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,
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1 Timothy 6:11-14 sits inside this longer paragraph.
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.
Parallel Translations
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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,
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But thou which arte the man of god flye soche thynges Folowe rightewesnes godlines love pacience and meknes.
Fyght the good fyght of fayth. Laye honde on eternall lyfe where vnto thou arte called and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
I geve the charge in the sight of God which quickneth all thinges and before Iesu Christ which vnder Pocius Pilate witnessed a good witnessinge
that thou kepe the commaundement and be with out spotte and vnrebukeable vntyll the apperynge of oure lorde Iesus Christ
Show all 3 translations
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But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousnesse, godlines, faith, loue, patience, and meekenes.
Fight the good fight of faith: lay holde of eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
I charge thee in the sight of God, who quickeneth all thinges, and before Iesus Christ, which vnder Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession,
That thou keepe this commandement without spot, and vnrebukeable, vntill the appearing of our Lord Iesus Christ,
Cross-references (112)
- 1 Peter 5:10 (v12) But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect,…
- 1 Timothy 1:18 (v12) I commit this instruction to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which were given to you before, that by them you may wage…
- 1 Corinthians 9:25-26 (v12) Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an…
- 2 Timothy 4:7 (v12) I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.
- Ephesians 6:10-18 (v12) Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the…
Show all 100 cross-references
- 2 Timothy 2:22 (v11) Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
- Philippians 3:12-14 (v12) Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold…
- 1 Timothy 6:13 (v12) I command you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession,
- Revelation 3:3 (v12) Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If therefore you won’t watch, I will come as a thief, and you won’t…
- Colossians 3:15 (v12) And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful.
- 1 John 2:25 (v12) This is the promise which he promised us, the eternal life.
- 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (v12) For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty…
- 2 Timothy 1:9 (v12) who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to…
- Hebrews 6:18 (v12) that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to…
- 1 Timothy 4:12 (v11) Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in…
- 2 Timothy 3:17 (v11) that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
- 1 Timothy 6:19 (v12) laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.
- Zechariah 10:5 (v12) They shall be as mighty men, treading down muddy streets in the battle; and they shall fight, because Yahweh is with them; and the riders…
- Romans 8:28-30 (v12) We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he…
- Romans 10:9-10 (v12) that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be…
- Hebrews 12:14 (v11) Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,
- Deuteronomy 26:17-19 (v12) You have declared today that Yahweh is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, and his…
- 2 Peter 1:5-7 (v11) Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge;…
- Proverbs 3:18 (v12) She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:12 (v12) to the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory.
- Hebrews 3:14 (v12) For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end,
- Philippians 4:8-9 (v11) Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever…
- Deuteronomy 26:3 (v12) You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, “I profess today to Yahweh your God, that I have come to the land…
- Psalms 63:8 (v12) My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up.
- Romans 9:23-24 (v12) and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, us, whom he also called,…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:14 (v12) to which he called you through our Good News, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1 Peter 3:9 (v12) not rendering evil for evil, or insult for insult; but instead blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a…
- John 18:36-37 (v13) Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be…
- 1 Corinthians 10:14 (v11) Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:8-9 (v12) But since we belong to the day, let’s be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For…
- Luke 12:8-9 (v12) “I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, the Son of Man will also confess before the angels of God; but he who denies me in the…
- Psalms 34:14 (v11) Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, and pursue it.
- Isaiah 44:5 (v12) One will say, ‘I am Yahweh’s;’ and another will be called by the name of Jacob; and another will write with his hand ‘to Yahweh,’ and honor…
- 1 Corinthians 6:18 (v11) Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
- 2 Corinthians 9:13 (v12) seeing that through the proof given by this service, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the Good News of Christ and…
- Hebrews 13:23 (v12) Know that our brother Timothy has been freed, with whom, if he comes shortly, I will see you.
- 1 Peter 3:11 (v11) Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it.
- Titus 2:11-12 (v11) For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,…
- Song of Solomon 3:4 (v12) I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my…
- Matthew 27:11 (v13) Now Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said to him, “So you say.”
- Romans 14:19 (v11) So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.
- 1 Corinthians 14:1 (v11) Follow after love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
- 2 Corinthians 6:7 (v12) in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
- 1 Timothy 5:10 (v11) being approved by good works, if she has brought up children, if she has been hospitable to strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet,…
- 2 Peter 3:14 (v14) Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in peace, without defect and blameless in his sight.
- Psalms 38:20 (v11) They who render evil for good are also adversaries to me, because I follow what is good.
- Isaiah 51:1 (v11) “Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek Yahweh. Look to the rock you were cut from, and to the quarry you were dug…
- Galatians 5:22-23 (v11) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things…
- 1 Timothy 5:21 (v13) I command you in the sight of God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the chosen angels, that you observe these things without prejudice, doing…
- 1 Peter 1:7 (v14) that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in…
- 1 Timothy 6:20 (vv11, 14) Timothy, guard that which is committed to you, turning away from the empty chatter and oppositions of what is falsely called knowledge,
- 2 Kings 5:20 (v11) But Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (v14) May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our…
- 1 Samuel 2:27 (v11) A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Did I reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage…
- 1 Kings 17:18 (v11) She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”
- 1 Kings 20:28 (v11) A man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘Because the Syrians have said, “Yahweh is a god of the…
- 2 Kings 1:9 (v11) Then the king sent a captain of fifty with his fifty to him. He went up to him; and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. He said…
- 2 Kings 1:13 (v11) Again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. The third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before…
- 2 Kings 23:17 (v11) Then he said, “What monument is that which I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God, who came from Judah,…
- 2 Chronicles 8:14 (v11) He appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their…
- Jeremiah 35:4 (v11) and I brought them into Yahweh’s house, into the room of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the room of…
- Philippians 1:10 (v14) so that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ,
- Titus 2:13 (v14) looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
- Hebrews 9:28 (v14) so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting…
- Jude 1:24 (v14) Now to him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy,
- Deuteronomy 16:20 (v11) You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
- Deuteronomy 33:1 (v11) This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
- 1 Samuel 9:6 (v11) The servant said to him, “Behold now, there is a man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor. All that he says surely…
- 1 Kings 13:1 (v11) Behold, a man of God came out of Judah by Yahweh’s word to Bethel; and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.
- 1 Kings 13:26 (v11) When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who was disobedient to Yahweh’s mouth.…
- 1 Chronicles 28:9-10 (v14) You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Yahweh searches all…
- Song of Solomon 4:7 (v14) You are all beautiful, my love. There is no spot in you.
- John 5:21 (v13) For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.
- 1 Corinthians 1:8 (v14) who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Colossians 1:22 (v14) yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before him,
- 2 Thessalonians 2:8 (v14) Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming;
- 1 Timothy 4:11-16 (v14) Command and teach these things. Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in…
- 2 Timothy 4:1 (v14) I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom:
- Hebrews 9:14 (v14) how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from…
- Revelation 1:5 (v13) and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and…
- Revelation 1:7 (v14) Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn…
- Revelation 3:14 (v13) “To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these…
- Deuteronomy 32:39 (v13) “See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of…
- 1 Samuel 2:6 (v13) “Yahweh kills and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol and brings up.
- 1 Chronicles 28:20 (v14) David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do it. Don’t be afraid, nor be dismayed; for Yahweh God, even my God, is with…
- Nehemiah 12:24 (v11) The chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers close to them, to praise and give…
- Nehemiah 12:36 (v11) and his brothers, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of…
- John 5:26 (v13) For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.
- John 14:6 (v13) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- John 14:25-26 (v13) I have said these things to you while still living with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will…
- John 19:11 (v13) Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you…
- Acts 17:25 (v13) He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.
- Ephesians 5:27 (v14) that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and…
- Philippians 1:6 (v14) being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
- Philippians 2:15 (v14) that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom…
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (112 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (27 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv11–14 11 But thou, O man of God, flee these…
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things By calling him man of God he adds weight to the exhortation. If it be thought proper to limit to the preceding verse the injunction which he gives to follow righteousness, piety, faith, patience, this is an instruction which he gives, by contrast, for correcting avarice, by informing him what kind of riches he ought to desire, namely, spiritual riches. Yet this injunction may also be extended to other clauses, that Timothy, withdrawing himself from all vanity, may avoid that (περιεπγίαν) vain curiosity which he condemned a little before; for he who is earnestly employed about necessary employments will easily abstain from those which are superfluous. He names, by way of example, some kinds of virtues, under which we may suppose others to be included. Consequently, every person who shall be devoted to the pursuit of “righteousness,” and who shall aim at “piety, faith, charity,” and shall follow patience and gentleness, cannot but abhor avarice and its fruits.
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 vv11, 13 A peculiar exhortation to divers virtues, wherewith it behooveth…
A peculiar exhortation to divers virtues, wherewith it behooveth the Pastors especially to be furnished.
Whom the Spirit of God ruleth.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–14 11 But thou, O man of God, flee these…
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
Ver. 11. But thou, O man of God] If Timothy were that angel of the Church of Ephesus, Rev 2:1, that left his first love (as some think he was), this counsel was but needful. Christ cautions his disciples to beware of worldliness, Luk 21:34.
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Flee these things] Remis velisque, with all thy might, that thou be not tacked with them, taxed for them.
Follow after righteousness] These are notable antidotes against covetousness. Paul shows him a better project; points him a sovereign amulet or antidote made up of these precious ingredients: 1. Righteousness, which gives every man his own. 2. Godliness, which gives God likewise his own (this the covetous man cannot awhile to do). 3. Faith, which feareth no famine, quelleth and killeth distrust. 4. Love, a professed enemy to sinful self-love, that nurse of covetousness. 5. Patience, to wait upon God, and not to make haste to be rich. 6. Meekness, in case of cross accidents; when the covetous, troubled by others, troubleth his own house, and meditateth revenge.
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 vv11–14 O man of God; that is, O thou minister…
O man of God; that is, O thou minister of God, whose service is not the service of the world. It is a compellation borrowed from the Old Testament, where we find it often applied to such whose work was to reveal the Divine will, 2Ki 1:9; 4:40,42. By giving Timothy this compellation, he mindeth him how much he was concerned to contemn the world.
Flee these things; flee this eager pursuit of riches.
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And follow after righteousness; and follow after justice, or the business of a righteous life, in thy conversation with men.
Godliness; piety toward God.
Faith; the exercise and life of faith.
Love; love to God and thy neighbour.
Patience; a quiet bearing of injuries.
Meekness; a gentleness of spirit, opposed to all rash anger.
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 vv11–13 Observe here, 1. The apostle’s compellation, or the title…
Observe here, 1. The apostle’s compellation, or the title given to Timothy, Thou, O man of God: it is a title borrowed from the Old Testament, where it is frequently given to the prophets, who revealed the mind and will of God to the people.
Now by giving it to Timothy, the apostle intimates his duty to him, to contemn the world, and flee the eager pursuit of riches. As if the apostle had said, "O Timothy! thou art a minister, and a man of God, solemnly dedicated to his service, and devoted entirely to his glory; see then that thou abhor, and avoid that detestable sin of covetousness. Heavenly truths are the subjects of thy daily study; Oh! let not earthly things be the object of thy chiefest delight and love; but follow after spiritual riches, namely, righteousness and godliness, faith and love, patience and meekness; that godliness which gives contentment with food and raiment, that faith which assures us of a better and more enduring substance, that righteousness or justice which requires us to let every man enjoy his own, that love which makes us willing to distribute, that patience which makes us willing to submit to a low condition, that meekness which suppresses wrath against those that are injurious to us. All these virtues and graces are necessary to thee as a minister of God; they are certainly indications of a mind free from covetousness, and infallible preservations from it."
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 v13 The apostle here charges Timothy to keep this commandment…
The apostle here charges Timothy to keep this commandment (that is, the whole work of his ministry, all the trust reposed in him, all the service expected from him) without spot, unrebukable; he must conduct himself so in his ministry that he might not lay himself open to any blame nor incur any blemish. What are the motives to move him to this?
I. He gives him a solemn charge: I give thee charge in the sight of God that thou do this. He charges him as he will answer it at the great day to that God whose eyes are upon us all, who sees what we are and what we do: - God, who quickens all things, who has life in himself and is the fountain of life. This should quicken us to the service of God that we serve a God who quickens all things. He charges him before Christ Jesus, to whom in a peculiar manner he stood related as a minister of his gospel: Who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession. Observe, Christ died not only as a sacrifice, but as a martyr; and he witnessed a good confession when he was arraigned before Pilate, saying (Joh 18:36, Joh 18:37), My kingdom is not of this world: I am come to bear witness unto the truth. That good confession of his before Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world, should be effectual to draw off all his followers, both ministers and people, from the love of this world.
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II. He reminds him of the confession that he himself had made: Thou hast professed a good profession before many witnesses (Ti1 6:12), namely, when he was ordained by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. The obligation of that was still upon him, and he must live up to that, and be quickened by that, to do the work of his ministry.
III. He reminds him of Christ's second coming: "Keep this commandment - until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; keep it as long as thou live, till Christ come at death to give thee a discharge. Keep it with an eye to his second coming, when we must all give an account of the talents we have been entrusted with," Luk 16:2. Observe, The Lord Jesus Christ will appear, and it will be a glorious appearing, not like his first appearing in the days of his humiliation. Ministers should have an eye to this appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ in all their ministrations, and, till his appearing, they are to keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable. Mentioning the appearing of Christ, as one that loved it, Paul loves to speak of it, and loves to speak of him who shall then appear. The appearing of Christ is certain (he shall show it), but it is not for us to know the time and season of it, which the Father has kept in his own power: let this suffice us, that in time he will show it, in the time that he thinks fit for it. Observe,
1. Concerning Christ and God the Father the apostle here speaks great things. (1.) That God is the only Potentate; the powers of earthly princes are all derived from him, and depend upon him. The powers that exist are ordained of God, Rom 13:1. He is the only Potentate that is absolute and sovereign, and perfectly independent. (2.) He is the blessed and the only Potentate, infinitely happy, and nothing can in the least impair his happiness. (3.) He is King of kings, and Lord of lords. All the kings of the earth derive their power from him; he gave them their crowns, they hold them under him, and he has a sovereign dominion over them. This is Christ's title (Rev 19:16), upon his vesture and his thigh; for he has a name higher than the kings of the earth. (4.) He only has immortality. He only is immortal in himself, and has immortality as he is the fountain of it, for the immortality of angels and spirits derived from him. (5.) He dwells in inaccessible light, light which no man can approach unto: no man can get to heaven but those whom he is pleased to bring thither, and admit into his kingdom. (6.) He is invisible: Whom no man hath seen, nor can see. It is impossible that mortal eyes should bear the brightness of the divine glory. No man can see God and live.
2. Having mentioned these glorious attributes, he concludes with a doxology: To him be honour and power everlasting. Amen. God having all power and honour to himself, it is our duty to ascribe all power and honour to him. (1.) What an evil is sin, when committed against such a God, the blessed and only Potentate! The evil of it rises in proportion to the dignity of him against whom it is committed. (2.) Great is his condescension, to take notice of such mean and vile creatures as we are. What are we then, that the blessed God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, should seek after us? (3.) Blessed are those who are admitted to dwell with this great and blessed Potentate. Happy are thy men (says the queen of Sheba to king Solomon), happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee, Kg1 10:8. Much more happy are those who are allowed to stand before the King of kings. (4.) Let us love, adore, and praise, the great God; for who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy, Rev 15:4.
IV. The apostle adds, by way of postscript, a lesson for rich people, Ti1 6:17-19.
1. Timothy must charge those that are rich to beware of the temptations, and improve the opportunities, of their prosperous estate. (1.) He must caution them to take heed of pride. This is a sin that easily besets rich people, upon whom the world smiles. Charge them that they be not high-minded, or think of themselves above what is meet, or be puffed up with their wealth. (2.) He must caution them against vain confidence in their wealth. Charge them that they trust not in uncertain riches. Nothing is more uncertain than the wealth of this world; many have had much of it one day and been stripped of all the next. Riches make themselves wings, and fly away as an eagle, etc., Pro 23:5. (3.) He must charge them to trust in God, the living God, to make him their hope, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. Those who are rich must see God giving them their riches, and giving them to enjoy them richly; for many have riches, but enjoy them poorly, not having a heart to use them. (4.) He must charge them to do good with what they have (for what is the best estate worth, any more than as it gives a man an opportunity of doing so much the more good?): That they be rich in good works. Those are truly rich who are rich in good works. That they be ready to distribute, willing to communicate: not only to do it, but to do it willingly, for God loves a cheerful giver. (5.) He must charge them to think of another world, and prepare for that which is to come by works of charity: Laying up in store a good foundation against the time to come, that they may take hold on eternal life.
2. Hence we may observe, (1.) Ministers must not be afraid of the rich; be they ever so rich, they must speak to them, and charge them. (2.) They must caution them against pride, and vain confidence in their riches: That they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches. Stir them up to works of piety and charity: That they do good, etc. (3.) This is the way for the rich to lay up in store for themselves for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life; in the way of well-doing we are to seek for glory, honour, and immortality, and eternal life will be the end of all, Rom 2:7. (4.) Here is a lesson for ministers in the charge given to Timothy: Keep that which is committed to thy trust. Every minister is a trustee, and it is a treasure committed to his trust, which he has to keep. The truths of God, the ordinances of God, keep these, avoiding profane and vain babblings; not affecting human eloquence, which the apostle calls vain babbling, or human learning, which often opposes the truths of God, but keep close to the written word, for that is committed to our trust. Some who have been very proud of their learning, their science, which is falsely so called, have by that been debauched in their principles and been drawn away from the faith of Christ, which is a good reason why we should keep to the plain word of the gospel, and resolve to live and die by that. Observe, [1.] Ministers cannot be too earnestly exhorted to keep what is committed to their trust, because it is a great trust lodged with them: O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust! as if he had said, "I cannot conclude without charging thee again; whatever thou doest, be sure to keep this trust, for it is too great a trust to be betrayed." [2.] Ministers are to avoid babblings, if they would keep what is committed to them, because they are vain and profane. [3.] That science that opposes the truth of the gospel is falsely so called; it is not true science, for if it were it would approve of the gospel and consent to it. [4.] Those who are so fond of such science are in great danger of erring concerning the faith; those who are for advancing reason above faith are in danger of leaving faith.
V. Our apostle concludes with a solemn prayer and benediction: Grace be with thee. Amen. Observe, this is a short, yet comprehensive prayer for our friends, for grace comprehends in it all that is good, and grace is an earnest, yea, a beginning, of glory; for, wherever God gives grace, he will give glory, and will not withhold any good thing from him who walketh uprightly. Grace be with you all. Amen.
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 vv11–14 But thou, O man of God,.... Not only by…
But thou, O man of God,.... Not only by creation, as every man is; nor merely by special grace, as everyone is, that is chosen of God, redeemed by Christ, and regenerated and sanctified by the Spirit; but by his peculiar office, as an evangelist and minister of the word, being qualified for, and devoted to, and employed in the service of God. The phrase is taken out of the Old Testament, where the prophets, Elijah and Elisha, are so called, Kg2 1:9,
flee these things; the Arabic version reads "these abominations"; namely, all questions and strifes of words, from whence so many evils follow, Ti1 6:4 and all worldly gain, selfish interest, and mercenary views in religion; a wicked resolution to be rich, at any rate, and an immoderate love of the things of the world, and an eager pursuit after them, which expose to great danger, and even utter ruin; things very unbecoming any professor of religion, but much more a minister of the Gospel.
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And follow after righteousness; not for justification before God, that he had followed after, and attained unto, which is the righteousness of Christ, and not of the law; but for the honour of religion before men; and intends the doing of justice between man and man, giving everyone their own, which in undue affection for the world sometimes leads men from:
godliness; spiritual religion, holiness of heart, and conversation, which has the promise of this life, as well as of the other, and with contentment is great gain; wherefore to pursue this is much better than greedily to run after the riches of this world, or with the false teachers to suppose that godliness lies in worldly gain, or in securing to a man his worldly interest:
faith; the grace of faith, which looks not to things seen, which are temporal, but to things not seen, which are eternal; and leads off the mind from sublunary enjoyments to God, and Christ, and the glories of another world; and is the leading grace to all others, and the foundation of good works, without which there is no pleasing in acts of moral righteousness, or in any acts of religious worship, which may be called godliness:
love; to God, which is inconsistent with serving mammon, or with an immoderate love of money; and to Christ, which will put a man on seeking, not his own things, but the things of Christ; and to the saints, which will direct him to serve them by acts of beneficence and liberality:
patience; in bearing reproaches and indignities; in suffering injuries, loss of goods, imprisonment, and every sort of persecution, for the sake of the Gospel; which a covetous disposition will not admit of: last of all,
meekness; or humility, not seeking great things, but being content with a lower station of life; for generally it is pride that puts men upon a determination to be rich at any rate: it may also design meekness in instructing the ignorant, in refuting error, and in reproving offenders.
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 vv11–13 But thou, O man of God - Whatever all…
But thou, O man of God - Whatever all the world else do. A man of God is either a prophet, a messenger of God, or a man devoted to God; a man of another world. Flee - As from a serpent, instead of coveting these things. Follow after righteousness - The whole image of God; though sometimes this word is used, not in the general, but in the particular, acceptation, meaning only that single branch of it which is termed justice. Faith - Which is also taken here in the general and full sense; namely, a divine, supernatural sight of God, chiefly in respect of his mercy in Christ. This faith is the foundation of righteousness, the support of godliness, the root of every grace of the Spirit. Love - This St. Paul intermixes with everything that is good: he, as it were, penetrates whatever he treats of with love, the glorious spring of all inward and outward holiness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11–14 Verse 11. But thou, O man of God] Thou,…
Verse 11. But thou, O man of God] Thou, who hast taken God for thy portion, and art seeking a city that hath foundations, whose builder is the living God, flee these things. Escape for thy life. Even thou art not out of the reach of the love of money. How many of the ministers of religion have been ruined by this! And how much has religion itself suffered by their love of money!
Follow after righteousness] Justice and uprightness in all thy dealings with men. Godliness-a thorough conformity to the image of God and mind of Christ. Faith in Jesus, and in all that he has spoken; and fidelity to the talents thou hast received, and the office with which thou art intrusted.
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Love] To God and all mankind. Patience in all trials and afflictions.
Meekness.] Bearing up with an even mind under all adversities and contradictions.
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 vv11, 13 1Ti 6:11-12. But thou, O man of God —…
1Ti 6:11-12. But thou, O man of God — Whatever all the world else do; (a man of God is either a prophet, a messenger of God, or a man devoted to God, a man of another world;) flee — As from a serpent, instead of coveting these things, and follow after righteousness — Truth, justice, mercy, with all their proper fruits; godliness — Sincere and fervent piety, implying devotedness to God, in heart and life, and a conformity to his image; faith — In all its branches, especially as having the perfections of God, and the truths and promises of his word for its object, implying an evidence of things not seen, and an earnest of things hoped for, with fidelity as to every trust committed to thee. This faith is the foundation of righteousness, the support of godliness, the root of every grace of the Spirit; love — To God and all mankind, friends or enemies, and especially to all the saints. This the apostle intermixes with every thing that is good: he, as it were, penetrates whatever he treats of with love, the glorious spring of all inward and outward holiness. Patience — Under all afflictions coming immediately from the hand of God; meekness — Under all provocations proceeding from man through God’s permission. Fight the good fight of faith — Greek, αγωνιζου τον καλον αγωνα, agonize the good agony, or, maintain the good combat: the words, with those that follow, are plainly agonistical, and refer to the eagerness with which they who contended in the Grecian games struggled for, and laid hold on the crown; and the degree to which the presence of many spectators, or the cloud of witnesses, animated them in their contests. Some would translate the clause, Exercise the good exercise; but the word exercise does not, by any means, express the force of αγωνα, which always supposes an opponent to be resisted. Lay hold on eternal life — The prize just before thee; whereunto thou art also called — By the gospel and the grace of God; and — In pursuance thereof; hast professed, &c. — Or, rather, hast confessed; a good confession — Probably at his baptism or ordination, or perhaps at both; before many witnesses — Who were present on that solemn day, when thou wast dedicated entirely and irrevocably to the service of God, of Christ, of his church, and all mankind.
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 vv11–14 But thou, O man of God, flee these things…
But thou, O man of God, flee these things - These allurements of wealth, and these sad consequences which the love of gold produces.
And follow after righteousness, ... - Make these the grand object of your pursuit. On the virtues here enumerated, see the notes on Gal 5:22-23.
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 vv11–14 But thou, O man of God.[7] This, says St.…
But thou, O man of God.[7] This, says St. John Chrysostom, is one of the highest title and commendations that can be given to any man. So are called Samuel, Elias, Eliseus. (1 Kings ii and ix.; 3 Kings xxxiii.) (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
O homo Dei. See St. John Chrysostom, (Greek: log. iz. p. 321.) Greek: mega axioma, &c. magna dignitas, &c.
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v11 B.—Address to Timothy.—A word for the rich.—Conclusion of the…
B.—Address to Timothy.—A word for the rich.—Conclusion of the Epistle
CH. 1Ti_6:11-21
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11But thou, O man of God,7 flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 12Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on [the] eternal life, whereunto thou art also8 called [unto which thou wast called], and hast professed a [the] good profession before many witnesses. 13I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth9 all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a [the] good confession; [,] 14That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ [Christ Jesus]: [,] 15Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; [,] 16Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; [,] whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.10 17Charge them that are rich in this world,11 that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches [uncertainty of riches], but in the living12 God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; [,] 18That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, 19Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal [the true]13 life. 20O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called [falsely named knowledge]: 21Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.14
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Ti_6:11. But thou, O man of God, &c. The Apostle turns suddenly again to Timothy, as if he had entered almost too far into general topics, and wished henceforth to keep his young disciple wholly in view to the close of the Epistle. There is an emphasis in the tone with which he addresses him, as not only his spiritual son, but the man of God, the servant of the Lord. O man of God, is equivalent to the Hebrew אִישׁ אֱלּהִים. This name places Timothy, as a Christian prophet, by the side of the chosen messengers of the Divine will in the Old Testament (comp. 2Pe_1:21).—Flee these things, ταῦτα; that is, the φιλαργυρία, already spoken of, and again in 1Ti_6:17, where St. Paul mentions the true use of earthly riches.—Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness (comp. 2Ti_2:22). According to Rom_12:21, evil must be overcome by good; and thus St. Paul sets against the opposite vices a series of Christian virtues and affections. Righteousness is not here to be taken sensu forensi, but sensu morals, as uprightness, or integrity. Godliness, or, more specially, the direction of the inward life toward God (comp. Tit_2:12). Faith, love, the two primal virtues of Christianity, are to be here under stood in the usual Pauline sense. Patience, finally, concerns all which could disturb the soul; and meekness (πραϋπάθειαν, after the more probable reading; see Tischendorf), refers to all which might embitter the heart. So long as Timothy grew into this moral character, he ran no danger of infection from the shameless avarice of the heretical teachers. [These virtues seem grouped in pairs; δικαιοσύνη and εὐσέβεια, touching general obedience to God’s law; πίστις and ἀγἀπη, the inner springs of Christian character; ὑπομ. and πραύ̈π., our spirit toward the enemies of the truth; see Huther, in loco.—W.]
1Ti_6:12. Fight the good fight of faith (comp. 1Co_9:24; Php_3:12; 1Ti_1:18; 2Ti_4:7). A repetition of the favorite image by which St. Paul is wont to describe the Christian life, and especially that of the minister of the Lord. Here, too, Timothy is not addressed merely as a man or as an Evangelist, but in both relations. This fight is called good, not only in regard of its moral excellence, but as a lofty and noble one.—Fight of faith; not strictly because it is on behalf of the faith (Mack and Heydenreich), but rather because it is born of the faith, is proper to the faith, and has its power only from the faith. The same figurative style is continued in what follows.—Lay hold on eternal life; as the βραβεῖον, for which the athlete strives, and which he grasps at the end of his course.—Whereunto thou art called. This, according to Heydenreich, should also be considered a figurative expression, alluding to the herald who solemnly summons the athletes to the contest But this is less probable, since such a summons, though required, indeed, for the strife, was not so for the prize. We therefore understand ἐκλήθ. here in the ordinary sense of that outward and inward calling which gave success to the confessor of the gospel. This remembrance would awaken Timothy to his duty to press toward the mark; it would strengthen him in the assurance that, if he strove, his calling was the pledge of eternal life.—And hast professed the good profession. A. fresh motive for Timothy in the fight of faith. Thou hast professed, should rather (De Wette, and others) be considered a new, independent proposition, than, as many do, to make ὡμολόγησας dependent on the preceding εἰς ἥν, which gives a hard construction and a scarcely intelligible sense. The good profession which Timothy had made is not clearly defined by Paul. Some think it the confession made at baptism; others, that given at his induction into the ministry; others, a Christian testimony, given by him during some public persecution or some severe conflict But the youth of Timothy makes the last view improbable; and as his testimony (1Ti_6:13) is compared in some degree with that of the Lord, who had borne witness before Pilate in words as well as deeds, we may best refer this to one of the two occasions already named. The many witnesses, who surely were present at his ordination rather than his baptism, lead us to conclude that the Apostle alludes to the same event, named in 1Ti_4:14 and 2Ti_1:6. [This view of the text is maintained by Neander, “Planting and Training of the Church,” vol. ii; also by Ellicott, and others, in loco. It is worth noting, however, that the authentic traditions of the Church point back to the custom of such a “confession of faith” at baptism. “Mos ibi servatur antiquus, eos qui gratiam baptismi suscepturi sunt publice, id est, fidelium populo audiente symbolum reddere;” Ruffinus, De Symb. 3. We do not suppose that the later baptismal office existed in the apostolic day; but it is not at all improbable that the germ of such a usage began at that time.—W.]
1Ti_6:13. I give thee charge … confession. The allusion to Timothy’s confession leads the Apostle now to speak of the Saviour Himself, whose remembrance must awaken a new motive for fidelity and zeal.—I charge thee (comp. 1Ti_1:3); a form of solemn adjuration well fitted to the grandeur of the subject—In the sight of God, who quickeneth all things. “An encouraging remembrance of the resurrection, and thus indirectly a motive against the fear of death in the cause of Jesus, to which the following clause also alludes;” De Wette.—And before Jesus Christ, who before Pontius Pilate. ̓Επὶ does not signify under Pontius Pilate (De Wette; so Bengel, periocha temporis notissima), but, as Mat_28:14, and elsewhere, coram. The recollection that the Lord had lived and suffered in the days of Pontius Pilate, was quite superfluous; but the statement that His confession was made coram procuratore, clearly shows to what witness the Apostle refers. It can only be that narrated in Joh_18:36 and Mat_27:11; and this was indeed worthy to be held up to Timothy, as the pattern of a true confessor of the truth in face of death. Μαρτυρεῖν means here the same as ὁμολογεῖν in the verse before; and we may thus, when we recall this passage, justly regard Christ as the first Martyr of the New Covenant.
[There is somewhat striking in the identity of these words of Paul with the clause of the Apostle’s Creed, “suffered under Pontius Pilate.” It does not seem to us a mere verbal fancy, if we regard it, when coupled with the καλὴ ὁμολογία made by Timothy, as giving a hint in regard to the formation of that first and simplest symbolum of the faith. We reject, of course, the old, mechanical tradition, that this creed was made by the Apostles, or existed in its present written form before a later age. But the various fragments of such a received “form of words,” as we find them in Justin Mart., Apol., i. 13, Dial., 85; Irenæus, Hæres., 1, 2, and Tertullian; all agreeing in the ideas and general structure, while differing in detail, point clearly to some original “confession of faith,” probably oral; and although without sure date or authorship, yet running back so far toward apostolic time as to have been naturally ascribed to it. Thus this phrase, “under Pontius Pilate,” as cited by St. Paul, may have become incorporated with the earliest germinal creed. We have here what seems the structural law of growth in the church: first the age of organic, yet undeveloped life, then of scientific formation in doctrine and worship.—W.]
1Ti_6:14. That thou keep, &c. St. Paul now sets forth the matter, which he has introduced to Timothy with so solemn a charge. Τηρῆσαί σε τήν ἐντολήν. It is not likely, after so lofty an adjuration, that he meant merely his exhortation to flee from avarice (1Ti_6:11), and like sins. We look rather at his encouragement to the good fight of the Christian life, and the bold confession of the Lord (1Ti_6:12, et seq.). We may say that in this, as the chief commandment, all is embraced which could be asked of Timothy. The view of many, that we must regard this word, commandment, as the παραγγελία of the Christian moral law in general (1Ti_1:5), seems too far-fetched, and quite needless.—Without spot, unrebukable; not to be referred to σε, but to ἐντολήν. “Paul exhorts Timothy so to keep the law, that it may not be stained and open to reproach, as with the false teachers;” Huther.—Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. The final παρουσία of the Lord, at the judgment of the world, which in the apostolic age was expected as nigh at hand. Bengel justly says: “Fideles in praxi suâ proponebant sibi diem Christi ut appropinquentem; not solemus nobis horam mortis proponere.” We must, however, add that the Christian life of many has gained nothing by the change.
[It is to take nothing from the essential authority of the apostolic writings, if we grant their belief in a speedy advent of Christ. Indeed, our Lord declared that they had no revelation of the times (Act_1:7). The prophecy was, in its nature, a dim one, only to be interpreted by history; and it was natural that to them the lofty truth should be a present reality. It is thus by degrees the crude millennial theories of a Papias have faded away, because through eighteen centuries the Church has seen always a new, further horizon rise before it, and can more soberly read the historic plan of Christianity. Yet the kingdom of God should be to our mature faith a nobler reality than if we believed it literally at hand. See, in Neander’s “Planting and Training,” some admirable remarks on the spiritual character of St. John’s doctrine of the παρουσία.—W.]
1Ti_6:15. Which in his times, &c., ἥν καιροῖς ἰδίοις δείξει, κ.τ.λ.; a peculiar expression, unlike the usual style of St. Paul, yet clear in its meaning. God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, will show, set forth, bring to pass, the glorious revelation of His Son (δεικνύναι). Christ is unseen for a while; the time of His manifestation in full glory (ἐπιφάνεια) rests in the counsels of God, who has appointed the exact moment.—In his times (comp. Tit_1:3; Gal_4:4).—The blessed and only Potentate. This mention of God, as One through whom the Epiphany of Christ is to be made known, calls forth from the Apostle a psalm of thanksgiving, in which he expresses those attributes of the Almighty which confirm this Christian hope, and which are contrasted with the desires of man after the transient goods of this world. Blessed, signifies one who has in Himself alone the sources of the highest joy; the only Potentate, the one only who has and exercises power. Perhaps μόνος is indirectly contrasted with the Gnostic notion of the many Æons—a notion which existed in its germ already in the Pauline age.—The King Of kings and Lord of lords; not only in a spiritual, but a cosmical sense.
[We cannot but think that this passage, taken in connection with the whole sketch of these errorists, refers emphatically to a Jewish doctrine of Æons. It may be clearly traced to the mystics of the Essene type. They held a hierarchy of Powers, emanations from the First Principle, and presiding over certain cosmical spheres. It was the germ of the Sephiroths of the Kabbala, and the Æons of the Gnosis. See Ewald, Gesch. d. Volkes Israel, B. 4, p. 208. This was the esoteric science, kept for the illuminati, while the people held only the Jewish angelology in its exoteric, fanciful form. Such floating seeds of error may easily have fallen into the Jewish-Christian soil of the Church. See, for a clear view of this earlier Jewish Gnosticism, Reuss, Theol. Chret., vol. 1, p. 371, et seq.—W.]
1Ti_6:16. Who only hath immortality. The Apostle continues to praise the excellencies of God; and here he specially sets forth that completeness, whereby in His eternal Being He is lifted above all changing things. “Ac si dixisset Paulus, solum Deum non a seipso tantum esse immortalem et suapte natura, sed immortalitatem in potestate habere, ut in creaturas non competat, nisi quatenus suam illis virtutem inspirans eas vegetat;” Calvin.—Dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto. Possessor of the light, as He is possessor of the life. Like descriptions are found in Psa_104:2. God is clothed with light, as a garment, 1Jn_1:5. God is light, &c.—Whom no man hath seen, nor can see. A description of the invisible nature of God, which includes also the idea that He is incomprehensible (comp. Joh_1:18; 1Jn_4:12; Col_1:15; Heb_11:27; Rom_11:33-36).—To whom be honor and power everlasting) i.e., to whom they properly belong. Some suppose that we have here, as 1Ti_3:16, he fragment of an ancient church-hymn.
1Ti_6:17. Charge them that are rich in this world. The Apostle might have fitly closed the Epistle with this doxology. But he once more turns back to the topic, which bad been interrupted by his digression (1Ti_6:11-16). He had named the dangers of those who would be rich; he now addresses those who are rich in worldly goods. But he at once shows the merely relative worth of their wealth, in calling it of “this world.” He does not, however, speak of the rich as having their part exclusively in this world (Luk_16:25); rather, he encourages them to Christian godliness, because their wealth, though in itself temporal, may, by a wise and reasonable use, be raised to somewhat higher. Timothy must, therefore, warn them of their peril, and charge them not to he high-minded—a peculiar vice of rich men (Jer_9:24; Psa_62:9). Pride may be found without wealth; but it is hard to have wealth without pride.—Nor trust in uncertain riches. The Apostle, in speaking not only of uncertain riches, but in substant. of the uncertainty of all riches, beautifully conveys the thought that he who trusts in them rests on that which is itself ὰδηλότης, and so is in worst peril.—But in the living God, who giveth us richly, &c. As ζῶντι is critically untenable, many of the comments here are useless; yet those of Melanchthon and Calvin deserve notice. Instead of trusting in wealth, the rich should trust in the Giver, who wills that we should enjoy His rich gifts. Εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν, not strictly contrasted with asceticism, but with excessive desire for earthly things. “To enjoy, not to rest our hearts on;” Wiesinger.
1Ti_6:18. That they do good … communicate. The Apostle does not merely warn the rich against error, but sets before them the right way which will gain the enjoyment God allows. To do good, is a general conception, like ἀγαθοποιεῖν (Act_14:17); promoting the happiness of others.—Rich in good works; meaning not Christian beneficence merely, but good action in general. The two next words are specific: ready to distribute, willing to communicate (comp. Luk_3:11;, Eph_4:28). If there be any distinction here, the former may mean the generous hand, the latter the sympathetic heart; both conceptions, however, are connected, and neither of worth without the other.
1Ti_6:19. Laying up in store, &c., ἀποθησαυρίζοντας ἑαυτοῖς. St. Paul makes clear, that through such works of love we promote our own eternal interests. Our action toward others is a treasure for ourselves (comp. Mat_6:21). It is obvious that spiritual treasures are meant, as a good foundation against the time to come, θεμέλιον καλὸν εἰς τὸ μέλλον. This view of a treasure as θεμέλιον is not strange in such a concise style as the Apostle here uses, evidently hastening to the close, and critical conjectures are thus superfluous. The conception is at bottom the same with that of our Lord (Luk_16:9).—That they may lay hold on the true life. Ὀντως instead of αἰωνίου (see textual note above). Ἴνα τελικῶς, not ἐκβατικῶς, is here to be understood. The attainment of a true life is thus the highest end, which the rich must seek by the wise and worthy use of his wealth. Thus he reaches the βραβεῖον, which St. Paul set before Timothy. Bengel very finely says: “Mercator, naufragis salvus, thesauros domum præmissos invenit.” [This strong expression of St. Paul seems at first glance hardly Pauline. It must not be abused into any notion of a deposit of meritorious works, as it has been by some Roman expositors. In the deepest sense, eternal life is a gift, and its only θεμέλιον the grace of God. To be charitable for the sake of gaining heaven by it, is absurdity, for the selfish motive vitiates the act. It is the same fallacy which in former days so often led the rich noble, after a life of bloodshed, to wipe out his sins by building a church. But St. Paul alike denies that empty faith which has no fruit in real charity. The love that is “rich in good works,” grows within as it gives away; and that wealth of the heart a Christian man shall “carry with him when he dieth,” for it is of the very being of the sow.—W.]
1Ti_6:20. O Timothy, keep that, &c. Once more the Apostle sums the whole Epistle in one heartfelt, closing injunction. O Timothy, he says out of the fulness of his fatherly heart, keep that committed to thy trust, τὴν παρακαταθήκην φύλαξον (comp. 2Ti_1:12). As there is no exact statement here, there is room for many conjectures, and there have been enough, older and newer. It seems obvious, from the occurrence of παρακαταθήκη at the close, that something general and of high value is meant; it may be the sound doctrine, it may be the ministerial office, or both together. The former view seems preferable, since φύλασσειν is better referred to the treasure of the word, than of the διακονία; and yet more there seems to be, in what directly follows, an antithesis between sound doctrine and error. Παραθήκη as well as παρακαταθήκη in the Greek signifies the deposit of anything with a person, who holds himself bound to return it uninjured; and hence the word is applied to the thing, the depositum itself.—Avoiding, &c.; denoting the way in which Timothy should keep this trust.—Profane and vain babblings (comp. 2Ti_2:16). Nothing is here meant beyond the ματαιολογία and λογομαχία, whose worthlessness St. Paul has already shown; the error of the heretical teachers, here anew branded as at bottom empty negation. He adds a yet further feature: oppositions of science falsely so called; i.e., unworthy of so good a name. The errors are called ἀντιθέσεις, not only because they were utterly opposed in themselves to pure gospel doctrine, but brought forward in a direct polemic way against it. For other explanations, see Be Wette. Conybeare and Howson well say in loco: “The most natural interpretation (considering the junction with κενοφωνίας and the λογομαχίας ascribed to the heretics above, 1Ti_6:4) is to suppose that St. Paul here speaks not of the doctrines, but of the dialectical and rhetorical arts of the false teachers.” These antitheses were the fruit of the falsely so-called science. It is acknowledged that the errorists already in that time boasted of a higher knowledge in the mysteries (Col_2:8). But St. Paul, at the close, explains how this γνῶσις was the direct enemy of the πίστις, the principle of faith in the truth.
[This expression at the close deserves far more study than most expositors give it. It clearly shows that these false theories not only existed in a sporadic way, but had already assumed the defined form, and even the name of a Gnosis. No explanation of the ἀντιθέσεις is satisfactory, from our almost entire ignorance of the methods of that early school. Perhaps some earlier Marcion had brought forward his views in the shape of an antilogy to the received teaching. But, in any case, St. Paul recognized the distinct chasm between a Christian truth and a false science. The one was a theosophy, the other a living spiritual fact. The one turned Christianity into a Rabbinical school, with its doctrine of divine emanations and the dualism of an evil material principle; the other taught the plain revelation of God in the incarnate Son. The one held the union of the soul with the divine by a rigid asceticism, or a spiritual ecstasy; the other knit Christian growth with the ties of household and social life. The one gave an esoteric knowledge for the few initiated; the other a religion of duty for all men. We cannot read this Epistle, and that to the Colossians, without clearly seeing the seed-vessels of all, which ripened in Marcion and Valentinus.—W.]
1Ti_6:21. Which some professing, &c. The worst peril of a Christian man is surely in losing the straight road of the gospel and straying into the byway. It had been so with many so-called wise, whose hapless end should be a warning to Timothy. Which some professing, ἥν τιενς ἐπαγγελλόμενοι; quam nonnulli profitentes, quite as in 1Ti_2:10. They professedly sought salvation in their knowledge, and in this very way have erred concerning the faith, ἠστόχησαν (comp. 2Ti_2:18). Bengel: “Veram sagacitatem, quæ fidei est, amiserunt, non capientes quid sit credendum et quid sit credere” (comp. 2Ti_3:7-8).—Grace be with thee. Amen. Μετὰ σοῦ; according to A. F. G., ὑμῶν should be read, in which case the church would be included, so far as it had any knowledge of the Epistle. As, however, it is addressed specially to Timothy, no more salutations are added. In the Second Epistle it is otherwise, since it was, in a measure, the farewell of the Apostle to the church, and to life.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The illustration, drawn from the ancient athletic contests, sketches most strikingly the character, the calling, the dangers, and high hopes of the Christian life. It is not strange that it has been a favorite figure of believers in all times, as well as of Paul. But it sets before us likewise the object of the minister of the gospel, who is called to be a witness of the Lord. His life is a combat, but a combat which assures him, if he be faithful to the end, of the heavenly crown.
2. The remembrance of the solemn profession made by the Christian on entering the church, must indeed inspire in him a true and steadfast zeal. We also, as well as Timothy, have, in our union with Christ and His Body, confessed before many witnesses—ministry, teachers, friends, the whole visible and invisible Church—nay, before the Lord and His angels. This confession is, then, more than an outward show; it is to be confirmed by our life. Next to the thought of the Lord’s coming (Mat_10:32-33), this of our good confession has the strongest influence on our fidelity. (Compare the view of the nature and importance of confirmation, by Nitzsch, “Pract. Theol.,” vol. ii., p. 436).
3. Shallow and unsatisfying as the rationalistic view is of our Lord’s suffering and death, as only the confirmation of His teaching and the bestowal of a high example, yet it would be as one-sided if we forget that He was the first, noblest witness of the truth. It is to be noted, that martyrs and witnesses (μάρτυρες) are the same word.
4. The doctrine of the invisible being of God, rightly understood, is a needful safeguard against all anthropomorphism and anthropopathism (comp. Exo_33:18; Exo_33:23). Whatever in this truth of the unseen Jehovah was hard for Israel, is done away for us Christians, who have seen the Father in the Son (comp. Joh_1:18; Joh_14:9).
5. The name here ascribed to God—King of kings and Lord of lords—is the same given (Rev_17:14; Rev_19:16) to the glorified Saviour; a clear proof of the divinity of the Son.
6. Christianity does not forbid the use of riches, and assigns no other limits to the lawful enjoyments of life than what reason and conscience approve. But it warns the rich of his special perils, and strives to make earthly wealth the means of growth in the heavenly. The story of the rich young man (Mat_19:16-21) is a weighty illustration of St. Paul’s precept.
7. The relation of πίστις to γνῶσις has been always an essential question. The credo quia absurdum and the quæro intelligere, ut credam, are alike one-sided. The true position is given in the credo, ut intelligam. Man must rise through faith to knowledge, and again pass through knowledge to a growing faith. The true connection is nobly pointed out by St. John (1Jn_5:13): “These things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God.” Irrational as it is to scorn knowledge in the name of faith, it is as fruitless to recognize nothing as the object of πίστις, which has not been first reached by γνῶσις. The credo, quamquam absurdum, finally, is truer than the non credo, quia absurdum. The γνῶσις may develop the truths of faith, but can in no way take the place of faith.
[St. Augustin: Reason should not submit, unless it decides for itself that there are occasions when it ought to submit. Its very submission is then reasonable.
Pascal, Penseés: Nothing is so rational, as the disavowal of reason in what is of faith. And nothing is so contrary to reason, as the disavowal of reason in what is not of faith. Both extremes are alike dangerous: the exclusion of reason, and the admission of reason alone.—W.]
9. “Nullusne ergo in Ecclesia Christi profectus habebitur religionis? Habeatur plane et maximus, sed ita tamen ut vere profectus sit ille fidei, non permutatio. Siquidem ad profectionem pertinet, ut in semet ipsa una quæque res amplificetur, ad permutationem vero, ut aliquid ex alio in aliud transvertatur. Crescat igitur oportet, et multum vehementerque proficiat tam singulorum quam omnium, tam unius hominis quam totius Ecclesiæ ætatum ac sæculorum gradibus intelligentia, scientia, sapientia, sed in suo dumtaxat genere, in eodem scilicet dogmati, eodem sensu eademque sententia. Imitetur animarum religio rationem corporum, quæ licet annorum processu numeros suos evolvant et explicant, eadem tamen quæ erant, permanent;” Vincent. Lirin., Commonitorium, chap. 28.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The minister of the gospel a man of God: (1) His inferiority to, (2) his equality with, (3) his rank above the prophets of the Old Covenant—Not enough to escape error; we must also excel in godliness.
1Ti_6:12 (specially fitted for confirmation): The combat of the Christian life: (1) The life of the Christian a fight; (2) a good fight; (3) a fight of faith; (4) a fight whose prize is life eternal; (5) a fight inspired by the remembrance of our good confession.—Jesus before Pilate, the archetype of a confessor of the truth.—How the thought of the Lord’s advent should fill us with steadfastness.—Although the time of Christ’s coming be wisely hid from us, yet it is exactly fixed in the counsels of God.—God, who only hath immortality: (1) The sublimity; (2) the comfort of this truth.—Dangers, duties, blessings of wealth.—The illusion of worldly, and the sure hope of heavenly riches.—How may wealth be a hindrance, how a help to eternal life?—The wealth of God: (1) He gives all things; (2) He gives richly; (3) He gives for us to enjoy.—The unity of faith and knowledge in Christianity.—The true and false illumination.—Christian faith also true wisdom (comp. Luk_10:21).
Starke: Anton: There is much to endure in the office of the Christian teacher, but eternity lies beyond. If we look thither, we shall not weary of the combat (1Pe_5:4; 2Co_4:14; 2Co_4:16).—Hedinger: Knowing and professing [Erkennen u. bekennen] should not be separated (Rom_10:9.).—Anton: There is no higher comfort than in looking to Christ. Nothing can befall us in the work of the ministry which has not a response from Christ (Heb_12:2).—It is a well-tried Christian habit, to strengthen ourselves through the sufferings of Christ—As God is King of kings and Lord of lords, we must never obey the kings and lords of this world when they claim what is against God’s law (Act_5:29).—Cramer: God hath still as much to give as He hath given. The earth is His, and all that therein is (Psa_24:1).—Starke: God gives many wealth, that He may try partly their gratitude to Him, partly their kindness to the needy (Exo_16:4)—He who helps the poor, gives God his money on interest, and gains more than he lays out (Pro_19:17).—The gospel is a wealth entrusted us by God; therefore must we care, like all who hold trust funds, not to lose this treasure (Rev_3:10-11).—Osiander: The highest science is, to know, to simply believe, and freely obey God’s word (Luk_8:16).
Heubner: The remembrance of past battles strengthens for the new.—We should never fall behind ourselves.—The sottishness of the proud is trust in wealth.—Good works are a heavenly capital, yielding an overflowing profit.—The notes of the true knowledge (see Jam_3:17).
Von Gerlach: “Whoso builds on the changeable, must needs be lost; whoso builds on the immortal, changeless God, lives in His life, His wealth, and shall share His eternity.”
Lisco: The Christian life (1) strives after perfection (1Ti_6:11); (2) fights against sin (1Ti_6:12); (4) endures till the life of glory (1Ti_6:13-14).—Counsel: (1) for the worldly rich; (2) the mentally rich, who overvalue knowledge.—Nitzsch (1Ti_6:12; 1Ti_6:15): How right and needful that we make a good confession to the best of Confessors (Sermon V., p. 138).—Beck: The high calling of the man of God: (1) To what; (2) for what.—Fischer: The characteristics of the Christian life.
Footnotes:
[7]1Ti_6:11.—[Lachmann omits the article before Θεοῦ; so also the Sinaiticus. In the same verse, πραϋπαθίαν is to be preferred to the common reading, πραότητα.—E. H.]
[8]1Ti_6:12.—καὶ after εἰς ἣν omitted by the modem authorities; see Tischendorf. [Not in the Sinaiticus.—E. H.]
[9]1Ti_6:13.—[Tischendorf and Lachmann, after A. D. G., read ζωογονοῦντος. Sinaiticus has, like the Recepta, ζωοποιοῦντος. Etymologically, of course, the words differ, but there is not much difference in the sense in this place.—E. H.]
[10]1Ti_6:16.—[I suggest the following translation of 1Ti_6:15-16 : Which in his own times the blessed and sole sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, (who) is dwelling in light inaccessible, whom no man (or, none amongst men) hath seen, or can see, shall shew. To whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.—E. H.]
[11]1Ti_6:17.—Instead of the usual ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι, the Sinaiticus has καιρῷ.
[12]1Ti_6:17.—This adjective is wanting in A. G., and others, and is omitted by Tischendorf. In D., and in the Sinaiticus, the article is wanting. [The Sinaiticus has ἐπί θεῷ; Lachmann, ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ. Tischendorf retains ἐν.—E. H.]
[13]1Ti_6:19.—Instead of αἰωνίου, we should read, with A. D.1 E. F. G., the Sinaiticus, and others, ὅντως. So Griesbach, in this place.
[14]1Ti_6:21.—Probably spurious.
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 vv11–14 But thou--in contrast to the "some" (Ti1 6:10).
But thou--in contrast to the "some" (Ti1 6:10).
man of God--who hast God as thy true riches (Gen 15:1; Psa 16:5; Lam 3:24). Applying primarily to Timothy as a minister (compare Pe2 1:21), just as the term was used of Moses (Deu 33:1), Samuel (Sa1 9:6), Elijah, and Elisha; but, as the exhortation is as to duties incumbent also on all Christians, the term applies secondarily to him (so Ti2 3:17) as a Christian man born of God (Jam 1:18; Jo1 5:1), no longer a man of the world raised above earthly things; therefore, God's property, not his own, bought with a price, and so having parted with all right in himself: Christ's work is to be his great work: he is to be Christ's living representative.
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flee these things--namely, "the love of money" with its evil results (Ti1 6:9-10).
follow after righteousness-- (Ti2 2:22).
godliness--"piety." Righteousness is more in relation to our fellow man; piety ("godliness") to God"; faith is the root of both (see on Tit 2:12).
love--by which "faith worketh."
patience--enduring perseverance amidst trials.
meekness--The oldest manuscripts read, "meek-spiritedness," namely, towards the opponents of the Gospel.
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 vv11–14 2. Final charge, 1Ti_6:11-21.
2. Final charge, 1Ti_6:11-21.
11. But—In opposition to the guilty and fatal course of the apostate, mercenary errorist.
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Man of God—The solemn title of the Old Testament prophets, to which Timothy is heir. Deu_33:1; Jos_14:6; Jdg_13:6; 1Sa_9:6.
Flee these things—The destruction, the thirst for riches from which it proceeds, and the apostate and antichristian, teach… otherwise (1Ti_6:3,) from which the whole takes origin. And St. Paul directs not only what to flee, but what to follow. A whole rank of pure Christian virtues, arrayed against the opposed vices (1Ti_6:4-5) of the errorist. Righteousness, faith, etc., in full array against envy, strife, etc. In the next verse commences the fight.
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 vv11–14 11–16. A further exhortation to Timothy. The Lord’s appearing
11–16. A further exhortation to Timothy. The Lord’s appearing
Timothy’s own true life and bearing are solemnly dwelt upon in contrast to the false and low; see on 1Ti_6:3.
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thou, O man of God] Opposed not only to the ‘some’ of 1Ti_6:10 but to the ‘any’ of 1Ti_6:3. The phrase ‘man of God’ occurs also with the same reference to the ministry, 2Ti_3:17, derived probably from the O. T. ministry of the prophets; cf. 2Pe_1:21, where the best reading, however, slightly varies the phrase ‘men spake from God;’ and 1Ki_17:18; 1Ki_17:24. It marks the high tone of this final address; and is in keeping with the full dignity of title which in both these last contrasts of the false and the true ministry is given to the great Head of the Church’s ministry (and given here only in these Epistles) ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ.’
flee these things] ‘Unsound words, and ungodly doctrine,’ ‘questionings and evil surmisings,’ ‘traffic in godliness and love of money.’ These three heads of evil, in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th to 10th verses respectively, are opposed by three pairs of contrasted virtues: ‘righteousness and godliness,’ ‘faith and love,’ ‘patience and meekness.’ In the first pair ‘the sound words,’ ‘the words of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ go to the very root of the matter as fully expounded, Romans 6. ‘Baptised into Christ Jesus … dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus … obedient from the heart to that form of teaching … ye became servants of righteousness,’ and 1 Corinthians 1. ‘We preach Christ crucified … Christ the power of God … of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness’; all this being but the working out of the very ‘words of the Lord,’ Mat_5:6, ‘Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.’ In the second pair ‘faith’ is as evidently the antidote to ‘ignorance,’ ‘questionings,’ and ‘disputes of words,’ as ‘love’ is to ‘envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings. In the third pair ‘patient endurance’ and ‘meekness of heart’ are well fitted to produce ‘godliness with contentment,’ as being the very graces to which ‘the words of the Lord’ assign the blessings of that ‘kingdom of heaven’ which is ‘godliness,’ and that ‘inheritance of the earth’ which is ‘contentment.’ ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit,’ ‘Blessed are the meek.’
meekness] The compound word, meekness of heart, a word peculiar here, is to be read. See note on 2Ti_2:25.
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 vv11–14 (11) But thou, O man of God, flee these…
(11) But thou, O man of God, flee these things.—A commentator always speaks with great caution when he approaches in these inspired writings anything of the nature of a direct personal reference. The writers and actors in the New Testament history we have so long surrounded with a halo of reverence, that we are tempted often to forget that they were but men exposed to temptations like us, and not unfrequently succumbing to them. We owe them, indeed, a deep debt of reverence for their faithful, gallant witness—for their splendid service in laying so well the early storeys of the great Christian Temple; but we lose somewhat of the reality of the Apostolic story when in the saint we forget the man. After the very solemn, the intensely earnest warning against covetousness—that fatal love of gain and gold which seems to have been the mainspring of the life of those false teachers who were engaged in marring the noble work St. Paul had done for his Master at Ephesus—after these weighty words, the fact of St. Paul turning to Timothy, and, with the grand old covenant title Timothy knew so well, personally addressing his loved friend with “But thou, O man of God, flee these things,” leads us irresistibly to the conclusion that the old Apostle was dreading for his young and comparatively untried disciple the corrupting danger of the wealth of the city in which he held so great a charge; so he warns Timothy, and, through Timothy, God’s servants of all grades and powers in different ages, of the soul-destroying dangers of covetousness—“Flee these things.” A glance at Timothy’s present life will show how possible it was, even for a loved pupil of St. Paul—even for one of whom he once wrote, “I have no man likeminded;” and, again, “Ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel” (Php_2:20-22)—to need so grave a reminder. Since those days, when these words were written to the Philippians, some six years had passed. His was no longer the old harassed life of danger and hazard to which, as the companion of the missionary St. Paul, he was constantly exposed. He now filled the position of an honoured teacher and leader in a rich and organised church; many and grievous were the temptations to which, in such a station, he would be exposed.
Gold and popularity, gain and ease, were to be won with the sacrifice of apparently so little, but with this sacrifice Timothy would cease to be the “man of God.” To maintain that St. Paul was aware of any weakness already shown by his disciple and friend would, of course, be a baseless assertion; but that the older man dreaded for the younger these dangerous influences is clear. The term “man of God” was the common Old Testament name for “divine messengers,” but under the new covenant the name seems extended to all just men faithful to the Lord Jesus. (See 2Ti_3:17.) The solemn warning, then, through Timothy comes to each of His servants, “Flee thou from covetousness.”
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And follow after righteousness.—“The evil must be overcome with good” (Rom_12:21). The “man of God,” tossing away from him all covetous longings, must press after “righteousness;” here used in a general sense, signifying “the inner life shaped after the Law of God.”
Faith, love.—The two characteristic virtues of Christianity. The one may be termed the hand that lays hold of God’s mercy; and the other the mainspring of the Christian’s life.
Patience.—That brave patience which, for Christ’s dear sake, with a smile can bear up against all sufferings.
Meekness.—The German “sanftmuth”—the meekness of heart and feeling with which a Christian acts towards his enemies. His conduct who “when he was reviled, reviled not again” best exemplifies this virtue.
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 vv11–14 O man of God. The force of this address…
O man of God. The force of this address is very great. It indicates that the money-lovers just spoken of were not and could not be "men of God," whatever they might profess; and it leads with singular strength to the opposite direction in which Timothy"s aspirations should point. The treasures which he must covet as "a man of God" were "righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience meekness." For the phrase, "man of God," see 2Ti_3:17 and 2Pe_1:21. In the Old Testament it always applies to a prophet. (Deu_33:1; Jud_1:13:6; 1Sa_2:27; 1Ki_12:22; 2Ki_1:9; Jer_35:4; and a great many other passages) St. Paul uses the expression with especial reference to Timothy and his holy office, and here, perhaps, in contrast with the toupouv mentioned in ver. 9. Flee these things. Note the sharp contrast between "the men" of the world, who reach after, and the man of God, who avoids, filarguria. The expression, "these things," is a little loose, but seems to apply to the love of money, and the desire to be rich, with all their attendant "foolish and hurtful lusts." The man of God avoids the perdition and maul fold sorrows of the covetous, by avoiding the covetousness which is their root. Follow after (diwke); pursue, in direct contrast with feuge, flee from, avoid. (see 2Ti_2:22) Meekness (pra"upaqeian). This rare word, found in Philo, but nowhere in the New Testament, is the reading of the R.T. (instead of the prao?thta of the T.R.) and accepted by almost all critics on the authority of all the older manuscripts. It has no perceptible difference of meaning from praothv, meekness or gentleness.
Vers. 11-16.
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The man of God.
The character of the man of God is here portrayed with a master"s hand. We may go back and contemplate it with a little more exactness. He is covetous, he is eager in the pursuit of good things; but the good things which he covets and pursues are the everlasting possessions of the soul. And what are these? Righteousness that great quality of God himself; that quality which makes eternal, unchangeable, right the sole and inflexible rule of conduct. Righteousness that condition of thought and will and purpose which does not fluctuate with the changing opinions and fashions of inconstant men, which does not vary according to the outward influences to which it is subject, which is not overborne by fear, or appetite, or persuasion, or interest; but abides steadfast, unaltered, the same under all circumstances and through all time. And with righteousness, which he has in common with God, he covets godliness, the proper relative condition of the rational creature towards the Creator. Godliness is that reverential, devout attitude towards God which we sometimes call piety, sometimes holiness, sometimes devotion. It comprehends the sentiments of fear, love, and reverence which a good man entertains toward God; and the whole conduct, such as worship, prayer, almsgiving, etc., which springs from those sentiments. And though it cannot be predicated of God that he is eujsebhv, it is an essential feature of the godly man, who therefore covets it as an integral part of the wealth of the soul. And then, by a natural association with this reverential attitude towards God described by "godliness," there follows faith; the entire reliance of the soul upon God"s goodness, and specially on all his promises those promises which are yea and amen in Christ Jesus; faith which fastens on Jesus Christ as the sum and substance, the head and completeness, of God"s good will to man; as the infallible proof, which nothing can detract from, of God"s purpose of love to man; as the immovable rock of man"s salvation, which may not and cannot be moved forever. And, as by a necessary law, from this faith there flows forth love; love to God and love to man; love which, like righteousness, is an attribute which the man of God has in common with God; love which, in proportion to its pureness and its intensity, assimilates the man of God to God himself, and is therefore the most prized portion of his treasures. Nor must another essential virtue of the man of God be overlooked by him, and that is patience. Just as godliness and faith are qualities in the man of God relatively to God, so is patience a necessary quality relatively to the hindrances and impediments of the evil world in which he lives. The primary idea of uJpomonh is continuance continuance," as it is well rendered in the Authorized Version of Rom_2:7. The enmity of the world, the outward and inward temptations to evil, the weariness and tension induced by prolonged resistance, are constantly pressing upon the man of God and counseling cessation from a wearisome and (it is suggested) a fruitless struggle. He has, therefore, need of patience; it is only through faith and patience that he can obtain the promises. He must endure to the end if he would grasp the coveted salvation. Patience must mingle with has faith, patience must mingle with his hope, and patience must mingle with his love. There must be no fainting, no halting, no turning aside, no growing weary in well-doing. Tribulations may come, afflictions may press sore, provocations may be multiplied, and labors may be a heavy burden; but the man of God, with the sure hope of the coming of Christ to cheer and support him, will go steadily forward, will endure, will stand fast, unto the end. And as regards the provocations of men, he will endure them with meekness. Not only will he not turn back from his purpose on account of them, but he will not let his spirit be ruffled by them. He will still be kind to those who are unkind, and gentle with those who are rough. He will render good for evil, and blessing for cursing, if so be he may overcome evil with good, ever setting before him the blessed example of him "who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." Thus fighting the good fight of faith, he lays hold and keeps hold of eternal life, and will be found without spot, unrebukable, in that great and blessed day of the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, "to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.
Personal admonition addressed to Timothy himself.
The apostle now turns from his warning to those desiring to be rich to the practical exhortation to strive for the true riches.
I THE TITLE BY WHICH TIMOTHY IS ADDRESSED. "O man of God.
1. It was the familiar title of the Old Testament prophets, and might appropriately apply to a New Testament evangelist like Timothy.
1. But in the New Testament it has a more general reference, applying as it does to all the faithful in Christ Jesus. (2Ti_3:17) The name is very expressive. It signifies
1. a man who belongs to God;
2. who is dedicated to God;
3. who finds in God, rather than in riches, his true portion;
4. who lives for God"s glory. (1Co_10:31)
II THE WARNING ADDRESSED TO TIMOTHY. "Flee these things." It might seem unnecessary to warn so devoted a Christian against the love of riches, with its destructive results; but Timothy was now in an important position in a wealthy city, which contained "rich" men (ver. 17), and may have been tempted by gold and ease and popularity to make trivial sacrifices to truth. The holiest heart is not without its inward subtleties of deceit.
III THE POSITIVE EXHORTATION ADDRESSED TO TIMOTHY. "And follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meek-spiritedness." These virtues group themselves into pairs.
1. Righteousness and godliness; referring to a general conformity to the Law of God in relation to the duties owing respectively to God and man, like the similar expressions righteously and godly of Tit_2:12.
(1) Righteousness is
(a) not the "righteousness of God," for that had been already attained by Timothy; but
(b) the doing of justice between man and man, which would be for the honor of religion among men. Any undue regard for riches would cause a swerve from righteousness.
(2) Godliness includes
(a) holiness of heart,
(b) holiness of life, in which lies the true gain for two worlds.
2. Faith and love. These are the two foundation-principles of the gospel.
(1) Faith is at once
(a) the instrument of our justification,
(b) the root-principle of Christian life, and
(c) the continuously sustaining principle of that life.
(2) Love is
(a) the immediate effect of faith, for "faith worketh by love"; (Gal_5:6)
(b) it is the touchstone of true religion and the bond of perfectness;
(c) it is the spring of evangelical obedience, for it is "the fulfilling of the; (Rom_13:8)
(d) it is our protection in the battle of life, for it is "the breastplate of love". (1Th_5:8)
3. Patience, meek-spiritedness. These represent two principles which ought to operate in power in presence of gainsayers and enemies. T.C.
Vers. 11-16.
The Christian gladiator.
The gladiator was one who fought, in the arena, at the amphitheatre of an ancient city, such as the Colosseum at Rome, for the amusement of the public. It made life real and earnest to be compelled to enter the lists, in which the issue was generally victory or death.
And now The arena swims around him he is gone? Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won. He heard it, but he heeded not his eyes Were with his heart, and that was far away; He recked not of the life he lost or prize,
But where his rude hut by the Danube lay; There were his young barbarians all at play There was their Dacian mother! he, their sire, Butchered to make a Roman holiday.
I NEED OF PREPARATION. "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." We know what can be undergone by men of the lowest order, when they put themselves in training for entering the prize-ring. Accustomed to spend the greater part of their time in the public-house, they are found rigorously foregoing their pleasures and entailing upon themselves hard employment. In what these pugilists forego and endure, do they not put to blush many Christians, who cannot be said to forego much, or to give hard service for their religion? There is, we are here taught, what becomes the man of God, i.e. the highest type of man the man who tries to work out the Divine idea of his life and to come to he God-like in his character. "O man of God, learn from these men of a low order. They flee their wonted pleasures; flee thou," says the apostle in earnest address, "these things," i.e. as appears from the context, those habits of mind which we call worldly, tendencies to sink higher things in the pursuit of worldly ends, money, enjoyment, position for ourselves, and for our children. Christians who may have no taste for what are regarded as coarse pleasures, may yet he worldly in their ideas and habits. Such worldliness is unworthy of the man of God; vulgar, demeaning in him. O man of God, flee thou worldliness, as thou wouldst a wild beast. Flee it, as certain to eat up thy true manliness. It may he said that more havoc has been wrought in the Church by worldliness than by intemperance. And the one is not so easily dealt with as the other. The intemperate man may be laid hold on, and aided out of his intemperance. But the worldly man may be in position in the Church; and who is likely to succeed in aiding him out of his worldliness? And so, while the one may be rescued, the other may continue to he the prey of destructive habits that are growing upon him. The other side of duty refers to the acquiring of good habits of mind that are required for the fight. And as the word for worldly habits is flee, so the word for good habits is pursue. It is implied that worldliness seeks us, and we need to get out of its way, to flee from it as from a wild beast. Good habits, on the other hand, retreat from us; they are apt to evade us, and we need to pursue them with all the keenness with which a ravenous wild beast pursues its prey. It is hard for us to come up to them, and to have them as our enjoyed possession. The good habits, so ill to grasp, which are needed for the fight by the man of God are particularized. First of all he must have righteousness, or the habit of going by rule. And along with this he must have godliness, or the habit of referring to God. Then he must have faith , which covers his defenselessness. Along with this he must have love, which supplies him with fire. He must also have patience, which enables him to hold out to the end. And along with this he must have meekness, which makes his spirit proof against all accumulation of wrong. In the eye of the world, these habits may seem unmanly; but, O man of God, be true to thyself, and pursue them; let them not escape from thee; by God"s decree they shall reward thy eager pursuit.
II NATURE OF THE FIGHT. Fight the good fight of the faith." He that has the faith of a Christian is necessitated to fight, There is revealed to his faith a God in the heavens, who hates sin, and who also seeks the salvation of souls. In the light of this, which ought to be an increasing light, there is presented an exposure. He comes to see that there are in his flesh tendencies which are against God. He comes also to see that there is in the world, in its opinion and custom, much that is against God. As, then, he would stand by God, he must fight against the flesh and the world against what would tempt to sin, from within and from without. It is a good fight, being for the cause of God, which is also the cause of man in his establishment in righteousness and love. It is a good fight, being grounded in the victory of Christ and carried on hopefully under his leadership. It is a fight into which the man of God can throw his undivided energies, his warmest enthusiasm. Many a fight which receives the plaudits of men has, in the strict review, only a seeming or superficial goodness. But the fight into which the man of God throws himself can stand the severest tests of goodness. Be it thine, then, O man of God, to fight the good fight of the faith.
III THE PRICELESS PRIZE. "Lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses." The prize for which the gladiator fought was not all unsubstantial. It was life. It meant the enjoyment of liberty, return to his rude hut, his young barbarians, and their Dacian mother." Still that life had in it elements of unsatisfactoriness and decay. It was savage life, below the level of civilized life. Such as it was in its rude delights, it was not beyond accident and death. But the prize for which the Christian gladiator fights, is life eternal. This is not to be confounded with perpetuity of existence, which may be felt to be an intolerable burden. The importance of existence lies in its joyous elements, experience of healthful activity, and of communion with those we love. So the life, which is here presented as the prize, is that kind of existence in which there is a free, unrestrained play of our powers, and in which we have communion with the Father of our spirits and with the spirits of the just. And the life has such a principle in it, such subsistence in the living God, as to be placed above the reach of death, as only to be brought forth into all its joyousness by death. The counsel of the apostle is to lay hold on this priceless prize. O man of God, do not let it escape thee. Stretch forward to it with a feeling of its supreme desirableness. It is worthy of all the strain to which thou canst put thyself. The counsel of the apostle is supported by a reference to a marked period in the past apparently entrance on the Christian life, or that which was expressive of it to Timothy, viz. his baptism. It was a period in which Divine action and human action met. It was God calling him to life eternal It was at the same time Timothy confessing a good confession apparently saying that life eternal was his aim. Come persecution, come death, life eternal he would seek to gain. This confession he made in the sight of many witnesses, present on the occasion of his baptism, who could speak to the earnestness of spirit with which he entered on his Christian career. O man of God, fight, remembering thy Divine calling and thy solemn engagements.
IV THE WITNESSES. "I charge thee in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and of Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession; that thou keep the commandment, without spot, without reproach." The many witnesses just mentioned call up such a scene as was to be witnessed in the Coliseum. There was an assemblage of eighty-seven thousand people, tier above tier all round. As the gladiator stepped into the arena, he might well be awed by so vast and unwonted a crowd. But this would quickly give way to the feeling of what depended on the way in which he quitted himself. And there would not be absent from his mind the thought of the applause which would reward a victory. O man of God, thou art now in the arena, and there are many onlookers. They are watching how thou art quitting thyself in the fight of the faith whether thou art realizing the seriousness of thy position, thy splendid opportunity. Their approval is worthy of being considered, worthy of being coveted by thee, and should help to nerve thee to the fight. But there was one preeminent personage who was expected to grace a Roman gladiatorial festival, viz. the emperor. As the gladiator entered, his eye would rest on the emperor and his attendants. And he would have a peculiar feeling in being called upon to fight under the eye of the august Caesar, to whom he would look up as to a very god. So, O man of God, there is one great Personage who is looking down on the arena in which thou art, and under whose eye thou art called upon to fight. It is not a Caesar a man born and upheld and mortal like other men; but it is God, who quickeneth all things the Substratum of all created existence, the almighty Upholder of men, the almighty Upholder of the universe with all its forms of life. There is another Personage, and yet not another. This is Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate wirelessed the good confession. "Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a King then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a King. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness of the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." "In these words we see the majesty and fearless exposure of Jesus. "I cannot and will not deny that I am a King. It is my office to declare the truth; it is by the influence of truth that I am to reign in the hearts of men, and I cannot shrink from asserting this most important truth, that I have the power and authority of a sovereign at once to rule and to defend my people. Let not this doctrine offend. Every one who is of the truth, who loves the light, and whose mind is open to conviction, heareth and acknowledgeth this and all my doctrines." These words, spoken at so interesting and trying a period, discover to us the elevation of our Savior in a very striking light. We see his mind unbroken by suffering. We see in him the firmest adherence to the doctrines he had formerly taught. We see in him a conscious dignity, a full conviction of the glory and power with which he was invested. He asserts his royal office, not from ostentation, not amidst a host of flatterers, but in the face of enemies; and when he made this solemn declaration his appearance bore little conformity, indeed, to the splendor of earthly monarchs." There is a difference between the good confession of Timothy and the good confession of Christ indicated in the language. Timothy confessed his good confession, i.e. in the way of saying beforehand what he would do in the trial. Christ witnessed his good confession, i.e. authenticated it by making it in the immediate prospect of death. He went forth from Pilate"s judgment-hall and sealed his confession with his blood. He was thus the first and greatest of confessors. It adds much in the way of definiteness, that we can thus think of him. It also adds much in the way of bracing. There is a halo around the great Onlooker from his past. The presence in a battle of the hero of a hundred fights, of a Napoleon or Wellington, is worth some additional battalions. So, O man of God, be braced up to the fight, by the thought that thou art fighting under the eye of thy God, under the eye of thy Savior. And do not think of getting the prize surreptitiously, but only by fair means, keeping to the rules of the contest, what is here called keeping the commandment, so that no little spot is made on it, no little dishonor done to it. For, however little, it means so much taken away from the value of the prize. I charge thee, then, says the apostle, in these great presences keep the commandment.
V FINAL EVENT. "Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in its own times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power eternal. Amen." The final event of the day, on the occasion of a great gladiatorial show, was the coming forward of Caesar, in circumstances of pomp, to crown, or otherwise reward, the victors. So the final event of time will be the coming forward of our Lord Jesus Christ (as from looking on) to crown the victors in the good fight of the faith. There is reference to the same event in 2Ti_4:7, 2Ti_4:8. It would be the proudest moment of a man"s life when he was called forth to receive the prize from the hand of his emperor. So it will be a moment of greatest satisfaction to the believer when he is called forth (as by the herald proclaiming his name before a great assemblage) to receive the crown from the hand of his Lord. He will not certainly be filled with self-satisfaction. He will feel that he is only a debtor to Christ, and his first impulse will be to cast his crown at the feet of his great Benefactor. This appearing God is to show, i.e. to effect and to bring forth into view. He is to show it in its own times at present hidden, but clear to the mind of God, and to be shown when his purposes are ripe. He who is to effect the appearing is appropriately adored as the Potentate (the Wielder of power). Not less appropriately is he adored as the blessed or (better) the happy Potentate, i.e. self-happy, having all elements of happiness within himself, no void within his infinite existence to fill up, but not therefore disposed to keep happiness to himself, rather prompted, in his own experience of happiness, to bestow it on others, first in creation and then in redemption. It is the happy Wielder of power that is to bring about an event that is fraught with so much happiness to believers. He shall show it, for he is the only Potentate; none can dispute the name with him. There are Towers under him as there were rulers, with different names, under the emperor; but he is the King of kings and Lord of lords sovereign Disposer of all human and angelic representatives of power. "The king"s heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water: he turns it however impetuous whithersoever he will." He shall show it in its own times; for, however distant those times, he shall live to do it, being the only One who hath immortality from himself, essential imperviousness to decay. He shall show it, who is himself inaccessible within a circle of light, and not only never seen by men but necessarily invisible to men, i.e. in the unveiled brightness of his glory. All honor and power eternal, then, be to this God. We may judge of what the appearing is to be that is to be effected by One in whose praise the apostle breaks forth in so lofty a strain. We may conclude that it is to be the grandest display of the honor and power of God. And what a privilege that the humble believer victor in the battle of life is to be called forth before an assembled universe, under the presidency of Christ and by the hand of Christ, to be crowned with the life eternal! Let every one add his Amen to the ascription of honor and power to God, as displayed in the appearing of Christ. 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 vv11–13 But thou, O man of God.
1Ti_6:11
But thou, O man of God.
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The man of God
I. His relations to God are suggested by the title itself, man of God. This had formerly been distinctive of a prophet, and especially of Elijah, the great reformer, who so realized the truth underlying it that he began many a message by the favourite formula, The Lord God of Israel, before whom I stand. In Ephesus, Timothy had to take up as decided a stand against prevailing evils as Elijah had maintained in the kingdom of Israel; and he too was to find strength and wisdom in the presence of God, whence he might come forth to the people as Gods representative and spokesman. Any devout man may be called a man of God if he is--
1. Living near God and coming forth to his duties, as Moses came from the mount of communion, reflecting the light of heaven.
2. Representing God is the outcome of communion with Him. Reflection of light can only result from the incidence of light. A mirror shut up in a pitch-dark cellar is not to be distinguished by the eye from a flagstone, but placed in the sunlight it may reflect a whole heaven of beauty. If you would let your light shine before men, you must put yourself in true relation to the Sun of Righteousness. And, again, no one would be called a man of God unless he was--
3. Seeking Gods ends. It was because Timothy was by profession and in character Gods man that the apostle assumes that his course would of necessity be different from that of the worldly--that he would flee the things they loved. Everyone would discredit the assertion of one who said he represented a drapery establishment if, day after day, he was engaged in buying and selling timber or coal, and left all soft goods unregarded.
II. His relations to sin are those of unconquerable repugnance.
1. The nature of these sins is exemplified in the words uttered just before by Paul against the love of money, the hurtful lusts of the human heart, and the foolish and evil practices to which these lead.
2. The means of escape from these are twofold. Sometimes we may meet and conquer a temptation, and sometimes we may more wisely flee from it.
III. His relations to virtues. Negative precepts distinguished the Old Dispensation, but the New Dispensation is not content with them. The virtues mentioned here are arranged in pairs.
1. Righteousness and godliness include all conduct towards God: obedience to His law, trust and reverence, devoutness and prayer.
2. Faith and love are the two essentials to such a life, for righteousness is the offspring of faith, and godliness is the offspring of love.
3. Patience and meekness have regard to our dealings with our fellow-men, especially with those who persecute or wrong us, and they are among the most difficult graces to exhibit. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)
Are you a man of God
I. The text speaks of a man.
II. The text says that we are not only to be a man, but it tells us what sort of a man; it says--a man of God. There are two or three kinds of men.
1. There is the manor the world. You hear such a person say, Well, you know, I am a man of the world. A man of the world is supposed to know everything, but, as a rule, you find that what he knows is everything of indulgence and badness. But does he know how to bear trial when it comes? But the man of God feels that duty, principle, righteousness, are of first importance. The man of the world puts expediency before him; the man of God has principle for his guide. The man of God says, It is not necessary for me to live, but it is necessary that the women and children should get out of danger before me. The man of the world always pushes himself first, because he is a man of the world; the man of God first lifts up others, because he is a man of God.
2. Then there is the man of business. All such a man is noted for is that he is a man of business. His greatest characteristic is that his head is screwed on the right way. The man of God seeks first the kingdom of God; the things of the world are of secondary importance. The man of God is, however, diligent in business, but he is not a slave to it.
3. There are also other classes of persons called men of wealth and men of learning. Being a man of God implies a man who has found God--God is in all his thoughts. Is God so hard to find as some of the Churches would have us believe? The man of God is one who has not only found God, but obeys His commandments. In the text the man of God is called upon to follow righteousness; that is, to train himself to act in a right or straight course of conduct. An old writer has pointed out that man has naturally a habit of walking askew. How difficult for a man to walk a hundred yards in a perfectly straight line! It is impossible for him to do so if he shut his eyes. I appeal to your recollection whether you ever saw a straight path across a field; it is always tortuous, in and out. Likewise, the path taken by a mans heart is not direct and straight by nature. The man of God is reliable; he can be trusted with uncounted gold, and his word is as good as his bond. The man of God should be godly; that is, like God, unselfish, not seeking exclusively his own good, but the good of all. The man of God will practise self-respect, self-control, and self-denial. (W. Birch.)
Following righteousness
Ignorant though Stewart was of every technicality in trade, he was a man of undeviating truth and uprightness. He was aware that unjustifiable profits were made by shopkeepers, and that they had no conscience whatever about practising deception in order to place a fictitious value upon their goods. All such false ways he utterly abhorred, and he was determined to try his own plan. At all risks, he made up his mind that he would not look for more than ten per cent profit, and that he would never deceive a buyer as to the prime cost of any article in his store. Ten percent, and no lies--that was Mr. Stewarts motto for doing business. But it is a curious instance of the repugnance of the trade to carry on business on such terms that the salesman, who could not have suffered in any way by this arrangement, became irritated against his employer, and at the end of a month or so resigned his situation. He declared that he could no longer be a party to sell goods by such rules--that, in fact, Mr. Stewart was giving them away to the public; and, with very significant emphasis, he added, Before another month is over you will be a bankrupt. Mr. Stewarts business, however, gradually enlarged, until, after being in business half a century, his property and stock was worth twenty million pounds, thus proving that honesty is the best policy. (Memoir of Stewart, the Millionaire.)
Patience.
Patience portrayed
Among all the graces that adorn the Christian soul, like so many jewels of various colours and lustres, against the day of her espousals to the Lamb of God, there is not one more brilliant than this of patience; not one which brings more glory to God, or contributes so much toward making and keeping peace on earth; not one which renders a man more happy within himself, more agreeable to all about him; insomuch that even they who themselves possess it not, yet are sure to commend it in others.
I. In the first place, patience is a virtue common to us with God. Long-suffering is His darling attribute; and what is dear in His sight ought not to be less precious in ours. And how marvellous is His patience who daily pours His blessings on those men who as daily offend, affront, and dishonour Him! Yet Gods blessings are abused to the purposes of luxury and lasciviousness; His truth is denied; His commandments are broken; His Church is persecuted; His ministers are insulted; His Son is crucified afresh; and His own long-suffering is made an argument against His existence--and He is still patient. What is man, then, that he should complain?
II. The patience which we so much admire in God shone forth yet more amazingly in the person of his Son Jesus Christ. For was ever patience like that patience which, descending from a throne of glory, bore a long imprisonment in the womb to sanctify sinners, and lay in a stable to bring them to a kingdom.
III. The patience thus practised by Christ is enjoined by His Holy Gospel, being, indeed, the badge of that gospel and its professors. Is the mind tempted to impatience by the disappointment of its desires and the loss of worldly goods and enjoyments? The Scripture, to eradicate the temptation, is full of precepts enjoining us to contemn the world, and not to set our hearts upon things that pass away, and that cannot satisfy the soul when it is possessed of them. The worldly man is always impatient, because he prefers his body to his soul; the Christian prefers his soul to his body, and therefore knows how to give largely and to lose patiently.
IV. If we find all the saints of God who have been eminent for their faith in Christ to have been as eminent for their patience, without which their faith must have failed in the day of trial; it being not through faith alone, but, as the apostle says, through faith and patience, that they inherited the promises. Faith begat patience, which, like a dutiful child, proved the support of its parent. Through patience Moses, so often abused and insulted, and only not stoned by a stiffnecked people, still entreated the Lord for them.
V. The present state of man renders the practice of this virtue absolutely necessary for him if he would enjoy any happiness here or hereafter. Could we, indeed, live in the world without suffering, then were there no need of patience. He that endureth to the end shall be saved. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
VI. The manifold inconveniences of impatience will set this truth off to great advantage. As patience is the attribute of God, impatience had its beginning from Satan. Through envy of the devil, saith the wise man, came death into the world. And whence proceeds envy but from impatience of beholding the happiness of another? Impatience and malice, therefore, had one father, and they have grown together in his children ever since. (Bp. Horne.)
Meekness
It is recorded that after Thomas Aquinas had returned to Bologna a stranger came one day to the monastery, and, visiting the prior, asked that one of the brothers might carry a basket for him to the market to make some purchases. Tell the first brother you see in the cloisters, said the prior. The brother happened to be Thomas Aquinas, who, at the curt command of the stranger, took up the basket and followed. But he was suffering from lameness, and the arrogant stranger turned round and scolded him for being so slow. The Bolognese, looking on with indignation at the treatment of the revered teacher of the Schools, said to the visitor, Do you know who it is that you are treating in this way? It is Brother Thomas! Brother Thomas! he exclaimed; and, falling on his knees, begged the saints forgiveness. Nays said Thomas, you must forgive me for being so slow!
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv11–14 11, 12. O man of God. This expression is…
11, 12. O man of God. This expression is used in the sense of an evangelist devoted to God's work. See 1 Sam. 9:6, 8; 1 Kings 13:1, 4, 8. Flee these things. The love of money. Instead of following after money, seek after righteousness, etc.
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 vv11, 13 1Ti_6:11. Flee these things; and follow after.—We have a…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1Ti_6:11. Flee these things; and follow after.—We have a vivid view of the fear on the one side, and the eagerness of desire on the other.
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Ti_6:11-12
Pursuit of the True Riches.
I. Pursuit of the true riches is alone worthy of the man of God.—“But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after” (1Ti_6:11). God, and not worldly riches, is the sole object of the good man’s desires. He has got a glimpse of the other side of earthly things. He sees their fleeting and evanescent character, and their incapacity to satisfy the soul. He soars after higher and Diviner things. He cannot rest in the material, but finds his pleasure in seeking those things that are above. His conception of God lifts him above everything that has limits. He sees another world shining with the lustre of unfading riches.
II. The true riches are spiritual.—“Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness” (1Ti_6:11). No longer a man of the world, the good man finds his enjoyment and wealth in spiritual realities. He covets the grace which enables him to act righteously towards God and man, to possess the faith that brings the distant near and makes the unseen visible, a love that works in him a sublime patience in the midst of the greatest trials, and a courageous meekness that is the marvel and despair of his bitterest opponents. The true riches of a man are within him.
III. Pursuit of the true riches involves an earnest conflict for the truth.—
1. Conflict for the truth is demanded by the profession of it already made. “And hast professed a good profession before many witnesses” (1Ti_6:12). Having entered into the conflict, the Christian soldier must comport himself with resolute courage. Having won so many victories already, he is urged on to fresh conquests. The consciousness that he is engaged in a good fight nerves him with strength and determination. The least relapse into unwatchfulness and ease will be fatal to final victory. The highest prizes of the Christian life are not gained without strenuous and persevering effort.
2. The final reward of the conflict is in the future. “Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called” (1Ti_6:12). The Christian soldier is battling not only for time, but eternity—not only for the present life, but for life eternal. The prize, though in the future, is not uncertain; it is not a phantom hanging in the air, but a substantial reality to be laid hold on and firmly grasped. Even now by faith he has the substance of the thing hoped for, and after which he strives with increasing earnestness. By-and-by he will wear the victor’s crown.
Lessons.—
1. Religion is a conflict.
2. It is a good fight in itself and its issues.
3. The victor will be enriched with eternal glory.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ti_6:11. Patience—
I. Secures the possession of our souls in every circumstance that tends to discompose our minds.
II. Prevents hasty and rash conclusions.
III. Will fortify against unlawful methods for accomplishing our deliverance.
IV. Disposes the soul to perseverance in the way of duty.—Pulpit Assistant.
1Ti_6:12. The Good Fight of Faith.
I. In what does the fight of faith consist?—
1. Faith conflicts with the misgivings arising from the accusations of an enlightened conscience.
2. Has to contend against the depravity of our nature.
3. Has to contend with the world.
4. Has to combat with spiritual wickedness.
II. How is the faith of the Christian to be strengthened for this fight?—
1. By entertaining worthy conceptions of God, on whose testimony it rests.
2. By cultivating an acquaintance with the truths it embraces.
3. By a consideration of the instances in which it has not been disappointed.
4. Seek an increase of faith by prayer.
III. What inducement have we to fight?—
1. The command of God.
2. The weapons of the fight.
3. The enemies encountered in the fight.
4. The certainty of success in the fight.—Stewart.
The Battle of Life.
I. Faith believes in self-conquest.
II. In the victory of Jesus Christ over every foe hostile to righteousness.
Eternal Life
I. The object.—“Eternal life.”
1. It is the highest form of life.
2. It consists in the perfect development of spiritual life.
3. It is to be enjoyed in heaven.
II. The exhortation.—“Lay hold.”
1. By embracing the gospel in which it is revealed.
2. By union with Christ in whom it is centred.
3. By cherishing the principles in which it is embodied.
4. By vigorous use of all appointed means.—G. Brooks.
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 v13 “You testified a beautiful testimony in presence of many…
ARGUMENT 17
IMMORTALITY
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“You testified a beautiful testimony in presence of many witnesses.” Timothy was all right on experience and testimony, always ready to ring out clear and straight.
13. Here we are assured that our Savior was always prompt and bold on testimony, even in the presence of Pilate, the world’s ruler. Of course, this occurred during his arraignment, and doubtless on other occasions, as he preached three years under the administration of Pilate.
14. “That you keep the commandment spotless and blameless unto the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We see Paul and his preachers were
not looking for death, but for Jesus. That is the true attitude of New Testament saintship. O the brightness it would flash over the gloomy escutcheon of the howling wilderness of Christianity of the present age, if they would exchange the anticipation of the old grim monster for the glorified Savior!
15. “Whom the blessed and only Sovereign King of kings and Lord of lords will reveal in his own times.” The Son sits at the right hand of the Father, awaiting his time to send him back to this world, while his faithful Bride, toiling and suffering, is waiting her Lord’s return to reign in his glory. The shepherds on the plains, old Simeon and Anna, Zacharias and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, were vividly anticipating the first coming; yet the time was known only to the Father.
The spirit of prophecy is still prevalent among the saints of God, in proportion to their proximity to the Throne, revealing to them the crowning climax of the world’s history; i.e., the return of the glorified God-man to take charge of this world, casting out Satan and his myrmidons.
16. “Who alone hath immortality.” As this clause has become the battle- cry of the soul-sleeping heresy, it is pertinent that it receive our especial attention. Perhaps you are apprised that the above heresy despiritualizes you altogether, leaving you without a soul, and simply conceding physical immortality to the saints only, leaving final annihilation for the wicked. Thus it brutalizes humanity, depriving them of their immortality. It has even had the audacity to tinker with the inspired original, the very words of the Holy Ghost, and change the punctuation of our Savior’s words to the dying thief, so as to read, “I say unto thee this day, thou shalt be with me in Paradise,” thus making our Savior commit a solecism, as if he were not speaking to the thief in the present tense. They are constrained to make this silly change to save their idol, their poor little creed, which, like all other creedists, they worship as a god; since the true reading, which I here have in the Sinaitic manuscript, the oldest Greek Testament in the world, reads, “Truly I say unto thee, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise,” revealing clearly and unequivocally the existence of the thief after his body was dead, and proving positively from the Savior’s lips the soul’s immortality. The rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16) both existed in all the consciousness of their immortal being, after their bodies were dead and their souls had left this world, illustrating the soul’s immortality beyond the possibility of cavil, on the responsibility of our Savior himself. This irrefutable testimony they utterly discard as legitimate proof, because they say, “It is a parable.” If it were a parable, it is perfectly authentic as proof of the soul’s immortality, even on the hypothesis of parabolic truth. However, it is not a parable, but a positive and infallible history of two literal men, who lived and died in a bygone age, each surviving his body, the one reporting from Abraham’s bosom, and the other from a place of fire and torment in Hades; both seen by the retrospective eye of the omniscient Savior. These and all other cases proving the soul’s immortality, they must encumber all their wits to darken and pervert, in order to save the life of their poor little idol. In Isa 14:9-10, we have his inspired testimony to the arrival of Belshazzar, the last Chaldean monarch, in hell, and his salutation by his royal predecessors—rather a wholesale confirmation of the soul’s immortality. Let us drop back to their hackneyed battle-cry, “He alone hath immortality.” The word here for immortality is athanasia, from a, not, and thanatos, death. Hence, it means freedom from death. Of course, this is a great primary truth; i.e., God alone is free from death and its liabilities. All finite beings are in some way susceptible of death and liable to it. God alone is light and life. Yet he imparts light and life to whom he will. Life in all finite beings is exotic from the Creator, and not indigenous in the creature. In their helter-skelter application of this passage to the nullification of the soul’s immortality, they palm off a lot of occult sophistries on unthinking and uninvestigating people, thus blinding their eyes, stupefying their consciences, and degrading their spiritual aspirations, to accept their brutalizing heresy, despiritualizing them and actually letting the unregenerate down to the level of the brute creation, and offering the saints of God nothing but physical immortality in the restored Eden of this world; thus sweeping away the very existence of heaven and hell. You would be astonished at the prevalence of this specious heresy in the different States of the Union. They adopt all sorts of stratagems to scatter their pestilential literature clandestinely over the land. At this you need not be astonished. It is peculiar to all heretics, as Jesus said, to compass sea and land to make proselytes, and to make them twofold more the children of hell. A man will die for his god. Their pusillanimous little creed is their god, for which they will cheerfully labor, suffer, and die. The power of religion is wonderful, and an awful instrument of destruction when in the hands of the devil. Now let me post you in the adroit sophistries which lie at the foundation of this heresy.
(a.) They confound life and existence, which are entirely different things. They treat them as synonymous; e.g., Satan died when he sinned, and is this day the deadest thing in the universe. Yet his personal existence is as real as that of God. So all the innumerable demons thronging the pandemonium and invading this world are utterly dead; i.e., destitute of spiritual life. Yet these dead, lost, and miserable spirits have their actual, personal existence, as real as the angels. It is equally true of the soul of every sinner, though dead in trespasses and sins. (Eph 2:1.) His spiritual existence is as real as that of Paul.
(b.) It is equally true of this heresy that it confounds death and nonexistence, which are utterly distinct realities. There is no such thing as annihilation. Burn a log of wood, and the ashes and gases will weigh just as much as the log before it was burnt. Annihilation does not belong to the province of Omnipotence, which simply has all power within its sphere when it is merely a question of power. There are some things which God can not do; he can not lie; he can not antagonize his own character and attributes. If it were possible, I think it highly probable that God, in mercy, would annihilate the devil and all his myrmidons and all the human souls in hell. But, unfortunately for them, they received immortality from the creative fiat, which opened to them the widest door in the universe for enlargement, achievement, aggrandizement, glorification, and eternal fruition. All this they forfeited by the unhappy verdict of their own free will. Good Lord, help us all to sink out of self, and die to everything but God and his truth, forever losing sight of all human creeds, and, like little Samuel lying on his pallet, meekly say, “Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth.” “Inhabiting light unapproachable, whom no one of men has seen nor is able to see.” We must keep in mind the glorious Trinity in Divine unity, not drifting off into the tritheistic heresy of three Gods instead of One; but still keeping constantly before our eyes the three distinct personalities of the glorious indivisible Divinity—i.e., Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; remembering that God is revealed in the incarnate Christ. Hence, through the flight of eternal ages the glorified humanity of Christ, filled with the Divinity, will be the inscrutable majesty and magnetism of the celestial universe, thus exalting our redeemed and transfigured humanity above all other created intelligences.
17. “Command the rich in the present age not to think about exalted things, nor to trust in uncertain wealth, but in God, who conferreth on us richly all things for our enjoyment.” The proud people rush madly after the golden apples, which Satan everywhere waves in the air to attract their deluded gaze, which, the moment received, turn to the ashes of Sodom on the disappointed lips. Meanwhile the humble poor, forsaking all the world and desiring nothing but God, are surprised unutterably and astonished ineffably, not only at the unearthly fruitions of his grace giving them a heaven in which to go to heaven, but lost in incomprehensible bewilderment to find their bodies literally flooded with the munificence of his providence, giving them more than heart can wish.
18. “To do good, to be rich in beautiful works, to be free givers, ready communicators,
19. “Laying up for themselves a beautiful foundation for the world to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” Paul again, as in 1Ti 6:12, uses the powerful Greek compound verb, epilambanoo, which means to receive unto yourself “eternal life.” Let these two clear statements by the inspired apostle forever settle all controversy on the problem of eternal life, revealing positively the forfeitability of that life during probation, and sweeping away the Satanic subterfuge into which many a poor backslider has fallen, and been lulled to sleep by the diabolical lullaby, “O you know you were once converted, and you can’t lose eternal life, so take another nap.” So Satan sings another tune while he goes fast asleep till the devil can dump him into hell. Here, in the twelfth verse, Paul exhorts Timothy to be courageous, “fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life;” i.e., when he enters the pearly portals. In 1Ti 6:19 he pours his burning exhortation on these paragon saints, whose lives have been flooded with holy philanthropy, thus “laying up for themselves a good foundation for the world to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life;” thus clearly confirming the conclusion that none of us receive eternal life in a non- forfeitable sense till we pass our probation and enter heaven. These Scriptures confirm beyond the possibility of controversy the great Bible truth of our probation and liability to fall to the end of life. This truth should be proclaimed upon the housetops, as the only available antidote to the devil’s soporific incantations, “once in grace, always in grace.” If this dogma be true, there is not a solitary backslider in hell; whereas, the very contradictory is true. Hell is for none but backsliders, Satan to begin with, who was once an archangel. (Isa 14:12.) And as the devils were created angels, as God never made a devil nor a sinner. They were all on probation as we are, and, unfortunately, “they kept not their first estate.” (Jude.) By the glorious redemption of Christ all the human race are born in the kingdom of God like the prodigal son, and only get out by sinning out. Hence, it is an undeniable fact that instead of no backslider going to hell, none go but apostates; all the devils being fallen angels, and all human souls having enjoyed infantile innocence, were justified in the Father’s house before they turned prodigals.
20. “O Timothy, guard the trust!” The Greek word here is the verb form of phulake, strictly military; as when a Roman soldier stood sentinel the lives of the army and the cause of his country were entrusted to his keeping; if he went to sleep, the penalty was death. The preacher is God’s sentinel on the walls of Zion. “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the whole house of Israel.”
“O watchman, what of the night?
The myriad foe come on to try thee with their might If thou shalt fail one note thy trump to sound, I will hang upon these battlements the watchman on his round”
During the pioneer Indian wars, a man was killed every night at a certain post. After several nights had elapsed, the notoriety of that dangerous post so spread throughout the army that no one was willing there to stand sentinel. Hence, they have to call for a volunteer. A stalwart backwoodsman enlists, and is sent to the post. About midnight he sees a large hog rooting round among the leaves. He observes the animal moving about, but getting near. He calls out to the hog, “Give me the countersign!” He calls the third time. No answer comes. He fires on the hog, and out wallops an old Indian. So God’s sentinel is to take no risk; but fire on the innocent hog when there is good reason for suspicion. God help us to be true sentinels! “Avoiding common empty talks.” “Profane babblings” in E.V. does not really convey the idea of the original. The above translation is literal from the original. You observe that Paul repeats this phrase over and over. Hence, it must be exceedingly important. Every speech, exhortation, sermon, prayer, testimony, and song, without the Holy Ghost, is empty. The Greek kenophoonias is from kenos, empty, and phoonee, voice. Hence, it literally means all empty utterances. Our voices belong to God, and should only be articulated for his glory. Therefore all of our utterances without the Holy Ghost are empty. At this point Satan utterly sidetracks the preachers, and gets them to preach, pray, sing, and talk without the Holy Ghost, simply utilizing their intellect and learning. I have known preachers who actually served as a clown for the entertainment of their members. Whenever without the Spirit, we are empty, burning our powder for mere fireworks. “Be ye filled with the Spirit” is a positive commandment of God. True to that commandment, you will never speak empty words in the pulpit nor out of it. O how obedience to these plain commandments would bring cyclones of power into the pulpit, and Niagaras of salvation into the pews, and “oppositions of science falsely so-called!” Satan’s people have always been trying to array science against the Bible. Bob Ingersoll arraigns Moses for his mistakes on the days of creation; because geology reveals that the earth passed through long periods during its formation. Hence, these demiurgic days were not twenty-four hours, but unknown years. It so happens that the mistakes turn out on Bob’s side of the controversy, as the Bible says (2Pe 3:8) that God’s day is a thousand years, thus beautifully harmonizing with geology. Of course, these were not man’s days, as he was not in existence at that time, neither were the solar days, as there was no sun to measure them till the fourth day. Hence, they were God’s days, embracing the period of an indefinite thousand years, in harmony with the Hebrew word yom, translated “day,” which means a period of time, as we say Paul’s day. Heaven in R.V. is always singular, as the translators seem to take no stock in astronomy; while the Greek is generally ouranoi, plural, corroborating strikingly the astronomical discoveries of innumerable worlds, and some of them tremendously magnitudinous, constituting the celestial universe.
21. “Which certain ones proclaiming have made shipwreck concerning the faith.” O how cunningly and magnitudinously is Satan this day, using these “common empty talks” and misnamed “opposition of science” to sidetrack and wreck deluded millions! “Grace be with you.” See what a sweet, nice little benediction Paul here gives us, and how convenient when brevity is in demand.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v12 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.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v11 (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.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v11 The Conduct of the True Christian and Its Reward.…
The Conduct of the True Christian and Its Reward. 1Ti 6:11-16
v. 11. but thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
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v. 12. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
v. 13. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession,
v. 14. that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ;
v. 15. which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords;
v. 16. who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen nor can see; to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.
Having shown the transitoriness, the superfluity, and the danger of possessing and, more still, of striving after great earthly possessions, St. Paul, by way of contrast, now shows the glory of spiritual possessions, as an incentive to him to make every effort toward their attainment: But thou, O man of God, flee these things; follow rather after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. It is a title by which high honor was conferred upon Timothy and upon all Christians, that of being designated a man of God, 2Ti 3:17. The believers are children of God, they belong to God as His own, a fact which alone is a strong argument for the Christians to show themselves worthy of the grace expressed by the name. He that belongs to God as His own has the fullness of riches in Him and is not in need of temporal gifts and blessings to complete his happiness. The Christians, therefore, gladly heed the call of the apostle: Shun, avoid, flee these things. It is a bad plan to try out one’s powers of resistance in courting the dangers connected with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. To keep away from their alluring attractions is the one safe thing to do. By constant activity in matters pertaining to the kingdom of God and the service of his neighbor a Christian will put away from him the temptation to many sins of the flesh. Rather, on the other hand, he will follow after, seek with all his might, the virtues which are so often praised so highly in Scriptures: righteousness of life, according to which a person will at all times and in all conditions conduct himself in accordance with the Word of God and His holy will; godliness, according to which the entire religious life of a person will be one of reverence for the holy God; faith, which accepts the merits of Christ and finds comfort in the grace and help of God at all times; love, by which faith shows itself active in good works toward God and one’s neighbor; patience or steadfastness in sustaining trials; meekness and humility, according to which a person will not permit himself to become embittered. That is the one side of true Christian conduct.
But the other side is emphasized by the apostle with just as much force: Fight the good fight of faith, take a firm hold on eternal life, to which thou hast been called and hast confessed the good confession before many witnesses. The apostle uses the picture of an athletic contest, in which the participants must exert every muscle, every nerve to the utmost, if they desire to possess the victor’s crown. The entire life of the Christians is a continual battle against the many enemies of their faith; they must hold their faith against every attack, against every temptation. Hereby faith itself must contribute and impart strength for proper steadfastness, especially for securing, for laying hold upon, eternal life. The life of eternity with God above is in itself the prize for which the Christians must strive with unabated rigor and eagerness. For obtaining this prize Timothy and every other Christian has been called, that is the real object of their lives, Php 3:14. This argument possessed all the more weight, since Timothy had professed his faith in Christ and in the certainty of eternal life in a confession before many witnesses. St. Paul is most probably referring to the confession made by Timothy at the time of his Baptism and reception into the congregation. For even in those early days a special baptismal confession was in use. This was a good, a fine, an excellent confession, both its content and its significance elevating it above all confessions with a mere worldly content. Since, moreover, many witnesses, very likely the entire congregation, had been present at the time of his making his confession of faith, he should remember also the obligation toward these Christian brothers and sisters, and not lightly set aside the responsibility resting upon him. These words are so important that they should be heeded also in our days by every catechumen or confirm and, both before and after the special rite by which he joins the congregation as a communicant member.
The matter is of such importance to Paul as to make him add a very impressive exhortation: I charge thee before God, who quickens all things, and Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession, that thou keep the commandment immaculate, irreproachable, until the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is in the form of a serious, emphatic, cordial exhortation, of an earnest charge, that Paul addressed his pupil at this point. He adjures him before, in the sight of, God, of whom he says that He gives life to all things. God is the Source of all life, both physical and spiritual; Timothy, therefore, having received his spiritual life from God, may be assured that the same Lord will continue to keep him by His power unto life everlasting. But Paul not only reminds Timothy of God and His quickening strength, but also of his Savior Christ Jesus, whose frank confession as to His person and office during the trial before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate is an example for all Christians of all times. These two facts should be the reasons influencing and strengthening Timothy to keep the commandment, the sum of the entire body of Christian doctrine entrusted to him, immaculate, pure, uncontaminated, without the slightest admixture of error, and also irreproachable, so that no one would be able to bring a charge against him of even the slightest irregularity in his preaching. The gift of the pure doctrine is too precious to permit any careless handling. Timothy should therefore observe the charge to keep the doctrine in all purity until the revelation, the last coming, of the Lord Jesus Christ. With the second advent of Christ the Church will be transformed from the humble and militant to the glorious and triumphant state. Then also the proclamation of the Gospel-message will have an end, for then we shall see, possess, and enjoy what we have here believed.
As usual, the feeling of exaltation which takes hold of the apostle here lifts him to the point of joyous exclamation: Which in due time will show the blessed and only Powerful One, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, He alone having immortality, living in an inaccessible light, whom nobody of men has seen nor can see; to whom honor and everlasting power. Amen. The revelation of Christ will be shown; according to His human nature He will be revealed before the eyes of the astonished nations. God will set this revelation forth, cause it to be made. In due time this will be done, at the period of the world’s existence which is known only to God, having been hidden even from Christ according to His human nature in His state of humiliation. The Blessed and the only Powerful One God is called, since He is in possession of the fullness of heavenly bliss and happiness, and since He is, in His essence, almighty, the Sovereign, the Lord, or, as Paul continues to explain, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. ALL people that dwell on earth, no matter whether they bear the title and exercise the power of unlimited monarchs over millions of subjects, sink into insignificance beside Him. He alone has immortality; He is the only one in whom this attribute is a quality of His essence; He is the Source of everlasting life. He lives in a light of heavenly glory, which is inaccessible to mere human beings, to mortal sinners. The very reflection of the divine glory is unbearable to human eyes, Exo 34:30; much less will they be able to look into the glory of the divine essence itself. No man’s eyes have seen nor will see the glory of the great God of heaven, not on this side of eternity. And yet the apostle breaks forth into a deliberate doxology, saying that both glory and eternal strength should be given to Him. Our praise and adoration of His wonderful essence will continue throughout eternity, long after we have changed the mortal hull of our body into the glorified body of heavenly majesty. This is most certainly true.
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 vv11, 13 But you
But you
Here "you" is singular and refers to Timothy. (See: Forms of You)
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man of God
"servant of God" or "person who belongs to God"
flee from these things
Paul speaks of these temptations and sins as if they were things that a person could physically run away from. AT: "completely avoid these things" (See: Metaphor)
these things
Possible meanings of "these things" are 1) the "love of money" or 2) the different teachings, pride, arguments, and the love of money.
Pursue righteousness
"Run after" or "Chase." Paul speaks of righteousness and other good qualities as if they were things that a person could run after. This metaphor is the opposite of "flee from." It means to try your best to obtain something. AT: "Seek to gain" or "Do your best to act in" (See: Metaphor)
Fight the good fight of faith
Here Paul speaks about a person continuing in faith as if they are an athlete fighting to win a contest or a warrior fighting a battle. AT: "Try your hardest to obey Christ's teachings with as much energy as an athlete uses in a contest" (See: Metaphor)
Take hold of the everlasting life
This continues the metaphor. Paul speaks about a person receiving eternal life as if they are a victorious athlete or warrior taking their prize. AT: "Take eternal life as your reward as a victorious athlete takes his prize" (See: Metaphor)
to which you were called
This can be stated in active form. AT: "to which God has called you" (See: Active or Passive)
you gave the good confession
"you confessed what is good" or "you confessed the truth"
before many witnesses
Paul expresses the idea of location in order to signal the idea of the people to whom Timothy was speaking. AT: "to many witnesses" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
righteous
godly
faithful
love
endure
faith
eternity
call
good
confess
testimony
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 vv11–14 6:11-16 Before ending the discussion of wealth, Paul exhorts…
6:11-16 Before ending the discussion of wealth, Paul exhorts Timothy to live beyond reproach, commanding him to flee from desire for wealth.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.