1 Timothy Chapter 6

vs 11

No, Timothy is not the Elect Vessel of the Exclusive Brethren. Man I'm getting sick of hearing about them.

Paul here offers Timothy an alternative - a wealth of character. But in order to do so, you must flee from the temptation of money wealth, probably much like Joseph fled from Potiphar's wife.

vs 12

Timothy is not to flee from defending the faith, only from ungodly desires and false doctrines. He is to have nothing to do with them. You could actually translate this verse "struggle the good struggle". So the having nothing to do with these things is not a monastic separation from them, but a "meet them only on the battlefield" type thing.

Timothy was called to eternal life - by God or by preacher (Paul?) it doesn't really matter, because Paul is now exhorting him to grasp hold of it. Note that Paul's call to Timothy here is not a conversion call! He's already made his confession in front of witnesses (probably at baptism). We also have no reason to believe that Timothy was sliding away from his faith - after all, he's in charge of the church at Ephesus. Paul's words here are a continuing encouragement. And yet if someone told us to hold firmly to our salvation, we'd probably take it as an insult, "Are you saying I'm weak in the faith?".

vs 13

Paul is now giving Timothy a solemn charge. He does it in almost a vow-like fashion, making it in the sight of God in his position as life-giver, and Jesus in his position as confessor to himself (as Lord and as Son of God - but actually more accurately he confessed himself as King of the Jews before Pilate according to Luke. And I use Luke because Paul quoted it earlier). What is the charge?

vs 14

No doubt the command is to hold on to your eternal life. It might stretch back as far as vs 11, but if it does then it just gets harder and harder to do without spot or blame. And considering it's a command from God, it's probably impossible to keep anyway. But that is what Timothy is to strive for.

vs 15-16

When will Jesus return? In God's own time! There's the answer we've all been looking for - all you number-crunching verse-dismantling wackos can stop berating me about it now.

Paul now goes into a doxology about God, which is focused on God's rulership and authority. He speaks of a powerful, unapproachable God. Very different to your average doxology. Amen.

vs 17

Having an attitude of haughtiness or arrogance because you are rich is completely counter to God's ideal, and it shows that even if you don't put your hope in wealth to save you, you probably still put your hope in it for something. I know some of the pentes (but not only them) who preach a false prosperity doctrine, they put their hope in wealth. Not to save them (they know only Jesus can do that) but for them their wealth is proof to them that God has blessed them. So they put their hope in their wealth as being a badge of honour showing their salvation to be true. But wealth is uncertain!

God provides everything for our enjoyment. It is actually ok to have stuff and enjoy it. We don't need to live in sparse monk cells with nothing to concentrate on but a cross we've drawn in the sand with our own finger. If you really think you should give away everything you've got because you've got some complex about being rich while other people are poor, then go donate a kidney and part of your liver, because that's the logical conclusion of such beliefs. In 2 Corinthians, Paul states that godly equality is the rich not being too rich, and the poor not being too poor. Now the rich are always going to point at the "richer" and say those are the ones that are too rich. We could all probably trim some fat from our largesse. But the poor are always going to be poor. I'm not saying we shouldn't try to make them rich like us, I'm certainly not saying we shouldn't try, but we'll never reach an equality. And we don't have to. The act of trying is what God wants from us.

vs 18

Your mind should be more on good deeds and being wealthy in goodness, rather than in wealth. Such an exercise is a good way of separating yourself from your wealth, and seeing that there's more to life than money. Why do you think people like Bill Gates and Richard Branson donate huge amounts of money to charity? Not because of this verse I assure you, but because the doing of good deeds is a wealth of its own. That and it gives them more press coverage.

The command here is to be willing to share, not to be willing to give it all up. Of course, you do have to be willing to give it all up - but not to the poor. Just because the poor come knocking is not a reason to sell your house. But if God comes knocking and says "I need to give your stuff to the poor now" then you have to say "OK!".

vs 19

The "you can't take it with you" argument is back again. But this time it's got its cure as well. The good deeds of the Christian are eternal - because they are pleasing and obedient to an eternal God, because they will give you a foundation in your own eternal life, and because they will most probably effect the eternal life of others too.

vs 20

We get a whiff here at the end that there is a gnostic or proto-gnostic heresy going down (because knowledge of course is gnosis). That is why it is all the more reason for Timothy to guard the message that he has been given. Those who are chattering and preaching the heresy of gnosticism are going to try and take the gospel away, but he can't let them do it.

vs 21

An obvious statement that this heresy is in fact heretical, and those who stick to it don't have the right faith in Christ. And that's the end of that story.