A Commentary in Simple English on 1 Timothy

CHAPTER 6

Verses 1 and 2: Slaves and masters

In verse 1 Paul says: 'Some Christians are slaves'. He calls slavery 'a yoke'. Oxen are large, heavy animals. A yoke was the heavy bar made from wood which farmers fixed on the shoulders of oxen. This meant that the oxen could be made to work. So Paul means that these Christian slaves have to work very hard. It is not right that any man should be the slave of another man. Yet Paul tells these slaves to honour their masters (Ephesians 6:5-8; Colossians 3:22-25). The honour of God and of the Good News matters more than the natural feelings of the slave. We know that many masters thought that their slaves were little better than cattle. [6.1] But we hope that Christian masters were kind to their slaves. So (verse 2) Paul says that Christian slaves must not 'think down on' their masters. They would be equal when they joined in Christian worship. The slave might know that he was really a better man than his master was. Still, they must work or 'slave' all the better because their work helped someone who was also a Christian.

Verses 3-5: More about false teachers

In these verses, Paul writes again about the false teachers. The last words of verse 2 may belong with these verses.

So verse 3 says that these false teachers teach in a different way. Paul and Timothy use 'sound' words. These are words that will give people who listen to them a healthy Christian life. The false teachers do not 'go over' to this teaching. Paul says that they are blown up with pride (verse 4) although really they do not know anything. Now of course these false teachers knew a lot (1 Corinthians 8:1-3). We do not all know things in the same way. There are things that I know, but I shall never use this knowledge. The false teachers knew the Good News. But they did not use that knowledge. Their teaching was not healthy teaching. It was sick and not healthy ('morbid'). They wanted to make people argue about religion. They wanted to hear battles about words.

The Good News is wonderful. The love of Jesus is so great that he died to save us. The grace of God is so great that he saves lost sinners and brings them to glory. But there are still plenty of people who do not want to talk about these things. They want 'battles about words'. This is what Paul has already said. (1:3-7) We need to look at the result of such teaching in the church. We should look for joy, love and peace in the church. Instead the false teachers made people jealous of each other. They made them quarrel. There is 'slander'. There are 'under-thoughts'. What people think of each other is so bad that they have to keep it to themselves. And (verse 5) they do not get on well with each other. There are three reasons for it.

1. The mind of false teachers has gone bad. When they meet the truth, they only look for reasons to argue against it. When they meet with something that is not the truth, they look for reasons to agree with it (2 Corinthians 4:4; John 3:19-21; 5:43; 8:45).

2. So these false teachers have had the truth taken away from them.

3. Then their reason for teaching is wrong. They think of religion as a way to get rich.

Verses 6-10: The dangers of riches

In verse 6, Paul no longer speaks about the false teachers. The religion of the false teachers may be a way to make money. If we lead a life that really pleases God, there is a change in us. There is a change in what we want. We do not want more things or more money all the time. We are thankful to God for what we do have. It may be very little. It may be a lot. But we just thank God for it. He knows what is good for us. He gives us what is best for us. So we are 'content' (Philippians 4:11-13; Ecclesiastes 5:18 and 19). We do not want things that we do not have. That is 'the great gain' that Paul speaks about.

A newborn baby does not own anything (verse 7). All the things which we own when we die, we must leave behind. They will probably cause trouble after our death (Psalm 49).

In verse 8, the word 'clothing' may include somewhere to live. But a Christian can trust God to give him what he really must have. This is, of course, the teaching of Jesus (Matthew 6:25-34; Luke 12:22-31). If we worry about food and clothes, we do not trust God who is our Father.

Then in verse 9, Paul begins to talk about the danger we are in when we are not content. Jesus taught us to pray: 'Lead us not into temptation'. But first, people who want to be rich fall into temptation. That is worse than being 'led' into it. There is then a picture of a trap. A hunter has made it to catch a wild animal. He has dug a big hole in the ground. There is a sharp piece of wood which sticks up from the bottom of the hole. Some meat hangs down over the hole. Then the hunter covers the hole with grass and tree leaves to hide it. The wild animal comes along and jumps up at the meat. The hunter hopes that the wild animal will miss the meat and fall down onto the sharp wood. This will wound it, and the animal will not be able to climb out of the hole. Then the hunter can kill it. So people who want to be rich fall into the devil's trap.

Still in verse 9, there is another picture. These same people fall into desires that do them harm and which are silly. It is as though these desires take hold of a man and drown him in the sea. And this 'sea' is ruin. These wrong desires destroy men and women. [6.2]

Now we know that, in our time, this desire for riches draws many people into the great cities of the world. Most of these people do not become rich. They may drink too much or take drugs. Hunger and illness often destroy them. But still a few people do become rich. And when they have plenty of money, that means that they can satisfy their wrong desires. They mix with other rich people. They feel that they must live like these other rich people. The devil uses the hope of riches so that Christians can no longer see what is right and wrong. There is a very wise prayer in Proverbs 30:8: 'Let me be neither very poor or very rich'. If Christian men do set out to make money in the city, Christian leaders ought to teach them the dangers. They must give honour to God right from the start. Then he will honour them. And they must learn not just to give money to God's work. They must honour God by the way that they give to him (Proverbs 3:9).

So in verse 10, Paul says that the love of money is like a root in the ground. From this root all kinds of bad things grow. Notice that Paul does not say that money is the root of evil. Money is neither good nor bad. We make good or bad use of it. We do not often find that a person who is really rich is also really happy. So at the end of the verse, Paul goes back to the picture of the wild animal. It falls into the pit. The sharp wood 'pierces' or sticks into it. The animal is badly wounded. Some people have wanted to be rich and two bad things have happened to them. First, they no longer follow Jesus. This does not happen quickly. It happens slowly. They have 'wandered'. If you watched them, you would not notice any change in them at first. Second, they have had many sharp sorrows, which have badly wounded them.

We do know how some people made money in Ephesus (Acts 19:24 and 25). Christians would not want to make false 'gods' for sale. Nor would they want to make money out of 'magic' (Acts 19:19) or 'Ephesian letters' as they were called. So there were real temptations for the Christians at Ephesus.

Verses 11 - 16: Be a Man of God

Now Paul speaks to Timothy. He calls him 'Man of God'. The Old Testament calls Moses 'the Man of God' (Deuteronomy 33:1; Joshua 14:6). David has this name (Nehemiah 12:24) as do Elijah (1 Kings 17:18) and also Elisha (2 Kings 4:7), along with a few other men. Paul honours Timothy when he calls him 'Man of God'. It means more than that he is a man who has given his life up to serve God. [6.3] It means a man in whose life you can see the power of God at work. It means a man whom God has called. It means a man whose life God's grace has changed and who is really holy.

So (verse 11) Timothy is not a man who loves money. He is a man who runs away from or 'shuns' all the bad things, which Paul has just written about. There is a prize for Timothy to win. So he is to race or run as fast as he can towards the six qualities which Paul lists. They are: -

1. Righteousness: that is, a life where we do what is right for other people.

2. Godliness: a life where we do what pleases God.

3. Faith: a life of trust in God.

4. Love: a life whose purpose is to do good to other people.

5. Endurance or steadfastness. There are things in our life that are not easy. They make life difficult. But we still follow Jesus and we still have joy.

6. Gentleness. This is 'a meek feeling' (See Matthew 5:5; Matthew 11:28-30.)

See also 2 Timothy 2:22.

Timothy (verse 12) is to run hard in the race. It is the race to spread the Good News in the world. But it is also a race to keep the Good News pure and free from the ideas which false teachers spread. It is the race to trust God in every part of our lives. And Timothy is to hold on tight to the eternal life, which God gives. God has called Timothy to eternal life and glory. God did not only call him to live this life for him and to suffer for him. God gives life at last.

So Paul goes back to the start. He may think here about the time when Timothy was baptised. That was about 20 years before this. At that time Timothy had spoken well. He had told a large crowd that God had called him to follow Jesus. But now Paul says: 'You and I are not just in front of many people. We are far apart in different cities. Both of us are in front of God and in front of the Lord Jesus Christ' (Verse 13). Timothy had spoken out in front of a crowd of friends. Jesus spoke out in front of the Roman governor. His name was Pontius Pilate (Luke 23:1-25). It was Pilate who said that Jesus should die, even though Jesus had done nothing wrong. Men may kill, but God is the one who gives life. So Jesus rose to new life from the dead. Timothy knows that if he uses up this life in work for God, God has promised to give him a far better life.

At the end of verse 13, we again have the picture of Timothy, the soldier of Christ. Paul passes his orders on to him. And he is to listen to them and obey them. In the same way Jesus gave our orders to us and we must obey them (Matthew28:20; John 14:15 and 21; 15:10). Jesus will come again, (verse 14) but until he does come again Christians cannot take it easy. God will bring about the coming of Jesus at the right time (Verse 15). The very thought that Jesus will come again warms Paul's heart, and he lets out a great cry of praise to God, rather like the one in 1:17. These are the things that he says about God: -

1. He is the blessed and only Ruler. He rules heaven and earth. Many rulers on earth are bad and not at all 'blessed'!

2. He is King of kings. There may be proud kings in the world: but our God is the King far above all of them.

3. He is Lord of lords too (Revelation 17:14; 19:16).

4. (Verse 16) He is far away from all death. He is alone in this. He has 'deathlessness'. He is the source of life. Even angels only have life because God has given it to them.

5. He lives in pure light, to which we cannot come near.

6. 'Not one of men' ever has seen God. No one can see God (Exodus 33:17-23). [6.4]

The Christian knows enough about God to want him to have all honour for his love and grace to men. And we know that only God is so good that he can be trusted forever with the power to rule all things.

Verses 17-19: Money again!

God has all riches and power. But some people do have plenty of money. Then they want to have power too. So now Paul tells Timothy what he should say to Christian people who have plenty of money. Before (verses 9 and 10) Paul spoke about people who wanted to get money. Some people are rich. There is nothing wrong in that, unless the money has come to them by doing what is wrong. Perhaps their money came to them from parents who had died. Or perhaps they had worked hard for their money.

So (verse 17) Timothy is to give another of his 'soldier's orders'. The Christian wants to have 'treasure in heaven' (Matthew 6: 19-21; Luke 12:33-34). We must put our hope in God, and in his love and goodness to us. He will not change. He will not lose us, and we will not lose him. But it is not certain that we will always have our money. We may lose it. Even if we do not lose it, it may not be worth anything to us (James 1:10 and 11). Rich people are not to be proud. If the Christian can walk in a humble way with God (Micah 6:8), then a rich Christian should be able to mix with poor Christians (Romans 12:16). Whether we are rich or poor, it is God who gives to us all that we have. He gives it to us to enjoy.

So verse 18 tells rich people about one of God's ways for them to enjoy their money. It is to give to others. People who keep this money to themselves do not really enjoy it (Colossians 3:2; Luke 12:15-21). Paul has already told Timothy about some other ways to be 'rich in good works' (5:10).

It was to the leaders of this Ephesus church some years before that Paul had said: 'Remember the words of the Lord Jesus. It is more blessed to give than to receive' (Acts 20:35; Matthew 19:21). Acts tells us how the first Christians used to help each other (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35). God had promised Israel that there would be no one in need among them if they kept the Law (Deuteronomy 15:4 and 5). But they did not keep the Law. The church is God's new Israel. If the church keeps Christ's new law of love, there will be no one in need among us. So the rich people are to do these things: -

1. To do good. If we are rich, we may not need to work. We should have plenty of time to help other people.

2. They are to 'share well'. Some rich people share badly. They share so badly that people do not feel able to take what the rich give to them. Jesus has something to say about this (Matthew 6: 2 and 3).

3. 'Generous' (RSV) or 'willing to share' (NIV) here may mean that they are to have 'fellowship'. They are to give their time to talk to people about Jesus as well as to give money to them.

In verse 19, we think that the word ‘foundation’ means 'capital'. Capital is the money that a man has to work with when he trades. He has to have capital to buy the goods that he hopes to sell to make more money. This capital will probably be kept in the bank. But God keeps the Christian's capital in heaven. John tells us something about the Christian's trade in Revelation 3:18 (Isaiah 55:1 and 2).

Verses 20-21: Final words

In verse 20, Paul sets out in a few words the two main things that he has said in this letter to Timothy.

a) God has given Timothy the truth. This is the Good News. It is a holy trust, which is of great value. He must not lose any part of it. He must not let anyone change it. He must take care of it. He must guard it like a soldier. [6.5] Paul uses the same word 'deposit' again in 2 Timothy 1:12 and 14. But in those days you gave a 'deposit' to someone as a safe way to get the 'deposit' to someone else. And Timothy has been trusted with the Good News as a safe way to get it to other people.

b) Timothy is not even to answer the false teachers. He is to turn away from them. Their talk is only empty words. It does not please God: it is 'godless'. And the things that they say do not even fit together. They do not agree with each other. These are 'contradictions'. It is wrong for them to call what they say 'knowledge'. And even if it was knowledge, they had no faith, love or good works. These matter so much more than knowledge does.

There is another picture in verse 21. The picture is of a man with bow and arrows. Today, it might be a man with a gun. What he tries to hit is the mark or 'target'. He shoots all round the target but does not hit it at all. He misses every time. The false teachers promise good teaching. But they never give it to the people.

We always need to pray about what we teach. It is so easy to miss the target.

So in the last words of the letter, Paul says: 'Grace be with you'. 'You' does not only mean Timothy here. It means all the people of God along with him. Paul prays that they may walk arm in arm with God's grace.