1 Timothy 6.19-Paul Presents The Result And The Purpose Of His Command In 1 Timothy 6.18
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday November 2, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 6:19-Paul Presents The Result And The Purpose Of His Command In 1 Timothy 6:18 That The Wealthy Christians In Ephesus Perform Good Works With The Money And Possessions
Lesson # 141
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 6:17.
The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 6:19 presents the result and the purpose of his command in 1 Timothy 6:18 which required that the wealthy Christians in Ephesus make it their habit of performing actions that are good in the sense of being divine in quality and benefitting others.
Specifically, he wanted them to be rich by means of excellent works, generous and willing to share their wealth and possessions with those who are in need.
In verse 19 he teaches that the result of obeying this command is that they will store up for themselves a firm foundation for the future.
The purpose of obedience to this command is that they will experience eternal life.
1 Timothy 6:17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. (NASB95)
“Storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future” is composed of the accusative masculine plural present active participle form of the verb apothesaurizo (ἀποθησαυρίζω) (ahpoe-theece-ahvahreezoe), “storing up” and this is followed by the dative third person masculine plural form of the reflexive pronoun heautou (ἑαυτοῦ) (owf-too), “for themselves” and then we have the accusative masculine singular form of the noun themelios (θεμέλιος) (theh-mehleeoce), “a foundation” which is modified by the accusative masculine singular form of the adjective kalos (καλός) (kah-loce), “good” and this is followed by the preposition eis (εἰς) (eece), “for” and its object is the articular accusative neuter singular present active participle form of the verb mello (μέλλω) (meh-low), “the future.”
The verb apothesaurizo means “to store up” and is used of the wealthy Christian in Ephesus and its object is the noun themelios, “a foundation,” which is modified by the adjective kalos, “good.”
This expression θεμέλιον καλὸν refers to rewards at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church.
Thus, Paul wants the wealthy Christians in Ephesus to perform actions with their wealth and possessions that are divine in quality and benefit others with the result that they “store up” for themselves rewards at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church.
He wants them to be rich by means of excellent works, to be generous with their money and possessions and willing to share them with the result that they “store up” for themselves rewards at the Bema Evaluation of the church, which will take place immediately after the rapture of the church, which is imminent.
The verb’s cognate, thesaurizo appears in Matthew 6:20 where it is used by the Lord Jesus with respect to the believer gaining rewards for himself.
Matthew 6:19 “Do not store up (thesaurizo) for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up (thesaurizo) for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (NASB95)
“Treasures in heaven” speaks of rewards for the believer who loves his neighbor as himself or herself by using their money and possessions to benefit others (cf. Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22), which is the idea with the verb apothesaurizo in 1 Timothy 6:19.
Therefore, in 1 Timothy 6:19, the verb apothesaurizo means “to store up” and is used of the wealthy Christian in Ephesus and denotes these Christians “storing up” rewards for themselves at the Bema Evaluation of the church as result of obeying Paul’s command in verse 18.
The participle form of the verb is a result participle indicating that Paul wants the wealthy Christians in Ephesus to perform actions that are good in the sense of being divine in quality and benefitting others “with the result that” they store up for themselves an excellent foundation for the future, i.e. rewards at the Bema Seat.
It indicates that Paul wants the rich to be rich by means of excellent works, generous and willing to share with those in need “with the result that” they store up for themselves an excellent foundation for the future, i.e. rewards at the Bema Seat.
It denotes the logical outcome of performing good works.
The reflexive pronoun heautou emphasizes the action of these wealthy Christians in Ephesus storing up “for themselves” rewards at the Bema Seat as a result of performing good works for others with their money and possessions.
Heautou functions as dative of advantage meaning that these wealthy Christians are “benefitting themselves” by storing up rewards as a result of performing good works with their money and possessions.
Themelios is used in a figurative sense and means “foundation” and is referring to the good works performed by the wealthy Christians in Ephesus with their money and possessions.
These good works serve as an excellent “foundation” for the future in the sense that they will be “the basis” or “the foundation” for rewards in the future at the Bema Seat.
Modifying the noun themelios, “a foundation” is the adjective kalos, which means “excellent” and is used of the works or actions that Paul wants the wealthy Christians in Ephesus to perform by means of the Spirit that form the basis or foundation for them receiving rewards at the Bema Seat.
Kalos describes these works or actions as being of the highest moral quality or character because they were done by the power of the Spirit as a result of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ’s command to love one another as He loved.
The implication is that these works were useful and a great benefit to the Christian community in Ephesus and to the Lord Himself.
In 1 Timothy 6:19, the verb mello means “the future” and refers to the period of time after the believer’s physical death or the rapture whichever comes first.
Specifically, it refers to the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church when at that time the Lord Jesus will evaluate the Christian’s four-fold stewardship to determine if they merit rewards or not.
Therefore, Paul wants the wealthy Christians in Ephesus to habitually perform good works with their money and possessions so that they store up for themselves an excellent foundation “for the future” in the sense that these works form the basis or the foundation for them receiving rewards in “the future” at the Bema Seat.
The present tense is a “futuristic” present and denotes that by performing good works with their money and possessions, the wealthy Christians in Ephesus will store up for themselves an excellent foundation for the “certain” future.
The articular substantive participle form of the verb mello is the object of the preposition eis, which functions as a marker of purpose indicating that the purpose for Paul wanting the wealthy Christians in Ephesus to perform good works with their money and possessions is for rewards at the Bema Seat.
“So that they may take hold of that which is life indeed” is composed of the conjunction hina (ἵνα) (ee-nah), “so that” and this is followed by the third person plural aorist middle subjunctive form of the verb epilambanomai (ἐπιλαμβάνομαι) (ehpee-lahm-banoe-meh), “they may take hold of” and then we have the adverb ontos (ὄντως) (on-dose), “indeed” and the articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun zoe (ζωή) (zoe-ee), “life.”
The conjunction hina is employed with the subjunctive mood of the verb epilambanomai, “they may take hold of” in order to form a purpose clause that emphasizes the “intention” of the preceding command.
The verb epilambanomai is used in a figurative sense and means “to experience” eternal life, which is accomplished by means of exercising faith in Paul’s apostolic teaching, i.e. the gospel.
By obeying Paul’s teaching to make it their habit of performing good works, to be rich by means of good works, generous and willing to share with their money and possessions, the wealthy Christians in Ephesus would be experiencing eternal life since his teaching is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
In 1 Timothy 6:19, the noun zoe refers to the life of God, which is “eternal.”
This life is received as a gift by each and every person who trusts in Jesus Christ as his Savior.
They can experience eternal life in time during their lifetime by appropriating by faith the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God that they are in union with Christ identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session.
When they sin after conversion, they cease to experience eternal life.
However, when they confess their sins, they are restored to fellowship with God and are now experiencing eternal life once again.
They maintain this fellowship and continue to experience eternal life after being restored to fellowship by obeying the Spirit who speaks to the Christian through the Word of God.
The Christian will experience eternal life perpetually in a resurrection body throughout all of eternity because of their union and identification with Jesus Christ.
The adverb ontos means “truly” and is describing experiencing eternal life as life in the truest sense or in other words, truly living.
By performing good works with their money and possessions in obedience to Paul’s command, the wealthy Christians in Ephesus would be experiencing that which is truly life.
The idea with this word is that accumulating large quantities of possessions and wealth is not living in the truest sense but rather truly living is performing good works with one’s wealth and possessions for the benefit of others in accordance with the Lord Jesus Christ’s command to love one another as He loved.