1 Timothy 6:1-10

In this final chapter Paul will continue instructing Timothy about the way the church (in this chapter the poor and rich) were to conduct themselves on a daily basis.

Verse 1

bondservant = slave

The idea here is that the Christian slave of an unsaved master was to use their position (as low as it was) to set an example of Christianity ion such a way that through their words and actions they wouldn’t do anything that would cause shame to fall on God.

Master (despotes) a different Greek word that we are used to seeing. This is not Kurios (lord). This word despotes is used to describe one who has absolute ownership and one who has complete power over another. .

Understand that slavery was a normal thing in Roman culture. For Christians (who are free in Christ Jesus spiritually) to rebel against their masters would be to bring shame on the name of God and the teachings of the Scriptures, no matter how bad slavery was. But also please note that we are dealing with unsaved Roman masters. They did not have a Biblical standard about any part of their lives and thus every opportunity to bear witness of Christ to them should be taken seriously.

Paul gave similar instructions to the Colossian church...

Colossians 3:22–24 ESV

22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Peter also instructed a similar thing...

1 Peter 2:18–25 ESV

18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Verse 2

Now that we’ve seen the instruction to the Christian slaves with unsaved masters, we now look at the Christian slave with a saved master.

No consider that in the church you may have had the roles reversed with the slave being a Pastor or Elder and the master being a congregant. Both scenarios require an appropriate order for the benefit of others and the glory of God.

Verses 3-5

a different doctrine = that which is opposed to what is right teaching.

sound words - we get our english word hygiene from the ancient Greek word that is translated here as “sound”.

The teaching/doctrine (sound words) of Jesus Christ our Lord will cleanse us and keep us healthy. If we keep to the word of God given to us in the Scriptures it will keep us healthy morally, ethically, spiritually, practically, relationally, and in every other way.

godliness (eusebeia) = The word speaks of having a reverence or holiness toward God

So what does good doctrine/teaching that accords to godliness do in the child of God?

It gives us a right and proper attitude toward God, His word, and others.

The proud person is not conformed in their heart or mind and is instead sure that they and their ideas are superior to God and His word which is why they are called proud here. The word proud in the Greek refers to the raising of smoke or covering with a mist. It speaks of the person who will not submit to or be changed by anything else because they simply refuse to be. It is that person who believes that they alone are right and everyone else including God is wrong.

deprived of truth - there seems to be the thought here that the person described here once knew the truth but they decided against it to pursue something contrary to the truth. They did this because their desire changed from God and His word to personal gain of wealth.

godliness is a means/the way to gain riches.

Verse 6

contentment = the opposite of a sense of lacking or desiring outward things. Being comfortable and confident in what God has given you without a constant need for more of whatever it is you desire that is above what God has freely given you already.

The desire for all the stuff of the world can rob us of our contentment and joy that we have in and with Christ. Stuff is a distraction from what we already have. We have Christ, and as a result we have a restored and relationship with our Father and Creator, and all things are His, and He gives us abundantly from His storehouses already. We really have need of nothing as the children of God.

Verses 7-8

Ecclesiastes 5:15 ESV

15 As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.

Psalm 49:17 ESV

17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him.

Verses 9-10

Verse 11

But as for you - who are distinct and separated from the ways of this world and called to a life of godliness in Christ Jesus.

flee- in the Greek this is a continuous action

pursue - to chase after with an intense effort in order to catch it.

steadfast = to remain under trials in a way that honors God.

Verse 12

Fight - Kenneth Wuest said something that really helps put this into context...

Wuest’s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament Chapter Six

The verb means, “to contend in the athletic games for the prize, to fight.” When we find that the gloves of the Greek boxer were fur lined on the inside, but made on the outside of ox-hide with lead and iron sewed into it, and that the loser in a wrestling match had his eyes gouged out, we come to some appreciation of what a Greek athletic contest consisted of. Thus, the word “fight” (agōnizomai (ἀγωνιζομαι)) had a very definite meaning for Timothy. The verb is present tense, imperative mode, commanding a continuous action. It showed Timothy the necessity for the continuous nature of the Christian’s warfare against evil, and of his desperate effort to live a life pleasing to God.

the second word fight simply means to be engaged in the contest itself.

In a few weeks we will see where Paul just before he was martyred told Timothy...

2 Timothy 4:6–8 ESV

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Paul wasn’t asking Timothy to do something more than what Paul himself was already committed to doing.

take hold of - struggle to obtain

confession (homologeo) - to say the same thing.

It is to agree with God about His word. or you might say to say the same thing as what the Bible says. To affirm the teachings of Christ and Christianity.

Verses 13-16

charge - command

good confession...

John 18:33–37 ESV

33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

keep - observe, guard, protect, preserve.

keep the commandment - this seems to be in reference to what Paul said in the beginning of this letter when he charged Timothy to “charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine”

Solid Biblical teaching was and is necessary for the Christian and Timothy was to guard that.

Verses 17-19

There is nothing wrong with riches so long as a person possess and uses them in a God honoring way. The problem arrises when the riches posses and use the person.

We need to be careful that we don’t automatically attribute wickedness with riches. Plenty of godly people in Scripture were wealthy.

The goal is for the rich to use what God has given them to enjoy to ultimately be used for His glory.

Be ready to share - the idea here is that while you can’t use your riches in the grave, you can use it now to invest in eternal things.