VI. (1) LET AS MANY SERVANTS AS ARE UNDER THE YOKE COUNT THEIR OWN MASTERS WORTHY OF ALL HONOUR. — From questions connected with the presbyters and others among the recognised ministers and officials of the church, St. Paul passes on to consider certain difficulties connected with a large and impor... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY THAT HAVE BELIEVING MASTERS, LET THEM NOT DESPISE THEM, BECAUSE THEY ARE BRETHREN. — This being in servitude to Christian masters, of course, in the days of St. Paul would happen less frequently. Let those Christian slaves who have the good fortune to serve “believing masters” allow no such... [ Continue Reading ]
IF ANY MAN TEACH OTHERWISE. — Without confining the reference strictly to what had just been taught respecting the duty of Christian slaves, there is little doubt but that some influential teaching, contrary to St. Paul’s, on the subject of the behaviour and disposition of that unhappy class was in... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS PROUD. — St. Paul, with righteous anger, flames out against these perverse men, who, using the name of Christ, substitute _their_ short-sighted views of life for His, throw doubt and discredit upon the teaching of His chosen Apostles and servants, stir up discord, excite party spirit, barring,... [ Continue Reading ]
PERVERSE DISPUTINGS. — The older authorities read here a word which should be rendered “lasting or obstinate conflicts.” These words close the long catalogue of the fruits of the teaching of the false masters of the new faith, and point out that the disputes engendered by these useless and unhappy c... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT IS GREAT GAIN. — Here the Apostle changes the subject of his letter somewhat abruptly. The monstrous thought that these wordly men dare to trade upon his dear Master’s religion, dare to make out of his holy doctrine a gain — the hateful word suggests to him another dan... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE BROUGHT NOTHING INTO THIS WORLD, AND IT IS CERTAIN WE CAN CARRY NOTHING OUT. — (Comp. Job 1:21.) Every earthly possession is only meant for this life — for the period between the hour of birth and the hour of death; we entered this world with nothing, we shall leave the world again with nothi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HAVING FOOD AND RAIMENT LET US BE THEREWITH CONTENT. — The Greek word rendered “let us be content” is better translated, _we shall have a sufficiency._ The argument will run thus: “All earthly possessions are only for this life; here, if we have the wherewithal to clothe us and to nourish us, we... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THEY THAT WILL BE RICH. — Here St. Paul guards against the danger of his words being then or at any future time misinterpreted by any dreamy, unpractical school of asceticism, supposing that voluntary poverty was a state of life peculiarly pleasing to the Most High — the strange mistake upon whi... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL. — Some would water down this strong expression by translating the Greek words by “a root of all evil,” instead of “the root,” making this alteration on the ground of the article not being prefixed to the Greek word rendered “root.” This change, however,... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOU, O MAN OF GOD, FLEE THESE THINGS. — A commentator always speaks with great caution when he approaches in these inspired writings anything of the nature of a direct personal reference. The writers and actors in the New Testament history we have so long surrounded with a halo of reverence, th... [ Continue Reading ]
FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH, LAY HOLD ON ETERNAL LIFE. — Then, again, with the old stirring metaphor of the Olympic contests for a prize (1 Corinthians 9:24; Philippians 3:13) — the metaphor St. Paul loved so well, and which Timothy must have heard so often from his old master’s lips as he preache... [ Continue Reading ]
I GIVE THEE CHARGE IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. — Better rendered, _I charge thee in the sight of God._ If possible, with increased earnestness and a yet deeper solemnity as the letter draws to an end does St. Paul charge that young disciple — from whom he hoped so much, and yet for whom he feared so anxiou... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THOU KEEP THIS COMMANDMENT WITHOUT SPOT, UNREBUKEABLE. — Here St. Paul specifies what was the charge he was commending in such earnest, solemn language to his disciple and representative at Ephesus. It was that he should keep the commandment without spot, unrebukeable. The commandment was the t... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH IN HIS TIMES HE SHALL SHEW. — More accurately rendered, _which in his own seasons._ Here the language of fervid expectation is qualified by words which imply that in St. Paul’s mind then there was no certainty about the period of the “coming of the Lord.” It depended on the unknown and mysteri... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO ONLY HATH IMMORTALITY. — The holy angels — the souls of men — are immortal. “But one alone, ‘God,’ can be said _to have immortality,”_ because He, unlike other immortal beings who enjoy their immortality through the will of another, derives it from His own essence. DWELLING IN THE LIGHT WHICH NO... [ Continue Reading ]
CHARGE THEM THAT ARE RICH. — Paul had traced up the error of the false teachers — against whose work and influence he had so earnestly warned Timothy — to covetousness, to an unholy love of money; he then spoke of this unhappy covetousness — this greed of gain, _this wish to be rich_ — as the root o... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THEY DO GOOD, THAT THEY BE RICH IN GOOD WORKS. — These words — coming directly after the statement that the good and pleasant things of this world, which are possessed in so large a share by the “rich,” are, after all, the gifts of God, who means them for our enjoyment — these words seem to poi... [ Continue Reading ]
LAYING UP IN STORE FOR THEMSELVES A GOOD FOUNDATION AGAINST THE TIME TO COME. — This is a concise expression, which might have been more fully worded thus — _Laying up in store for themselves a wealth of good works as a foundation,_ &c. (Comp. our Lord’s words in Luke 16:9, where the same truth is t... [ Continue Reading ]
O TIMOTHY, KEEP THAT WHICH IS COMMITTED TO THY TRUST. — More literally and better rendered, _O Timothy, keep the trust committed to thee._ It is a beautiful thought which sees in these few earnest closing words the very handwriting of the worn and aged Apostle St. Paul. The Epistle, no doubt dictate... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH SOME PROFESSING HAVE ERRED CONCERNING THE FAITH. — In this most probably wild and visionary “knowledge” the false teachers and their hearers sought salvation and a rule of life, and miserably failed in their efforts. The result with them was, that they lost all hold on the great doctrine of Fa... [ Continue Reading ]