1 Timothy

1. SALUTATION (1:1–2)

1:1. Timothy is under attack. Appropriately, then, Paul begins by calling attention to the fact that it is only by the command of God that he himself is an apostle (1:1a). In so doing, Paul underlines not only his but also Timothy’s authority. Three times in this letter Paul stresses that we are to place our hope in God alone and not in human devices (4:1–10; 5:5; 6:17). Significantly, Paul calls Christ Jesus our hope (1:1b). God alone saves, and he does that through his divine Son.

1:2. Paul’s primary purpose in this letter (see 3:14–15) is to bring the church together as God’s family. Thus he begins by recognizing Timothy as his own true son in the faith (1:2a). (For Paul’s becoming “father” to Timothy, see Ac 16:1–3.)

Paul normally begins his letters, as he does here (1:2b), by substituting “grace” (Gk charis) for the typical Hellenistic “greetings” (Gk chairein) and by offering the Jewish blessing: “peace.” Distinctive of his two letters to Timothy is his insertion of “mercy,” anticipating the way he says his own life demonstrates God’s mercy (1:15–16).

2. LAW AND GRACE (1:3–20)

A. Love over law (1:3–7). Timothy’s mission is to make sure that side issues (1:4, 6) or contradictory teachings (law keeping, sexual and dietary restrictions) do not dilute the good news of God’s saving mercy. For Paul, it is almost as bad to go beyond Scripture (1 Co 4:6) as to contradict it. Thus, his instructions are twofold: to put down “false doctrine” (1:3) and to advance “God’s plan, which operates by faith” (1:4). The work Paul has in mind consists of two things: first, the way God has brought redemption through his Son (Eph 1:10; 1 Tm 2:3–6; 2 Tm 1:9–10; Ti 3:4–7), and second, the way the church as God’s household displays that redemption through right relationships (1 Tm 3:14–16; Ti 1:1–10).

In Acts, Paul predicts that the church in Ephesus will struggle with false teachers within its leadership (Ac 20:28–31).

Timothy is to contend for the faith so that love may flourish (1:5a). While the opponents promote teaching that appeals to intellectual pride and moral rule keeping, Paul teaches a gospel that gives people a new inner nature. When the incarnated and vindicated Jesus is believed on (1 Tm 3:16), he enables people to live generously, out of a “pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith” (1:5b).

B. The point of the law (1:8–11). The law is good (1:8a) but cannot replace conscience as a guide to behavior. As Paul will teach in verses 12–17, the inward transformation necessary for living according to God’s will begins with an experience of his mercy. Paul will build on this, teaching in subsequent chapters that the place where the Spirit shapes our moral responsiveness is within a well-ordered and rightly governed community of faith.

How, then, may one use the law “legitimately” (literally “lawfully,” an artful wordplay; 1:8b)? The law informs the conscience by clarifying the kind of people we are not to be. People who need the law are outside its limits. Paul lists terms invoking the first four of the Ten Commandments and commandments against murder, sexual immorality, theft, and false witness (1:9–10a). The way Paul uses what would be to him extreme examples of law violation is striking: not just murderers but patricides and matricides; not just those who engage in sex outside marriage but males who have sex with males; not just thieves but slave traders.

Instead of the concluding “you shall not covet” (which covers the heart), Paul closes with a sweeping “whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching” (1:10b). The law reveals the sickness of the soul; sound doctrine promotes the health of the soul. Gospel-centered teaching points us to “the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God” (1:11), preparing us, as Paul says elsewhere, to take on an “eternal weight of glory” (2 Co 4:17). The law’s purpose is to drive us to God’s mercy. Paul next uses his own life as an example.

C. Paul as trophy of grace (1:12–17). 1:12–13. Refusing at first to believe that Jesus was the living personification of Israel’s hopes (1:13), Paul showed himself to be among those who were not righteous. Despite his claim to zeal for God (see Gl 1:13–14), his hatred for Jesus had numbered him among those the law condemned.

1:14–16. Solemnly, Paul names himself “worst of [sinners]” (1:15). When writing his early epistles, Paul felt it sufficient to acknowledge himself “least of the apostles” (1 Co 15:9). Writing later from prison and meditating on the comprehensive lordship of Christ, Paul moves himself further down the ladder (Eph 3:8). Now, urging radical grace over proud speculation and moralism, he points to himself as exhibit A in God’s program of reclaiming a hopelessly ruined race. In chapter 2, Paul will refer to the process by which Christ became our ransom (2:5). Here at 1:14, however, Paul emphasizes that the personal qualities of Jesus subsequently become ours by grace.

1:17. Because Paul sees himself as a trophy of God’s grace, not only does love follow but so does worship—thus, his doxology.

D. What is at stake (1:18–20). Paul follows his brief doxology by returning to his commandment to Timothy (see 1:5), putting it in terms of a call to arms (1:18). As 2 Timothy will make clear to us, courage will be necessary for Paul’s young coworker (see esp. 2 Tm 1:7).

Timothy would do well to keep in mind his own need for the same “faith and a good conscience” (1:19a) he is to commend to others. Moreover, he should keep before himself the vivid image of two false teachers, Hymenaeus and Alexander, who “have shipwrecked their faith” and whom Paul has put under discipline (1:19b–20).

3. PRAYER AND WORSHIP (2:1–15)

A. The prayer of all for all (2:1–7). 2:1–4. When Paul thinks of the church gathered, he thinks of a praying community (2:1). He calls for prayer for all people and for those in authority. The prayer that authorities “may lead a tranquil and quiet life” (2:2) is not a prayer for the “peace and quiet” of middle-class complacency. Paul wants the best platform possible for pressing upon all people that God “wants” them “to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2:4). As inevitable as persecution is (2 Tm 3:12), Paul nonetheless believes that a better climate for the church’s witness is one of political and social peace.

2:5–7. Paul differs from his opponents in seeing the scope of Christ’s mission, and thus the church’s, as being worldwide. That difference comes to elegant expression in the theological support Paul provides for his prayer for all people (2:5a). Paul means all people (see also Rm 3:29–30) have access to God’s salvation (note: 3:1, believers pray for all; 3:4, God wants all to be saved; 3:6, Christ gave his life for all).

There are hints in the OT that God would save the world through a single individual (e.g., Nm 24:7, 17; Is 19:20). This offer of salvation is finally available through Christ’s incarnation (2:5b) and his redemptive death (2:6a; see also Mt 20:28; Gl 2:20). Jesus is God’s own witness to his love for humanity, a witness that has come at the fulfillment of God’s timetable (2:6b). Thus, Paul calls the church at Ephesus to take up its part in his ministry to the Gentiles (2:7) through prayer and proclamation, aligning themselves with God’s purposes to save people of every race.

B. Men and women at worship (2:8–15). Having issued his appeal for prayer, Paul turns to specific behaviors in worship. The statements about salvation have been for all people. The directives that follow are gender specific—though, clearly, some instructions apply equally to all. Throughout, Paul’s concern is that believers support the church’s mission by living a “tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (2:2).

2:8–11. Men are called to holiness and peace (2:8). Angry fists over who is to teach and what is to be taught need to yield to cleansed and peaceful hands in prayer. A reference to the phrase “in every place” in Mal 1:11 sets the men’s prayers in the new context of God’s promise to bring salvation to the nations.

Women are called to modesty and to good deeds. Women no less than men participate in the praying church. But no less disruptive—and thus subversive—of the church’s mission than some men’s quarrelsomeness is some Ephesian women’s flashy attire (2:9). Paul seems to speak here to an incursion into the church of a fairly widespread phenomenon in his day. Many women in the Roman Empire were gaining economic independence, assuming greater roles in the public sector, and overthrowing traditional sexual taboos and domestic arrangements (including practicing contraception and abortion). Lavish hairstyles, jewelry, and self-promoting attire were emblems of the new stance. Deftly, Paul invites Christian women to participate in nobler virtues (2:10). The injunction to “learn quietly” in 2:11 is a readily understandable requirement for all students of the Word—male as well as female.

The picture in 1 Tm 2:8 of men “lifting up holy hands” in prayer recalls Ps 134:2, with its call for temple servants to bless the Lord in the night and to “lift up your hands in the holy place.”

2:12–14. Commentators have taken the prohibition of women’s speech (2:12) in a number of ways. Some believe the prohibition is absolute. However, Paul seems to endorse women ministering through speech in the congregation in 1 Co 11:5; moreover, from Ac 2:17 and 21:9 it appears that the NT church was familiar with the prophetic ministry of women.

Other commentators believe Paul teaches as a basic principle that in Christ’s new creation there is no “male and female” (2 Co 5:17; Gl 3:28). They claim that Paul’s prohibition here is secondary or temporary. “To have authority” (Gk authenteō) is interpreted as forbidding teaching “in a domineering way.” These commentators argue that Paul excludes wealthy and pushy women, who in this particular situation (1) declare themselves beyond domestic responsibilities, (2) wrongly interpret Scripture, and (3) contradict Paul’s teachings. The difficulty with this view is that Paul’s argument is not primarily situational but theological, based on a narrative understanding of creation and the lingering effects of the fall (2:13–14).

Still other commentators believe that Paul extends to women permission to participate in the ministry of the Word in the congregation (Col 3:16, including the praying and prophesying of 1 Co 11:5), except in a mixed-gender setting (1 Co 14:31–35) or a formal teaching of the church, in which cases Paul stipulates male leadership. The difficulty with this view lies in understanding how in practice to embody an ethic that values and distinguishes women’s gifts for public ministry.

2:15. “But she,” probably refers to Eve, who was the subject of the previous two verses. Counterpart to Adam in Romans, Eve here serves as a representative woman who “transgressed.” In Ephesus, some women have followed her example and have “already turned away to follow Satan” (5:15) under the influence of “deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons” (4:1). The Ephesian women must decide to whom they will listen: lying spirits and demons or the Lord himself (thus the emphasis in 2:11–12 on a quiet demeanor). Paul points to a salvation that comes “through childbearing.” The Greek actually includes a definite article (“through the childbearing”); thus, some interpreters believe that Paul has in mind one particular instance of childbearing: Mary’s giving birth to Jesus. Paul seems to be asking women to take their bearings in their relationship with God, not from Eve’s deception by Satan, but from Mary’s receptivity to God’s promise. Mary’s faithful “May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38) brought about the human race’s salvation “through (the) childbearing”—and established a model for “faith, love, and holiness, with good sense.”

4. LEADERSHIP (3:1–13)

A. Overseers or bishops (3:1–7). Church leadership had become problematic in Ephesus. Charges were being brought against some church officers (5:17–22), and disputes had erupted about who should be teaching (1:4–7). Immature believers had unwisely been elevated to spiritual leadership (3:6; 5:22), resulting in the scenario Paul had predicted for the church at Ephesus (Ac 20:30).

Paul urges those who should be leaders to rise to the task (3:1). At the same time, Paul urges the church to reevaluate the criteria by which they have been selecting their leaders. The qualification list opens and closes with traits that have an eye to outsiders’ opinions (3:2, 7). This alone indicates that leaders who lack character have damaged the reputation of the believing community. Because church leadership, like household management (3:4–5), involves authoritative oversight, Paul looks for traits for preventing an abuse of power. [Church Leaders in the New Testament]

Paul carefully describes the kind of person who should be put in authority over God’s household. It is a person who is faithful to his wife and who therefore can be expected to respect sexual boundaries. It is one who is temperate in sex, drink, and wealth and who will therefore offer judgments that are not corrupted by pleasure, addictions, or ambition. It is one whom the gospel has made “gentle” and who is therefore neither “greedy” nor “quarrelsome” (3:3). Paul warns against a premature entry to office for those who will be susceptible to diabolic, arrogant pride (3:6).

Paul’s list merely hints at the twofold role an overseer plays (cf. 5:17; Paul is not distinguishing “overseers” or “bishops” from “elders” but discussing the same individuals from different aspects). One aspect of the leadership role is administrative and governing: he likens the task to household management (3:5) and calls for hospitality. The other is educational: “able to teach” (3:2).

B. Deacons (3:8–13). 3:8–10. As at Php 1:1, Paul mentions a second kind of leadership role, “deacons” (Gk diakonoi). These may be assistant overseers or overseers in training, or officers who care for the material needs of the congregation. The diakon- word group is flexible, relating to primarily various types of ministry or service (e.g., Ac 6:1–6; 1 Tm 1:12; 4:6; 2 Tm 1:18; 4:11). In Acts and other epistles written by Paul, diakon- terminology especially clusters around financial matters (Ac 12:25; Rm 15:25, 31; 2 Co 8:4; 9:1). First Timothy shows concern for how the church and community should allot their resources (5:1–16) and employ their riches (6:1–19). Perhaps, as Ac 6 suggests, a central role of deacons is to assist overseers by supervising the church’s finances and relief for the poor.

Character is required of deacons as well as of overseers. If deacons are to be trusted go-betweens, it is especially important that they not be “hypocritical” (3:8; the Greek term means “double-worded” or “duplicitous”). If widows (see 1 Tm 5) are under their care, it is particularly important that deacons are “not greedy for money” (3:8).

3:11–13. Sandwiched between 3:10 and 3:12 is a discussion of “wives” (the Greek word gynē means “wife” or “woman,” depending entirely on context; see the CSB footnote for 3:11). Paul refers either to “deacons’ wives” or to “women who are deacons.” Paul could mean that deacons’ wives ought to conduct themselves in ways that befit their husbands’ callings. If so, however, it is puzzling that Paul would not have first commented on overseers’ wives (especially since overseers are expected to be hospitable). On the other hand, at this point the Greek language had no separate word for “deaconess”; thus, Paul uses the masculine diakonos to refer to Phoebe, a ministerial assistant in Cenchreae (Rm 16:1–2). His opening of 3:11 probably indicates Paul envisions women as well as men (“too”) being tested for service as deacons.

Hymns such as 1 Tm 3:16 show the confessional character of Christ’s incarnation, giving it strong theological significance. A similar confessional emphasis occurs in Php 2:5–11. Paul understands Jesus’s work on the cross in light of the incarnation (Col 1:22; cf. 1 Pt 4:1) and considers incarnation the reason Christ could accomplish what the law of Moses could not (Rm 8:3; Eph 2:15).

5. TRUE AND FALSE RELIGION (3:14–5:2)

A. True religion (3:14–16). In Paul’s absence, he expects Timothy to minister under his authority (see 1 Co 4:17, 19; 16:10–11; 1 Th 3:1–6). The gospel should be expressed visibly in the life of the church, and Paul wants Timothy’s life (like his own) to exemplify that (3:15a).

The Bible calls God “the living God” (3:15b) when comparing him with dead, false gods. Ephesus was the site of a huge temple to the Greek goddess Artemis (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world), in which the “mysteries” of Artemis were celebrated. Paul counters that “the mystery of godliness” is not a statue in a physical temple but Jesus, whose story (3:16) is revealed in the lives of his people. The church is a countertemple—and is why it is so important to Paul that believers learn how “to conduct themselves in God’s household” (3:15a).

The first two lines of the Christ poem in 3:16 cover Christ’s earthly ministry in terms of incarnation and resurrection (much like Rm 1:3–4). The last four lines outline four ways his ministry continues because of his resurrection.

B. False religion (4:1–5). Paul senses a dark, demonic conspiracy against the church. Satanic forces are frustrating the calling to live and teach the mystery of godliness. At the beginning of chapter 4, Paul expresses a strong concern that demons are also teaching the rejection of God-created food and marriage (4:3).

4:1. Verses 1–5 take their place within the drama Paul sees in Christ’s coming in the middle of time to effect redemption at Satan’s expense (esp. Gl 1:1–4; Col 2:15; Eph 1:3–23; 2:1–10; 3:7–10; 6:12–20). This redemption has prompted an ultimately doomed response by Satan: the unleashing of a “mystery of lawlessness” (2 Th 2:7), masked, ironically, by teachers who promote phony lawfulness, a piety-pretending denial with respect to food and sex (the situation finds a parallel in Col 2:8–23). Paul sets the opponents’ theology and practice within a specific framework: Satan’s rebellion “in later times” against the reconciliation of all things in Christ.

4:2–5. Paul responds to the false teachers by pointing to the teaching in Gn 1 that creation is good (4:4). Evil lies not in a thing itself but in its misuse. Evil is an intrusion into creation, not a part of creation itself. It is not sexual activity that must be avoided but its corrupt misuse. The problem is not food but rather the evil disordering of appetite. Part of what is restored in Christ is a prudence that allows believers to receive things for what they are, gifts God intended to be “received with thanksgiving” (4:3–4).

In the garden of Eden, the human race tragically exchanged the truth of God for a lie. A posture of grateful acceptance of creation and its gifts was traded for one of ingratitude and idolatry. Accordingly, God gave the race over to the corruption of conscience (4:2; cf. Rm 1:18–31). Now, in Christ, “those who believe and know the truth” (4:3) have had consciences re-informed by prayers of consecration and by the Word of God (4:5; cf. Gn 1:31; Mt 15:11; Mk 10:9).

C. Timothy’s responsibility for true religion (4:6–5:2). 4:6–10. Paul compares the false teachers’ asceticism with a long-standing teaching offered by Greek moralists about the moral virtue that comes from athletic training. It is not noble philosophizing, counters Paul, but “pointless and silly myths” that promote physical discipline as being the key to inner balance (4:7). The point of Paul’s statement that “the training of the body has limited benefit” is that such training is of little benefit when compared with “godliness” that “is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (4:8). What is really worth the effort (see 4:10, “we labor and strive,” both athletic terms) is the process Paul puts before Timothy, a set of disciplines that will lead to his salvation and that of those in his care.

4:11–5:2. The pursuit of godliness has as its aim the salvation of all, not a select minority of the selfishly motivated hyperdisciplined. For Paul, salvation is a full restoration of what it is to be human. Paul notes that the source of the gospel’s life-giving power does not lie down the path of external conformity to the law (1 Tm 1:8–11) or down the path of what is, in reality, ungodly self-denial (4:1–5). It is, in sum, the life of faith that Paul referred to in 1:4.

Timothy’s life is to be an example in terms of godliness, justice, courage, and temperance (4:12; 5:1–2). Godliness is promoted in the context of Christian community, not in isolation from it (4:13). At the same time, godliness is intensely personal, as Paul urges Timothy (4:15). If the whole church is to provide visible proof of the truth of the gospel (3:16), Timothy’s life is to be first in being the “pillar and foundation of the truth” (3:15).

6. WIDOWS, ELDERS, AND SLAVES (5:3–6:2)

A. Widows and female benefactors (5:3–16). 5:3–8. The first part of this section treats widows whose poverty qualifies them to come under the care of the church. Even though the church is to think of itself as a family (see 3:15), the church is not a substitute for families. If there are children or grandchildren of a widow, these family members show their godliness (this is also the sense of 5:8) and their sense of justice (“repay their parents”) by providing for their own widowed grandmothers and mothers (5:4).

Anna, the widowed prophetess who lives in the temple precincts in Lk 2:36–38, provides an example of the destitute widow of 1 Tm 5:3–5.

However, if there is no family or if a family has insufficient resources to keep widows from sliding into poverty, Paul expects Christians to practice the relief for widows called for in the OT (Ex 22:22; Dt 26:12) and famously characteristic of Jewish communities (5:3). Paul maintains that care for elders is a divine and social obligation.

5:9–16. The second part of this section treats widows whose record of ministry qualifies them for something like an office parallel to that of overseer or deacon (see 3:1–7, 8–13). Like deacons, who are to be tested (3:10), these widows are to be installed after it has been established that their lives consist in “good works” (5:10). This is the kind of faithful woman who, even in her own widowhood, helps “widows in her family” (5:16). Dorcas (known as Tabitha), the patroness of widows in Joppa, is an example of the care-providing woman that Paul envisions in this passage; she is one who was “doing good works and acts of charity” rather than receiving them (Ac 9:36). The grief at Dorcas’s death by the widows who benefited from her kindness (Ac 9:39) is testimony to how important this role was in the early church. Paul wants to make sure that only suitably mature women are enrolled to this office. Younger widows are encouraged, instead, to take up new families rather than to risk reneging on their commitment to Christ and to those who would be dependent on them (5:11–15).

B. Elders (5:17–25). Paul now takes up the matters of paying and disciplining elders. Paul expects the church to find some of its leadership from the municipal elite and the independently wealthy. Paul mentions these wealthy individuals directly at 6:17–19. In addition, Paul expects some leaders will need to be paid for their service to the church (these, in the opinion of most interpreters, are in view in 6:8–10).

5:17–18. Skill in administration is vital to the life of God’s household, and Paul’s placing this section next to the widows’ passage suggests that some of the difficulties in Ephesus were a result of a breakdown in administration. However, even more necessary is the ability to teach. Thus, special priority is put on “those who work hard at preaching and teaching” (5:17). Paul quotes both the OT (Dt 25:4) and Jesus himself (Lk 10:7) to underline the importance of the church’s support of a leadership that is independent of secular social, economic, and political clout (5:18).

5:19–21. Even though the church in Ephesus is in a major Hellenistic city, Paul expects it to take its bearings from the OT and from Jewish community life. Paul invokes the OT (Dt 19:15) to protect elders from false accusations (5:19). He is concerned about due process and avoiding favoritism (5:20–21).

5:22–25. Paul requires that mature believers, not recent converts, be placed in leadership in the church at Ephesus (unlike the church in Crete, which was a missionary setting). The temptation is to elevate too quickly either people whose secular power and prestige mask hidden agendas, or people whose glib tongues mask spiritual infancy or sinister motives (5:22). As if the stress that the relatively young Timothy is under in confronting an entrenched and socially powerful opposition weren’t enough, Timothy has developed stomach problems and is frequently ill, for which Paul prescribes “a little wine” (5:23; see Pr 31:6).

Of even more comfort to Timothy must have been Paul’s closing words in this chapter, assuring him that though the difference between good and evil sometimes comes to view in this life and sometimes only in the next, God will nonetheless ultimately make all things right (5:24–25).

C. Slaves and masters (6:1–2). Christian slaves are wondering what, in view of their redemption, they still owe their masters. Paul urges slaves not only to consider how their continued—indeed, heightened—service can serve the gospel but also how disrespect toward their masters will not lead to a more consistent Christianity. Instead, it will lead to a slandering of God’s name by those outside the church (6:1). Paul instructs slaves of Christian masters not to “be disrespectful to them because they are brothers” (6:2) but rather to “serve them even better.” In Titus, he will say much the same, calling slaves to “adorn” the gospel through their service (Ti 2:10). Paul calls Christian slaves to a new way of thinking.

In Philemon we see how diplomatically yet persuasively Paul can approach a Christian master about relating to a slave who is now a Christian brother. In that letter, he hints that Philemon should release his slave Onesimus to aid Paul in ministry. In 1 Tm 6:2, by contrast, Paul addresses slaves serving Christian masters.

7. MONEY AND WEALTH (6:3–19)

A. False teaching and love of money (6:3–10). Paul begins this section with a warning against false teaching that recalls the opening of the letter. He is returning to his concern about aspiring but confused teachers. In chapter 1, Paul addressed their speculations and their wrong use of the law. In chapter 4, he addressed their nonbiblical self-denial. Here in chapter 6, he speaks to the ill effects of their teaching and to the teachers’ unworthy motives.

6:3–5. The false teaching creates a climate of spiritual disease that has three elements: godlessness, social strife, and a corrupt inner life (see Ti 1:12; 2:12). First, the teaching is contrary to true godliness, pointing people to a focus on something other than Jesus Christ (6:3). Second, the teaching promotes “envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, and constant disagreement” (6:4–5). Third, the teaching flows from people who are deluded about their own importance (they are “conceited” [6:4]) and are driven by an appetite for gain (6:5).

6:6–10. In many respects Paul seems to get to the heart of the issue here. Confusion about wealth is a huge problem in this prosperous church. The denunciation of greed among aspiring teachers (6:8–10) follows directly on the heels of instruction to provide “double honor”—that is, twice the pay—for elders who are especially apt at teaching and governing (5:17). The section will close with the only paragraph Paul ever addresses, at least in the writings that have come to us, to the rich about how they are to fit into the household of faith (6:17–19).

Greed is deadly to the soul and ruinous to community. Those who do not have money and those who do have money are equally susceptible to the vice of “love of money” (6:10). Those who do not have money dream about what it would be like to have it. Those who do have money find there is never enough (see Lk 12:13–21, and the comments below on 1 Tm 6:17–19). In the strongest terms, Paul instructs Timothy to look for would-be leaders whose godliness produces “contentment” (6:6), drawing on a rich layer of wisdom teaching from the OT (with 6:7–8; cf. Jb 1:21; Ec 5:14). As an adage, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” can sound irrelevant and overused (6:10). However, in the case of the Ephesian church, the love of money has indeed created a host of pastoral problems.

B. What makes Timothy wealthy (6:11–16). Paul is worried about whether Timothy will have the boldness to fight the powerful—some in social status, some in eloquence—opponents in Ephesus (6:12). Paul instructs Timothy to pursue a range of virtues to display what “godliness with contentment” (see 6:6)—in a word, what living in Christ—looks like (6:11). Timothy himself is to be the opposite of those who desire the short-term gain that ministry could bring: money and influence. A minister’s wealth and influence are to be found in the virtues traditionally associated with Paul’s teachings and also in the virtues that being in Christ empowers.

The theological values that are to be made transparent in Timothy’s life are notable: creation, redemption (note the way Paul appeals to the narrative of Christ’s suffering and to the promise of his return), and the majesty of God (6:13–14). The doxology of 6:15–16 nicely mirrors the doxology of 1:17.

As far back as the Letter to the Philippians, Paul has expressed his trust in Timothy’s ability to model Christian truth (Php 2:19–24). Paul has confidence that in Timothy’s character (1 Tm 6:11–12) the Ephesian church will find an antidote to the greed and power grabbing that is plaguing them.

C. How the wealthy can invest (6:17–19). Paul turns finally to those from whom the most serious issues at Ephesus have emerged: “those who are rich in the present age” (6:17). The women usurpers are rich (2:9–15). Prosperous household heads need to learn what is worthy of aspiring to and how to do so (3:1–10). Those with means must learn not to hoard for themselves but to care for family members (5:1–9) and for the church’s poor (5:9–16).

6:17. Wealth presents both dangers and opportunities. First, the rich must not be “arrogant,” thinking of themselves as morally superior or more deserving than others (6:17a). Second, they must not “set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth.” It is easy to be seduced into thinking that power and possessions are permanent, or even that they can bestow a kind of immortality. But, Paul warns, wealth is “uncertain.” The only one worth putting hope in is God himself (compare 6:17 with 4:10; 5:5), who alone, as Paul has just noted, possesses immortality (6:15).

Wealth offers opportunities as well. While goods cannot substitute for God, they nonetheless should be seen as gifts from God (6:17b). Paul’s high view of creation comes into view nowhere better than here. God’s generosity is revealed in every benefit of creation, from food and relationships and possessions all the way to his Son’s taking on a human body for our benefit. By saying that God gives all things “to enjoy,” Paul underscores the Bible’s view of the absolute, and therefore redeemable, good of all God’s creation.

6:18–19. Wealth also creates possibilities for cultivating virtue and for benefiting one’s community. Paul asks the Christian rich to be as generous with their resources as their pagan counterparts (6:18). Wealth lies not in possessions but in relationships, for wealth creates the ability to benefit others.

The primary difference between the Christian rich and the pagan rich lies in the return they expect. Benefactors gave so they might receive concrete things like recognition and privilege. Instead, Paul maintains that Christians are “storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age” (6:19)—that is, for the day when they hope to hear their master’s “Well done” (see Mt 6:20; 19:21; 25:21, 23; Lk 16:10).

8. CLOSING ADMONITION: OPPOSING SPURIOUS “KNOWLEDGE” (6:20–21)

Paul closes 1 Timothy with one of his shortest endings, perhaps itself a commentary on the folly of arguing over myths, endless genealogies, and controversial speculations (1:3–4). With his denunciation of “what is falsely called knowledge” (6:20), Paul almost prophetically provides the rallying cry for the second-century church’s battle with gnosticism.