1 Timothy 6:7

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. FOR - confirming the reasonableness of "contentment." If riches could be gain for the other world, there would be reason for discontent in present poverty. But our real gain must be something not lost, like riches, in leaving the world. AND IT IS CERTAIN So C Vulgate Delta 'it is true ' But 'Aleph (') A G g omit "and it is certain;" then translate AND IT IS CERTAIN. So C Vulgate. Delta 'it is true.' But 'Aleph (') A G g omit "and it is certain;" then translate, 'We brought nothing into the world (to teach us), that neither can we carry anything out' (; ). Nature strips man in returning, as in entering (Seneca, 'Epist.' 102). Therefore we should have no gain...

7_For we brought nothing into the world., _He adds this for the purpose of setting a limit to the sufficiency. Our covetousness is an insatiable gulf, if it be not restrained; and the best bridle is, when we desire nothing more than the necessity of this life demands; for the reason why we transgress the bounds, is, that our anxiety extends to a thousand lives which we falsely imagine. Nothing is more common, and indeed nothing is more generally acknowledged, than this statement of Paul; but as soon as all have acknowledged it, (as we see every day with our eyes,) every man swallows up with his wishes his vast possessions, in the same manner as if he had a belly able to contain half of the world. And this is what is said, that, “although the folly of the fathers appears in hoping that they will dwell here for ever, nevertheless their posterity approve of their way.” (121) ...

6-10 Those that make a trade of Christianity to serve their turn for this world, will be disappointed; but those who mind it as their calling, will find it has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. He that is godly, is sure to be happy in another world; and if contented with his condition in this world, he has enough; and all truly godly people are content. When brought into the greatest straits, we cannot be poorer than when we came into this world; a shroud, a coffin, and a grave, are all that the richest man in the world can have from all his wealth. If nature should be content with a little, grace should be content with less. The necessaries of life bound a true Christian's desires, and with these he will endeavour to be content. We see here the evil of covetousness. It is not said, they that are rich, but they will be rich; who place their happin...

Verse 7. _WE BROUGHT NOTHING INTO THIS WORLD_] There are some sayings in _Seneca_ which are almost verbatim with this of St. Paul: _Nemo nascitur dives; quisquis exit in lucem jussus est_ _lacte et panno esse contentus_; Epist. xx, "No man is born rich; every one that comes into the world is commanded to be content with food and raiment." _Excutit natura redeuntem, sicut_ _intrantem; non licet plus auferre, quam intuleris_; Epist., cap. ii. "Nature, in returning, shakes off all incumbrances as in entering; thou canst not carry back more than thou broughtest in." Seneca and St. Paul were contemporary; but all the Greek and Latin poets, and especially the _stoic philosophers_, are full of such sentiments. It is a self-evident truth; relative to it there can be no controversy....

FOR WE BROUGHT NOTHING INTO THIS WORLD ... - A sentiment very similar to this occurs in Job 1:21 - and it would seem probable that the apostle had that passage in his eye; see the notes on that passage. Numerous expressions of this kind occur in the classic writers; see Wetstein, in loc., and Pricaeus, in loc. in the Critici Sacri. Of the truth of what is here said, there can be nothing more obvious. It is apparent to all. We bring no property with us into the world - no clothing, no jewels, no gold - and it is equally clear that we can take nothing with us when we leave the earth. Our coming into the world introduces no additional property to that which the race before possessed, and our going from the world removes none that we may have helped the race to accumulate. This is said by the apostle as an obvious reason why we should be contented if our actual needs are sup

EXPOSITION 1 TIMOTHY 6:1 _Are servants _for _servants as are_,_ _A.V.;_ the doctrine _for _his doctrine_,_ _A.V. SERVANTS; literally, _slaves_._ _That slaves formed a considerable portion of the first Christian Churches may be inferred from the frequency with which their duties are pressed upon them (see 1 Corinthians 7:21; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 6:5; Colossians 3:11,...

FOR WE BROUGHT NOTHING INTO THIS WORLD,.... Which is a reason both clearly showing that godliness is great gain, since those who have it brought nothing into the world with them but sin, and yet are now in such happy circumstances as before described; and that godly persons should be content with what they have, even of worldly things, seeing they are so much more than they had when they came into the world, into which they came naked; and which should be a quieting consideration under the most stripping providences; see Job 1:21 AND IT IS CERTAIN WE CAN CARRY NOTHING OUT: as men come into the world, so will they go out of it; nor will they need their worldly substance after death, any more than they did before they were born; and what they now have, and use not, will then be lost to them, whatever gain it may be to others: wherefore it becomes them cheerfully to use what they hav

1 TIMOTHY 6:7 o[ti {A} There is great variation among the witnesses concerning the connection between the two parts of the sentence. Quite secondary are dh/lon o[ti (ac Dc K L P Y 104 326 614 _Byz Lect_ syrp, h Marcion _al_) and avlhqe.j o[ti (D* itar, b, d, o goth Cyprian Speculum _al_), each of which is an obvious alleviation introduced in order to clarify the sense. Similarly, the readings kai, (copsa, bo arm eth) and avllV (Augustine) imply probably nothing more than a free rendering or paraphrase of o[ti. Thus, the oldest ascertainable reading among...

CHAPTER 6 _ 1. Concerning servants (1 Timothy 6:1)_ 2. Concerning those who oppose (1 Timothy 6:3) 3. Concerning contentment and temptation (1 Timothy 6:6) 4. The final exhortations (1 Timothy 6:11) 1 Timothy 6:1 Servants (slaves) who had pagan masters were to count them worthy of all honor, and thus bear a good testimony for the truth, that the Name of God and the teaching be not blasphemed. Theirs was a blessed opportunity to show forth the excellencies of Him whom they served, and who once served

1 Timothy 6:2 _B_ - 1 TIMOTHY 6:21. FINAL WORDS. (_a_) 1 Timothy 6:2 _B_ - 1 TIMOTHY 6:10. THE ERRORISTS, AND A FUNDAMENTAL ERROR. Such, then, is Paul's charge. Those who teach otherwise are conceited and ignorant, morbidly busying themselves with wordy controversy. From these, among other evils, one crucial error proceeds the theory that religion is a means of worldly profit (_cf._ Titus 1:11). Now even in this life religion _is_ of great profit_ i.e._ profit in terms of true happiness if accompanied by entire