Commentari biblici

I. He treats of the duty of servants, 1Ti 6:1,2. II. Of false teachers, 1Ti 6:3-5. III. Of godliness and covetousness, 1Ti 6:6-10. IV. What Timothy was to flee, and what to follow, 1Ti 6:11,12. V. A solemn charge, 1Ti 6:13-16. VI. A charge for the rich, 1Ti 6:17-19. And lastly, a charge to Timothy, 1Ti 6:20,21.

Analysis Of The Chapter

This chapter 1 Timothy 6 embraces the following subjects of counsel and exhortation:

(1) The kind of instruction which was to be given to servants; 1 Timothy 6:1-5. They were to treat their masters with all proper respect, 1 Timothy 6:1; if their masters were Christians, they were, on that account, to serve them with the more fidelity, 1 Timothy 6:2; and any opposite kind of teaching would tend only to stir up strife and produce dissatisfaction and contention, and could proceed only from a proud and self-confident heart.

(2) the advantage of piety and of a contented mind; 1 Timothy 6:6-8. The argument for this is, that we brought nothing into the world, and can carry nothing out; that our essential needs here are food and raiment, and that, having enough to make us comfortable, we should be content.

(3) the evils of a desire to be rich 1 Timothy 6:9-10 - evils seen in the temptations to which it leads; the passions which it fosters, and the danger to religion itself.

(4) an exhortation to Timothy, as a minister of religion, to pursue higher and nobler objects; 1 Timothy 6:11-16. He was:

(a) to avoid these worldly things; he was.

(b) to pursue nobler objects. He was to follow after righteousness, and to fight the good fight of faith. To do this, he was to be encouraged by the assurance that the Great and only Potentate would, in due time, place the crown on his head.

(5) the duty of those who were rich - for it is supposed that some Christians will be rich - either by inheritance, or by prosperous business; 1 Timothy 6:17-19. They are:

(a) not to be proud;

(b) nor to trust in their riches so as to forget their dependence on God;

(c) to do good with their property; and,

(d) to make their wealth the means of securing eternal life.

(6) a solemn charge to Timothy to observe these things, and not to be turned from them by any of the arguments and objections of pretended science; 1 Timothy 6:20-21.

Of the duty of servants, 1 Timothy 6:1, 1 Timothy 6:2. Of false teachers, who suppose gain to be godliness, 1 Timothy 6:3-5. Of true godliness, and contentment, 1 Timothy 6:6-8. Of those, and their dangerous state, who determine to be rich; and of the love of money, 1 Timothy 6:9, 1 Timothy 6:10. Timothy is exhorted to fight the good fight of faith, and to keep the charge delivered to him, 1 Timothy 6:11-14. A sublime description of the majesty of God, 1 Timothy 6:15, 1 Timothy 6:16. How the rich should behave themselves; and the use they should make of their property, 1 Timothy 6:17-19. Timothy is once more exhorted to keep what was committed to his trust; and to avoid profane babblings, through which some have erred from the faith, 1 Timothy 6:20, 1 Timothy 6:21.

INTRODUCTION TO 1 Timothy 6

In this chapter the apostle gives some instructions to servants; lays down some rules, by which to judge of false teachers; advises to contentment; exposes the sin of covetousness; exhorts Timothy to avoid sin, and follow after things that are good, to be constant in his warfare, the issue of which would be eternal life; gives him a charge with respect to himself, and orders him what he should enjoin others, particularly the rich, and what he should do himself; and wishes grace unto him, to enable him to discharge his duty. The instructions to servants are of two sorts; first, to such who had unbelieving masters, whom they ought to honour and obey; that the name and doctrine of Christ be not evil spoken of: and then to such as had believing masters, that they despise them not being brethren, but should the more cheerfully serve them; because believers in Christ, beloved of God, and partakers of his grace; which duties are worthy to be insisted upon in the Gospel ministry, 1 Timothy 6:1, and such who teach not these things are to be accounted false teachers, whose characters are given in several particulars; as men unsound, proud, ignorant, quarrelsome, and covetous, and to be withdrawn from, 1 Timothy 6:3. And from hence the apostle exhorts to contentment; and argues for it, partly from the gain of it along with godliness; and partly from the consideration of what men are, when they come into the world, and what they will be, when they go out of it; and also from having food and raiment, which include all the necessaries of life, 1 Timothy 6:6. And then he exposes the folly and danger of covetousness, being the root of all evil; an enemy to true religion and godliness; and the cause of ruin and destruction, 1 Timothy 6:9. Wherefore he addresses himself to Timothy, in particular, to avoid everything of this kind; and to follow the reverse of those things that were in the false teachers; to fight the good fight of faith, and then lay hold on eternal life; to which he encourages him, from his calling, and the profession he had made, in a very public manner, 1 Timothy 6:11. And then follows a solemn charge unto him, given him before God and Christ; that he would observe what had been commanded him in the most perfect manner, until the appearance of Christ; which is certain, and may be concluded will be, from the various epithets of God; who will make him manifest in his own time, 1 Timothy 6:13. To which is added an injunction on Timothy to charge rich men not to be elated with their riches, nor trust in them, since they are uncertain things; but in God, from whom they have received such a plentiful measure of them; that they be beneficent to others, which will turn to their own advantage in the issue, 1 Timothy 6:17. And to close all, he is very urgent upon Timothy, to keep the Gospel pure and uncorrupt, he was intrusted with; and avoid everything that was opposite to it, as profane and mere babbling, and having only a show of knowledge, but not that itself; and the rather, since some profane teachers and professors of the Gospel had erred from it: and concludes with wishing him grace, to enable him to attend to the several instructions which had been given him, 1 Timothy 6:20.

Ch. 6. Last Words on Apostolic Doctrine and Duty

CHAPTER 6

1 Timothy 6:1. The reading δούλου (F G) is to be regarded as a correction; so, too, with the reading δουλείας (73, Sahid.).—1 Timothy 6:2. In א the words ὅτι ἀδελφοί εἰσιν are omitted, probably through an oversight. Instead of the curious εὐεργεσίας here, F G, gr. 46, and some other cursives have the reading εὐσεβείας; 45 has ἐργασίας.—1 Timothy 6:3. Instead of προσέρχεται (Rec. with the support of nearly all MSS.; Lachm. Buttm. Tisch. 7), א has the reading προσέχεται (in Latin: acquiescit), which Tisch. 8 adopted. This form occurs nowhere else in the N. T.—1 Timothy 6:4. Tisch. 7 read ἔρεις, after D F G L, etc.; Tisch. 8, on the contrary, ἔρις (Rec. with the support of A K א, etc.; so, too, Lachm. Buttm.). It can hardly be decided which is the original reading; the meaning is substantially the same in either case; possibly the singular was changed into the plural on account of the other plurals.—1 Timothy 6:5. Instead of the Rec. παραδιατριβαί, Griesb. rightly adopted διαπαρατριβαί, on the weightiest authority: A D F G א, al., 10, 17, 23, etc., Clem. Basil. Chrys. etc. In one MS. διαπαραδιατριβαί is found; others have διατριβαί; others, παρατριβαί; and one διʼ ἃ παρατριβαί, which Reiche approves.

The words ἀφίστασο ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων are, according to A DF G א 17, 67** 93, al., Copt. Sahid. Aeth. Vulg. It., probably to be considered an addition not genuine, although they are found in K L, nearly all cursives, and the Fathers, Ambros. Pel. Chrys. etc.; Griesb. marked them as very much to be suspected; Lachm. Buttm. Tisch. omitted them; Reiche, on the other hand, defended them as genuine.—1 Timothy 6:7. δῆλον] is wanting in several of the weightiest authorities, in particular A F G א 17, Copt. Sahid. Aeth. etc., on which account it was also struck out by Lachm. Buttm. Tisch. 8. But as it is almost indispensable for the sense, its omission may perhaps be only an oversight, unless ὅτι, as Buttm. p. 308, thinks, be elliptical for δῆλον ὅτι.—1 Timothy 6:8. Instead of διατροφάς, D F G and several cursives have the common singular form διατροφήν; and instead of ἀρκεσθησόμεθα, there is found in 30, 117, 219, al., Vulg. Chrys. etc., the form ἀρκεσθησώμεθα; see on this, Winer, p. 72 [E. T. p. 89].—1 Timothy 6:9. After παγίδα, D F G, several cursives, Fathers, and versions have τοῦ διαβόλου, which, however, is to be regarded as an insertion from 1 Timothy 3:7.—1 Timothy 6:11. Lachm. Buttm. Tisch. 8, omitted the article τοῦ before Θεοῦ; it is wanting in A א 17.

In א the word εὐσέβειαν is wanting.

πρᾳότητα] This reading stands only in later MSS.; A F G א 71, Ignat. Petr. Alex. Ephr. Hesych. have πραϋπάθειαν, which is therefore rightly adopted by Scholz, Lachm. Buttm. Tisch.—1 Timothy 6:12. εἰς ἥν] The Rec. is εἰς ἣν καί. The καί was rightly omitted by Griesb., on the authority of all uncials, many cursives, Syr. Arr. Copt, etc., Chrys. Theodor. etc.—1 Timothy 6:13. The σοι after παραγγέλλω (Rec. supported by the most important authorities, Lachm. Buttm. Tisch. 7) was omitted by Tisch. 8, on the authority of F G 17, etc.; so, too, with the article τοῦ before Θεοῦ, after א, though it stands in nearly all authorities. Instead of ζωοποιοῦντος (Rec. K L א, al.), A D F G 17, etc., Ath. Cyr. etc. have ζωογονοῦντος, which deserves preference as the more unusual word. Lachm. Buttm. and Tisch. adopted it into the text; Reiche, on the other hand, defends the Rec., especially on the ground that Paul uses the word ζωοποιεῖν continually of the futura hominum mortuorum ad vitam restitutio, quacum rerum universarum instauratio conjuncta erit.—1 Timothy 6:17. ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι] is changed in D E, Syr. Copt. Sahid. Vulg. etc. into τοῦ νῦν αἰῶνος. For αἰῶνι, א has καιρῷ; and for ὑψηλοφρονεῖν, ὑψηλὰ φρονεῖν, which Tisch. 8 adopted.

ἐν τῷ Θεῷ] For the preposition ἐν (Rec. D*** K L, Tisch. 7, Reiche), A D* F G א, several cursives, etc., have ἐπί (Lachm. Buttm. Tisch. 8). This reading seems, however, to have arisen from a correction in order to make this clause symmetrical with the one previous. The article τῷ (Rec. A D*** E K L, etc.; Lachm. Buttm. Tisch. 7) is wanting in D* F G א, al. (Tisch. 8).

τῷ ζῷντι] omitted by Lachm. and Tisch., after A G 17, 23, 47, al., many versions, is to be regarded as not genuine. It may have been inserted from a recollection of 1 Timothy 4:10.

πάντα πλουσίως] adopted by Griesb. Scholz, Tisch. for πλουσίως πάντα, after D E 17, 44, 46, al., Syr. Arr. Copt. Vulg. etc., Basil. Chrys. Theodoret, etc. Lachm. and Buttm. read, on the authority of A 17, 37, 57, al., τὰ πάντα πλουσίως, which might deserve preference as the more difficult reading.—1 Timothy 6:19. The Rec. αἰωνίου is manifestly a correction of the original ὄντως (in A D* E F G א 17, 23, 31, 57, al., Syr. utr. Erp. Copt, etc., Constitut. Clem. Orig. Basil, etc.), which Griesb. rightly received into the text.—1 Timothy 6:20. παραθήκην] rightly adopted by Griesb. for παρακαταθήκην, on the authority of A D E F G א 31, 37, 44, al., Sahid. Syr. Clem. Ignat. al.; comp. 2 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 1:14. The reading καινοφωνίας (for κενοφ.), in F G 73, It. Vulg. (profanas vocum novitates) and the Latin Fathers, is an oversight arising from the similarity of αι and ε in sound.—1 Timothy 6:21 ἡ χάρις μετὰ σοῦ] For σοῦ, Lachm. Buttm. Tisch. 8, after A F G 17, al., adopted μεθʼ ὑμῶν, perhaps a correction from 2 Timothy 4:22 and Titus 3:15. Tisch. 7 had the Rec. σοῦ, after D E K L, most cursives, several versions, etc.

The Rec. ἀμήν at the end (after D** K L) is to be regarded as not genuine, on the authority of A D* F G א, etc.

1Ti 6:1-21.

EXHORTATIONS AS TO DISTINCTIONS OF CIVIL RANK; THE DUTY OF SLAVES, IN OPPOSITION TO THE FALSE TEACHINGS OF GAIN-SEEKERS; TIMOTHY'S PURSUIT IS TO BE GODLINESS, WHICH IS AN EVERLASTING POSSESSION: SOLEMN ADJURATION TO DO SO AGAINST CHRIST'S COMING; CHARGE TO BE GIVEN TO THE RICH. CONCLUDING EXHORTATION.

1. servants--to be taken as predicated thus, "Let as many as are under the yoke (as) slaves"

(Tit 2:9).

The exhortation is natural as there was a danger of Christian slaves inwardly feeling above their heathen masters.

their own masters--The phrase "their own," is an argument for submissiveness; it is not strangers, but their own masters whom they are required to respect.

all honour--all possible and fitting honor; not merely outward subjection, but that inward honor from which will flow spontaneously right outward conduct (see on

Eph 5:22).

that the name of God--by which Christians are called.

blasphemed--Heathen masters would say, What kind of a God must be the God of the Christians, when such are the fruits of His worship

(Ro 2:24; Tit 2:5, 10)?