1 Timothy6chapter 6

1 Timothy 6:1-2

under the yoke: The address to servants under the yoke regulates a standing institution as at Ephesus and Colosse, and the stake named is the highest one, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed by a believing slave's contempt. A believing master changes the temper, not the duty: not despised because brethren, but served the better, because faithful and beloved. The gospel's seed against the institution itself is planted in that word brethren, as Philemon shows it growing.

1 Timothy 6:3-5

The other teacher is diagnosed medically: wholesome words, hugiainousi logois, healthy teaching, against a man who is doting, noson, sick with a craving for questions and strifes of words. The symptom list runs from envy to perverse disputings, and the root disease is named last, supposing that gain is godliness, religion worked as a revenue stream. From such withdraw thyself is Timothy's prescription; the argument such men want is itself their oxygen.

1 Timothy 6:6-8

godliness with contentment: The counterfeit is answered by inversion: godliness with contentment is great gain, autarkeia, the sufficiency Paul claimed at Philippians 4:11, now paired with godliness as the true wealth. The arithmetic is Job's, we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The floor of contentment is set deliberately low, having food and raiment let us be therewith content, covering and daily bread.

1 Timothy 6:9-10

The warning targets the will, they that will be rich, the settled resolve to have wealth, which walks into temptation and a snare and drowns men in destruction and perdition, a sinking figure. The love of money is the root of all evil is the KJV's rendering of a Greek many translate a root of all kinds of evil; both renderings are old and the sense either way is that no species of evil is beyond what that love will feed. The proof offered is pastoral and observed: some coveted, erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows, self-inflicted wounds.

1 Timothy 6:11-12

O man of God: The title is the Old Testament's mantle for prophets, O man of God, laid on Timothy with two verbs: flee these things, and follow after a six-fold pursuit, righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith is the arena's word, agonizou, contend, and lay hold on eternal life grasps now what is already given. The good profession before many witnesses is read of his baptism or his ordination, both with holders, and either way the public vow is the anchor appealed to.

1 Timothy 6:13-16

before Pontius Pilate: The charge is given before two witnesses, God who quickeneth all things, and Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, the trial of John 18-19 cited as history with the governor's name in it, the same anchor the creeds would keep. The command holds until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he shall shew in his times, the timing kept in the Father's hand as at Acts 1:7. The doxology rises out of the charge, King of kings, and Lord of lords, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see, and the exposition lets it stand as worship.

1 Timothy 6:17-19

The rich receive duties, not expulsion: not highminded, no trust in uncertain riches, the adjective doing the work, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, a verse that blesses enjoyment in the same breath it breaks trust in wealth. Their commerce is redirected, rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. The result is the only safe deposit in the letter's world, laying up in store a good foundation against the time to come, laying hold on eternal life.

1 Timothy 6:20-21

The letter ends where it began, with the deposit: O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, the paratheke, a banking term for goods left in safekeeping, the apostolic teaching held whole for the next hands. The rival is knowledge falsely so named, pseudonymou gnoseos, the counterfeit already gathering the vocabulary the gnostic systems would wear; the verse aims at counterfeit knowledge, not at learning. Some professing it have erred concerning the faith, the letter's last warning, and grace be with thee its last word.