, that we may prevent the occasion which many seek, and will be very apt to lay hold of, to speak ill of religion for our sakes. Or suppose the master were a Christian, and a believer, and the servant a believer too, would not this excuse him, because in Christ there is neither bond nor free? No, by no means, for Jesus Christ did not come to dissolve the bond of civil relation, but to strengthen it: Those that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren; for this brotherhood relates only to spiritual privileges, not to any outward dignity or advantage (those misunderstood and abuse their religion who make it a pretence for denying the duties that they owe to their relations); nay, rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved. They must think themselves the more obliged to serve them because the faith and love that bespeak men Christians oblige them to do good; and that is all wherein their service consists. Observe, It is a great encouragement to us in doing our duty to our relations if we have reason to think they are faithful and beloved, and partakers of the benefit, that is, of the benefit of Christianity. Again, Believing masters and servants are brethren, and partakers of the benefit; for in Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free, for you are all one in Christ Jesus, Gal 3:28. Timothy is appointed to teach and exhort these things. Ministers must preach not only the general duties of all, but the duties of particular relations.
II. Paul here warns Timothy to withdraw from those who corrupted the doctrine of Christ, and made it the subject off strife, debate, and controversy: If any man teach otherwise (Ti1 6:3-5), do not preach practically, do not teach and exhort that which is for the promoting of serious godliness - if he will not consent to wholesome words, words that have a direct tendency to heal the soul - if he will not consent to these, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Observe, We are not required to consent to any words as wholesome words except the words of our Lord Jesus Christ; but to those we must give our unfeigned assent and consent, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness. Observe, The doctrine of our Lord Jesus is a doctrine according to godliness; it has a direct tendency to make people godly. But he that does not consent to the words of Christ is proud (Ti1 6:4) and contentious, ignorant, and does a great deal of mischief to the church, knowing nothing. Observe, Commonly those are most proud who know least; for with all their knowledge they do not know themselves. - But doting about questions. Those who fall off from the plain practical doctrines of Christianity fall in with controversies, which eat out the life and power of religion; they dote about questions and strifes of words, which do a great deal of mischief in the church, are the occasion of envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings. When men are not content with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is according to godliness, but will frame notions of their own and impose them, and that too in their own words, which man's wisdom teaches, and not in the words which the Holy Ghost teaches (Co1 2:13), they sow the seeds of all mischief in the church. Hence come perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds (Ti1 6:5), disputes that are all subtlety, and no solidity. Observe, Men of corrupt minds are destitute of the truth. The reason why men's minds are corrupt is because they do not stick to the truth as it is in Jesus: supposing that gain is godliness, making religion truckle to their secular interest. From such as these Timothy is warned to withdraw himself. We observe, 1. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ are wholesome words, they are the fittest to prevent or heal the church's wounds, as well as to heal a wounded conscience; for Christ has the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season to him that is weary, Isa 50:4. The words of Christ are the best to prevent ruptures in the church; for none who profess faith in him will dispute the aptness or authority of his words who is their Lord and teacher, and it has never gone well with the church since the words of men have claimed a regard equal to his words, and in some cases a much greater. 2. Whoever teaches otherwise, and does not consent to these wholesome words, he is proud, knowing nothing; for pride and ignorance commonly go together. 3. Paul sets a brand only on those who consent not to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is according to godliness; they are proud, knowing nothing: other words more wholesome he knew not. 4. We learn the sad effects of doting about questions and strifes of words; of such doting about questions comes envy, strife, evil surmisings, and perverse disputings; when men leave the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, they will never agree in other words, either of their own or other men's invention, but will perpetually wrangle and quarrel about them; and this will produce envy, when they see the words of others preferred to those they have adopted for their own; and this will be attended with jealousies and suspicions of one another, called here evil surmisings; then they will proceed to perverse disputings. 5. Such persons as are given to perverse disputings appear to be men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth; especially such as act in this manner for the sake of gain, which is all their godliness, supposing gain to be godliness, contrary to the apostle's judgment, who reckoned godliness great gain. 6. Good ministers and Christians will withdraw themselves from such. "Come out from among them, my people, and be ye separate," says the Lord: from such withdraw thyself.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–21 Let as many servants as are under the yoke,....…
Let as many servants as are under the yoke,.... Not under the yoke of the law of God, or under the yoke of Christ; though the servants here spoken of were under both; but "under the yoke of government", as the Arabic version renders it; that is, under the yoke of men, in a state of servitude, under the government of masters, and in their service; being either apprentices to them, or bought with their money, or hired by them:
count their own masters worthy of all honour; and give it to them; which includes subjection to them; obedience to all their lawful commands, which are consistent with religion and reason, with the laws of God, and with the light of nature; and all reverence of them, and respect unto them, expressed by words and gestures: and all this is to be given to their own masters to whom they belong; who have a property in them; whose money or goods they are; and that be they what they will, as to their religion and temper; whether they be believers or unbelievers; or whether they be good and gentle, kind and humane; or whether they be froward, peevish, and ill natured:
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that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed; by unbelieving masters, who, should their believing servants be refractory, disobedient, rebellious, or disrespectful, would be apt to say, what a God do these men serve? is this their religion? is this the Gospel they talk of? does their doctrine teach them such things, to be disobedient to their masters, and carry it disrespectfully to them? does it disengage them from the laws of nature, and dissolve the bonds of civil society, and destroy the relation that subsists between man and man? If this be the case, away with their God and their doctrine too. Wherefore the apostle exhorts, that if believing servants have any regard to that name they are called by, and call upon, and to the doctrine of the Gospel they have embraced and professed; that they would be obedient and respectful to their masters; that they may have no occasion to speak reproachfully of God, and of the Gospel.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 Let servants under the yoke - Of heathen masters.…
Let servants under the yoke - Of heathen masters. Account them worthy of all honour - All the honour due from a servant to a master. Lest the name of God and his doctrine be blasphemed - As it surely will, if they do otherwise.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–21 Of the duty of servants, 1, 2.
CHAPTER VI.
Of the duty of servants, 1, 2.
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Of false teachers, who suppose gain to be godliness, 3-5.
Of true godliness, and contentment, 6-8.
Of those, and their dangerous state, who determine to be rich;
and of the love of money, 9,10.
Timothy is exhorted to fight the good fight of faith, and to
keep the charge delivered to him, 11-14.
A sublime description of the majesty of God, 15, 16.
How the rich should behave themselves; and the use they should
make of their property, 17-19.
Timothy is once more exhorted to keep what was committed to his
trust; and to avoid profane babblings, through which some have
erred from the faith, 20, 21.
NOTES ON CHAP. VI.
Verse 1. Let as many servants as are under the yoke] The word δουλοι here means slaves converted to the Christian faith; and the ζυγον, or yoke, is the state of slavery; and by δεσποται, masters, despots, we are to understand the heathen masters of those Christianized slaves. Even these, in such circumstances, and under such domination, are commanded to treat their masters with all honour and respect, that the name of God, by which they were called, and the doctrine of God, Christianity, which they had professed, might not be blasphemed-might not be evilly spoken of in consequence of their improper conduct. Civil rights are never abolished by any communications from God's Spirit. The civil state in which a man was before his conversion is not altered by that conversion; nor does the grace of God absolve him from any claims, which either the state or his neighbour may have on him. All these outward things continue unaltered. See Clarke on Eph 6:5, c. and "1Co 7:21", &c., and especially the observations at the end of that chapter.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 6, 11, 13, 17, 20 1Ti 6:1-2. Because the law of Moses (Exo 21:2)…
1Ti 6:1-2. Because the law of Moses (Exo 21:2) did not allow Israelites to be made slaves for life, without their own consent, it seems the Judaizing teachers, with a view to allure slaves to their party, encouraged them in disobeying the commands, of their masters. This doctrine the apostle condemns here, as in his other epistles, (1Co 7:20-22; Col 3:22,) by enjoining Christian slaves to obey their masters, whether believers or unbelievers. Let servants — Or slaves, rather; (see on Eph 6:5, and Col 3:22;) under the yoke — Of heathen masters; count them worthy of all honour — All the honour due from a servant to a master, and show it by their obedience and respectful behaviour. That the name of God — God himself; and his doctrine — The doctrine of the gospel; be not blasphemed — That is, evil spoken of, as tending to destroy the political rights of mankind. And they that have believing masters — Which for any to have is a great privilege; let them not despise them — Pay them the less honour or obedience; because they are brethren — In Christ, believers; and in that respect on a level with them. They that live in a religious community know the danger of this, and that greater grace is requisite to bear with the faults of a brother than of a man of the world, or even of an infidel. But rather do them service —
Serve them so much the more diligently; because they are faithful — Or believers, as πιστοι may be rendered; and beloved — Of God; partakers of the benefit — The common salvation. “Instead of encouraging slaves to disobedience, the gospel makes them more faithful and conscientious. And by sweetening the temper of masters, and inspiring them with benevolence, it renders the condition of slaves more tolerable than formerly. For, in proportion as masters imbibe the true spirit of the gospel, they will treat their slaves with humanity, and even give them their freedom, when their services merit such a favour.” — Macknight. These things teach and exhort — Thus Paul the aged gives young Timothy a charge to dwell upon practical holiness. Less experienced teachers are apt to neglect the superstructure, while they lay the foundation. But of so great importance did St. Paul see it to enforce obedience to Christ, as well as to preach faith in his blood, that after urging the life of faith on professors, (1Ti 6:12,) he even adds another charge for the strict observance of it, 1Ti 6:13, &c.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–21 Let as many servants - On the word here…
Let as many servants - On the word here rendered “servants” - δοῦλοι douloi - see the notes on Eph 6:5. The word is that which was commonly applied to a slave, but it is so extensive in its signification as to be applicable to any species of servitude, whether voluntary or involuntary. If slavery existed in Ephesus at the time when this Epistle was written, it would be applicable to slaves; if any other kind of servitude existed, the word would be equally applicable to that. There is nothing in the word itself which essentially limits it to slavery; examine Mat 13:27; Mat 20:27; Mar 10:44; Luk 2:29; Joh 15:15; Act 2:18; Act 4:29; Act 16:17; Rom 1:1; 2Co 4:5; Jud 1:1; Rev 1:1; Rev 2:20; Rev 7:3. The addition of the phrase “under the yoke,” however, shows undoubtedly that it is to be understood here of slavery.
As are under the yoke - On the word yoke, see the notes on Mat 11:29. The phrase here properly denotes slavery, as it would not be applied to any other species of servitude; see Lev 26:13; Dem. 322, 12. ζεῦγος δουλοσύνης zeugos doulosunēs. Robinson’s Lexicon. It sometimes denotes the bondage of the Mosaic law as being a severe and oppressive burden; Act 15:10; Gal 5:1. It may be remarked here that the apostle did not regard slavery as a light or desirable thing. He would not have applied this term to the condition of a wife or of a child.
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Count their own masters worthy of all honour - Treat them with all proper respect. They were to manifest the right spirit themselves, whatever their masters did; they were not to do anything that would dishonor religion. The injunction here would seem to have particular reference to those whose masters were not Christians. In the following verse, the apostle gives particular instructions to those who had pious masters. The meaning here is, that the slave ought to show the Christian spirit toward his master who was not a Christian; he ought to conduct himself so that religion would not be dishonored; he ought not to give his master occasion to say that the only effect of the Christian religion on the mind of a servant was to make him restless, discontented, dissatisfied, and disobedient. In the humble and trying situation in which he confessedly was - under the yoke of bondage - he ought to evince patience, kindness, and respect for his master, and as long as the relation continued he was to be obedient. This command, however, was by no means inconsistent with his desiring his freedom, and securing it, if the opportunity presented itself; see the notes on 1Co 7:21; compare, on the passage before us, the Eph 6:5-8 notes, and 1Pe 2:18 note.
That the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed - That religion be not dishonored and reproached, and that there may be no occasion to say that Christianity tends to produce discontent and to lead to insurrection. If the effect of religion had been to teach all who were servants that they should no longer obey their masters, or that they should rise upon them and assert their freedom by violence, or that their masters were to be treated with indignity on account of their usurped rights over others, the effect would have been obvious. There would have been a loud and united outcry against the new religion, and it could have made no progress in the world. Instead of this, Christianity taught the necessity of patience, and meekness, and forbearance in the endurance of all wrong - whether from private individuals Mat 5:39-41; 1Co 6:7, or under the oppressions and exactions of Nero Rom 13:1-7, or amidst the hardships and cruelties of slavery. These peaceful injunctions, however, did not demonstrate that Christ approved the act of him “that smote on the one cheek,” or that Paul regarded the government of Nero as a good government, - and as little do they prove that Paul or the Saviour approved of slavery.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20 Lest the name and doctrine of the Lord be…
Lest the name and doctrine of the Lord be blasphemed, or ill spoken of by infidels, when such as were converted refused to be servants. --- Let them not despise them, &c. That is, they who were servants under Christian masters, ought to think themselves more happy on that account, being brethren, and partakers of the same benefit of faith and grace. (Witham) --- If servants be insolent and disobedient, their infidel masters will blaspheme the Christian religion, as if that were the cause of their disrespectful behaviour. And let them not be arrogant, or aspire to an equality with their Christian masters, under pretence that the profession of the same religion makes them brothers; but rather serve them with greater submission and affection, as partakers of the benefit of the same faith, the same baptism, the same hope, &c. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 1 Timothy Chapter 6
1 Timothy Chapter 6
The apostle then goes equally into detail with regard to servants, that is, slaves. They were to respect their masters, in order that the doctrine of the Lord should not be blasphemed. When the masters were believers, there was naturally more familiarity, for they were one in Christ, and thence the danger (for the flesh is crafty) that the servants might not treat their masters with the respect due to them. The apostle guards against this abuse of Christian love, and of the just intimacy and confidence which ought to exist between brethren; but which, on the contrary, was a motive for the servant to render all honour to his master, by treating him with more love and with the same respect.
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It was necessary that the apostle should be firm. All other instruction-all refusal to receive the wholesome words of Christian doctrine, the words of Christ and the doctrine which is according to practical godliness-proceeded from the flesh, from human pride in those who wished to take advantage of godliness, and make it a means of gain. From such persons Timothy was to turn away. Godliness was indeed gain, if they were contented with what they had; and the Christian, who does not belong to this world, if he has food and raiment, ought to be content therewith. He brought nothing into this world, and will certainly carry nothing out of it. And the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. Seduced by this covetousness, some had wandered away from Christian faith and had pierced their hearts with sorrow. The desire to be rich was the path of snares and temptation, of foolish and hurtful lusts. Timothy was to flee these things, as a man of God. This is always the thought here: he was in the world on the part of God; he represented Him for his part in the work. He was therefore to follow after other things than earthly riches-the character of a man of God-righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness: these were the things which, in man, presented God to the world and glorified Him.
Meanwhile there was conflict: he must fight the good fight of faith. If any one represents God in the world, there must be warfare, because the enemy is there. The energy of faith was also necessary, in order to lay hold of eternal life in the midst of the seduction and difficulties which the “things that are seen “presented. God, moreover, had called Timothy to this, and he had made a good confession before many witnesses.
Finally, the apostle charges him most solemnly in the presence of God, the Source of life for all things and of Christ Jesus who had Himself borne witness without wavering before the powers of this world, placing him under the responsibility of keeping the commandment without spot, unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It will be noticed here that, as Paul had not spoken in the epistle of the privileges of the assembly, but of its responsibility, so neither does he here speak of its being caught up but of its manifestation, when the fruits of faithfulness (or of failure in it) will be gathered, and every one be in his place in the visible glory according to his work. All are like Christ, all enter into His joy; but to sit at His right and left hand in His kingdom is the portion of those for whom it is prepared by His Father, who bestows it according to the work which He has granted each to perform, giving him power to accomplish it, although in grace He reckons it as our own.
Christ Himself is here viewed as the faithful man (ver. 13), whom God will manifest in glory before all creatures at the time ordained in His counsels.
All here is responsibility before the world, or glory as the result of that responsibility. The supreme, invisible God is maintained in His majesty; and He presents the Lord Jesus Christ in the creation as its centre, and repository of His glory - He who dwells in light inaccessible, whom, in His divine essence, man has not seen and cannot see.
This character of the epistle is very remarkable. Nowhere else is the inaccessible majesty of God, as God, thus presented. His character is often the subject of instruction and manifestation. Here He alone has essential immortality. He dwells in inaccessible light. He is ever invisible to the eyes of men. He alone has power. He has dominion over all who reign. It is God in the abstraction of His essence, in the proper immutability of His being, in the rights of His majesty, veiled to all men.
Now Christ will be the centre of the visible glory. Having part in the divine glory before the world was, He displays, in the human nature in which He took part, this glory, which is rendered visible in Him, causing His own to participate in His joy and in all that He has in this character; but here, He is manifested by God, and in order that all should acknowledge Him. [9] And it is our responsibility, faithfulness to which will be manifested in that day, which is here set before us. However small may be our share of responsibility, it is of such a God as this that we are the representatives on earth. Such is the God before whom we are to walk, and whose majesty we are to respect immediately in our conduct, and also in our relations to all that He has made.
The apostle concludes his exhortation to Timothy by engaging him to warn the rich not to rest on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. It is still the supreme and Creator-God who is before our eyes. Moreover, they were to be rich in good works, and ready to give; to be rich in those dispositions which would be of value, which would lay up a store (this is but a figure) against the time to come; and to lay hold of that which really is life. The apostle repeats his urgent exhortation to Timothy to keep that which had been committed to him, to avoid profane and vain babblings, holding fast the sound and sanctifying truth, and to have nothing to do with oppositions of human science, which pretended to penetrate into divine things as though they were subject to its knowledge. This was the origin of the fall of many with regard to Christian faith.
I do not doubt that, in the manner in which the apostle here sets God before us, he refers to the foolish imaginations to which, under the influence of the enemy, men were abandoning themselves. Thus he speaks of these with relation to the majesty of His Being as the one only God in whom is all fullness, and with regard to the sobriety of practical morality, which keeps the heart under the influence of that truth, and apart from the false and vain speculations in which the pride of man indulged itself. He maintained souls by the majesty of the only God in the practical sobriety in which peace dwells.
Soon will the veil be drawn aside by the appearing of Jesus, whom the Almighty God will display to the world.
Footnotes for 1 Timothy Chapter 6
9: In Rev 19:1-21 He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Here He who is so manifests Him. So in Dan 7:1-28. The Son of man is brought to the Ancient of days, but in the same chapter the Ancient of days comes.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv1, 11 Various Prescripts, Warnings, and Exhortations
XII
Various Prescripts, Warnings, and Exhortations
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1Ti_6:1-21
A.—The obligation of Christian slaves.—Warning against false teachers.—Praise of moderation, and warning against covetousness
1Ti_6:1-10
1Let as many servants as are [as many as are servants] under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. 2And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren;1 [,] but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit [who are partakers of the benefit]. These things teach and exhort. 3If any man teach otherwise, and consent2 not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; [,] 4He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, 5strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings3 of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness [godliness is a means of gain]: from such withdraw thyself.4 6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain5 we can carry nothing out. 8And having food and raiment, let us be therewith [with these] content. 9But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10For the love of money is the [a] root of all evil: [,] which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Ti_6:1. Let as many servants as are under the yoke, &c. [Under the yoke, as bondservants. Δοῦλοι is not the subject, but an explanatory predicate; Ellicott, in loco.—W.] The Apostle begins in this chapter to give counsel for various classes in the community, as he has before set forth whatever is required of its overseers and officers. At the outset he directs Timothy as to the duty of those members of the church who belong to the condition of slaves (1Ti_6:1-2). It was not strange that such persons should think themselves placed, by their Christian profession, in a changed relation toward both their heathen and their converted masters. They might pervert the doctrine of a Christian freedom, or they might find in the Jewish law, by which slaves were released every seventieth or Sabbatic year, some reason to withdraw, sooner or later, wholly or partly, from the yoke. It was therefore necessary to urge on them the duty of a constant subordination (comp. Eph_6:5; Col_3:22; Tit_2:1; Tit_2:9-10; 1Pe_2:18). Christianity does not abolish slavery at once, in opposition to law; but, on the contrary, the bondmen must, through their true Christian conduct, offer a living letter of commendation, to be read by all, of the true and living character of Christianity. To further this end, the Apostle counsels how Christian slaves (1Ti_6:1) are to demean themselves toward unbelieving (1Ti_6:2) and believing masters.—Let as many as are servants under the yoke. Not referring directly to such as were treated with special severity, but, in general, to the oppressive character of slavery.—Count their own masters worthy of all honor. Almost the same literal injunction given in regard of the presbyter, in 1Ti_5:11. The Apostle points to a τιμὴ, which dwells in the heart, and is thence exhibited in the words, demeanor, conduct.—That the name of God—of the true God, whom the Christian slaves honored, in contrast with their idolatrous masters—and the doctrine—viz., of God (comp. Tit_2:10), the divine gospel—be not blasphemed; which would doubtless be the case should the Christian slaves be guilty of disorderly action. In another place (Rom_2:24) the Apostle accuses the Jews, because through them the name of God was blasphemed among the heathen; and it was counted the greatest sin of David (2Sa_12:14), that he had made the enemies of God to blaspheme. The warning of the text is designed to prevent a like danger.
1Ti_6:2. And they … exhort. Christian slaves, who, on the other hand, have the privilege of believing masters, might easily forget that they who, as believers, were their brethren, yet had another relation as their superiors, and might thus withhold the honor due to them. The Apostle strongly opposes this exaggerated view of Christian freedom and equality.—They that have believing masters—[see Trench, “Synon.,” § 28, on the distinction between δεσπότης and κύριος. The former signifies the relation to those who have been bought, who are owned as property; the latter the family headship, the relation of the man to wife and children. It is to be observed that in his other Epistles St. Paul uses κύριος as the general title.—W.]—(πιστοὺς is placed before emphatically) let them not despise them, because they are brethren;i.e., the masters. Such a contempt is meant here as would wholly, or in part, lose sight of the natural difference between master and slave. There is no respect of persons before God; but before man the divisions of social rank must be held in due regard.—But rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved. It is almost unexplainable, that both these last objections should have been thought to refer either to the slaves (Wetstein), or to masters and slaves together (Matthies). It is plain that the Apostle here expressly distinguishes the masters, and in such wise, indeed, as to persuade the slaves to honor and revere them. As believers in Christ and beloved of God, the masters can claim peculiarly the respect of their Christian bondmen. It is a harder question, what the Apostle means by the words: partakers of the benefit, οἱ τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἀντιλαμβανόμενοι; [qui participes sunt; Vulgate.—W.] We might, perhaps, suppose that εὐεργεσία = χάρις signifying the blessing of Christianity (comp. Rom_1:7; thus Heydenreich and others). But this thought is already expressed in ἀγαπ. and πιστοί, and would thus be only an empty tautology. It is then better to understand, by εὐεργεσία, the faithful service of the slaves, so that the sense should be: slaves ought so much more to serve believing masters, because they who receive such service are believers and beloved. The remembrance that a true service, done from a Christian principle, would be a benefit to the believing masters, was indeed well calculated to persuade Christian slaves.—These things teach and exhort. A direct reference, as in 1Ti_4:11; 1Ti_5:7, to what has been said just before.
[This exposition, while it seems true to the letter, is untrue to the principle of Christianity. Undoubtedly St. Paul did not attempt to abolish slavery. But when it is inferred from this that the moral action of the primitive Church gives us the complete standard for all time, it is a petitio principii. The Church of that day was composed of men who had no political or civil ties outside their little body; to them, all else was “the world” of heathendom. It was enough for St. Paul to inculcate the law of love, and leave the larger question of Roman slavery to the future. But when Christianity became the religion of the State, and its believers citizens, there arose a new, definite sphere of social duty outside the church relationship. It may, indeed, be proven from this passage, that slavery is not absolutely and in all cases a sin, like lying or stealing; that, like polygamy, it may be one of the phases of social growth. But to say that, because Christian philanthropy did not then touch it, it may now claim the sanction of Christianity, is monstrous.—We might, indeed, draw from this very passage one of the strongest arguments against the modern apologist. St. Paul does not counsel masters to be kind, but slaves not to despite their masters, because they are brethren. The tone of the whole proves that slavery in that Christian community was hardly a yoke at all. What would the slaveholders of our Christian time think of a bishop who should mildly beg bondmen to treat a master with respect, not scorn him, because he was a brother?—But we take here the largest ground. To say that Christianity is to-day confined within the limits of St. Paul’s action, is to say that in 1800 years it has wrought no change in the world it came to reform. It is to say, that it is behind Judaism at that very time; for slavery, under the teaching of humane Rabbis, had in St. Paul’s day almost wholly vanished from Palestine. It is to narrow Scripture; it is to narrow Christian ethics; it is to narrow Christian history. Civilization has, step by step, been fulfilling the first prophecy of the Lord, that He came to “break every yoke.” As early as the code of Justinian, we have the statement of the maxim, “Cum jure naturali omnes liberi nascerentur;” Cod. Just., lib. i. tit. 5. It was a social law which the early Christian himself had not grasped: it was the new growth of social ethics. Christian jurisprudence and Christian philanthropy hare only interpreted it. We may well demand, at this day, that Scriptural criticism shall no longer make the word of God the apologist of social wrong.—W.]6
1Ti_6:3. If any man teach otherwise, &c. The Apostle proceeds from the slaves to the false teachers. The connection of his thoughts seems this: that the false teachers have proposed dangerous maxims in regard of Christian freedom and order, which might, if they spread further, mislead the bondmen. We may thus understand the ἑτεροδιδασκαλεῖν definitely of corrupt maxims concerning the topics just discussed, although we may add that the Apostle takes occasion here, as in other passages of these Epistles, to point out and oppose false doctrines in general. Their character is here described, and their condemnation given with a fulness of language that might seem somewhat irrelevant, if we do not consider how dangerous such false teachers were, and how sad their corrupting influence on many.—And consent not. This more definite expression now marks the false teachers as men who were directly hostile to the gospel doctrine, which is enjoined by St. Paul as the fountain and touchstone of the truth.—Consent not (μὴ προσέρχεται), naturally signifies that acceptance, in a spiritual view, which leads of itself to agreement (accedere opinioni, alicui accedere). The words of the Lord are spoken of as wholesome, in contrast with the diseased character of the false doctrines (comp. νοσῶν, 1Ti_6:4); and the truth of the gospel is here named as according to godliness (κατ̓ εὐσεβ.), to show the indivisible unity between Christian truth and morality, in consequence of which any, who has mistaken the latter, has already in himself the sentence of his condemnation. [Not “quæ ad pietatem ducit,” but “quæ pietati consentanea est;” Ellicott.—W.] Since Christianity directly quickens and demands godliness, a lax morality cannot have union with it The Apostle now proceeds, 1Ti_6:4-5, to show the sources and effects of each grievous error.
1Ti_6:4. He is proud … strifes of words. A darkened understanding is the first characteristic which St. Paul ascribes to such an errorist (τετύφωται); he is beclouded, wholly blinded, from his proud conceit (comp. Eph_4:18); knowing nothing [aright]; the result of the former vice. He who is blinded in his view of the whole, cannot possibly look at particulars from a right point of sight. To judge truly the special truths of Christianity, must require, in some measure, a knowledge of its whole character. To this sad state of the mind there is added a yet more melancholy state of the heart.—But doting about questions and strifes of words, νοσῶν περὶ ζητ., κ. τ. λ. The proposition declares the objects in regard to which this disease is manifest The false teacher is unhappily busied with ζητήσεις and λογομαχίας. He is tormented with the pursuit of those beyond the good and needful limit; and while he perhaps believes that he may attain the right result, he opens for himself and others a source of deep wretchedness. What else can be the end of all these strifes? (see below.)—Whereof cometh, &c., ἐξ ὧν, sc.ζητήσεις καί λογομαχίας.—Envy, strife, railings; not directly against God (Chrysostom), but rather against other men.—Evil surmisings. “Suspiciones malæ, per quas ii, qui non statim omnia assentiuntur, invidi putantur;” Bengel.
1Ti_6:5. Perverse disputings; παραδιατρίβαι, according to the common reading, to which, however, another (διαπαρατριβαί) deserves the preference (see Tischendorf). The first denotes useless disputation, the other, growing hostilities and conflicts (comp. Winer, Gramm., p. 92).—Men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth. The Apostle states here the deepest ground of this blindness, which he has described in 1Ti_6:4. Here, too, the corrupt heart is, in his view, the abyss out of which proceeds the darkness which obscures the spiritual vision. “This and the preceding participial clause denote, therefore, that the errorists were before unperverted, and in possession of the truth; but both these royal jewels have been forfeited, and, according to 1Ti_4:1, through demoniacal influence;” Huther. As a signal proof of the extent of this perversion, the Apostle adds the following.—Supposing that gain is godliness. This trait completes the sketch of the false teachers, who thus appear as unprincipled hypocrites, abusing the spiritual gifts they had received to their selfish ends (comp. 2Ti_3:5). Εὐσέβεια is not here the objective religion, which is ἥ κατ̓ εὐσεβείαν διδασκαλία (1Ti_6:3), but godliness in a subjective sense, the religious spirit, or piety. This was regarded by the heretics as πορισμός, a source of secular gain. They put on the guise of godly, conscientious men, from pure selfishness. A show of Christian life was in their view a lucrative business (Tit_1:11, a trade; Luther); and they may be thus called an order of Jesuits before Loyola, since they followed in this the rule, that “the end sanctifies the means.” The contempt of the Apostle for such worthless men is seen in his choice of words; and Timothy hardly needed the express exhortation, “From such withdraw thyself,” which is not in the original text (see Critical notes).
[There is a singular likeness between this sketch of the false teachers, and the Sophists so keenly portrayed in Plato as the opponents of Socrates. Their philosophy was a mere dialectic hair-splitting, without any moral truth—a λογομαχία, a word-fighting; and the ζητήσεις of this Epistle answer exactly to the captious, questioning style of the Greek schools. As a last feature, they were χρηματιστάι, and boasted that they sold their wisdom to the youth of Athens. See Gorgias, c. 7; Protag., c. 3. It was the same empty, immoral sophistomania, cropping out in this refined Jewish-Christian shape.—W.]
1Ti_6:6. But godliness with contentment is great gain. It might be thought that the Apostle denied godliness to be in any sense a πορισμός. To correct so wrong an inference from his words, he would show how far godliness gives true success; and this leads him to a full view, reaching to the end of 1Ti_6:10, of the Christian contentment Ἐστι δὲ πορισμός. Godliness is the very reality, although in another and higher sense, which these errorists pervert—With contentment. If it be closely joined with contentment, then it is a nobler gain. In this concise and weighty meaning the Apostle expresses both these main ideas, that godliness makes us content, and to be content is the highest good. “Eleganter, non sine ironicâ correctione in contrarium sensum, eadem verba mox retorquet, ac si dixisset; perperam illi et nequiter, qui venalem habent Christi doctrinam, quasi vere pietas esset quæstus. Ideo autem sic vocat, quod plenam et absolutam beatitudinem nobis affert. Ita vero felicitas in pietate sita est, hæc vero sufficientia est veluti quoddam auctorium;” Calvin.
1Ti_6:7. For we brought nothing into this world. In this and the following verses the Apostle shows the many grounds of this Christian αὐτάρκεια. The first lies in the very nature of those worldly things for whose possession the unsatisfied man strives. They are not our lawful property, but a loan, received at our birth, to be soon surrendered at the first summons. As we brought nothing into this world (comp. Job_1:21), it is certain we can carry nothing out (comp. Psa_49:17-18; Luk_12:15-21). The absence of δῆλον in A. F. G., 1Ti_6:17, seems to us a mere error of the MSS., since this word can hardly be dispensed with. It is hence justly restored by Tischendorf, in his 7th edition, although he had before erased it.
1Ti_6:8. And having food and raiment, let us, &c. A second reason for contentment, because men have fewer real wants than they commonly suppose.—Having food and raiment, διατροφὰς κσὶ σκεπάσματα; both words ἅπαξ λεγόμ.: that which serves for the nourishment and clothing of the body; under the latter, shelter also should be understood. “Ἔχοντες, habentes, implicate affirmatur, nos habituros esse;” Bengel.—Let us be therewith content, ἄρκεσθησόμεθα. The future may here be considered perhaps as an exhortation. (Let us then be content; Luther). It is simpler, however, to take it in the ordinary sense, as that which may be reasonably expected. The folly of discontent is thus at once recognized.
1Ti_6:9. But they that will be rich, &c. A third reason of αὐτάρκεια, the sad result of the opposite state. (The Vulgate is logically right, but not strictly grammatical, nam qui volunt, &c.)—That will be;βουλόμενοι, not θέλοντες. Bengel justly says: “Hæc voluntas animi suâ sorte contenti, inimica, non ipsæ opes, quas idcirco divites non jubentur abjicere” (1Ti_6:17-19).—Fall into temptation; that is, into the temptation to increase their worldly goods in an unjust way.—And a snare, καὶ παγίδα. They are thereby fettered, and led captive by evil; with what results, appears directly after.—And many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. The last two words strengthen each other, and may perhaps be distinguished by applying the former to the destruction of the body, the latter to the perdition of the soul. It is arbitrary, in any case, to refer them wholly to moral corruption (De Wette), into which they are already so sunken as to be incapable of any further degree; or to eternal perdition (Huther), because that is only the complete manifestation of what is aleady begun on earth. The here and hereafter in this warning of St. Paul must not be wilfully disjoined. But that he has not spoken too strongly here, is proved by the next verse.
[The force of the compound form ἀπώλ., and the more abstract termination of the latter word, perhaps, give a hint that a climactic force is intended; ὄλεθρος is destruction in a general sense, whether of body or soul; ἀπώλεια intensifies it, by pointing mainly to the latter; Ellicott, in loco.—W.]
1Ti_6:10. For the love of money is the root of all evil. The omission of the article before ρίζα should be understood. [A root; Alford, Conybeare and Howson; see, however, Ellicott for the other view.—W.] St. Paul does not say that the root of all evil is the desire of money, in which case this would be here represented as the source of all other sins—a view opposed as well to sound sense as to daily experience—but he only enumerates together the κακά springing out of the φιλαργυρία; although it is as true that the same can be said of other sins; ambition, lust, indeed every evil passion which masters mankind. Yet it must be acknowledged that there is no sin which so entirely rules, influences, and hardens men against every better feeling, as this. (This is contrary to De Wette in loco.) This love of money (φιλαργυρία) not merely signifies the lust for gaining money in all possible ways, but the desire of keeping it at every cost.—Which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith;ἦς.sc. φιλαργυρίας. As this last is an ὄρεξις, it must be granted that the connection of thought seems not quite correct, since, in a strict sense, the money itself, not the love of it, is the object of such toilsome effort. The sense is, however, clear enough; and it is therefore needless to explain ὀρέγεσθαι in the sense of deditum esse; Matthies. Whoever thirsts after money, seeks at the same time to satisfy his passion with his whole power, and thus he wanders from true Christian faith (comp. 1Ti_1:6; 1Ti_1:19), and has pierced himself through with many sorrows. The ὀδύναι, here imaged as a sword piercing the soul (Luk_2:35), and leaving a deep wound, are the pangs of conscience which the covetous feel when their eyes are opened to the shameful means they have used toward the end. They are, further, the forewarning of that ἀπώλεια whereof the Apostle has spoken in the previous verses. Personal recollections of this or that covetous man may have risen to his mind. Instead of παριέπειραν, transfixerunt, some critics have περιέσπειραν—a reading on which the Vulgate translation rests (inseruerunt), signifying that they have surrounded their life with pain, as with a hedge of thorns. It is clear, however, that the Recepta, which critically is far better sustained, gives us likewise a much stronger sense.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The injunction of the Apostle in regard of slavery is important, because it defines, simply and exactly, the relation of Christianity to it. The gospel sustains indeed the principle of the new philanthropy, servitium humani generis flagitium; and condemns all abuse of the slave by the master. But on the other hand, where bondage exists, it will in no way release the slave from his duty to his master. It prepares the way for a better condition, but it does not abolish this as by a magic stroke; Freedom, equality, fraternity, in the revolutionary sense of the word, are positively an unchristian sentiment; and the boundary line is here sharply drawn between revolution and reformation. The freedom to which the Lord calls his disciples is not an egoistic, individual one, which severs all bonds, but the freedom to do good in our allotted sphere, and to serve others through love.
[This sentence has in it a weighty side of Christian truth, but it may be made that half-truth which is whole error. The gospel morality does not teach mere political equality; it does not upturn the just distinctions of social rank; but, while it first purifies the heart, it seeks also to abolish unsocial caste. It does not teach the slave to revolt; but it does pronounce slavery an institution debasing both to mind and body, and at war with the growth of Christianity. An Epictetus may be inwardly free in bonds; but his virtue does not justify servitude. The quietism here taught, which severs the Church of Christ from social philanthropy, like Simeon the Stylite in the desert, has too often proved itself the worst egoism, that of a selfish or an emasculated piety.—W.]
2. Here the Apostle commends a practical godliness, in his hostility to all strifes of words. “Dicat autem aliquis, unde discernam quæstiones utiles ab inutilibus? Respondeo, norma est fundamentum, ut Paulus inquit (1Co_3:11). Complectitur autem fundamentum scripta prophetica et apostolica, et illustre discrimen est legis et evangelii. Item justitia fidei et operum. Item veri cultus, a Deo instituti et falsi cultus ab hominibus instituti, etc. Intra has metas coercendæ sunt cogitationes, et frenanda est curiositas, et prorsus fugiendæ sunt illæ pestes, ostentatio argutiorum, sophistomania et amor contentionis;” Melanchthon, on 1Ti_6:3.
3. The warning of the Apostle against avarice recalls the impressive words of the Lord, especially in the parable, Luk_12:15-21. Compare also with this the excellent sermon of Ad. Monod, L’ami de l’argent, Paris, 1843; handled in part like the essay of Harris, “Mammon, or Covetousness the Sin of the Church.” It is clear, from Php_4:11-13, how far Paul himself had advanced in the art of the Christian αὐτάρκεια.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Christianity and slavery.—The love of freedom, and the service of love.—Woe to him through whom the offence cometh (Mat_18:7).—The Christian and the unchristian communism.—The old heresies in many respects types of the new.—Arrogance and ignorance go commonly hand in hand.
1Ti_6:3-5. Heresy: (1) Its characteristics; (2) its sources; (3) its results.—Error, the caricature of truth.—The connection of godliness and contentment. Godliness (1) makes content; (2) brings great gain.—Three motives to contentment: (1) We really possess nothing (1Ti_6:7); (2) we really need nothing (1Ti_6:8); (3) we become poorer in happiness the richer we become in worldly things (1Ti_6:9-10).—Avarice a root of all evil: (1) As every cardinal sin; (2) more than any other cardinal sins.—Avarice the most utter egoism, in its diametrical hostility to the gospel of love.—The many examples from sacred and secular history which confirm the power of avarice.—The friend of Mammon his own enemy.
Starke: Anton: Man is inclined to leap beyond his sphere; but such aims are unwise (Rom_12:16; Sir_3:19).—Spiritual brotherhood overturns no civil organization (Mat_16:24).—The false men of the world think religion harmful. Nay, it is great gain. But the enemy knows how to blind them (Rom_13:1, et seq.)—Lange’s Opus: A false, seducing doctrine and a corrupt spirit always go together, specially in perverted teachers. For as they are unenlightened, understanding and will are both evil (1Ti_6:4).—Cramer: The devil has no more direct way of doing injury to the Church, than to become a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets (1Ki_22:22). He begins with insolence; then come strife of words, hate, slander, envy, and one misfortune on another, so that an incurable injury is brought upon the Church of God (Psa_133:1).—Starke: Whoever is godly, hath God; whoso hath God, hath all good.—Unhappy miser, restless with his heap, and never owning enough!—Nothing can more humble man, and help him to renounce the vanity of the world, than when he reflects aright on his entrance into, and his exit from the world (Job_1:21). We need food and covering for the body; God has promised both, if we do His will; yet He has not promised luxury. Let those who have that, be grateful, and all others contented (Gen_28:20).—Osiander: The avaricious man wants what he has, as well as what he has not.—Avarice is an evil mother, and has many hateful daughters.—Avarice can as little coexist with faith, as can any other ruling vices.—Avarice is fearful, not only because the Divine condemnation rests on it (1Co_5:11; Eph_5:5; Col_3:5), but because no vice so masters the soul, and keeps it from conversion.
Heubner: Pastors should not neglect to look specially after servants.—Meditation on death is a safeguard against avarice.—The Christian limitation of our wants.—Discontent is a source of discouragement.—Avarice is already a lapse from Christianity. The avaricious is his own tormentor.
Lisco (1Ti_6:1-2): How Christian liberty proves itself the true, by obedience (1Ti_6:3; 1Ti_6:10).—Godliness: (1) In relation to false doctrines; (2) to worldly goods.—The incompatibility of avarice with godliness.—The wealth of the godly spirit.—K. J. Klemm: The great prize of the Christian.—Gerok: A contented spirit great gain: (1) Shields us from the snares of the devil; (2) teaches us to strive after heavenly wealth; (3) gladdens the brief time of life; (4) prepares us to die.—Marezoll: Encouragement and aid to contentment.—Dietzsch: How incalculable a good is contentment in regard of our worldly possessions.
Von Gerlach (1Ti_6:5): The gospel casts a wondrous light, to warm and illuminate man; but if it fail through his own sin, then that light thrown back from him flings its rays on the world, and dazzles him with deceitful images, till he loses at last the trace of truth, although he eagerly follows after its shadows. Sin remains undestroyed in his heart, and fleshly desires take advantage of the confusion. Such were the heretics of old, and such the Gnostics of all time.
[Pascal, Penseés, i., p. 1 Timothy 6 : The discontent of man.—Our desires flatter us with the image of a happy condition, because they add to what we have, the pleasures we have not; but when we reach these, we are no happier, for we then have still new desires for a happiness beyond them.
Dr. South, Sermons: Godliness is gain. “To exhort men to be religious, is only, in other words, to exhort them to pleasure—a pleasure high, rational, and angelical, with no sting, no loathing, no remorses, or bitter farewells; neither liable to accident, nor exposed to injury. And when age itself shall begin to remind us of mortality, yet then the pleasure of the mind shall be in its full youth, vigor, and freshness. A palsy may as well shake an oak, or a fever dry up a fountain, as shake or impair the delight of conscience. For it lies within; it centres in the heart; it grows into the very substance of the soul, so that a man never outlives it; and for this cause, because he cannot outlive himself.”—W.]
Footnotes:
[1]1Ti_6:2.—[The words ὅτι ἀδελφοί εἰσιν are wanting in the Sinaiticus.—E. H.]
[2]1Ti_6:3.—[The Sinaiticus, in contrast with the other witnesses, has προςέχεται.—E. H.]
[3]1Ti_6:5.—[Instead of the received reading, all the authorities have διαπαρατριβαί.—E. H.]
[4]1Ti_6:5.—According to A. D. F. G., and others, these words are to be regarded as a spurious addition, and are consequently left out by Tischendorf. They are not in the Sinaiticus [nor in Lachmann.—E. H.].
[5]1Ti_6:7.—[δῆλον: no competent authority for this word, although retained by Tischendorf. It is omitted by Lachmann; nor is it in the Sinaiticus.—E. H.]
[6][On the relation of Paul to slavery, comp. also the remarks of the Am. Ed. in Com. on Ep. to Philemon.—P. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–21 And--rather, "But." The opposition is between those Christian slaves…
And--rather, "But." The opposition is between those Christian slaves under the yoke of heathen, and those that have believing masters (he does not use the phrase "under the yoke" in the latter case, for service under believers is not a yoke). Connect the following words thus, "Let them (the slaves) not, because they (the masters) are brethren (and so equals, masters and slaves alike being Christians), despise them (the masters)."
but rather, &c.--"but all the more (so much the more: with the greater good will) do them service because they (the masters) are faithful (that is, believers) and beloved who receive (in the mutual interchange of relative duties between master and servant; so the Greek) the benefit" (English Version violates Greek grammar). This latter clause is parallel to, "because they are brethren"; which proves that "they" refers to the masters, not the servants, as TITTMANN takes it, explaining the verb in the common sense (Luk 1:54; Act 20:35), "who sedulously labor for their (masters') benefit." The very term "benefit" delicately implies service done with the right motive, Christian "good will" (Eph 6:7). If the common sense of the Greek verb be urged, the sense must be, "Because they (the masters) are faithful and beloved who are sedulously intent on the benefiting" of their servants. But PORPHYRY [On Abstinence, 1.46] justifies the sense of the Greek verb given above, which also better accords with the context; for otherwise, the article "the," will have nothing in the preceding words to explain it, whereas in my explanation above "the benefit" will be that of the slaves' service.
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These things teach-- (Ti1 4:11; Tit 2:15).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–20 c. To servants, 1Ti_6:1-2, and to mercenary counter-teachers, 1Ti_6:3-10.
c. To servants, 1Ti_6:1-2, and to mercenary counter-teachers, 1Ti_6:3-10.
1. Servants—For the New Testament meaning of the Greek word see our note on Luk_7:2.
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Under the yoke—The servile yoke is a Greek phrase as old as Herodotus. Here it is used to characterize unmitigated Roman slavery, as described in our note on Luk_7:2, and as it stands in contrast under the believing masters.
Own—Respectively.
All the honour—Required by the existing law of the relation.
That… not blasphemed—The duty is not based on the rightfulness of the relation, but upon the disorder and reproach incurred from heathendom upon Christianity if the relation were enjoined to be summarily broken up by the servants. See Tit_2:10.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–21 1. as many servants as are under the yoke]…
1. as many servants as are under the yoke] The position of the Greek words and their meaning are against this rendering. There would be no servants (slaves) who would not be ‘under the yoke;’ but since they were in actual position ‘under bondage’ as slaves, let them recognise facts. Render with R.V. as many as are bondservants under the yoke. ‘The yoke of slavery’ is applied metaphorically, Gal_5:1, to the old legal dispensation. The use of the word is derived from the old custom of making prisoners of war pass under a ‘yoke’ formed of a spear laid crosswise on two upright spears, to denote the yoke of slavery being laid upon them. The reference in Christ’s words, Mat_11:29, ‘take my yoke’ is rather to the yoke coupling cattle for drawing.
their own masters] The adjective here rendered ‘their own’ is in N.T. ‘used instead of a personal pronoun by the same kind of misuse as when in later Latin proprius takes the place of eius or suus;’ Winer, § 22, 7. As Alford on Eph_5:22 says, it serves ‘to intensify the relationship and enforce its duties.’ We have sixteen instances of the use in these Epistles, e.g. Tit_2:9.
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his doctrine] Again the special teaching of the Christian religion, which would be ‘evil spoken of’ by being supposed to teach a subversive socialism.
1, 2. Timothy’s duties in regard to slaves
The last of the four sections of special charge (commenced in the previous chapter) is Timothy’s attitude towards Christian slaves. The position taken by Christ and His apostles in regard to slavery and the whole ‘social order’ of the world is well known. The existing basis of society with its relationships was recognised; while the eternal principles of Christian equality and love were boldly proclaimed, and trusted, as the true solvents of all that was amiss between man and man in God’s own time and His own patient way of working both for the material and spiritual world.
The present teaching of St Paul, an echo of similar exhortations (Eph_6:5; Col_3:22), is in entire harmony with the Divine wisdom of the Master’s oracle ‘Render unto Cæsar the things which be Cæsar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.’ Nothing is more wonderful in the life of Christianity than the slow gradual establishment of women’s position in the family, and of social and civil freedom in the state, in accordance with the seed-principles of Christ’s law; unless it be watching the same growth (hardly yet more than infantile), in the wider sphere of international brotherhood and the signs of a ‘Christian conscience’ stirring in the intercourse of state with state. See Appendix, J.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–21 (1) Let as many servants as are under the…
VI.
(1) Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour.—From questions connected with the presbyters and others among the recognised ministers and officials of the church, St. Paul passes on to consider certain difficulties connected with a large and important section of the congregations to whom these presbyters were in the habit of ministering—the Christian slaves.
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It was perhaps the most perplexing of all the questions Christianity had to face—this one of slavery. It entered into all grades and ranks. It was common to all peoples and nations. The very fabric of society seemed knit and bound together by this miserable institution. War and commerce were equally responsible for slavery in the Old World. To attempt to uproot it—to preach against it—to represent it in public teaching as hateful to God, shameful to man—would have been to preach and to teach rebellion and revolution in its darkest and most violent form. It was indeed the curse of the world; but the Master and His chosen servants took their own course and their own time to clear it away. Jesus Christ and His disciples, such as St. Paul and St. John, left society as they found it, uprooting no ancient landmarks, alarming no ancient prejudices, content to live in the world as it was, and to do its work as they found it—trusting, by a new and lovely example, slowly and surely to raise men to a higher level, knowing well that at last, by force of unselfishness, loving self-denial, brave patience, the old curses—such as slavery—would be driven from the world. Surely the result, so far, has not disappointed the hopes of the first teachers of Christianity.
This curse at least is disappearing fast from the face of the globe. St. Paul here is addressing, in the first place, Christian slaves of a Pagan master. Let these, if they love the Lord and would do honour to His holy teaching, in their relations to their earthly masters not presume upon their new knowledge, that with the Master in Heaven “there was no respect of persons;” that “in Jesus Christ there was neither bond nor free, for all were one in Christ.” Let these not dream for an instant that Christianity was to interfere with the existing social relations, and to put master and slave on an equality on earth. Let these, by their conduct to unbelieving masters, paying them all loving respect and honour, show how the new religion was teaching them to live.
That the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.—There would indeed be a grave danger of this, if the many Christian slaves, instead of showing increased zeal for their masters’ service, should, as the result of the teaching of the new society they had joined, become morose, impatient of servitude, rebellious. Very soon in Pagan society would the name of that Redeemer they professed to love, and the beautiful doctrines He had preached, be evil spoken of, if the teaching were for one moment suspected of inculcating discontent or suggesting rebellion. An act, or course of acting, on the part of professed servants of God which gives occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, is ever reckoned in Holy Scripture as a sin of the deepest dye. Compare Nathan’s words to King David (2Sa_12:14) and St. Paul’s reproach to the Jews (Rom_2:24).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–21 Are servants for servants as are, A.V; the doctrine…
Are servants for servants as are, A.V; the doctrine for his doctrine, A.V Servants; literally, slaves. That slaves formed a considerable portion of the first Christian Churches may be inferred from the frequency with which their duties are pressed upon them (see 1Co_7:21-22 1Co_12:13; Eph_6:5-8; Col_3:11, Col_3:22; tai); 1Pe_2:18 (oiJ oijke). (see also 1Co_1:27-29) It must have been an unspeakable comfort to the poor slave, whose worldly condition was hopeless and often miserable, to secure his place as one of Christ"s freemen, with the sure hope of attaining "the glorious liberty of the children of God." Under the yoke; i.e. "the yoke of bondage". (Gal_5:1) Perhaps the phrase contains a touch of compassion for their state. (comp. Act_15:10) How beautiful is the contrast suggestedtav); Mat_11:29, 30! Masters (despo) the proper word in relation to doulov. The doctrine (hJ didaskalia); equivalent to "Christianity," as taught by the apostles and their successors (see the frequent use of the word in the pastoral Epistles, though with different shades of meaning (1Ti_1:10 1Ti_4:6, 1Ti_4:13, 16 5:17; 2Ti_3:10 2Ti_4:3; Tit_1:9 Tit_2:10, etc.) Blasphemed (compare the similar passage,gov Tit_2:5, where oJ lo tou Qeou answers to hJ didaskalia here). Blasfhmein does not necessarily mean "blaspheme" in its restricted sense, but as often means "to speak evil of," "to defame," and the like. If Christian slaves withheld the honor and respect due to their masters, it would be as sure to bring reproach upon the Christian doctrine as if it taught insubordination and rebellion.
HOMILETICS.
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Vers. 1, 2.
The doctrine of God.
Slaves, led doubtless by the miseries of their condition to seek the ennobling, comforting privileges of the gospel, formed a considerable portion of the first congregations of disciples. (see the names in Romans 1Co_1:27, 1Co_1:25; Eph_6:5-8; Col_3:22-25; Tit_2:9; Phm_1:10, 16 1Pe_2:18, etc.) Hence so many exhortations addressed specially to them. In nothing, perhaps, does the Divine excellency of the gospel show itself more strikingly than in the adaptation of its precepts to such different classes of society, and in the wise moderation with which it met the social evils of life. The subjects of a Nero are bid to honor the king, the slave is told to count his master worthy of all honor; and the motive for this self-denying moderation is the paramount desire not to bring any reproach upon the gospel of Christ. The world shall not be able to say that Christianity is a breeder of confusion, or that the peaceable order of society is endangered by the fanaticism of the servants of Christ. And yet the manly self-respect of the slave is wonderfully increased by being reminded that he is the servant of Christ; or, again, by the thought of his spiritual freedom as a child of God; or, again, by his brotherhood with his master and partnership with him in the faith and love of the gospel of Christ. He has before him a career as noble and as dignified as his master, though that master were Caesar himself. And while he patiently submits to the peculiar trials of his bodily condition, he is transported into a region where bodily distinctions are of no account where the petty differences of rich and poor, bond and free, areswallowed up, and melt away, before the common glory of the children of God and the common privileges of Christian fellowship. And yet all the while he maintains the respect and obedience of the slave to the master. Truly the doctrine of God is a wise, an excellent, and a worthy doctrine, and carries with it its own credentials, that it is from God.
HOMILIES BY T. CROSKERY. Ver. 1.
The duties of slaves to unbelieving masters.
The apostle next proceeds to deal with the distinctions of civil duty, and takes up the case of a very numerous But miserable class which appears to have been largely attracted to the gospel in primitive times.
I THE HONOR DUE TO PAGAN MASTERS. "Whoever are under the yoke as bondservants, let them reckon their own masters worthy of all honor.
1. The condition of the slaves was one of much hardship. There was practically no limit to the power of the masters over the slaves. They might be gentle and just, or capricious and cruel. The slaves had no remedy at law against harsh treatment, as they had no hope of escape from bondage.
2. Yet their liberty had not been so restricted that they had not the opportunity of hearing the gospel. There were Christian slaves. Their hard life was ameliorated, not merely by the blessed hopes of the gospel, but by the privilege of spiritual equality with their masters which was one of its distinguishing glories.
3. The gospel did not interfere with the duty of obedience which they owed to their masters. They were to give them all honor not merely outward subjection, but inward respect. Christianity did not undertake to overturn social relations. If it had done so, it would have been revolutionary in the last degree; it would have armed the whole forces of the Roman empire against it; it would itself have been drowned in blood; and it would have led to the merciless slaughter of the slaves themselves. Yet Christianity prepared the way from the very first for the complete abolition of slavery. The fact that with the great Master in heaven "there was no respect of persons," and that "in Jesus Christ there was neither bond nor free, but all were one in Christ," would not justify the slaves in repudiating their present subjection, while it held out the hope of their eventual emancipation. They must not, therefore, abuse their liberty under the gospel.
4. Yet there was a limit to the slaves obedience. He could only obey his master so far as was consistent with the laws of God and his gospel, consenting to suffer rather than outrage his conscience. Cases of this sort might arise, but they would not prejudice the gospel, like a simple revolt against existing relationships.
II THE REASON FOR THE DUE HONOR GIVEN TO THEIR PAGAN MASTERS. "That the Name of God and his doctrine may not be blasphemed.
1. There would be a serious danger of such a result if slaves were either to withhold due service to their masters or to repudiate all subjection. God and his doctrine would be dishonored in the eyes of their masters, because they would be regarded as sanctioning insubordination. Thus a deep and widespread prejudice would arise to prevent the gospel reaching their pagan masters.
2. It is thus possible for the meanest members of the Church to do honor to God and the gospel. The apostle contemplates their adorning "of the doctrine of God our Savior in all things". (Tit_2:10)
3. The same considerations apply to the case of domestic servants in our own day. The term translated here "slaves" is used with some latitude in the Scripture. It applies sometimes to persons entirely free, as to David in relation to Saul, (1Sa_19:4) to Christians generally, (1Pe_2:16) to apostles, prophets, and ministers, (2Ti_2:24) and to the higher class of dependents Mat_18:23 Mat_21:3-40. Thus the term implies a relation of dependence without legal compulsion. Christian servants must yield a willing and cheerful service that they may thus honor the gospel. T.C.
HOMILIES BY R. FINLAYSON Vers. 1-10.
Slaves and heretics.
I DUTIES OF CHRISTIAN SLAVES.
1. Toward unbelieving masters. "Let as many as are servants under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the Name of God and the doctrine be not blasphemed." Paul had to legislate for a social condition which was, to a considerable extent, different from ours. In the early Christian Churches there were not a few whose social condition was that of slaves. They are pointed to here as being under the yoke as servants. To service there was added the oppressive circumstance of being under the yoke. That is, they were like cattle with the yoke on them having no rights, any more than cattle, to bestow their labor where they liked, but only where their masters liked. It was a degradation of human beings, for which no apology could be made. Under Christianity the eyes of Christian slaves could not be altogether closed to the flagrant injustice inflicted on them. They would also see that, in this sonship and heirship of glory, they were really exalted above unbelieving masters. It would have been easy, with such materials, to have inflamed their minds against their masters. But Paul, as a wise legislator, understood better the obligations of Christianity. No inflammatory word does he address to them; he tells them, not of rights, but of duties. Their masters, notwithstanding their being identified with injustice, were still their own masters, i.e. men to whom in the providence of God they were subordinated. Let them be counted worthy of all honor, even as he has already said that the presbyters, or ecclesiastical rulers, are to be counted worthy of honor. And we need not wonder at this; for still, at the basis of things, they are the representatives of Divine authority. As such and who are wholly entitled to be called worthy representatives? let them be counted worthy of all proper honor. Let them be treated thus, that the Name of God and the doctrine be not blasphemed. There was involved in their conduct the Name of God, i.e. of the true God, as distinguished from the false gods which their masters worshipped. There was also involved the teaching, i.e. what Christianity taught about things. If they were insubordinate, both would be evil spoken of. The heathen masters would think of Christianity as upturning the fundamental relations of things. We are apt to forget how much the Divine honor is involved in our conduct. We should give such a living representation of our religion as will give none occasion to blaspheme.
2. Toward believing masters. "And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but let them serve them the rather, because they that partake of the benefit are believing and beloved." Men might be despotic masters, holders of slaves, and yet be Christians, their conscience not being educated upon that point. It was not said to them that they were to go and liberate their slaves. It was better that they should receive the essence of Christianity without their prejudices being raised on that point; correction on it, from the working of Christian influences, was sure to follow, with a slowness, however, that might leave many unenlightened of that generation of them. It seems to be implied that, though unenlightened, they gave their slaves Christian treatment, i.e. treated them as not under the yoke, in the avoidance of harshness and unreasonable exactions often associated with the yoke. This was rightly to be interpreted as a homage rendered to brotherhood in Christ. But let not slaves be led into a mistaken interpretation of brotherhood. It did not mean that respect was no longer due to their masters. The earthly relation, though not so deep as the new relation in Christ, still stood, as giving form to duty. Let them not despise them, i.e. refuse the respect due to superiors. And, instead of giving them less service, let it be the other way. Give more service, because they that get the benefit of it are of the same faith, and beloved as masters that have learned front Christ the law of kindness. Emphasizing what has been said. "These things teach and exhort." There was to be both direction and enforcement.
II HERETICS.
1. Standard in relation to which they are heretics. "If any man teacheth a different doctrine, and consenteth not to sound words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness." The other doctrine is that which departs from the standard. This is contained in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Truth, and has the right to rule all minds. There is a healthy vigor in his words, not the sickliness that there was in the words of the heretical teachers. The doctrine contained in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ is that which is according to godliness. There is grounded in our nature, apart from all teachings, a certain religiosity . That is, we are made to have certain states of our soul toward God, such as reverence. As we cherish these states we are pious, godly. What our Lord taught was in accordance with the norm of godliness in our original constitution, and was fitted to effect godliness as a result. The condemnation of the heretics was, that in not consenting to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ they were going away to doctrines which were not fitted to promote piety.
2. Moral characterization.
(1) From the inflatedness of ignorance. "He is puffed up, knowing nothing." It is only in Christ that we have the right point of view. If, therefore, we are not taught by him, we know nothing aright. Those who have true knowledge are humbled under a sense of what they do not know. The heretics who had not even a smattering of true knowledge were puffed up with conceit of the multitude of things which they knew.
(2) From the morbidness of sophistry. "But doting about questionings and disputes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, wranglings of men corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth." Not consenting to sound words, they have diseased action. That in which they show themselves diseased is in busying themselves, not, like Christian inquirers, around realities, but, like the sophists with whom Socrates had to do, around questionings which become disputes of words. This disease of hair-splitting is attended with various evil consequences: envy toward those who evince superior skill, strife with those who will not admit the value of the distinctions, railings where there is not reason, evil surmisings where there is not charity, and frequent and more bitter collisions where the truth, not honestly dealt with, is forcibly taken away.
3. The special obnoxiousness of their teaching.
(1) This was in asserting that godliness was a way of gain. "Supposing that godliness is a way of gain." This was evidently a stratagem on the part of the heretics. Suspected of a worldliness that was unbecoming their religious pretensions, they got over it by taking up the position that godliness was a gainful trade. They appealed to men to be religious for the sake of the worldly gain it would bring to them. It can be seen that the apostle regards the heretical maxim with contempt. It is a maxim from which many act who would not like to admit it in words. They keep up religious appearances, not because they have any love for religion, but because it would be damaging to them to appear irreligious.
(2) Godliness is a way of gain if associated with contentment. "But godliness with contentment is great gain." "Elegantly, and not without ironical correction to a sense that is contrary, he gives a new turn to the same words" (Calvin). Godliness (what we have in relation to God) is great gain; but its gain lies in its producing a contented mind (in relation to ourselves). Where a man is contented it is as though he owned the whole world.
(3) Reasons for contentment. Our natural bareness. "For we brought nothing into the world, for neither can we carry anything out." The same thought is expressed in Job_1:21 and in Ecc_5:15. Viewed at two points we are absolutely poor. There was a time when earthly good was not ours, and there will come a time when it will cease to be ours. We are not, then, to make an essential of what only pertains to our earthly state. We can do with little. But having food and covering we shall be therewith content." Something added to our bare natural condition we need while we are in this world, and it will not be wanting; but it does not need to be much. Food and covering, these will suffice for us. We can do with less than we imagine. Shakespeare tells us that
The poorest man Is in the poorest thing superfluous, Demands for nature more than nature claims.
"The wreck of our present day is that no one knows how to live upon little; the great men of antiquity were generally poor. The retrenchment of useless expenditure, the laying aside of what one may call the relatively necessary, is the high-road to Christian disentanglement of heart, just as it was to that of ancient vigor. A great soul in a small house is the idea which has always touched me more than any other" (Lacordaire). The sad result of the opposite state. "But they that desire to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition." By them that desire to be rich we are to understand those who, instead of being contented with what they can enjoy with God"s blessing and what they can use for God"s glory, make riches their object in life. They fall into a state of mind that is seductive and fettering. And this unnatural craving for possession does not stand alone, but has many affiliated lusts, such as love for display, love for worldly company, love for the pleasures of the table. Of these no rational account can be given, and they are hurtful even to the extent of drowning men in misery, expressed by two very strong words destruction and perdition. Confirmation of the last reason. Proverbial saying. "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." The proverb is intended to have a certain startling nature. Desire of money is not certainly the only root of evils, but it is conspicuously the root of evils. We need only think of the lies, thefts, oppressions, jealousies, murders, wars, lawsuits, sensuality, prayerlessness, that have been caused by it. The victims. "Which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows." The apostle thinks of the ravages wrought on some he knew. Within the Christian circle, they unlawfully reached after gain. This led to their wandering from the faith, and to their being pierced through, as with a sword, with many sorrows; bitter reflections on the past, disappointment with what they had obtained, apprehensions of the future. These he would point to as beacons, warning off the rock of avarice. R.F.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20 Servants as are under the yoke.
1Ti_6:1-2
Servants as are under the yoke.
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Under the yoke
The phrase under the yoke fitly expresses the pitiable condition of slaves, to whom Paul here addresses himself. Of all the hideous iniquities which have cried to heaven for redress, slavery, which places a man in such a position to his fellow, is one of the worst. It is as pernicious to the owner as it is to the slave. Dr. Thomson has well said, It darkens and depraves the intellect; it paralyzes the hand of industry; it is the nourisher of agonizing fears and of sullen revenge; it crushes the spirit of the bold; it is the tempter, the murderer, and the tomb of virtue; and either blasts the felicity of those over whom it domineers, or forces them to seek for relief from their sorrows in the gratifications and the mirth and the madness of the passing hour. In the days of our Lord and of His apostles, slavery was a time-honoured and widely ramified institution. It was recognized in the laws as well as in the usages of the empire. So numerous were those under the yoke, that Gibbon, taking the empire as a whole, considers it a moderate computation to set down the number of slaves as equal to the number of freemen. In Palestine the proportion would probably be less, but in Rome and other great cities the proportion would be far greater. Christianity, with its proclamation of equality and brotherhood, came face to face with this gigantic system of legalized property in human flesh, and we want to know how the gospel dealt with it.
I. Let us first see what Christianity did not do for the slaves. That the followers of Him who cared most for the poor and needy, and who longed to break every yoke, pitied these slaves in their abject and humiliating condition, goes without saying. But they certainly did not urge the slaves to escape, or to rebel, nor did they make it an absolute necessity to church membership that a slave-owner should set all his slaves free. We may be quite sure that such a man as Paul would not be insensible to the evils of slavery, and further, that it was not from any deficiency in moral courage that he did not urge manumission; but told some slaves to remain in the condition in which they were, and, by Gods help, to triumph over the difficulties and sorrows peculiar to their lot. Strange as this may seem at first sight, was it not wise? Did it not prove in the long-run by far the best thing for the slaves themselves, leading to a more complete extirpation of slavery than if more drastic methods had been tried at first?
II. Let us see, then, what Christianity did for the slaves.
1. It taught masters their responsibilities.
2. It inculcated on the slaves a course of conduct which would often lead to their legal freedom. Under Roman law, liberty was held out as an encouragement to slaves to be honest, industrious, sober, and loyal; and, therefore, any Christian slave who obeyed the laws of Christ would be on the high road to emancipation. Liberty thus won by character was a better thing than liberty won by force or by fraud, and was more accordant with the genius of Christianity.
3. It gave dignity to those who had been despised and who had despised themselves. The work, which had once been a drudgery, became a sacred service; and this your toil and mine may surely be.
4. But, besides all this, Christianity laid down principles which necessitated the ultimate destruction of slavery. It taught that all men had a common origin; that God had made of one blood all nations; and that men of every class were to join together in the wonderful prayer, Our Father which art in heaven. Learn, then, to trust to principles rather than to organization. Let life be more to you than law, and change of life more than change of law. Care for character first, believing that circumstance will care for itself. And, finally, in conflict with evils deep and wide-spread as ancient slavery, be patient, and have unwavering faith in the God of righteousness and love. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)
The slave winning his master for Christ
Many a heathen master was rebuked amid his career of profligacy by the saintly lives of Christian slaves, who had given themselves up to the Lord of purity; and probably the hearts of many were touched through the prayers of those they had despised. We have read of a negress in the Southern States who was caught praying by her master, and cruelly beaten for her pains. Stripped and tied fast to the post, as the blood stained whip ceased for a moment to fall on the quivering flesh, she was asked if she would give over praying. No, massa, never! was the answer; I will serve you, but I must serve God. Again the lashes rained down on her bleeding back; but when once mere they ceased, the voice of the follower of Jesus was heard praying, O Lord, forgive poor massa, and bless him. Suddenly the whip fell from his hand; stricken with the finger of God, he broke down in penitence. Then and there the prayer was answered--the godless master was saved through the faithfulness of the slave he had despised. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)
The power of custom to conceal si
n:--But we must not overlook the insidious and powerful influence of custom, which makes a sin so familiar that we do not trouble to investigate
2. We deal with it as a sentinel does with one he has allowed to pass without challenge--he thinks it all right, and lets him pass again and again, until at last he is horrified to find he has been giving admission to a foe. John Newton, for example, after his conversion (which was as genuine as it was remarkable), carried on for years the inhuman traffic of slavery, and felt his conscience at rest so long as he did what he could for the bodily comfort of the slaves. He was quite insensible to the sinfulness of slavery until it pleased God to open his eyes, which had been blinded by custom. And, at the close of last century, an American gentleman left a plantation well stocked with slaves to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and was evidently unconscious of any inconsistency. It is not to be won dered at that, in the early days of Christianity, disciples of Jesus were similarly deceived. Instead of condemning them, let us ask ourselves whether custom is not blinding us to other sins. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)
That the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed.--
The imperfections of Christians exaggerated by the enemies of Christianity
It is objected to Christianity, which in my text may be considered as meant by the name and doctrine of God, that many of those who profess to be regulated by its spirit and laws, instead of being better, are often much worse than other men; that, pretending to adhere to it as a System of truth and righteousness, they yet frequently neglect or violate the duties of those relations and conditions in which they are placed; that servants, for example, as here particularly alluded to by the apostle, bearing the name of Jesus, do, notwithstanding, act unfaithfully and disobediently; that the same remark is applicable to individuals of every other class and station in civil society; and that even some of the ministers of the gospel, who have studied it most, and should know it best, are themselves grievously addicted to the follies and vices of the world.
1. In the first place, then, the persons by whom the objection is adduced, seem, in many cases, to be influenced by a determination to censure, with or without reason, the conduct of Christs professed followers. Whatever aspect we put on, and whatever deportment we maintain, they must discover, or imagine, something which they may use as a pretext for personal reproach, and which they may ultimately level against the doctrine or principles that we hold. If we are grave, they accuse us of being morose and gloomy. If we are cheerful, then we are light and joyous spirits, having as little seriousness and as much wantonness as themselves.
2. We remark, in the second place, that the fact which gives rise to the objection we are considering is not unfrequently exaggerated by the fault of an individual being transferred and imputed to the whole class to which he belongs. The ultimate aim is to bring Christianity into disrepute--to blaspheme the name and the doctrine of God; and in order to accomplish what is thus intended, the aberrations of every individual Christian are spoken of as descriptive of all who have embraced the religion of Jesus, and as a sort of universal and necessary accompaniment to the faith and character of His disciples.
3. It may be observed, in the third place, that the fact of which we are speaking is often exaggerated, by considering one part of the Christians conduct as a test of his whole character. The splendour of their virtues is obscured by an individual spot, which malice or misconception has magnified far beyond its real size. And their character is appreciated, not by the tone of their principles, in connection with the habitual tenor of their conduct, but by a single vicious action, of which their mind is utterly abhorrent, which they bewail with unfeigned sorrow, and which a candid eye would trace to those imperfections of the heart, and those infelicities of condition, which adhere to humanity in its best estate. The unmanly equivocation of Abraham, the aggravated crime of David, and the unhappy strife between Paul and Barnabas, are held out as the characteristic features of these eminent persons; that faith, and piety, and humility, and zeal for the glory of God and the best interests of mankind, by which they were severally distinguished, go for nothing in the estimate that is formed.
4. In the fourth place, the fact by which unbelievers are furnished with the objection we refer to, is frequently amplified by a too rigid comparison of the Christians conduct with the religion in which he professes to believe. Now, it would be fair enough to judge us by the standard to which we appeal, if they would take care at the same time to apply it under the direction of those rules, which the very nature and circumstances of the case require to be observed in such an important trial. They forget that the morality of the gospel must be perfect, because it is prescribed by a perfect Being, and that, had it been otherwise, they would very soon have discovered it to be unworthy of its alleged author. They forget that moral imperfection is an attribute of our fallen nature, and must therefore mingle in all our attempts to comply with the Divine will, and to imitate the Divine character.
Conclusion:
1. And, in the first place, let it not be thought that we mean to plead for any undue or unlawful indulgence to the disciples of Jesus.
2. In the second place, let Christians beware of encouraging unbelieving and ungodly men in this mode of misjudging and misrepresenting character.
3. Lastly, let us scrupulously abstain in our own conduct from everything of which advantage may be taken, for that unhallowed purpose. (A. Thomson, D. D.)
The imperfections of Christian, no argument against Christianity
Men may reject what is true, and disobey legal authority; that is what they do every day. But such rejection and disobedience neither alter the nature of that truth, nor destroy the legitimacy of that authority. In the same way the Christian religion, being established on grounds which have the sanction of God to support them, cannot be deprived of its claims to our submissive regard, because those who profess to believe in it do not act uniformly as it requires. Let God be true, and every man a liar. The objection must suppose that the wickedness of professing Christians arises either from Christianity being directly immoral in its influence, or from its being deficient in power to make its votaries holy. Now, that its influence is far from being directly immoral will be granted, without hesitation, by every one who is at all acquainted with its spirit and its principles. It has a character so completely opposite to this, that it is commonly accused by its enemies of being severely and unnecessarily strict, inasmuch as it requires us to conform ourselves to a perfect law, and to imitate a perfect example. The objection, therefore, must owe its force to the other alternative that was stated. It must suppose that Christianity is deficient in power, or not properly calculated to make its votaries holy. Wherein, then, does its alleged deficiency consist? In what respect is it naturally inefficacious for making men virtuous and good? Is it defective in the plainness and energy of its precepts? Nothing can be plainer, or more forcible, than the manner in which it proposes its rules for the regulation of our conduct. Again, is Christianity defective in the extent of its morality? Its morality could not be more extensive than it actually is. There is no vice which it does not prohibit; there is no virtue which it does not enjoin. Is it defective in the principles on which its morality is founded? That might be affirmed, if it inculcated the principle of fictitious honour, which this moment stimulates to noble deeds, and the next gives its countenance to boundless dissipation and bloody revenge, or the principle of sentimental feeling. But the principles of Christian morality are of a quite different and infinitely more perfect kind, and fitted, by their natural and unfettered operation, to form a character of unblemished and superlative worth. Profound regard for the authority of Him who made us, whose subjects we now are, to whom we are finally accountable, and who possesses the most sacred and unquestionable title to our unreserved homage; firm and lively faith in the existence and perfections of God; supreme love and ardent gratitude to that Being who is infinitely amiable in Himself, and whose unbounded mercy in Christ Jesus has laid us under obligations to obedience the most cheerful and devoted; a heartfelt reliance upon that sacrifice of Himself by which the Son of God redeemed sinners from the guilt and the dominion of sin, and, by the influences of His Holy Spirit, extends as far as the habitations of men are found, elevates us above the sordid wish of living to ourselves, and consists in so loving each other as Christ has loved us. Is Christianity defective, then, in the sanctions with which its laws are enforced? These sanctions are fitted to awe the stoutest, and to animate the coldest heart. Is it defective in the encouragements which it gives to virtuous exertions? What encouragements greater than these: an assurance that the eye of God is ever upon the righteous, and His ear open to their cry. Is it defective, I ask, in the last place, in the external means which it prescribes for promoting the spiritual improvement of the Christian? Here, also, it is wholly unexceptional. It puts into his hands a volume, which is given by inspiration, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction ill righteousness, that as a man of God he may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. It consecrates one day in seven to rest from ordinary labour, to give him a special opportunity of examining his heart, and of providing an additional store of knowledge and wisdom for his guidance in future. In all the views now taken of the moral influence of the gospel, it evidently appears that no defect whatever can be ascribed to it in that particular. On the contrary, it seems perfectly calculated, by the qualities we have found it to possess, to purify, in an extraordinary measure, the heart and the character of its adherents. (A. Thomson, D. D.)
The imperfections of Christians no argument against Christianity
The argument is not complete till we have considered the effects which Christianity has produced on the moral character of its adherents.
1. Let it be considered what a multitude of excellent characters have been formed by the influence of the gospel. From its first establishment down to the present day, every successive age has had a number of individuals and of families by whom its sanctifying power has been deeply felt and practically exhibited. On looking into the history of its progress and effects, we observe that it no sooner obtained a footing, than it began to change the moral aspect of society, wherever, at least, the profession of it prevailed.
2. But the holy tendency of the gospel is obvious, not only from its powerful effect on those who have truly believed its Divine origin, and given a candid reception to its doctrines; the same thing may be seen in the improved moral condition of those also who have either given a mere speculative assent to it, or who are acquainted only with its tenets and precepts, or who live merely in countries where it is professed. The history of the gospel furnishes us with a detail of interesting and incontrovertible facts, which demonstrate that Christianity has neither been useless nor detrimental as a moral system: that it has maintained an influence peculiar to itself over the sentiments and manners of mankind; and that this influence has been at once powerful, important, and extensive.
3. It is not enough, however, to state that there are many who show in their conduct the holy tendency and sanctifying power of Christianity; that there are, and have been, multitudes of Christians who have adorned their religion by the exercise of every virtue; it is proper to state, in addition to this, the contrast which their present conduct exhibits to their former conduct, and also to the deportment of others who have rejected the gospel, or who have never heard of its existence. It is right also to compare the moral character of the Christian with that of others who have not known or adopted the same religious faith.
4. It was formerly stated that the fact upon which the objection we are considering is founded, is frequently exaggerated by the fault of one Christian being transferred or imputed to the whole Church. But I have now to observe that the fact is also most unfairly and injuriously misapplied in another way. Our adversaries make no distinction between real and merely nominal Christians.
5. That the gospel has not been more generally efficacious in reforming mankind and in perfecting the character of its votaries, is to be accounted for in various ways. Without entering into any detail, however, I may merely mention one general principle which appears to solve the whole difficulty. The gospel is not a system of compulsion. (A. Thomson, D. D.)
The duty of Christians in reference to the objection founded upon their imperfections
We are called upon, by every motive of gratitude to the Saviour, of regard to the Divine honour, and of compassion to the souls of men, who must be saved by Christianity, or not be saved at all, to abstain from all those actions and indulgences by which the name or the doctrine of God may be blasphemed. This is the exhortation of the apostle, which we shall now endeavour to illustrate, by pointing out the way in which it is to be complied with, so as most effectually to answer the end for which it is given.
1. And, in the first place, we exhort you never to forget that the gospel is a practical system. When you turn your mind to any one of its doctrinal truths, you will consider that it is not only to be believed, but that it is to make you free, in some respect or other, from the dominion of iniquity. When you meet with any precept, you will recollect that it is not merely a proof of the perfection of that morality which revelation inculcates, but a rule for your deportment in that branch of holiness to which it refers. When you cast your eye upon the delineation of a character, you will view it as not only held out to attract, or to interest you, but as set before you to warn you against certain offences or to recommend the practice of certain virtues.
2. In the second place, with the same view we exhort you to a faithful and conscientious discharge of the duties which belong to the several relations in which you stand, and the various circumstances in which you are placed. Nor is this all. The circumstances, as well as the relations of life, come under the government of the rule we are considering.
3. In the third place, we exhort you to make a willing sacrifice even of certain privileges and comforts, when the exigences of the case require it, though, in ordinary circumstances, you would be warranted in refusing to make it, if it were demanded. Let as many servants as are under the yoke, says the apostle, count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed. While you recollect what is due to yourselves, you must recollect still more what is due to the gospel. (A. Thomson, D. D.)
The wicked lives of Christians no argument against the truth of Christianity
I. First I am to consider what just ground or colour there may be for a complaint of the exceeding wickedness of men now under the Christian dispensation. And here it may with truth be observed to the advantage of our holy religion, that, as bad as men are under it, they would have yet been worse without it. The rule by which Christians are obliged to walk is so excellent, and they are thereby so fully and clearly informed of the whole extent of their duty; the promised assistances are so mighty and the rewards so vast, by which they are animated to obedience; that their transgressions, as they are attended with a deeper guilt, so must needs appear to be of a more prodigious size than those of other men. And it is no wonder, therefore, if, on both these accounts, good and holy persons have spoken of them with a particular degree of detestation and horror. And as the vices of Christians are, for these reasons, open and glaring, so their virtues oftentimes disappear and lie hid. The profound humility and self-denial, which the Christian religion first enjoined, leads the true disciples of Christ, in the exercise of the chief gospel graces, to shun the applause and sight of men as much as is possible. On these, and such accounts as these, I say vice seems to have the odds of virtue among those who name the name of Christ, much more than it really hath.
II. Secondly, that they are very unreasonable in so doing, I am in the next place to show. For--
1. The holiest and purest doctrine imaginable is but doctrine still; it can only instruct, admonish, or persuade; it cannot compel. The gospel means of grace, powerful as they are, yet are not, and ought not to be, irresistible. Let the gospel have never so little success in promoting holiness, yet all who have considered it must own that it is in itself as fit as anything that can be imagined for that purpose, and incomparably more fit than any other course that ever was taken. Did philosophy suffer in the opinion of wise men on account of the debaucheries that reigned in those ages, wherein it flourished most among the Grecians and Romans? Was it then thought a good inference that, because men were very dissolute when wisdom was at the height, and the light of reason shone brightest, therefore wisdom and reason were of little use towards making men virtuous?
2. The present wickedness of Christians cannot be owing to any defect in the doctrine of Christ, nor be urged as a proof of the real inefficacy of it towards rendering men holy;
Because there was a time when it had all the success of this kind that could be expected; the time, I mean, of its earliest appearance in the world; when the practice of the generality of Christians was a just comment on the precepts of Christ; and they could appeal from their doctrines to their lives, and challenge their worst enemies to show any remarkable difference between them.
1. There must needs be a great disparity between the first Christians and those of these latter ages; because Christianity was the religion of their choice. They took it up while it was persecuted.
2. Another account of the great degeneracy of Christians may be drawn from mens erecting new schemes of Christianity which interfere with the true and genuine account of it.
3. It is not to be expected but that, where Christians are wicked, they should be rather worse than other men; for this very reason, because they have more helps towards becoming better, and yet live in the contempt or neglect of them.
III. Some more proper and natural inferences that may be drawn from it. They are many and weighty. And--
1. This should be so far from shocking our faith, that it ought on the contrary to confirm and strengthen it; for the universal degeneracy of Christians in these latter days was plainly and punctually foretold by Christ and His apostles.
2. Consider the monstrous degree of pravity and perverseness that is hid in the heart of man, and to account for the rise of it.
3. Learn from thence not to measure doctrines by persons, or persons by doctrines: that is, not to make the one a complete rule and standard whereby to judge of the goodness or badness of the other.
4. To excite ourselves from thence to do what in us lies towards removing this scandal from the Christian faith at large, and from that particular church of Christ to which we belong; both by living ourselves as becomes our holy religion; and by influencing others, as we have ability and opportunity, to live as we do; that so both we and they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things (Tit_2:10). (Bp. Atterbury.)
A faithful slave
Near the close of the civil war a gentleman residing in a Southern state deemed it prudent, the Northern army being within four miles of his residence, to conceal his State bonds, plate and other valuables. He decided on burying them in the woods; but as this concealment required assistance, it was necessary to take one of his slaves into his confidence. The man he selected was one whom he knew to be a consistent Christian. With this slaves aid he buried his treasure, and only he and his master knew the hiding-place. When the Northern troops came two days afterward, they were informed by the slaves, then emancipated, which of their number knew of the buried treasure. The man was ordered to disclose the spot where it was hidden, but he knew if he did so his former master would be ruined, and he refused. Six men with loaded pistols pointed at his head repeated the order, and gave him twenty minutes to decide whether he would obey or die. Life was very sweet, and the slave burst into tears, but told them he would rather die than break his word to his master. The rough soldiers were touched by the faithful fellows heroism, and released him unharmed. It is often said that religion makes men weak and unmanly, but this Christian slave is an instance of the injustice of the charge. He was faithful even in peril of death.
Our social position
The position we have in society, when we come to think of it, ought never to make us unhappy. There is a kind of painting, or work, that they make in other countries, that they call mosaic. It is made by little pieces of marble, or pieces of glass of different colours. They are so small that each one represents merely a line. There are simply these little pieces of glass or marble, and, if one of the pieces falls or is trampled on, no matter; it is not worth anything at all of itself. And yet the artist takes that little piece, and places it by another, and hands out another, and proceeds until he makes a human face--the shape, the eyes, the mouth, the lips, the cheeks, the human form, part shaped to part--so that, standing off three or four feet, you could not tell it from an oil painting. Now, suppose that one of those little pieces should say, I wish he would put me in the apple of the eye; and another, I wish he would put me on the lip; and another the cheek--but the artist knows just where to put it, and to put it any where else would be to mar the picture. And if one should be lost, it would mar the picture. Each one has its place. I have thought it is so in society. God is making a great picture out of society. He is making it out of insignificant materials, out of dust and ashes; but He is making a picture for all eternity, and wherever God may be pleased to put me in that picture, if He puts me at all, it seems to me I should be glad to be there. We shall be glad of it, and the arch angels shall contemplate Gods picture. I cannot tell where I shall be; but God is putting us where we should be, and these plans are for our good and our glory and our triumph. And when we get to heaven, we shall not wish we had been much different from what we were, only that we had been better. But here we are so dissatisfied! (Bp. Simpson.)
The true motive in service
Let us invite servants to remember that they are working for God as well as for man. Their masters kitchen is a room in their Fathers house. They may have bad employers who do not care for good work, or ignorant ones who do not appreciate it, or disheartened ones who have ceased to expect it. They must take for their guidance their heavenly Fathers work in nature. His rain falls on the just and on the unjust, on the carefully tilled field which invites His blessing and on the stony ground which refuses it. Their ambition must be to make their work fit to be part of His. Their kitchen must be able to welcome His sunshine without being put to shame by it. There should be no vessel thrust away to the back of the cupboard too foul to receive the purity of His daisies or His primroses. When they find themselves hampered and defeated by thoughtlessness or selfishness, they must think how nature makes the best of everything, throwing ivy over ruins, and absorbing all decay into something new and good. (Edward Garrett.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 5 Chapter 16
Chapter 16
THE NATURE OF ROMAN SLAVERY AND THE APOSTLES ATTITUDE TOWARDS IT-A MODERN PARALLEL. - 1Ti_6:1-2
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THERE are four passages in which St. Paul deals directly with the relations between slaves and their masters:-in the Epistles to the Ephesians, {Eph_6:5-9} to the Col_3:22-25; Col_4:1, to Philemon, {Phm_1:8-21} and the passage before us. Here he looks at the question from the slaves point of view; in the letter to Philemon from that of the master: in the Epistle to the Colossians and to the Ephesians he addresses both. In all four places his attitude towards this monster abomination is one and the same; and it is a very remarkable one. He nowhere denounces slavery. He does not state that such an intolerable iniquity as man possessing his fellow-man must be done away as speedily as may be. He gives no encouragement to slaves to rebel or to run away. He gives no hint to masters that they ought to let their slaves go free. Nothing of the kind. He not only accepts slavery as a fact; he seems to treat it as a necessary fact, a fact likely to be as permanent as marriage and parentage, poverty and wealth.
This attitude becomes all the more marvelous, when we remember, not only what slavery necessarily is wherever it exists, but what slavery was both by custom and by law among the great slave-owners throughout the Roman Empire. Slavery is at all times degrading to both the parties in that unnatural relationship, however excellent may be the regulations by which it is protected, and however noble may be the characters of both master and slave. It is impossible for one human being to be absolute owner of anothers person without both possessor and possessed being morally the worse for it. Violations of natures laws are never perpetrated with impunity; and when the laws violated are those which are concerned, not with unconscious forces and atoms, but with human souls and characters, the penalties of the violation are none the less sure or severe. But these evils, which are the inevitable consequences of the existence of slavery in any shape whatever, may be increased a hundredfold, if the slavery exists under no regulations, or under bad regulations, or again where both master and slave are, to start with, base and brutalized in character. And all this was the case in the early days of the Roman Empire. Slavery was to a great extent under no check at all, and the laws which did exist for regulating the relationship between owner and slave were for the most part of a character to intensify the evil; while the conditions under which both master and slave were educated were such as to render each of them ready to increase the moral degradation of the other. We are accustomed to regard with well-merited abhorrence and abomination the horrors of modern slavery as practiced until recently in America, and as still practiced in Egypt, Persia, Turkey, and Arabia. But it may be doubted whether all the horrors of modern slavery are to be compared with the horrors of the slavery of ancient Rome.
From a political point of view it may be admitted that the institution of slavery has in past ages played a useful part in the history of mankind. It has mitigated the cruelties of barbaric warfare. It was more merciful to enslave a prisoner than to sacrifice him to the gods, or to torture him to death, or to eat him. And the enslaved prisoner and the warrior who had captured him, at once became mutually useful to one another. The warrior protected his slave from attack, and the slave by his labor left the warrior free to protect him. Thus each did something for the benefit of the other and of the society in which they lived.
But when we look at the institution from a moral point of view, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that its effects have been wholly evil.
(1) It has been fatal to one of the most wholesome of human beliefs, the belief in the dignity of labor. Labor was irksome, and therefore assigned to the slave, and consequently came to be regarded as degrading. Thus the freeman lost the ennobling discipline of toil; and to the slave toil was not ennobling, because every one treated it as a degradation.
(2) It has been disastrous to the personal character of the master. The possession of absolute power is always dangerous to our nature. Greek writers are never tired of insisting upon this in connection with the rule of despots over citizens. Strangely enough they did not see that the principle remained the same whether the autocrat was ruler of a state or of a household. In either case he almost inevitably became a tyrant, incapable of self-control, and the constant victim of flattery. And in some ways the domestic tyrant was the worse of the two. There was no public opinion to keep him in check, and his tyranny could exercise itself in every detail of daily life.
(3) It has been disastrous to the personal character of the slave. Accustomed to be looked upon as an inferior and scarcely human being, always at the beck and call of another, and that for the most menial services, the slave lost all self-respect. His natural weapon was deceit; and his chief, if not his only, pleasure was the gratification of his lowest appetites. The household slave not infrequently divided his time between pandering to his masters passions and gratifying his own.
(4) It has been ruinous to family life. If it did not trouble the relation between husband and wife, it poisoned the atmosphere in which they lived and in which their children were reared. The younger generation inevitably suffered. Even if they did not learn cruelty from their parents, and deceit and sensuality from the slaves, they lost delicacy of feeling by seeing human things treated like brute beasts, and by being constantly in the society of those whom they were taught to despise. Even Plato, in recommending that slaves should be treated justly and with a view to their moral improvement, says that they must always be punished for their faults, and not reproved like freemen, which only makes them conceited; and one should use no language to them but that of command.
These evils, which are inherent in the very nature of slavery, were intensified a hundredfold by Roman legislation, and by the condition of Roman society in the first century of the Christian era. Slavery, which began by being a mitigation of the barbarities of warfare, ended in becoming an augmentation of them. Although a single campaign would sometimes bring in many thousands of captives who were sold into slavery, yet war did not procure slaves fast enough for the demand, and was supplemented by systematic man-hunts. It has been estimated that in the Roman world of St. Pauls day the proportion of slaves to freemen was in the ratio of two, or even three, to one. It was the immense number of the slaves which led to some of the cruel customs and laws respecting them. In the country they often worked, and sometimes slept, in chains. Even in Rome under Augustus the house-porter was sometimes chained. And by a decree of the Senate, if the master was murdered by a slave, all the slaves of the household were put to death. The four hundred slaves of Pedanius Secundus were executed under this enactment in A.D. 61, in which year St. Paul was probably in Rome. Public protest was made; but the Senate decided that the law must take its course. The rabble of slaves could only be kept in check by fear. Again, if the master was accused of a crime, he could surrender his slaves to be tortured in order to prove his innocence.
But it would be a vile task to rehearse all the horrors and abominations to which the cruelty and lust of wealthy Roman men and women subjected their slaves. The bloody sports of the gladiatorial shows and the indecent products of the Roman stage were partly the effect and partly the cause of the frightful character of Roman slavery. The gladiators and the actors were slaves especially trained for these debasing exhibitions; and Roman nobles and Roman ladies, brutalized and polluted by witnessing them, went home to give vent among the slaves of their own households to the passions which the circus and the theatre had roused. And this was the system which St. Paul left unattacked and undenounced. He never in so many words expresses any authoritative condemnation or personal abhorrence of it. This is all the more remarkable when we remember St. Pauls enthusiastic and sympathetic temperament; and the fact is one more proof of the divine inspiration of Scripture.
That slavery, as he saw it, must often have excited the most intense indignation and distress in his heart we cannot doubt; and yet he was guided not to give his sanction to remedies which would certainly have been violent and possibly ineffectual. To have preached that the Christian master must let his slaves go free, would have been to preach that slaves had a right to freedom; and the slave would understand that to mean that, if freedom was not granted, he might take this right of his by force. Of all wars, a servile war is perhaps the most frightful; and we may be thankful that none of those who first preached the Gospel gave their sanction to any such movement. The sudden abolition of slavery in the first century would have meant the shipwreck of society. Neither master nor slave was fit for any such change. A long course of education was needed before so radical a reform could be successfully accomplished. It has been pointed out as one of the chief marks of the Divine character of the Gospel, that it never appeals to the spirit of political revolution. It does not denounce abuses; but it insists upon principles which will necessarily lead to their abolition.
This was precisely what St. Paul did in dealing with the gigantic cancer which was draining the forces, economical, political, and moral, of Roman society. He did not tell the slave that he was oppressed and outraged. He did not tell the master that to buy and sell human beings was a violation of the rights of man. But he inspired both of them with sentiments which rendered the permanence of the unrighteous relation between them impossible. To many a Roman it would have seemed nothing less than robbery and revolution to tell him "You have no right to own these persons; you must free your slaves." St. Paul, without attacking the rights of property or existing laws and customs, spoke a far higher word, and one which sooner or later must carry freedom with it, when he said, "You must love your slaves." All the moral abominations which had clustered round slavery, -idleness, deceit, cruelty, and lust, -he denounced unsparingly; but for their own sake, not because of their connection with this iniquitous institution. The social arrangements which allowed and encouraged slavery he did not denounce. He left it to the principles which he preached gradually to reform them. Slavery cannot continue when the brotherhood of all mankind, and the equality of all men in Christ, have been realized. And long before slavery is abolished it is made more humane, wherever Christian principles are brought to bear upon it. Even before Christianity in the person of Constantine ascended the imperial throne, it had influenced public opinion in the right direction. Seneca and Plutarch are much more humane in their views of slavery than earlier writers are; and under the Antonines the power of life and death over slaves was transferred from their masters to the magistrates. Constantine went much further, and Justinian further still, in ameliorating the condition of slaves and encouraging emancipation. Thus slowly but surely, this monstrous evil is being eradicated from society; and it is one of the many beauties of the Gospel in comparison with Islam, that whereas Mahometanism has consecrated slavery, and given it a permanent religious sanction, Christianity has steadfastly abolished it. It is among the chief glories of the present century that it has seen the abolition of slavery in the British empire, the emancipation of the serfs in Russia, and the emancipation of the Negroes in the United States. And we may safely assert that these tardy removals of a great social evil would never have been accomplished but for the principles which St. Paul preached, at the very time that he was allowing Christian masters to retain their slaves, and bidding Christian slaves to honor and obey their heathen masters.
The Apostles injunctions to slaves who have Christian masters is worthy of special attention: it indicates one of the evils which would certainly have become serious, had the Apostles set to work to preach emancipation. The slaves being in almost all cases quite unfitted for a life of freedom, wholesale emancipation would have flooded society with crowds of persons quite unable to make a decent use of their newly acquired liberty. The sudden change in their condition would have been too great for their self-control. Indeed we gather from what St. Paul says here, that the acceptance of the principles of Christianity in some cases threw them off their balance. He charges Christian slaves who have Christian masters not to despise them. Evidently this was a temptation which he foresaw, even if it was not a fault which he had sometimes observed. To be told that he and his master were brethren, and to find that his master accepted this view of their relationship, was more than the poor slave in some instances could bear. He had been educated to believe that he was an inferior order of being, having scarcely anything in common, excepting a human form and passions, with his master. And, whether he accepted this belief or not, he had found himself systematically treated as it were indisputable. When, therefore, he was assured, as one of the first principles of his new faith, that he was not only human like his master, but in Gods family was his masters equal and brother; above all, when he had a Christian master who not only shared this new faith, but acted upon it and treated him as a brother, then his head was in danger of being turned. The rebound from groveling fear to terms of equality and affection was too much for him; and the old attitude of cringing terror was exchanged not for respectful loyalty, but for contempt. He began to despise the master who had ceased to make himself terrible. All this shows how dangerous sudden changes of social relationships are; and how warily we need to go to work in order to bring about a reform of those which most plainly need readjustment; and it adds greatly to our admiration of the wisdom of the Apostle and our gratitude to Him who inspired him with such wisdom, to see that in dealing with this difficult problem he does not allow his sympathies to outrun his judgment, and does not attempt to cure a longstanding evil, which had entwined its roots round the very foundations of society, by any rapid or violent process. All men are by natural right free. Granted. All men are by creation children of God, and by redemption brethren in Christ. Granted. But it is worse than useless to give: freedom suddenly to those who from their birth have been deprived of it, and do not yet know what use to make of it; and to give the position of children and brethren all at once to outcasts who cannot understand what such privileges mean.
St. Paul tells the slave that freedom is a thing: to be desired; but still more that it is a thing to be deserved. "While you are still under the yoke prove yourselves worthy of it and capable of bearing it. In becoming Christians you have become Christs freemen. Show that you can enjoy that liberty without abusing it. If it leads you to treat a heathen master with disdain, because he has it not, then you give him an opportunity of blaspheming God and your holy religion; for he can say, What a vile creed this must be, which makes servants haughty and disrespectful! If it leads you to treat a Christian master with contemptuous familiarity, because he recognizes you as a brother whom he must love, then you are turning upside down the obligation which a common faith imposes on you. That he is a fellow Christian is a reason why you, should treat him with more reverence, not less."
This is ever the burden of his exhortation to slaves. He bids Timothy to insist upon it. He tells Titus to do the same. {Tit_2:9-10} Slaves were in special danger of misunderstanding what the liberty of the Gospel meant. It is not for a moment to be supposed that it cancels any existing obligations of a slave to his master. No hint is to be given them that they have a right to demand emancipation, or would be justified in running away. Let them learn to behave as the Lords freemen. Let their masters learn to behave as the Lords bond-servants. When these principles have worked themselves out, slavery will have ceased to be.
That day has not yet come, but the progress already made, especially during the present century, leads us to hope that it may be near. But the extinction of slavery will not deprive St. Pauls treatment of it of its practical interest and value. His inspired wisdom in dealing with this problem ought to be our guide in dealing with the scarcely less momentous problems which confront us at the present day. We have social difficulties to deal with, whose magnitude and character make them not unlike that of slavery in the first ages of Christianity. There are the relations between capital and labor, the prodigious inequalities in the distribution of wealth, the degradation which is involved in the crowding of population in the great centers of industry. In attempting to remedy such things, let us, while we catch enthusiasm from St. Pauls sympathetic zeal, not forget his patience and discretion. Monstrous evils are not, like giants in the old romances, to be slain at a blow. They are deeply rooted; and if we attempt to tear them up, we may pull up the foundations of society along with them. We must be content to work slowly and without violence. We have no right to preach revolution and plunder to those who are suffering from undeserved poverty, any more than St. Paul had to preach revolt to the slaves. Drastic remedies of that kind will cause much enmity, and perhaps bloodshed, in the carrying out, and will work no permanent cure in the end. It is incredible that the well-being of mankind can be promoted by stirring up ill-will and hatred between a suffering class and those who seem to have it in their power to relieve them. Charity, we know, never faileth; but neither Scripture nor experience has taught us that violence is a sure road to success. We need more faith in the principles of Christianity and in their power to promote happiness as well as godliness. What is required is not a sudden redistribution of wealth, or laws to prevent its accumulation, but a proper appreciation of its value. Rich and poor alike have yet to learn what is really worth having in this world. It is not wealth, but happiness. And happiness is to be found neither in gaining, nor in possessing, nor in spending money, but in being useful. To serve others, to spend and be spent for them, -that is the ideal to place before mankind; and just in proportion as it is reached, will the frightful inequalities between class and class, between man and man, cease to be. It is a lesson that takes much teaching and much learning. Meanwhile it seems a terrible thing to leave whole generations suffering from destitution, just as it was a terrible thing to leave whole generations groaning in slavery. But a general manumission would not have helped matters then; and a general distribution to the indigent would not help matters now. The remedy adopted then was a slow one, but it has been efficacious. The master was not told to emancipate his slave, and the slave was not told to run away from his master; but each was charged to behave to the other, the master in commanding and the slave in obeying, as Christian to Christian in the sight of God. Let us not doubt that the same remedy now, if faithfully applied, will be not less effectual. Do not tell the rich man that he must share his wealth with those who have nothing. Do not tell the poor man that he has a right to a share, and may seize it, if it is not given. But by precept and example show to both alike that the one thing worth living for is to promote the well-being of others. And let the experience of the past convince us that any remedy which involves a violent reconstruction of society is sure to be dangerous and may easily prove futile.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1–20 1, 2. Let as many servants as are under…
1, 2. Let as many servants as are under the yoke. Under the yoke of slavery. The slaves were as numerous as the free population, and many of the early Christians belonged to this class. Count their own masters worthy of all honor. There was danger that these converted slaves would despise their heathen masters. If they were to do so, it would create a great odium against the Christian religion and lead to attempts to extirpate it. Slavery was to be destroyed, not by putting a spirit of insubordination into slaves, but by putting a Christian spirit into masters.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 17, 20 1Ti_6:1. That the name of God and His doctrine…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1Ti_6:1. That the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed.—Masters who had slaves professing to be Christians and yet supercilious would curse them and their new faith.
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1Ti_6:2. Let them not despise them.—Two uses of this word by our Lord will be its best interpretation. In Mat_6:24 He too speaks of the servant who has two different masters, for one of whom he has dropped all estimation. In Mat_18:10 Christ warns against thinking the little ones as unworthy of attention.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Ti_6:1-2
Christianity and Servitude.
I. Respect must be shown to unbelieving masters.—
1. Though the service is humiliating and unjust. “As many servants as are under the yoke count their masters worthy of all honour” (1Ti_6:1). The servant of those days was a slave. The Roman Empire was about equally divided by freemen and slaves. Slavery was an ancient and widely spread institution, and was closely bound up with the social life of the times. All this was to be changed, and has been changed. Christianity has effected the revolution, not by appealing to and stirring up political passions, but by implanting principles in the expansion of which it is impossible for slavery to live. The Christian, though a slave, was taught to show respect to his master; and the injunction was perhaps necessary, as the servant in his newly found moral freedom might be tempted to regard himself as superior to his unbelieving master, and to develop an arrogant and rebellious spirit.
2. Respectful servitude will guard religion from reproach. “That the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed” (1Ti_6:1). The heathen master would be compelled to respect a religion that made his servant honest, industrious, obedient, respectful, and morally consistent. Many masters were won over to Christianity by the holy examples of their slaves.
II. Nor should less respect be shown towards believing masters.—
1. Because of the equality of servant and master in Christian brotherhood. “Let them not despise them because they are brethren” (1Ti_6:2). The servant might presume upon this equality and take unwarrantable liberties, and seek to justify even positive neglect and disobedience. Before God master and man are alike; before the world, and according to the contract existing between them, they are master and servant. In doing his duty conscientiously the servant is not only serving his earthly master, but also pleasing God.
2. Equality in Christian brotherhood is rather a stronger reason for fidelity in servitude. “But rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit” (1Ti_6:2). The cultivation of the Christian spirit promotes a better understanding between master and servant. They learn to respect each other, and to discharge their mutual obligations with cordiality and justice.
III. Christianity enforces the sacredness of duty in servitude.—“These things teach and exhort.” Religion must be carried into every department and relationship in life. However humble and trying our lot, it has its duties, and religion teaches us to find alleviation in every hardship by faithfully doing the duty of the moment. Duty can be satisfied with its doings, but love has never done enough. The dying Nelson said, “Thank God, I have done my duty.” The dying saint can only say, “I am an unprofitable servant.”
Lessons.—
1. Christian liberty has its legitimate restraints.
2. Christianity teaches the true dignity of labour.
3. Practical Christianity will inevitably rectify the unjust inequalities between master and servant.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ti_6:1-2. Duties of servants.
I. Christian servants should prevent scandal to religion by showing respect to their masters as such (1Ti_6:1).
II. Should not presume on the equal brotherhood which religion recognises between Christian masters and servants (1Ti_6:2).
III. The participation in equal religious privileges should make the servant more conscientious and diligent (1Ti_6:2).
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv3, 7, 13 3. “Teach these things and exhort.” These constitute the…
ARGUMENT 15
HERESY
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3. “Teach these things and exhort.” These constitute the work of the preacher. We must teach the people the truth of God and exhort them, in view of death, judgment, hell, heaven, and eternity, to obey these momentous commandments, and walk in the light of these grand and inspiring truths. “If any one teaches otherwise, and does not give heed to the hygienic words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching which is according to godliness.” Hygienic is the Greek, so frequently used to describe the Word of God. While regeneration raises you from the dead, sanctification cures all of your spiritual diseases, makes you healthy, and qualifies you to live in harmony with all the laws of spiritual hygiene, so you will never again contract spiritual malaria and get sick. Heterodoxy is a Greek word, and simply means “another opinion” different from God’s plain Word.
4. “He is puffed up.” Spiritual pride lies at the bottom of all heresy. The man is proud, and wants his own way. Salvation makes people humble and teachable. You can not teach a proud man, because he thinks he knows it already. If he does not get rid of his pride, he will have to be taught in the flames of hell. “Knowing nothing.” This heretic, who will not accept the plain Word of God as the umpire in every case, is really a miserable idolater, worshipping his poor little creed, and so blinded by the devil that he has never received the beautiful light of God in regeneration. He knows nothing about God and his blessed saving truth, but much about questions and word battles. I have frequently met this miserable character in my travels, always ready for dispute. They are ignorant of God, and so blinded by Satan that they constantly handle the Word of God deceitfully. They will talk you to death, and say nothing. It is all a senseless clatter. Nuisance is no name for them.
5. “From which [these disputes and controversies] come envy, strife, blasphemies, evil surmisings, and disputations of people, corrupt as to their mind and turned away from the truth, thinking that gain is godliness.” They think if they gain a proselyte, they have achieved a victory for God; whereas it is for the devil, as they really serve the devil, thinking he is God. The scribes (the popular pastors in our Savior’s time) and the Pharisees (the official members of the popular Churches) were on this line, even “compassing sea and land to make one proselyte, and making him twofold more the child of hell.” He still had his own old sins, and now he joins them, adding the sin of hypocrisy, and doubling the mess for hell. Look out for these deluded people! Their name is legion. They make all sorts of professions, and possess but an evil heart. How can I know them? If you have much acquaintance with God’s Word, you will have no trouble to identify them. Their peculiarity is, they are wedded to a poor little creed, and want to bend the Bible to it. In this you can readily detect them. They are not willing to take the Bible for their only guide. They explain away the plain Word of God. They are objects of pity; having been caught in Satan’s lasso, they are faithfully working for him.
6. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” If we have godliness, and are perfectly content with godliness alone, we have great gain, because God gives heaven and earth. If we are not contented with godliness, we will lose all in the end.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 1Ti 6:12
1Ti 6:12
The Apostle’s Exhortation with Regard to Eternal Life.
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There is a deep and solemn interest which always attaches to the last words of a fellow-creature; more especially is this the case if he who is departing out of life has long been eminent for his piety and devotion. The words of the text were spoken when St. Paul knew that his departure was at hand. Addressing his beloved Timothy, with a full realisation of all the trials of the past, and having the anticipation of his approaching martyrdom, with his dying breath he counsels Timothy, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life."
I. Note the object here presented, "eternal life." Eternal life is an expression used in God’s Word to denote the happiness and the glory of heaven. We are not to limit the meaning of this expression to the one idea of never-ending duration. On the contrary, eternal life is a term used to denote all the happiness, all the glory, all the dignity which God can confer on a redeemed creature in eternity. All that you can conceive of heavenly blessedness, all that Scripture sets forth to us of the happiness reserved for the saints in the life to come,—all is comprehended and included within this brief, comprehensive phrase, eternal life. Of that eternal life we know comparatively little as to its real nature. The happiness of heaven is for the most part in God’s Word set forth to us either negatively, or by the help of imagery, borrowed from earthly things. I observe (1) that eternal life will comprehend the perfect knowledge of God. We have the authority of our Lord Himself for saying this. "This is eternal life to know Thee the only God." (2) Eternal life means perfected resemblance to Christ. In proportion as the Gospel of Christ gains its legitimate hold upon any man, in that degree he is brought into the Saviour’s image. (3) Eternal life will consist in the companionship with ail the blessed, with all the saints of God from Abel, the first martyr, down to the saints that shall be brought forth to complete the spiritual edifice.
II. Note the exhortation with regard to eternal life, "lay hold upon it." This is an exhortation which summons to present, to immediate effort. How are we to lay hold on eternal life? I reply at once, Believe on the Son of God, trust in His power, confide in His love, rely on His wisdom, seek to partake of His grace. So shall you lay hold on eternal life. (2) Next, I would say, Cherish the influences of the Holy Spirit, cherish them by secret prayer; cherish them by holy meditation; cherish them by constant study of the Inspired Word; cherish them in the use of all the appointed means of grace. (3) And lastly, I would say, Would you lay hold on eternal life? Live for eternity. Propose to yourself as the great object for which you are sent into this world, to win the prize of everlasting life.
Bishop Bickersteth, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 54.
1Ti 6:12
Man’s Great Duty.
I. Consider our need of eternal life. Sin has brought death into this world; and we are all of us involved in the calamity and buried in the ruins of the fall. We may not have sinned as others have done: that is very possible. But though we have sinned less than others, we cannot be saved by merit; even as, thank God, though we have sinned more than others we may be saved by mercy. Those who speak of great and little, of few and many sins, seem to forget that man’s ruin was the work of one moment and of one sin. The weight of only one sin sank this great world into perdition; and now all of us, all men, lie under the same sentence of condemnation. Extinguishing every hope of salvation through works, and sounding as ominous of evil in men’s ears as the cracking of ice beneath our feet, or the roar of an avalanche, or the grating of a keel on the sunken reef, or the hammer that wakens the felon from dreams of life and liberty, that sentence is this: "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them."
II. Consider what we have to do to obtain eternal life. Nothing in one sense more difficult, yet in another, easier—a wish, a word, a look, and it is ours. You have only to wish, and, as if struck by a magician’s rod, the walls of your prison-house open. You are free.
III. Consider more particularly what we have to do to obtain eternal life. By the aid of the Spirit, and through the exercise of faith, you are to-lay hold on the Saviour; and laying hold on Him, though it were in the hour of the most imminent destruction, and in the very jaws of death, you lay hold of life—of eternal life.
IV. Consider when we are to lay hold of eternal life. When, but now? Christ promises it today; not tomorrow. Accept it so long as it is in your offer; seize it so long as it is within your reach.
T. Guthrie, The Way to Life, p. 1.
References: 1Ti 6:12.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. i., p. go; vol. ix., p. 45; Clerical Library: Outline Sermons for Children, p. 256; Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 295; G. W. Conder, Ibid., vol. vii., p. 280; H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xii., p. 184. 1Ti 6:14, 1Ti 6:15.—F. W. Farrar, Ibid., vol. xxviii., p. 67. 1Ti 6:15, 1Ti 6:16.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. x., p. 216. 1Ti 6:16.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 123; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 336; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 383.
1Ti 6:17
Human Affection raised, not destroyed, by the Gospel.
I. The Apostle sets before us, in the text, two applications of the same human affection. He bids us not to trust in uncertain riches, but to trust in the living God. He assumes that there is in the heart of man the tendency to dependence upon something beyond itself, yet intimately connected with itself; and above all, upon that wealth, which is the pledge and representative of all earthly enjoyment, and which is thus the great mediator between the heart and the world that attracts it. He assumes that this trusting impulse exists, and He would not destroy but reform it. He would exhibit the true and eternal object for a tendency in itself indestructible; and would intimate that there is prepared for the just desires of the soul a sphere of being, adequate to these desires, and from which the present detains us only as the counterfeit and mockery of it. On the one hand, "uncertain riches"; on the other, the parallel announcement, that "God giveth us richly all things to enjoy."
II. Trust not in uncertain riches, but trust in the living God. Preserve unbroken every element of your affections; they are all alike the property of Heaven. Be ambitious, but ambitious of the eternal heritage. Let avarice be yours, but avarice of celestial treasures. Covet esteem, but esteem in the mind of God, of the circles of the blessed. Yearn after sympathy, but seek it where alone it is unfailing, in Him whose essence from eternity is love, and who became man that He might humanise that awfulness of celestial love to the tenderness of a brother’s. "Charge them that are rich in this world" that they interpose not a veil between themselves and the Father of their spirits, or suffer the clouds and vapours of earth to sully or eclipse the beams of this eternal sun.
III. Our earthly objects of pursuit are themselves clad by hope with colours that rightfully belong only to their celestial rivals; our ordinary earthly longings themselves strain after a really heavenly happiness, while they miss so miserably the way to reach it. The votary of earthly wealth does, in fact, with all the energies of his nature, strain after that very security of unchangeable bliss which we preach; but, mistaking the illusory phantom, weds his whole soul to the fictitious heaven, which the powers of evil have clothed in colours stolen from the skies. The soul made for heaven is lost among heaven’s shadows upon earth; it feigns the heaven it cannot find, and casts around the miserable companions of its exile, the attributes that belong to the God it was born to adore. Lay not out your rich capital of faith and hope and love and admiration, upon the poor precarious investments the world at best can offer you; impress upon your heart the conviction that not one of all this host of energies but was primarily designed for heaven to open the full tide of your affections to that world where alone they can find repose.
W. Archer Butler, Sermons, p. 270.
References: 1Ti 6:17.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 137. 1Ti 6:18.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 244. 1Ti 6:19.—G. S. Barrett, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxv., p. 179; Smart, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 105. 1Ti 6:20.—Church of England Pulpit, vol. xx., p. 49.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv12, 19 1 Timothy
1 Timothy
ONE WITNESS, MANY CONFESSORS
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1Ti 6:12-14.
You will observe that ‘a good confession,’ or rather ‘the good confession,’ is said here to have been made both by Timothy and by Christ. But you will observe also that whilst the subject-matter is the same, the action of Timothy and Jesus respectively is different. The former professes, or rather confesses, the good confession; the latter witnesses. There must be some reason for the significant variation of terms to indicate that the relation of Timothy and Jesus to the good confession which they both made was, in some way, a different one, and that though what they said was identical, their actions in saying it were different.
Then there is another point of parallelism to be noticed. Timothy made his profession ‘before many witnesses,’ but the Apostle calls to his remembrance, and summons up before the eye of his imagination, a more august tribunal than that before which he had confessed his faith, and says that he gives him charge ‘before God’ {for the same word is used in the original in both verses}, ‘who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus.’ So the earthly witnesses of the man’s confession dwindle into insignificance when compared with the heavenly ones. And upon these thoughts is based the practical exhortation, ‘Keep the commandment without spot.’ So, then, we have three things: the great Witness and His confession, the subordinate confessors who echo His witness, and the practical issue that comes out of both thoughts.
I. We have the great Witness and His confession.
Now, you will remember, perhaps, that if we turn to the Gospels, we find that all of them give the subject-matter of Christ’s confession before Pilate, as being that He was the King of the Jews. But the Evangelist John expands that conversation, and gives us details which present a remarkable verbal correspondence with the words of the Apostle here, and must suggest to us that, though John’s Gospel was not written at the date of this Epistle, the fact that is enshrined for us in it was independently known by the Apostle Paul.
For, if I may for a moment recall the incident to you, you will remember that when Pilate put to the Saviour the question, ‘Art Thou a King?’ our Lord, before He would answer, took pains to make quite clear the sense in which the judge asked Him of His royal state. For He said, ‘Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of Me? If it is your Roman idea of a king, the answer must be, "No." If it is the Jewish Messianic idea, the answer must be, "Yes." I must know first what the question means, in the mind of the questioner, before I answer it.’ And when Pilate brushes aside Christ’s question, with a sort of impatient contempt, and returns to the charge, ‘What hast Thou done?’ our Lord, whilst He makes the claim of sovereignty, takes care to make it in such a way as to show that Rome need fear nothing from Him, and that His dominion rested not upon force. ‘My Kingdom is not of this world.’ And then, when Pilate, like a practical Roman, bewildered with all these fine-spun distinctions, sweeps them impatiently out of the field, and comes back to ‘Yes, or No; are you a King?’ our Lord gives a distinct affirmative answer, but at once soars up into the region where Pilate had declined to follow Him: ‘To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth.’ ‘Before Pontius Pilate he witnessed the good confession.’ And His confession was His royalty, His relation to the truth, and His pre-existence. ‘To this end was I born,’ and the next clause is no mere tautology, nor a non-significant parallelism, ‘and for this cause came I into the world.’ Then He was before He came, and birth to Him was not the beginning of being, but the beginning of a new relation.
So, then, out of this great word of our text, which falls into line with a great many other words of the New Testament, we may gather important and significant truths with regard to two things, the matter and the manner of Christ’s witnessing. You remember how the same Apostle John--for whom that word ‘witness’ has a fascination in all its manifold applications--in that great vision of the Apocalypse, when to his blessed sight the vision of the Master was once given, extols Him as ‘the faithful witness, and the First-begotten from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth.’ And you may remember how our Lord Himself, after His conversation with Nicodemus, says, ‘We speak that we do know, and bear witness to that we have seen,’ and how again, in answer to the taunts of the Jews, He takes the taunt as the most intimate designation of the peculiarity of His person and of His work, when He says, ‘I am one that bear witness of Myself.’ So, then, we have to interpret his declaration before Pilate in the light of all these other sayings, and to remember that He who said that He came to bear witness to the truth, said also, ‘I am the truth,’ and therefore that his great declaration that He was the witness-bearer to the truth is absolutely synonymous with His other declaration that He bears witness of Himself.
Now, here we come upon one of the great peculiarities of Christ as a religious teacher. The new thing, the distinctive peculiarity, the differentia between Him and all other teachers, lies just here, that His theme is not so much moral or religious principles, as His own nature and person. He was the most egotistical man that ever lived on the face of the earth, with an egotism only to be accounted for, if we believe, as He Himself said, that in His person was the truth that He proclaimed, and that when He witnessed to Himself He revealed God. And thus He stands, separate from all other teachers, by this, that He is His own theme and His own witness.
So much for the matter of the good confession to which we need only add here its pendant in the confession before the High Priest. To the representative of the civil government He said, ‘I am a king,’ and then, as I remarked, He soared up into regions where no Roman official could rise to follow Him, and to the representative of the Theocratic government He said, ‘Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven.’ These two truths, that He is the Son of God, who by His witness to the truth, that is, Himself, lays the foundations of a Monarchy which shall stretch far further than the pinions of the Roman eagles could ever fly, and that he is the Son of Man who, exalted to the right hand of God, is to be the Judge of mankind--these are the good confessions to which the Lord witnessed.
Then with regard to the manner of His witness. That brings us to another of the peculiarities of Christ’s teaching. I have said that He was the most egotistical of men. I would say, too, that there never was another who clashed down in the front of humanity such tremendous assertions, with not the faintest scintilla of an attempt to prove them to our understandings, or commend them by any other plea than this, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you!’
A witness does not need to argue. A witness is a man who reports what he has seen and heard. The whole question is as to his veracity and competency. Jesus Christ states it for the characteristic of His work, ‘We speak that we do know, and bear witness to that we have seen.’ His relation to the truth which He brings to us is not that of a man who has thought it out, who has been brought to it by experience, or by feeling, or by a long course of investigation; still less is it the relation which a man would bear to a truth that he had learnt from others originally, however much he had made it his own thereafter: but it is that of one who is not a thinker, or a learner, or a reasoner, but who is simply an attester, a witness. And so He stands before us, and says, ‘The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, they are life. Believe Me, and believe the words, for no other reason, primarily, than because I speak them.’ In these two respects, then, the matter and the manner of His witness, He stands alone, and we have to bow before Him and say, ‘Speak, Lord! for thy servant heareth.’ ‘Before Pontius Pilate He witnessed a good confession.’
II. We have here suggested to us the subordinate confessors who echo the Lord’s witness.
It is a matter of no consequence when, and before whom, this Timothy professed his good profession. It may have been at his baptism. It may have been when he was installed in his office. It may have been before some tribunal of which we know nothing. That does not matter. The point is that a Christian man is to be an echo of the Lord’s good confession, and is to keep within the lines of it, and to be sure that all of it is echoed in his life. Christ has told us what to say, and we are here to say it over again. Christ has witnessed; we are to confess. Our relation to that truth is different from His. We hear it; He speaks it. We accept it; He reveals it. We are influenced by it; He is it. He brings it to the world on His own authority; we are to carry it to the world on His.
Be sure that you Christian men are echoes of your Master. Be sure that you reverberate the note that He struck. Be sure that all its music is repeated by you And take care that you neither fall short of it, nor go beyond it, in your faith and in your profession. Echoes of Christ--that is the highest conception of a Christian life.
But though there is all the difference between the Witness and the confessors, do not let us forget that, if we are truly Christian, there is a very deep and blessed sense in which we, too, may witness what we have seen and heard. A Christian preacher of any sort--and by that I mean, not merely a man who stands in a pulpit, as I do, but all Christian people, in their measure and degree--will do nothing by professing the best profession, unless that profession sounds like the utterance of a man who speaks that he knows, and who can say, ‘that which our eyes have beheld, that which we have handled, of the Word of life, we make known unto you.’ And so, by the power of personal experience speaking out in our lives, and by the power of it alone, as I believe, will victories be won, and the witness of Jesus Christ be repeated in the world. Christian men and women, the old saying which was addressed by a prophet to Israel is more true, more solemnly true of us, and presses on us with a heavier weight of obligation, as well as lifts us up into a position of greater blessedness: ‘Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord.’ That is what you and I are here for--to bear witness, different and yet like to, the witness borne by the Lord. We have all to do that, by words, though not only by them. That is the obligation that a great many Christian people take very lightly. That yoke of Jesus Christ many of us slip our necks out of. If He has witnessed, you have to confess. But some of you carry your Christianity in secret, and button your coats over the cockade that should tell whose soldiers you are, and are ashamed, or too shy, or too nervous, or too afraid of ridicule, or not sufficiently sure of your own grip of the Master, to confess Him before men. I beseech you remember that a Christian man is no Christian unless ‘with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,’ as well as ‘with the heart’ belief is exercised unto righteousness.
III. Lastly, we have here the practical issue of all this.
‘I charge thee before God, who quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ, that thou keep the commandment without spot.’ The ‘commandment,’ of course, may be used in a specific sense, referring to what has just been enjoined, but more probably we are to regard the same thing which, considered in its relation to Jesus Christ, is His testimony, as being, in its relation to us, His commandment. For all Christ’s gospel of revelation that He has made of Himself to the world, is meant to influence, not only belief and feeling, but conduct and character as well. All the New Testament, in so far as it is a record of what Christ is, and thereby a declaration of what God is, is also for us an injunction as to what we ought to be. The whole Gospel is law, and the testimony is commandment, and we have to keep it, as well as to confess it. Let me put the few things that I have to say, under this last division of my subject, the practical issue, into the shape of three exhortations, not for the sake of seeming to arrogate any kind of superiority, but for the sake of point and emphasis.
Let the life bear witness to the confession. What is the use of Timothy’s standing there, and professing himself a Christian before many witnesses if, when he goes out into the world, his conduct gives the lie to his creed, and he lives like the men that are not Christians? Back up your confession by your conduct, and when you say ‘I believe in Jesus Christ,’ let your life be as true an echo of His life as your confession is of His testimony. Else we shall come under the condemnation, ‘Nothing but leaves,’ and shall fall under the punishment of the continuance of unfruitfulness, which is our crime as well as our punishment. There is a great deal more done by consistent living for, and by inconsistent living against, the truth of the Gospel, than by all the words of all the preachers in the world. Your faults go further, and tell more, than my sermons, and your Christian characters will go further than all the eloquence of the most devoted preachers. ‘There is no voice nor language, where their sound is not heard. Their line is gone out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.’
Again, let the thought of the Great Witness stimulate us. He, too, took His place by our sides, though with the differences that I have pointed out, yet with resemblances which bring Him very near us. He, too; knew what it was to stand amongst those who shrugged their shoulders, and knit their brows at His utterances, and turned away from Him, calling Him sometimes ‘dreamer,’ sometimes ‘revolutionary,’ sometimes ‘blasphemer,’ and now and then a messenger of good tidings and a preacher of the gospel of peace. He knows all our hesitations, all our weaknesses, all our temptations. He was the first of the martyrs, in the narrower sense of the word. He is the leader of the great band of witnesses for God. Let us stand by His side, and be like Him in our bearing witness in this world.
Again, let the thought of the great tribunal stimulate us. ‘I give thee charge before God, who quickeneth all things--and who therefore will quicken you--and before Jesus Christ, that thou keep this commandment.’ Jesus, who witnessed to the truth, witnesses, in the sense of beholding and watching, us, knowing our weakness and ready to help us. ‘The faithful witness, and the first begotten from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth,’ is by us, as we witness for Him. And so, though we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, the saints in the past who have witnessed for God, and been witnessed to by Him, we have to turn away from them, and ‘look off’ from all others, ‘unto Jesus.’ And we may, like the first of the noble army of martyrs, see the heavens opened, and Jesus ‘standing’--started to His feet, to see and to help Stephen--’at the right hand of God.’
Brethren, let us listen to His witness, let us accept it, setting to our seals that God is true. Then let us try to echo it back by word, and to attest our confession by our conduct, and then we may comfort ourselves with the great word, ‘He that confesseth Me before men, Him will I also confess before My Father which is in Heaven.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Concerning Servants, the Rich, and Corrupt Teachers
Concerning Servants, the Rich, and Corrupt Teachers
1, 2. The eighth charge to Timothy, as to bondservants or slaves. We have here an indication of the way in which Christianity abolished slavery—not by denouncing it, but by implanting the idea of Christian brotherhood, which was incompatible with it: see Intro, to Philemon. If a Christian were the slave of an unbeliever, his submissiveness was to be such as to earn credit for his profession. If he had a Christian master, he was to be the more zealous in his service, inasmuch as his master, who derived benefit from it, was a believer like himself, and therefore an object of love.
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2. Because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit] RV 'because they that partake of the benefit of their service are believing and beloved.'
3-10. Resumption of the charge against heterodox teachers. They had all the faults already mentioned, and in addition they made use of religion as a means of getting money, or, as they expressed it, of 'gain.' Reproving them, St. Paul points out in what sense religion is a 'gain,' namely, that it produces resignation and contentment of mind, which prevent the disquieting effects of covetousness, whereas the desire of 'gain,' in the sense of money-getting, leads to every kind of evil-doing.
3. Wholesome words] RV 'sound words.' Even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ] His teaching in the Gospels.
5. Supposing that gain is godliness] RV 'supposing that godliness is a way of gain.'
8. Raiment] RV 'covering.' Houses may be included as well as clothes. 9, 10. Similarly Seneca, 'Ep.' 87, 'While we wish to gain riches we fall into many evils.'
11-16. Resumption of personal charge to Timothy. Timothy's conduct was to be in absolute contrast with that of the heterodox teachers, who valued religion as a source of gain. He must be faithful, as he had promised when he made his confession of faith, and as Christ faithfully made His confession before Pontius Pilate. This faithfulness Timothy was especially to show in keeping safe the truth committed to him by St. Paul, which he was to do his part in maintaining uncorrupted till the Second Coming of Christ, which God would manifest at His own time.
11. O man of God] cp. 1Sa_2:27; 1Ki_12:22.
12. Art.. called] RV 'was called.' A good confession] RV 'the good confession,' made when he was admitted into the Church, or possibly when he was brought before a Roman magistrate to answer for his faith (Heb_13:23).
14. This commandment] i.e. the sum of the charges contained in the Epistle. Without spot, unrebukeable] Timothy's faith is to be without spot, so that he should be without reproach. Until the appearing] These words do not necessarily indicate a belief on St. Paul's part that the Coming of the Lord would be in Timothy's lifetime. It might be, and then Timothy would have kept his deposit to the end if he were faithful; it might be later, and then he would have done his part in keeping it in his generation. The Return of the Lord is to take place in God's time, which 'He hath placed in His own power' (Act_1:7).
15, 16. Probably an ascription of praise in use in the Apostolic Church.
17-19; The ninth charge to Timothy, arising out of 1Ti_6:6-10, respecting the rich. He is to instruct them not to trust in their riches and grow conceited, but to be ready to give to others, so laying up for themselves a treasure in heaven. The right use of wealth, as of all other of God's gifts, while it will not earn eternal life, will yet conduce to our attainment of it, good works not being the cause, but being nevertheless, in adults, a condition of salvation.
18. Ready.. to communicate] i.e. to contribute generously of their substance.
19. Laying up in store] see Mat_6:19; Luk_16:9. Eternal life] RV 'life indeed,' following a reading which, has slightly the better authority of the two.
20-22. Final and impassioned appeal to Timothy. The faith is a 'deposit' (RV) which St. Paul has committed to Timothy (2Ti_1:13-14), and which it is his office, as it is now the office of the Church, to keep safe and uncorrupted for the salvation of the world in spite of gnostic or agnostic speculations and theories. 'Who at this day,' says Vincentius Lerinensis, 'is Timothy but either generally the whole Church, or especially the whole body of prelates, who ought either themselves to have a sound knowledge of divine religion, or to infuse it into others? What is meant by keeping the depositum? Keep it, quoth he, for fear of thieves, for danger of enemies, lest when men be asleep they oversow cockle among that good seed of wheat which the Son of man hath sowed in His field. Keep, quoth he, the depositum. What is meant by this depositum? It is that which is committed to them, not that which is invented by thee; that which thou hast received, not that which thou hast devised; a thing not of wit, but of learning; not of private assumption, but of public tradition; a thing brought to thee, not brought forth of thee; wherein thou must not be an author, but a keeper; not a founder, but an observer; not a leader, but a follower. Keep the depositum, quoth he; preserve the talent of the Catholic Faith safe and undiminished; that which is committed to thee, let that remain with thee, and that deliver. Thou hast received gold, render thou gold; I will not have one thing for another. O Timothy, O Priest, O Teacher, O Doctor, if God's gift hath made thee meet and sufficient, for thy wit, exercise, and learning.. let them that come after you rejoice at arriving at the understanding of that, by thy means, which antiquity, without that understanding, had in veneration. Yet for all this, in such sort deliver the same things which thou hast learnt, that albeit thou teachest after a new manner, yet thou never teach new things' (c. 22). No one has better grasped and expressed the underlying thought and purpose of St. Paul's appeal to Timothy than Vincentius.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv11, 16 (See Scofield "1Jn 3:7").
righteousness
(See Scofield "1Jn 3:7").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. Concerning servants (1Ti 6:1-2)
CHAPTER 6
1. Concerning servants (1Ti 6:1-2)
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2. Concerning those who oppose (1Ti 6:3-5)
3. Concerning contentment and temptation (1Ti 6:6-10)
4. The final exhortations (1Ti 6:11-21)
1Ti 6:1-2
Servants (slaves) who had pagan masters were to count them worthy of all honor, and thus bear a good testimony for the truth, that the Name of God and the teaching be not blasphemed. Theirs was a blessed opportunity to show forth the excellencies of Him whom they served, and who once served in obedience and submission on earth. If their masters were believers, and master and slave worshipped together, there was danger that a slave might forget his place and become insolent. The apostolic exhortation guards against this.
1Ti 6:3-5
These things Timothy was to teach and exhort. If anyone opposed these instructions, if he did not give his consent to wholesome words, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and to the teaching which is according to godliness, he showed thereby that he knew not the real power of godliness. He gives evidence of pride of heart, that he is destitute of the truth, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strife of words. And from such a state of soul cometh as a result envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of depraved minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness. This is a good description of a good portion of professing Christendom.
1Ti 6:6-10
While the class of people who have the form of godliness and deny its power, make piety a means of gain in earthly things, which is condemned, the apostle speaks of true piety, or as it is called in the Authorized Version, godliness, with contentment as a great gain. True piety, in walking with God, having a good conscience, gives contentment, no matter what earthly circumstances are. A believer who seeks the things above should no longer cling to earthly things, knowing that we brought nothing into the world nor carry anything out. If the eternal things, that promised glory, are ever real before the soul, then each will be content with having the necessary things, food and raiment. And how very true are the words which follow, as not a few have found out. “But they that desire to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. For the love of money is the root of every evil; which, while some coveted after, they have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” Money itself is not evil, but the love of it is the fearful thing. No further comment is needed on these words. Examples of this evil are all about us in the professing church, and “lovers of money” and “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God” are constantly increasing. Surely they heap treasure together for the last days. Weeping and wailing will follow (Jas 5:3).
1Ti 6:11-21
The man of God is to flee these things. If he does not it will rob him of his good conscience, his true piety and contentment. The thing to be coveted for the child of God, who belongs to the house of God, is not money, but righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. To covet this is to be the daily business of a Christian. While the believer has to turn his back upon the world and its filthy lucre, he is also to fight the good fight of the faith, and to lay hold on eternal life. This life is, as we have seen from the Gospel of John, a personal possession. It does therefore not mean the obtaining of eternal life; that is the gift of God. It must be laid hold on in faith, entered into and enjoyed. Many possess eternal life, but a practical laying hold on all that it implies and that is connected with it, is what they need. Timothy, in this respect, had confessed a good confession before many witnesses. Once more the charge before God, the Creator-God, who preserveth all things, and before Christ Jesus, the great and faithful Witness, to keep all spotless and irreproachable until His appearing.
The Lord Jesus is coming again. Note what is said of that coming, “which (His appearing) in its own time the blessed and only Ruler shall show, the King of those that reign, and Lord of those that exercise lordship; who only has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see; to whom be honor and eternal might. Amen” (J.N. Darby’s translation). Those who deny the immortality of the human soul and who teach that man has no longer endless being, but dies like the beast, use the words that God “only has immortality” as their star-text, to affirm their error. God only hath immortality in Himself; it is His essential possession. He is the Source of it. The statement does not teach that man has not immortality, but that God only hath immortality in His Being; man has received it from Him.
We but quote the final exhortations. “Charge those that are rich in this present age not to be high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God (the Creator and Preserver of all) who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” And then another warning against the errors: “O Timothy, keep that which is committed unto thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and opposition of science falsely so-called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith” (Gnosticism - and its Satanic offspring, “Christian Science” so-called).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 6, 11, 17 The Station of the Slaves.
The Station of the Slaves.
v. 1. Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed.
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v. 2. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather do them service because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.
As in other parts of the New Testament, the slave problem is also here dealt with simply and directly, leaving no room for misunderstandings: As many as are slaves under the yoke, let them regard their own masters worthy of all honor, lest the name of God and the doctrine be blasphemed. See Eph 6:5; Col 3:22; Tit 2:9; 1Pe 2:18. The apostle in this verse evidently has such slaves in mind as had heathen masters. These slaves were not free to do as they pleased, but were under the yoke, they were bound to their masters in absolute obedience. This submission, however, which the apostle refers to in a self-evident way, should not be an unwilling, grudging obedience. The slaves should rather regard those masters who were over them by God’s will and permission as worthy of all honor. The Fourth Commandment thus has its full force and meaning in this relationship and cannot be set aside. At the same time Paul has in mind the honor of the Word of God, which should be furthered by such willing obedience on the part of Christian slaves. In most cases a slave’s profession of Christianity could hardly remain hidden. In such an instance disobedience, obstinacy, stubbornness would be sure to reflect upon the doctrine confessed by the Christian servant and harm the cause of his Master.
But the apostle finds it necessary also to add a specific warning to such slaves as had Christian masters: But those that have believing masters should not despise them because they are brethren, but perform their service all the better because believers they are and beloved that partake of the benefit. These things teach and exhort. Knowing himself to be the equal of any Christian brother by virtue of the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, a Christian slave would be more likely to presume on this newly acquired theory of liberty, equality, and fraternity in relation to a Christian master than in relation to one that was a. heathen. He might even, in a false understanding of such passages as Gal 3:28; Col 3:11, get the idea that his master no longer had the right to exercise authority over him, and that he was no longer obliged to yield him obedience. This notion might even reach such absurd limits as to cause the slave to forget the respect due to his master and to treat him with a familiarity amounting to contempt. But the apostle teaches that the very opposite is true, that the service of Christian slaves should be all the more willing, all the more faithful, since the men that received their services were believing, beloved brothers in Christ and of Christ. See Eph 6:5-6. The apostle purposely adds an exhortation to Timothy to teach and exhort these things; he wanted to have every slave possess a clear understanding of God’s will in these matters, indicating, at the same time, that it was necessary to repeat such teaching time and again in order to make it effective.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Paul gives some specific instructions to slaves and masters and then continues with instructions on living in a godly way.
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Let all who are under the yoke as slaves
Paul speaks of people working as slaves as if they are oxen carrying a yoke. AT: "Let all who are working as slaves" (See: Metaphor)
Let all who are
It is implied that Paul is speaking about believers. AT: "Let all who are believers" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the name of God and the teaching might not be blasphemed
This can be stated in active and positive form. AT: "the unbelievers might always speak respectfully about the name of God and the teaching" (See: Active or Passive and Litotes)
the name of God
Here "name" refers to God's nature or character. AT: "the character of God" or "God" (See: Metonymy)
the teaching
"the faith" or "the gospel"
they are brothers
Here "brothers" means "fellow believers."
For the masters who are helped by their work
This can be stated in active form. AT: "For the masters whom the slaves help with their work" (See: Active or Passive)
and are loved
This can be stated in active form. Possible meanings are 1) "and the slaves should love them" or 2) "whom God loves" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
yoke
servant
lord
worthy
honor
God
blasphemy
believe
brother
servant
declare
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21 6:1 Both unbelieving and believing masters should be treated…
6:1 Both unbelieving and believing masters should be treated with respect, which will bring honor rather than shame to God’s name (see study note on 5:1–6:2).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.