1Ti 6:14 | KingComments | STEP | . Paul says that Timothy should “keep the commandment [that is the commandment to fight the good fight] without stain or reproach”. “To keep the commandment” means to obey the commandment ( ), but it should also be kept in its original state. It ought not to be defiled by human conceptions and must be passed on undistorted. It seems like an almost impossible commandment. How can you sustain such a thing? By keeping your eye on “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Up until that moment Timothy should, and you should, commit himself to the commandment given. The Lord Jesus has promised to come quickly and His reward is with Him ( ). Here it is not about His coming to take up the church to be with Him. No, reward doesn’t fit with that coming. When He has caught up the church ( ) He will afterward come with all His saints to the earth ( ). Then He will establish the millennial kingdom of peace. Then He will reward all those saints who have served Him to the measure of faithfulness with which they have served Him when He was rejected. Isn’t that a beautiful motive to move on with the good fight? . The thought of that awesome event leads the apostle to praise. With that appearing “the blessed and only Sovereign” will openly manifest Himself. He, Who when He was on earth made Himself to be taken to slaughter as a lamb, will reveal Himself as the only Sovereign. He is no one else than ‘the blessed God’ ( ). He doesn’t need anything beside Himself to be blessed. Nothing could ever disturb His perfect peace and His profound happiness ( ). He is also ‘the only God’, Who has no equivalent. There is nothing and no one on an equal footing with Him. He manages and rules everything Himself. He doesn’t need anyone’s help for that. He is sovereign in everything. He rules about life and death and controls everything to His pleasure and wisdom ( ). In Him all power dwells. He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” ( ). Under His universal dominion also all the leaders of the world are subjected ( ). The time that the Lord will appear is totally in God’s hand alone ( ; ; ). When He appears He will be outwardly perceivable for every eye as Sovereign, King and Lord ( ). . There are also non-perceivable features. In his praise Paul also mentions the inner greatness of God, such as the fact the He is not subjected to death; He cannot die, “He” is the One “who alone possesses immortality”. It is a state intangible to death, a state on which death can never get a grip. It is also more than only not dying physically. At the moment Adam and Eve sinned they didn’t die the physical death, but actually the spiritual death. To everyone who doesn’t have life from God it applies that he is spiritually dead ( ). He who converts, receives life from God and will be clothed with immortality when the Lord Jesus comes ( ). As a result, he has become elusive to death. God, Who has made Himself visible in His Son ( ), is the God Who “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (cf. ; ; ; ). We will never be able to see something of God without the Son. Wherever God reveals Himself He does that through the Son. Deeply impressed by the awesome greatness and majesty of God Paul praises Him: “To Him [be] honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” Paul doesn’t speak out a wish here, but declares with a solemn ‘amen’ that God is worthy of all homage and that He has a power that never diminishes. All His works, both from the old and the new creation, will honor Him. He will enable them for that through His eternal power. . It would have been a wonderful end of the letter if he had stopped here. But Paul still adds two exhortations: one for the rich ( ) and one for Timothy ( ). There is nothing wrong with wealth in itself, but it is if you have the desire to become rich, as you have seen. The apostle doesn’t appeal to sell properties and to give away all the money. It is indeed difficult for a rich person to be rich without putting his trust in that wealth. If that happens he will act independently of God. And that is essentially the haughtiness which Timothy has to warn the believers against. The rich is, like his riches, so very relative ( ). Earthly property is perishable and time flies by. Riches can just make itself wings ( ). He who trusts in his riches will become a mockery ( ). The rich must be taught what they should not and what they should be paying attention to and why. They must hear “not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy”. You may enjoy what God gives you abundantly, if you only consider that God is the Source of true joy and that riches and wealth cannot give you that joy. The idea is not to surrender to it and live in opulence and self-indulgence ( ). The money is not your property, but you are a steward of it. God has given it to you that you may manage it for Him. . That’s why riches offers, in spite of its dangers, possibilities to serve God with it. That will give you spiritual joy and satisfaction. You will be able to deal with your riches in several ways. You can use it to do good to others. They will praise God for it. You can also be rich in good works. What you give away makes you richer in another way, indeed in good works ( ). You can also be “generous and ready to share”. If you are ‘ready to share’, you deal just as God has dealt with you. By the way, you ought to act with discretion and not blindly. To be ‘ready to share’ means that you allow others to share the material things you own. Are they for instance allowed to borrow your car in time of need or are you afraid for a scratch? . If you look at your riches and deal with it in that way you are on the way as one of those who are “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future”. Humanly reasoned, you have lost what you give away. From a spiritual view you send forward what you give away. To give away is the best way to invest. By focusing in that way on the future you already “take hold of that which is life indeed”. This actually is the real life if you live for the other. That is what the Lord Jesus did and still does and in that way you should follow Him. . Calling him by his name gives more emphasis to the personal care of the apostle for his young friend Timothy. He convinces him to seriously guard “what has been entrusted” to him, that is the truth as it is written to Timothy in this letter. He is not to be involved with “worldly [and] empty chatter”. That is a waste of time and effort. He is also not to enter into discussion with “arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge””. Here Paul means the fantasies of men who think to belong to a higher spiritual class and to possess higher knowledge. However, educational improvement and intelligence are not the keys for understanding the Scripture, but a mind subjected to God’s Spirit. . He who puts the intellect above the Scripture will surely deviate from the truth of faith. Finally Paul wishes Timothy and the believers at Ephesus, where Timothy is, grace. Only when they are truly aware of grace they will be able to remain kept in fellowship with the Lord and with each other, despite of being in the midst of all dangers of deviation. We also need that grace daily. Now read 1 Timothy 6:14-21 again. Reflection: What is committed to your trust to be guarded by you?

‏ 1 Timothy 6:14

Praise and Final Exhortations

1Tim 6:14. Paul says that Timothy should “keep the commandment [that is the commandment to fight the good fight] without stain or reproach”. “To keep the commandment” means to obey the commandment (Jn 8:51 ; Jn 14:21), but it should also be kept in its original state. It ought not to be defiled by human conceptions and must be passed on undistorted.

It seems like an almost impossible commandment. How can you sustain such a thing? By keeping your eye on “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Up until that moment Timothy should, and you should, commit himself to the commandment given. The Lord Jesus has promised to come quickly and His reward is with Him (Rev 22:12). Here it is not about His coming to take up the church to be with Him. No, reward doesn’t fit with that coming. When He has caught up the church (1Thes 4:15-18) He will afterward come with all His saints to the earth (1Thes 4:14). Then He will establish the millennial kingdom of peace. Then He will reward all those saints who have served Him to the measure of faithfulness with which they have served Him when He was rejected. Isn’t that a beautiful motive to move on with the good fight?

1Tim 6:15. The thought of that awesome event leads the apostle to praise. With that appearing “the blessed and only Sovereign” will openly manifest Himself. He, Who when He was on earth made Himself to be taken to slaughter as a lamb, will reveal Himself as the only Sovereign.

He is no one else than ‘the blessed God’ (1Tim 1:11). He doesn’t need anything beside Himself to be blessed. Nothing could ever disturb His perfect peace and His profound happiness (Job 35:5-7).

He is also ‘the only God’, Who has no equivalent. There is nothing and no one on an equal footing with Him.

He manages and rules everything Himself. He doesn’t need anyone’s help for that. He is sovereign in everything. He rules about life and death and controls everything to His pleasure and wisdom (Psa 89:11-13). In Him all power dwells. He is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev 17:14 ; Rev 19:16). Under His universal dominion also all the leaders of the world are subjected (1Chr 29:11-12).

The time that the Lord will appear is totally in God’s hand alone (Zec 14:7; Mt 24:36; Acts 1:7). When He appears He will be outwardly perceivable for every eye as Sovereign, King and Lord (Rev 1:7).

1Tim 6:16. There are also non-perceivable features. In his praise Paul also mentions the inner greatness of God, such as the fact the He is not subjected to death; He cannot die, “He” is the One “who alone possesses immortality”. It is a state intangible to death, a state on which death can never get a grip.

It is also more than only not dying physically. At the moment Adam and Eve sinned they didn’t die the physical death, but actually the spiritual death. To everyone who doesn’t have life from God it applies that he is spiritually dead (Eph 2:1). He who converts, receives life from God and will be clothed with immortality when the Lord Jesus comes (1Cor 15:53-54). As a result, he has become elusive to death.

God, Who has made Himself visible in His Son (Jn 1:14 ; Jn 14:9), is the God Who “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (cf. Exo 33:20; Jn 1:18; 1Jn 4:12; Col 1:15). We will never be able to see something of God without the Son. Wherever God reveals Himself He does that through the Son.

Deeply impressed by the awesome greatness and majesty of God Paul praises Him: “To Him [be] honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” Paul doesn’t speak out a wish here, but declares with a solemn ‘amen’ that God is worthy of all homage and that He has a power that never diminishes. All His works, both from the old and the new creation, will honor Him. He will enable them for that through His eternal power.

1Tim 6:17. It would have been a wonderful end of the letter if he had stopped here. But Paul still adds two exhortations: one for the rich (1Tim 6:17-19) and one for Timothy (1Tim 6:20-21). There is nothing wrong with wealth in itself, but it is if you have the desire to become rich, as you have seen. The apostle doesn’t appeal to sell properties and to give away all the money. It is indeed difficult for a rich person to be rich without putting his trust in that wealth. If that happens he will act independently of God. And that is essentially the haughtiness which Timothy has to warn the believers against.

The rich is, like his riches, so very relative (Jam 1:10-11). Earthly property is perishable and time flies by. Riches can just make itself wings (Pro 23:4-5). He who trusts in his riches will become a mockery (Psa 52:5-7). The rich must be taught what they should not and what they should be paying attention to and why. They must hear “not to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy”.

You may enjoy what God gives you abundantly, if you only consider that God is the Source of true joy and that riches and wealth cannot give you that joy. The idea is not to surrender to it and live in opulence and self-indulgence (Jam 5:5). The money is not your property, but you are a steward of it. God has given it to you that you may manage it for Him.

1Tim 6:18. That’s why riches offers, in spite of its dangers, possibilities to serve God with it. That will give you spiritual joy and satisfaction. You will be able to deal with your riches in several ways. You can use it to do good to others. They will praise God for it. You can also be rich in good works. What you give away makes you richer in another way, indeed in good works (Pro 11:25).

You can also be “generous and ready to share”. If you are ‘ready to share’, you deal just as God has dealt with you. By the way, you ought to act with discretion and not blindly. To be ‘ready to share’ means that you allow others to share the material things you own. Are they for instance allowed to borrow your car in time of need or are you afraid for a scratch?

1Tim 6:19. If you look at your riches and deal with it in that way you are on the way as one of those who are “storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future”. Humanly reasoned, you have lost what you give away. From a spiritual view you send forward what you give away. To give away is the best way to invest. By focusing in that way on the future you already “take hold of that which is life indeed”. This actually is the real life if you live for the other. That is what the Lord Jesus did and still does and in that way you should follow Him.

1Tim 6:20. Calling him by his name gives more emphasis to the personal care of the apostle for his young friend Timothy. He convinces him to seriously guard “what has been entrusted” to him, that is the truth as it is written to Timothy in this letter. He is not to be involved with “worldly [and] empty chatter”. That is a waste of time and effort.

He is also not to enter into discussion with “arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge””. Here Paul means the fantasies of men who think to belong to a higher spiritual class and to possess higher knowledge. However, educational improvement and intelligence are not the keys for understanding the Scripture, but a mind subjected to God’s Spirit.

1Tim 6:21. He who puts the intellect above the Scripture will surely deviate from the truth of faith.

Finally Paul wishes Timothy and the believers at Ephesus, where Timothy is, grace. Only when they are truly aware of grace they will be able to remain kept in fellowship with the Lord and with each other, despite of being in the midst of all dangers of deviation. We also need that grace daily.

Now read 1 Timothy 6:14-21 again.

Reflection: What is committed to your trust to be guarded by you?