{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"1TI","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"1 Timothy","commonName":"1 Timothy","introduction":"GENUINENESS.--The ancient Church never doubted of their being canonical and written by Paul. They are in the Peschito Syriac version of the second century. MURATORI'S Fragment on the Canon of Scripture, at the close of the second century, acknowledges them as such. IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 1; 3.3.3; 4.16.3; 2.14.8; 3.11.1; 1.16.3], quotes Ti1 1:4, Ti1 1:9; Ti1 6:20; Ti2 4:9-11; Tit 3:10. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [Miscellanies, 2, p. 457; 3, pp. 534, 536; 1, p. 350], quotes Ti1 6:1, Ti1 6:20; Second Timothy, as to deaconesses; Tit 1:12. TERTULLIAN [The Prescription against Heretics, 25; 6], quotes Ti1 6:20; Ti2 1:14; Ti1 1:18; Ti1 6:13, &c.; Ti2 2:2; Tit 3:10-11. EUSEBIUS includes the three in the \"universally acknowledged\" Scriptures. Also THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH [To Autolychus, 3.14], quotes Ti1 2:1-2; Tit 3:1, and CAIUS (in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 6.20]) recognizes their authenticity. CLEMENT OF ROME, in the end of the first century, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians [29], quotes Ti1 2:8. IGNATIUS, in the beginning of the second century, in Epistle to Polycarp, [6], alludes to Ti2 2:4. POLYCARP, in the beginning of the second century [Epistle to the Philippians, 4], alludes to Ti2 2:4; and in the ninth chapter to Ti2 4:10. Hegisippus, in the end of the second century, in EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.32], alludes to Ti1 6:3, Ti1 6:20. ATHENAGORAS, in the end of the second century, alludes to Ti1 6:16. JUSTIN MARTYR, in the middle of the second century [Dialogue with Trypho, 47], alludes to Tit 3:4. The Gnostic MARCION alone rejected these Epistles.\n\nThe HERESIES OPPOSED in them form the transition stage from Judaism, in its ascetic form, to Gnosticism, as subsequently developed. The references to Judaism and legalism are clear (Ti1 1:7; Ti1 4:3; Tit 1:10, Tit 1:14; Tit 3:9). Traces of beginning Gnosticism are also unequivocal (Ti1 1:4). The Gnostic theory of a twofold principle from the beginning, evil as well as good, appears in germ in Ti1 4:3, &c. In Ti1 6:20 the term Gnosis (\"science\") itself occurs. Another Gnostic error, namely, that \"the resurrection is past,\" is alluded to in Ti2 2:17-18. The Judaism herein opposed is not that of the earlier Epistles, which upheld the law and tried to join it with faith in Christ for justification. It first passed into that phase of it which appears in the Epistle to the Colossians, whereby will-worship and angel-worship were superadded to Judaizing opinions. Then a further stage of the same evil appears in the Epistle to the Philippians (Phi 3:2, Phi 3:18-19), whereby immoral practice accompanied false doctrine as to the resurrection (compare Ti2 2:18, with Co1 15:12, Co1 15:32-33). This descent from legality to superstition, and from superstition to godlessness, appears more matured in the references to it in these Pastoral Epistles. The false teachers now know not the true use of the law (Ti1 1:7-8), and further, have put away good conscience as well as the faith (Ti1 1:19; Ti1 4:2); speak lies in hypocrisy, are corrupt in mind, and regard godliness as a means of earthly gain (Ti1 6:5 Tit 1:11); overthrow the faith by heresies eating as a canker, saying the resurrection is past (Ti2 2:17-18), leading captive silly women, ever learning yet never knowing the truth, reprobate as Jannes and Jambres (Ti2 3:6, Ti2 3:8), defiled, unbelieving, professing to know God, but in works denying Him, abominable, disobedient, reprobate (Tit 1:15-16). This description accords with that in the Catholic Epistles of St. John and St. Peter, and, in the Epistle to the Hebrews. This fact proves the later date of these Pastoral Epistles as compared with Paul's earlier Epistles. The Judaism reprobated herein is not that of an earlier date, so scrupulous as to the law; it was now tending to immortality of practice. On the other hand, the Gnosticism opposed in these Epistles is not the anti-Judaic Gnosticism of a later date, which arose as a consequence of the overthrow of Judaism by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, but it was the intermediate phase between Judaism and Gnosticism, in which the Oriental and Greek elements of the latter were in a kind of amalgam with Judaism, just prior to the overthrow of Jerusalem.\n\nThe DIRECTIONS AS TO CHURCH GOVERNORS and ministers, \"bishop-elders, and deacons,\" are such as were natural for the apostle, in prospect of his own approaching removal, to give to Timothy, the president of the Church at Ephesus, and to Titus, holding the same office in Crete, for securing the due administration of the Church when he should be no more, and at a time when heresies were rapidly springing up. Compare his similar anxiety in his address to the Ephesian elders (Act 20:21-30). The Presbyterate (elders; priest is a contraction from presbyter) and Diaconate had existed from the earliest times in the Church (Act 6:3; Act 11:30; Act 14:23). Timothy and Titus, as superintendents or overseers (so bishop subsequently meant), were to exercise the same power in ordaining elders at Ephesus which the apostle had exercised in his general supervision of all the Gentile churches.\n\nThe PECULIARITIES OF MODES OF THOUGHT AND EXPRESSION, are such as the difference of subject and circumstances of those addressed and those spoken of in these Epistles, as compared with the other Epistles, would lead us to expect. Some of these peculiar phrases occur also in Galatians, in which, as in the Pastoral Epistles, he, with his characteristic fervor, attacks the false teachers. Compare Ti1 2:6; Tit 2:14, \"gave Himself for us,\" with Gal 1:4; Ti1 1:17; Ti2 4:18, \"for ever and ever,\" with Gal 1:5 : \"before God,\" Ti1 5:21; Ti1 6:13; Ti2 2:14; Ti2 4:1, with Gal 1:20 : \"a pillar,\" Ti1 3:15, with Gal 2:9 : \"mediator,\" Ti1 2:5, with Gal 3:20 : \"in due season,\" Ti1 2:6; Ti1 6:15; Tit 1:3 with Gal 6:9.\n\nTIME AND PLACE OF WRITING.--The First Epistle to Timothy was written not long after Paul had left Ephesus for Macedon (Ti1 1:3). Now, as Timothy was in Macedon with Paul (Co2 1:1) on the occasion of Paul's having passed from Ephesus into that country, as recorded, Act 19:22; Act 20:1, whereas the First Epistle to Timothy contemplates a longer stay of Timothy in Ephesus, MOSHEIM supposes that Paul was nine months of the \"three years\" stay mostly at Ephesus (Act 20:31) in Macedonia, and elsewhere (perhaps Crete), (the mention of only \"three months\" and \"two years,\" Act 19:8, Act 19:10, favors this, the remaining nine months being spent elsewhere); and that during these nine months Timothy, in Paul's absence, superintended the Church of Ephesus. It is not likely that Ephesus and the neighboring churches should have been left long without church officers and church organization, rules respecting which are giver in this Epistle. Moreover, Timothy was still \"a youth\" (Ti1 4:12), which he could hardly be called after Paul's first imprisonment, when he must have been at least thirty-four years of age. Lastly, in Act 20:25, Paul asserts his knowledge that the Ephesians should not all see his face again, so that Ti1 1:3 will thus refer to his sojourn at Ephesus, recorded in Act 19:10, whence he passed into Macedonia. But the difficulty is to account for the false teachers having sprung up almost immediately (according to this theory) after the foundation of the Church. However, his visit recorded in Acts 19:1-41 was not his first visit. The beginning of the Church at Ephesus was probably made at his visit a year before (Act 18:19-21). Apollos, Aquila and Priscilla, carried on the work (Act 18:24-26). Thus, as to the sudden growth of false teachers, there was time enough for their springing up, especially considering that the first converts at Ephesus were under Apollos' imperfect Christian teachings at first, imbued as he was likely to be with the tenets of PHILO of Alexandria, Apollos' native town, combined with John the Baptist's Old Testament teachings (Act 18:24-26). Besides Ephesus, from its position in Asia, its notorious voluptuousness and sorcery (Act 19:18-19), and its lewd worship of Diana (answering to the PhÅ“nician Ashtoreth), was likely from the first to tinge Christianity in some of its converts with Oriental speculations and Asiatic licentiousness of practices. Thus the phenomenon of the phase of error presented in this Epistle, being intermediate between Judaism and later Gnosticism (see above), would be such as might occur at an early period in the Ephesian Church, as well as later, when we know it had open \"apostles\" of error (Rev 2:2, Rev 2:6), and Nicolaitans infamous in practice. As to the close connection between this First Epistle and the Second Epistle (which must have been written at the close of Paul's life), on which ALFORD relies for his theory of making the First Epistle also written at the close of Paul's life, the similarity of circumstances, the person addressed being one and the same, and either in Ephesus at the time, or at least connected with Ephesus as its church overseer, and having heretics to contend with of the same stamp as in the First Epistle, would account for the connection. There is not so great identity of tone as to compel us to adopt the theory that some years could not have elapsed between the two Epistles.\n\nHowever, all these arguments against the later date may be answered. This First Epistle may refer not to the first organization of the Church under its bishops, or elders and deacons, but to the moral qualifications laid down at a later period for those officers when scandals rendered such directions needful. Indeed, the object for which he left Timothy at Ephesus he states (Ti1 1:3) to be, not to organize the Church for the first time, but to restrain the false teachers. The directions as to the choice of fit elders and deacons refer to the filling up of vacancies, not to their first appointment. The fact of there existing an institution for Church widows implies an established organization. As to Timothy's \"youth,\" it may be spoken of comparatively young compared with Paul, now \"the aged\" (Plm 1:9), and with some of the Ephesian elders, senior to Timothy their overseer. As to Act 20:25, we know not but that \"all\" of the elders of Ephesus called to Miletus \"never saw Paul's face\" afterwards, as he \"knew\" (doubtless by inspiration) would be the case, which obviates the need of ALFORD'S lax view, that Paul was wrong in this his positive inspired anticipation (for such it was, not a mere boding surmise as to the future). Thus he probably visited Ephesus again (Ti1 1:3; Ti2 1:18; Ti2 4:20, he would hardly have been at Miletum, so near Ephesus, without visiting Ephesus) after his first imprisonment in Rome, though all the Ephesian elders whom he had addressed formerly at Miletus did not again see him. The general similarity of subject and style, and of the state of the Church between the two Epistles, favors the view that they were near one another in date. Also, against the theory of the early date is the difficulty of defining, when, during Paul's two or three years' stay at Ephesus, we can insert an absence of Paul from Ephesus long enough for the requirements of the case, which imply a lengthened stay and superintendence of Timothy at Ephesus (see, however, Ti1 3:14, on the other side) after having been \"left\" by Paul there. Timothy did not stay there when Paul left Ephesus (Act 19:22; Act 20:1; Co2 1:1). In Ti1 3:14, Paul says, \"I write, hoping to come unto thee shortly,\" but on the earlier occasion of his passing from Ephesus to Macedon he had no such expectation, but had planned to spend the summer in Macedon, and the winter in Corinth, (Co1 16:6). The expression \"Till I come\" (Ti1 4:13), implies that Timothy was not to leave his post till Paul should arrive; this and the former objection, however, do not hold good against MOSHEIM'S theory. Moreover, Paul in his farewell address to the Ephesian elders prophetically anticipates the rise of false teachers hereafter of their own selves; therefore this First Epistle, which speaks of their actual presence at Ephesus, would naturally seem to be not prior, but subsequent, to the address, that is, will belong to the later date assigned. In the Epistle to the Ephesians no notice is taken of the Judaeo-Gnostic errors, which would have been noticed had they been really in existence; however, they are alluded to in the contemporaneous sister Epistle to Colossians (Col. 2:1-23).\n\nWhatever doubt must always remain as to the date of the First Epistle, there can be hardly any as to that of the Second Epistle. In Ti2 4:13, Paul directs Timothy to bring the books and cloak which the apostle had left at Troas. Assuming that the visit to Troas referred to is the one mentioned in Act 20:5-7, it will follow that the cloak and parchments lay for about seven years at Troas, that being the time that elapsed between the visit and Paul's first imprisonment at Rome: a very unlikely supposition, that he should have left either unused for so long. Again, when, during his first Roman imprisonment, he wrote to the Colossians (Col 4:14) and Philemon (Plm 1:24), Demas was with him; but when he was writing Ti2 4:10, Demas had forsaken him from love of this world, and gone to Thessalonica. Again, when he wrote to the Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon, he had good hopes of a speedy liberation; but here in Ti2 4:6-8, he anticipates immediate death, having been at least once already tried (Ti2 4:16). Again, he is in this Epistle represented as in closer confinement than he was when writing those former Epistles in his first imprisonment (even in the Philippians, which represent him in greater uncertainty as to his life, he cherished the hope of soon being delivered, Phi 2:24; Ti2 1:16-18; Ti2 2:9; Ti2 4:6-8, Ti2 4:16). Again (Ti2 4:20), he speaks of having left Trophimus sick at Miletum. This could not have been on the occasion, Act 20:15. For Trophimus was with Paul at Jerusalem shortly afterwards (Act 21:29). Besides, he would thus be made to speak of an event six or seven years after its occurrence, as a recent event: moreover, Timothy was, on that occasion of the apostle being at Miletum, with Paul, and therefore needed not to be informed of Trophimus' sickness there (Act 20:4-17). Also, the statement (Ti2 4:20), \"Erastus abode at Corinth,\" implies that Paul had shortly before been at Corinth, and left Erastus there; but Paul had not been at Corinth for several years before his first imprisonment, and in the interval Timothy had been with him, so that he did not need to write subsequently about that visit. He must therefore have been liberated after his first imprisonment (indeed, Heb 13:23-24, expressly proves that the writer was in Italy and at liberty), and resumed his apostolic journeyings, and been imprisoned at Rome again, whence shortly before his death he wrote Second Timothy.\n\nEUSEBIUS [Chronicles, Anno 2083] (beginning October, A.D. 67), says, \"Nero, to his other crimes, added the persecution of Christians: under him the apostles Peter and Paul consummated their martyrdom at Rome.\" So JEROME [On Illustrious Men], \"In the fourteenth year of Nero, Paul was beheaded at Rome for Christ's sake, on the same day as Peter, and was buried on the Ostian Road, in the thirty-seventh year after the death of our Lord.\" ALFORD reasonably conjectures the Pastoral Epistles were written near this date. The interval was possibly filled up (so CLEMENT OF ROME states that Paul preached as far as \"to the extremity of the west\") by a journey to Spain (Rom 15:24, Rom 15:28), according to his own original intention. MURATORI'S Fragment on the Canon of Scripture (about A.D. 170) also alleges Paul's journey into Spain. So EUSEBIUS, CHRYSOSTOM, and JEROME. Be that as it may, he seems shortly before his second imprisonment to have visited Ephesus, where a new body of elders governed the Church (Act 20:25), say in the latter end of A.D. 66, or beginning of 67. Supposing him thirty at his conversion, he would now be upwards of sixty, and older in constitution than in years, through continual hardship. Even four years before he called himself \"Paul the aged\" (Plm 1:9).\n\nFrom Ephesus he went into Macedonia (Ti1 1:3). He may have written the First Epistle to Timothy from that country. But his use of \"went,\" not \"came,\" in Ti1 1:3, \"When I went into Macedonia,\" implies he was not there when writing. Wherever he was, he writes uncertain how long he may be detained from coming to Timothy (Ti1 3:14-15). BIRKS shows the probability that he wrote from Corinth, between which city and Ephesus the communication was rapid and easy. His course, as on both former occasions, was from Macedon to Corinth. He finds a coincidence between Ti1 2:11-14, and Co1 14:34, as to women being silent in Church; and Ti1 5:17-18, and Co1 9:8-10, as to the maintenance of ministers, on the same principle as the Mosaic law, that the ox should not be muzzled that treadeth out the corn; and Ti1 5:19-20, and Co2 13:1-4, as to charges against elders. It would be natural for the apostle in the very place where these directions had been enforced, to reproduce them in his letter.\n\nThe date of the Epistle to Titus must depend on that assigned to First Timothy, with which it is connected in subject, phraseology, and tone. There is no difficulty in the Epistle to Titus, viewed by itself, in assigning it to the earlier date, namely, before Paul's first imprisonment. In Act 18:18-19, Paul, in journeying from Corinth to Palestine, for some cause or other landed at Ephesus. Now we find (Tit 3:13) that Apollos in going from Ephesus to Corinth was to touch at Crete (which seems to coincide with Apollos' journey from Ephesus to Corinth, recorded in Act 18:24, Act 18:27; Act 19:1); therefore it is not unlikely that Paul may have taken Crete similarly on his way between Corinth and Ephesus; or, perhaps been driven out of his course to it in one of his three shipwrecks spoken of in Co2 11:25-26; this will account for his taking Ephesus on his way from Corinth to Palestine, though out of his regular course. At Ephesus Paul may have written the Epistle to Titus [HUG]; there he probably met Apollos and gave the Epistle to Titus to his charge, before his departure for Corinth by way of Crete, and before the apostle's departure for Jerusalem (Act 18:19-21, Act 18:24). Moreover, on Paul's way back from Jerusalem and Antioch, he travelled some time in Upper Asia (Act 19:1); and it was then, probably, that his intention to \"winter at Nicopolis\" was realized, there being a town of that name between Antioch and Tarsus, lying on Paul's route to Galatia (Tit 3:12). Thus, First Timothy will, in this theory, be placed two and a half years later (Act 20:1; compare Ti1 1:3).\n\nALFORD'S argument for classing the Epistle to Titus with First Timothy, as written after Paul's first Roman imprisonment, stands or falls with his argument for assigning First Timothy to that date. Indeed, HUG'S unobjectionable argument for the earlier date of the Epistle to Titus, favors the early date assigned to First Timothy, which is so much akin to it, if other arguments be not thought to counterbalance this. The Church of Crete had been just founded (Tit 1:5), and yet the same heresies are censured in it as in Ephesus, which shows that no argument, such as ALFORD alleges against the earlier date of First Timothy, can be drawn from them (Tit 1:10-11, Tit 1:15-16; Tit 3:9, Tit 3:11). But vice versa, if, as seems likely from the arguments adduced, the First Epistle to Timothy be assigned to the later date, the Epistle to Titus must, from similarity of style, belong to the same period. ALFORD traces Paul's last journey before his second imprisonment thus: To Crete (Tit 1:5), Miletus (Ti2 4:20), Colosse (fulfilling his intention, Plm 1:22), Ephesus (Ti1 1:3; Ti2 1:18), from which neighborhood he wrote the Epistle to Titus; Troas, Macedonia, Corinth (Ti2 4:20), Nicopolis (Tit 3:12) in Epirus, where he had intended to winter; a place in which, as being a Roman colony, he would be free from tumultuary violence, and yet would be more open to a direct attack from foes in the metropolis, Rome. Being known in Rome as the leader of the Christians, he was probably [ALFORD] arrested as implicated in causing the fire in A.D. 64, attributed by Nero to the Christians, and was sent to Rome by the Duumvirs of Nicopolis. There he was imprisoned as a common malefactor (Ti2 2:9); his Asiatic friends deserted him, except Onesiphorus (Ti2 1:16). Demas, Crescens, and Titus, left him. Tychicus he had sent to Ephesus. Luke alone remained with him (Ti2 4:10-12). Under the circumstances he writes the Second Epistle to Timothy, most likely while Timothy was at Ephesus (Ti2 2:17; compare Ti1 1:20; Ti2 4:13), begging him to come to him before winter (Ti2 4:21), and anticipating his own execution soon (Ti2 4:6). Tychicus was perhaps the bearer of the Second Epistle (Ti2 4:12). His defense was not made before the emperor, for the latter was then in Greece (Ti2 4:16-17). Tradition represents that he died by the sword, which accords with the fact that his Roman citizenship would exempt him from torture; probably late in A.D. 67 or A.D. 68, the last year of Nero.\n\nTimothy is first mentioned, Act 16:1, as dwelling in Lystra (not Derbe, compare Act 20:4). His mother was a Jewess named Eunice (Ti2 1:5); his father, \"a Greek\" (that is, a Gentile). As Timothy is mentioned as \"a disciple\" in Act 16:1, he must have been converted before, and this by Paul (Ti1 1:2), probably at his former visit to Lystra (Act 14:6); at the same time, probably, that his Scripture-loving mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois, were converted to Christ from Judaism (Ti2 3:14-15). Not only the good report given as to him by the brethren of Lystra, but also his origin, partly Jewish, partly Gentile, adapted him specially for being Paul's assistant in missionary work, laboring as the apostle did in each place, firstly among the Jews, and then among the Gentiles. In order to obviate Jewish prejudices, he first circumcised him. He seems to have accompanied Paul in his tour through Macedonia; but when the apostle went forward to Athens, Timothy and Silas remained in Berea. Having been sent back by Paul to visit the Thessalonian Church (Th1 3:2), he brought his report of it to the apostle at Corinth (Th1 3:6). Hence we find his name joined with Paul's in the addresses of both the Epistles to Thessalonians, which were written at Corinth. We again find him \"ministering to\" Paul during the lengthened stay at Ephesus (Act 19:22). Thence he was sent before Paul into Macedonia and to Corinth (Co1 4:17; Co1 16:10). He was with Paul when he wrote the Second Epistle to Corinthians (Co2 1:1); and the following winter in Corinth, when Paul sent from thence his Epistle to the Romans (Rom 16:21). On Paul's return to Asia through Macedonia, he went forward and waited for the apostle at Troas (Act 20:3-5). Next we find him with Paul during his imprisonment at Rome, when the apostle wrote the Epistles to Colossians (Col 1:1), Philemon (Plm 1:1), and Philippians (Phi 1:1). He was imprisoned and set at liberty about the same time as the writer of the Hebrews (Heb 13:23). In the Pastoral Epistles, we find him mentioned as left by the apostle at Ephesus to superintend the Church there (Ti1 1:3). The last notice of him is in the request which Paul makes to him (Ti2 4:21) to \"come before winter,\" that is about A.D. 67 [ALFORD]. EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.42], reports that he was first bishop of Ephesus; and [NICOPHORUS, Ecclesiastical History, 3.11], represents that he died by martyrdom. If then, St. John, as tradition represents, resided and died in that city, it must have been at a later period. Paul himself ordained or consecrated him with laying on of his own hands, and those of the presbytery, in accordance with prophetic intimations given respecting him by those possessing the prophetic gift (Ti1 1:18; Ti1 4:14 Ti2 1:6). His self-denying character is shown by his leaving home at once to accompany the apostle, and submitting to circumcision for the Gospel's sake; and also by his abstemiousness (noted in Ti1 5:23) notwithstanding his bodily infirmities, which would have warranted a more generous diet. Timidity and a want of self-confidence and boldness in dealing with the difficulties of his position, seem to have been a defect in his otherwise beautiful character as a Christian minister (Co1 16:10; Ti1 4:12; Ti2 1:7).\n\nThe DESIGN of the First Epistle was: (1) to direct Timothy to charge the false teachers against continuing to teach other doctrine than that of the Gospel (1Ti. 1:3-20; compare Rev 2:1-6); (2) to give him instructions as to the orderly conducting of worship, the qualifications of bishops and deacons, and the selection of widows who should, in return for Church charity, do appointed service (1Ti. 2:1-6:2); (3) to warn against covetousness, a sin prevalent at Ephesus, and to urge to good works (1Ti. 6:3-19). \n\n\n\nNext: 1 Timothy Chapter 1\n\n","order":54,"numberOfChapters":6,"sha256":"48b0fc452361b1836d7317bb96a56dcbac0f06c42521b3b4be1154da900d0ad7","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1TI/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1TI","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":6,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1TI/6.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1TI","chapter":6},"totalNumberOfVerses":106},"chapter":{"number":6,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["And--rather, \"But.\" The opposition is between those Christian slaves under the yoke of heathen, and those that have believing masters (he does not use the phrase \"under the yoke\" in the latter case, for service under believers is not a yoke). Connect the following words thus, \"Let them (the slaves) not, because they (the masters) are brethren (and so equals, masters and slaves alike being Christians), despise them (the masters).\" \n\nbut rather, &c.--\"but all the more (so much the more: with the greater good will) do them service because they (the masters) are faithful (that is, believers) and beloved who receive (in the mutual interchange of relative duties between master and servant; so the Greek) the benefit\" (English Version violates Greek grammar). This latter clause is parallel to, \"because they are brethren\"; which proves that \"they\" refers to the masters, not the servants, as TITTMANN takes it, explaining the verb in the common sense (Luk 1:54; Act 20:35), \"who sedulously labor for their (masters') benefit.\" The very term \"benefit\" delicately implies service done with the right motive, Christian \"good will\" (Eph 6:7). If the common sense of the Greek verb be urged, the sense must be, \"Because they (the masters) are faithful and beloved who are sedulously intent on the benefiting\" of their servants. But PORPHYRY [On Abstinence, 1.46] justifies the sense of the Greek verb given above, which also better accords with the context; for otherwise, the article \"the,\" will have nothing in the preceding words to explain it, whereas in my explanation above \"the benefit\" will be that of the slaves' service. \n\nThese things teach-- (Ti1 4:11; Tit 2:15).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["teach otherwise--than I desire thee to \"teach\" (Ti1 6:2). The Greek indicative implies, he puts not a merely supposed case, but one actually existing, Ti1 1:3, \"Every one who teaches otherwise,\" that is, who teaches heterodoxy. \n\nconsent not--Greek, \"accede not to.\" \n\nwholesome--\"sound\" (Ti1 1:10): opposed to the false teachers' words, unsound through profitless science and immorality. \n\nwords of our Lord Jesus Christ--Paul's inspired words are not merely his own, but are also Christ's words.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["He is proud--literally, \"wrapt in smoke\"; filled with the fumes of self-conceit (Ti1 3:6) while \"knowing nothing,\" namely, of the doctrine which is according to godliness (Ti1 6:3), though arrogating pre-eminent knowledge (Ti1 1:7). \n\ndoting about--literally, \"sick about\"; the opposite of \"wholesome\" (Ti1 6:3). Truth is not the center about which his investigations move, but mere word-strifes. \n\nquestions--of controversy. \n\nstrifes of words--rather than about realities (Ti2 2:14). These stand with them instead of \"godliness\" and \"wholesome words\" (Ti1 6:3; Ti1 1:4; Tit 3:9). \n\nevil surmisings--as to those who are of a different party from themselves.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["Perverse disputings--useless disputings. The oldest manuscripts read, \"lasting contests\" [WIESINGER]; \"incessant collisions\" [ALFORD]. \"Strifes of words\" had already been mentioned so that he would not be likely to repeat the same idea (as in the English Version reading) again. \n\ncorrupt minds--Greek, \"of men corrupted (depraved) in mind.\" The inmost source of the evil is in the perverted mind (Ti1 6:4; Ti2 3:8; Tit 1:15). \n\ndestitute of the truth-- (Tit 1:14). They had had the truth, but through want of moral integrity and of love of the truth, they were misled by a pretended deeper gnosis (knowledge) and higher ascetical holiness, of which they made a trade [WIESINGER]. \n\nsupposing, &c.--The Greek requires, \"supposing (regarding the matter in this point of view) that piety (so translated for 'godliness') is a means of gain (that is, a way of advancing one's worldly interests: a different Greek form, poriswa, expresses the thing gained, gain)\"; not \"that gain is godliness,\" as English Version. \n\nfrom such withdraw thyself--omitted in the oldest manuscripts. The connection with Ti1 6:6 favors the omission of these words, which interrupt the connection.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["But--Though they err in this, there is a sense in which \"piety is\" not merely gain, but \"great means of gain\": not the gaining which they pursue, and which makes men to be discontented with their present possessions, and to use religion as \"a cloak of covetousness\" (Th1 2:5) and means of earthly gain, but the present and eternal gain which piety, whose accompaniment is contentment, secures to the soul. WIESINGER remarks that Paul observed in Timothy a tendency to indolence and shrinking from the conflict, whence he felt (Ti1 6:11) that Timothy needed cautioning against such temptation; compare also the second Epistle. Not merely contentment is great gain (a sentiment of the heathen CICERO [Paradox 6], \"the greatest and surest riches\"), but \"piety with contentment\"; for piety not only feels no need of what it has not, but also has that which exalts it above what it has not [WIESINGER]. The Greek for contentment is translated \"sufficiency\" (Co2 9:8). But the adjective (Phi 4:11) \"content\"; literally, \"having a sufficiency in one's self\" independent of others. \"The Lord always supplies His people with what is necessary for them. True happiness lies in piety, but this sufficiency [supplied by God, with which moreover His people are content] is thrown into the scale as a kind of overweight\" [CALVIN] (1Ki. 17:1-16; Psa 37:19; Isa 33:6, Isa 33:16; Jer 37:21).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["For--confirming the reasonableness of \"contentment.\" \n\nand it is certain--Vulgate and other old versions support this reading. The oldest manuscripts, however, omit \"and it is certain\"; then the translation will be, \"We brought nothing into the world (to teach us to remember) that neither can we carry anything out\" (Job 1:21; Ecc 5:15). Therefore, we should have no gain-seeking anxiety, the breeder of discontent (Mat 6:25).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["And--Greek, \"But.\" In contrast to the greedy gain-seekers (Ti1 6:5). \n\nhaving--so long as we have food. (The Greek expresses \"food sufficient in each case for our continually recurring wants\" [ALFORD]). It is implied that we, as believers, shall have this (Isa 23:16). \n\nraiment--Greek, \"covering\"; according to some including a roof to cover us, that is, a dwelling, as well as clothing. \n\nlet us be therewith content--literally, \"we shall be sufficiently provided\"; \"we shall be sufficed\" [ALFORD].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["will be rich--have more than \"food and raiment.\" Greek, \"wish to be rich\"; not merely are willing, but are resolved, and earnestly desire to have riches at any cost (Pro 28:20, Pro 28:22). This wishing (not the riches themselves) is fatal to \"contentment\" (Ti1 6:6). Rich men are not told to cast away their riches, but not to \"trust\" in them, and to \"do good\" with them (Ti1 6:17-18; Psa 62:10). \n\nfall into temptation--not merely \"are exposed to temptation,\" but actually \"fall into\" it. The falling into it is what we are to pray against, \"Lead us not into temptation\" (Jam 1:14); such a one is already in a sinful state, even before any overt act of sin. The Greek for \"temptation\" and \"gain\" contains a play on sounds--porasmus, peirasmus. \n\nsnare--a further step downwards (Ti1 3:7). He falls into \"the snare of the devil.\" \n\nfoolish--irrational. \n\nhurtful--to those who fall into the snare. Compare Eph 4:22, \"deceitful lusts\" which deceive to one's deadly hurt. \n\nlusts--With the one evil lust (\"wish to be rich\") many others join themselves: the one is the \"root of all evils\" (Ti1 6:10). \n\nwhich--Greek, \"whatever (lusts).\" \n\ndrown--an awful descending climax from \"fall into\"; this is the last step in the terrible descent (Jam 1:15); translated \"sink,\" Luk 5:7. \n\ndestruction . . . perdition--destruction in general (temporal or eternal), and perdition in particular, namely, that of body and soul in hell.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["the love of money--not the money itself, but the love of it--the wishing to be rich (Ti1 6:9) --\"is a root (ELLICOTT and MIDDLETON: not as English Version, 'the root') of all evils.\" (So the Greek plural). The wealthiest may be rich not in a bad sense; the poorest may covet to be so (Psa 62:10). Love of money is not the sole root of evils, but it is a leading \"root of bitterness\" (Heb 12:15), for \"it destroys faith, the root of all that is good\" [BENGEL]; its offshoots are \"temptation, a snare, lusts, destruction, perdition.\" \n\ncoveted after--lusted after. \n\nerred from--literally, \"have been made to err from the faith\" (Ti1 1:19; Ti1 4:1). \n\npierced-- (Luk 2:35). \n\nwith . . . sorrows--\"pains\": \"thorns\" of the parable (Mat 13:22) which choke the word of \"faith.\" \"The prosperity of fools destroys them\" (Pro 1:32). BENGEL and WIESINGER make them the gnawings of conscience, producing remorse for wealth badly acquired; the harbingers of the future \"perdition\" (Ti1 6:9).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["But thou--in contrast to the \"some\" (Ti1 6:10). \n\nman of God--who hast God as thy true riches (Gen 15:1; Psa 16:5; Lam 3:24). Applying primarily to Timothy as a minister (compare Pe2 1:21), just as the term was used of Moses (Deu 33:1), Samuel (Sa1 9:6), Elijah, and Elisha; but, as the exhortation is as to duties incumbent also on all Christians, the term applies secondarily to him (so Ti2 3:17) as a Christian man born of God (Jam 1:18; Jo1 5:1), no longer a man of the world raised above earthly things; therefore, God's property, not his own, bought with a price, and so having parted with all right in himself: Christ's work is to be his great work: he is to be Christ's living representative. \n\nflee these things--namely, \"the love of money\" with its evil results (Ti1 6:9-10). \n\nfollow after righteousness-- (Ti2 2:22). \n\ngodliness--\"piety.\" Righteousness is more in relation to our fellow man; piety (\"godliness\") to God\"; faith is the root of both (see on Tit 2:12). \n\nlove--by which \"faith worketh.\" \n\npatience--enduring perseverance amidst trials. \n\nmeekness--The oldest manuscripts read, \"meek-spiritedness,\" namely, towards the opponents of the Gospel.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["Fight the good fight--BIRKS thinks this Epistle was written from Corinth, where contests in the national games recurred at stated seasons, which will account for the allusion here as in Co1 9:24-26. Contrast \"strifes of words\" (Ti1 6:4). Compare Ti1 1:18; Ti2 4:7. The \"good profession\" is connected with the good fight (Psa 60:4). \n\nlay hold on eternal life--the crown, or garland, the prize of victory, laid hold of by the winner in the \"good fight\" (Ti2 4:7-8; Phi 3:12-14). \"Fight (literally, 'strive') with such striving earnestness as to lay hold on the prize, eternal life.\" \n\nalso--not in the oldest manuscripts. \n\nprofessed a good profession--Greek, \"didst confess THE good confession,\" namely, the Christian confession (as the Greek word is the same in this verse as that for \"confession\" in Ti1 6:13, probably the profession here is the confession that Christ's kingdom is the kingdom of the truth, Joh 18:36-37), at thy being set apart to thy ministerial function (whether in general, or as overseer at Ephesus): the same occasion as is referred to in Ti1 1:18; Ti1 4:14; Ti2 1:4. \n\nbefore many witnesses--who would testify against thee if thou shouldest fall away [BENGEL].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["quickeneth all things--that is, \"maketh alive.\" But the oldest manuscripts read, \"preserveth alive\"; as the same Greek means in Act 7:19; compare Neh 9:6. He urges Timothy to faithfulness here by the present manifestation of God's power in preserving all things, as in Ti1 6:14, by the future manifestation of God's power at the appearing of Christ. The assurance that \"eternal life,\" Ti1 6:12, will be the result of \"fighting the good fight,\" rests on the fulness and power of Him who is the God of all life, present and to come. \n\nwitnessed--It was the Lord's part to witness, Timothy's part to confess (or \"profess,\" Ti1 6:12) \"the good confession\" [BENGEL]. The confession was His testimony that He was King, and His kingdom that of the truth (see on Ti1 6:12; Ti1 6:15; Mat 27:11). Christ, in attesting, or bearing witness to this truth, attested the truth of the whole of Christianity. Timothy's profession, or confession, included therefore the whole of the Christian truth.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["keep this commandment--Greek, \"the commandment,\" that is, the Gospel rule of life (Ti1 1:5; Joh 13:34; Pe2 2:21; Pe2 3:2). \n\nwithout spot, unrebukeable--agreeing with \"thou.\" Keep the commandment and so be without spot,\" &c. \"Pure\" (Ti1 5:22; Eph 5:27; Jam 1:27; Pe2 3:14). \n\nuntil the appearing of . . . Christ--His coming in person (Th2 2:8; Tit 2:13). Believers then used in their practice to set before themselves the day of Christ as near at hand; we, the hour of death [BENGEL]. The fact has in all ages of the Church been certain, the time as uncertain to Paul, as it is to us; hence, Ti1 6:15, he says, \"in HIS times\": the Church's true attitude is that of continual expectation of her Lord's return (Co1 1:8; Phi 1:6, Phi 1:10).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["in his times--Greek, \"His own [fitting] times\" (Act 1:7). The plural implies successive stages in the manifestation of the kingdom of God, each having its own appropriate time, the regulating principle and knowledge of which rests with the Father (Ti1 2:6; Ti2 1:9; Tit 1:3; Heb 1:1). \n\nhe shall show--\"display\": an expression appropriate in reference to His \"APPEARING,\" which is stronger than His \"coming,\" and implies its visibility; \"manifest\": make visible (compare Act 3:20): \"He\" is the Father (Ti1 6:16). \n\nblessed--in Himself: so about to be the source of blessing to His people at Christ appearing, whence flows their \"blessed hope\" (Ti1 1:11; Tit 2:13). \n\nonly-- (Joh 17:3; Rom 16:27; Rev 15:4). \n\nKing of kings--elsewhere applied also to Jesus (Rev 1:5; Rev 17:14; Rev 19:16).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["Who only hath immortality--in His own essence, not merely at the will of another, as all other immortal beings [JUSTIN MARTYR, QuÃ&brvbrst. ad Orthod., 61]. As He hath immortality, so will He give it to us who believe; to be out of Him is death. It is mere heathen philosophy that attributes to the soul indestructibility in itself, which is to be attributed solely to God's gift. As He hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (Joh 5:26). The term used in the New Testament for \"immortal,\" which does not occur, is \"incorruptible.\" \"Immortality\" is found in Co1 15:53-54. \n\ndwelling in the light which no man can approach unto--After life comes mention of light, as in Joh 1:4. That light is unapproachable to creatures, except in so far as they are admitted by Him, and as He goes forth to them [BENGEL]. It is unapproachable on account of its exceeding brightness [THEOPHYLACT]. If one cannot gaze steadfastly at the sun, which is but a small part of creation, by reason of its exceeding heat and power, how much less can mortal man gaze at the inexpressible glory of God [THEOPHYLACT, To Autolycus] (Psa 104:2; Jo1 1:5). \n\nno man hath seen-- (Exo 23:20; Joh 1:18; Col 1:15; Heb 11:27; Jo1 4:12). Perhaps even in the perfect state no creature shall fully see God. Still the saints shall, in some sense, have the blessedness of seeing Him, which is denied to mere man (Mat 5:8; Co1 13:12; Jo1 3:2; Rev 22:4).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["Resuming the subject from above, Ti1 6:5, Ti1 6:10. The immortality of God, alone rich in glory, and of His people through Him, is opposed to the lust of money (compare Ti1 6:14-16). From speaking of the desire to be rich, he here passes to those who are rich: (1) What ought to be their disposition; (2) What use they ought to make of their riches, and, (3) The consequences of their so using them. \n\nrich in this world--contrasted with the riches of the future kingdom to be the portion of believers at Christ's \"appearing,\" Ti1 6:14. \n\nhigh-minded--often the character of the rich (see Rom 12:16). \n\ntrust--Greek, \"to have their trust resting.\" \n\nin . . . in--rather, \"upon . . . upon,\" as the oldest manuscripts. \n\nuncertain riches--rather as Greek, \"the uncertainty of riches.\" They who rest their trust on riches, rest trust on uncertainty itself (Pro 23:5). Now they belong to one person, now to another, and that which has many masters is possessed by none [THEODORET]. \n\nliving God--The best manuscripts and versions omit \"living.\" He who trusts in riches transfers to them the duty he owes to God [CALVIN]. \n\nwho giveth--Greek, \"affordeth.\" \n\nall things richly--temporal and eternal, for the body and for the soul. In order to be truly rich, seek to be blessed of, and in, God (Pro 10:22; Pe2 1:3). \n\nto enjoy--Greek, \"for enjoyment.\" Not that the heart may cleave to them as its idol and trust (Ti1 4:3). Enjoyment consists in giving, not in holding fast. Non-employment should be far removed, as from man, so from his resources (Jam 5:2-3) [BENGEL].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["do good--like God Himself (Psa 119:68; Act 14:17) and Christ (Act 10:38). TITTMANN translates, \"to do,\" or \"act well\"; as the Greek for \"to be beneficent\" is a distinct word, agathopoiein. \n\nrich in good works--so \"rich in faith,\" which produces good works (Jam 2:5). Contrasted with \"rich in this world,\" Ti1 6:17. Literally, it is \"rich in honorable (right) works.\" Greek, \"kalois,\" \"ergois,\" are works good or right in themselves: \"agathois,\" good to another. \n\nready to distribute--free givers [ALFORD]; the heart not cleaving to possessions, but ready to impart to others. \n\nwilling to communicate--ready contributors [ALFORD]: liberal in admitting others to share our goods in common with ourselves (Gal 6:6; Heb 13:16).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["Laying up in store--\"therefrom (that is, by this means [ALFORD]; but BENGEL makes the Greek \"apo\" mean laying apart against a future time), laying up for themselves as a treasure\" [ALFORD] (Mat 6:19-20). This is a treasure which we act wisely in laying up in store, whereas the wisest thing we can do with earthly treasures is \"to distribute\" them and give others a share of them (Ti1 6:18). \n\ngood foundation--(See on Ti1 3:13; Luk 6:48; Co1 3:11). The sure reversion of the future heavenly inheritance: earthly riches scattered in faith lay up in store a sure increase of heavenly riches. We gather by scattering (Pro 11:24; Pro 13:7; Luk 16:9). \n\nthat . . . eternal life--The oldest manuscripts and versions read, \"that which is really life,\" its joys being solid and enduring (Psa 16:11). The life that now is cannot be called so, its goods being unsubstantial, and itself a vapor (Jam 4:14). \"In order that ('with their feet so to speak on this foundation' [DE WETTE]) they may lay hold on that which is life indeed.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["Recapitulatory conclusion: the main aim of the whole Epistle being here summarily stated. \n\nO Timothy--a personal appeal, marking at once his affection for Timothy, and his prescience of the coming heresies. \n\nkeep--from spiritual thieves, and from enemies who will, while men sleep, sow tares amidst the good seed sown by the Son of man. \n\nthat which is committed to thy trust--Greek, \"the deposit\" (Ti1 1:18; Ti2 1:12, Ti2 1:14; Ti2 2:2). \"The true\" or \"sound doctrine\" to be taught, as opposed to \"the science falsely so called,\" which leads to \"error concerning the faith\" (Ti1 6:21). \"It is not thine: it is another's property with which thou hast been entrusted: Diminish it not at all\" [CHRYSOSTOM]. \"That which was entrusted to thee, not found by thee; which thou hast received, not invented; a matter not of genius, but of teaching; not of private usurpation, but of public tradition; a matter brought to thee, not put forth by thee, in which thou oughtest to be not an enlarger, but a guardian; not an originator, but a disciple; not leading, but following. 'Keep,' saith he, 'the deposit,'; preserve intact and inviolate the talent of the catholic faith. What has been entrusted to thee, let that same remain with thee; let that same be handed down by thee. Gold thou hast received, gold return. I should be sorry thou shouldest substitute aught else. I should be sorry that for gold thou shouldest substitute lead impudently, or brass fraudulently. I do not want the mere appearance of gold, but its actual reality. Not that there is to be no progress in religion in Christ's Church. Let there be so by all means, and the greatest progress; but then let it be real progress, not a change of the faith. Let the intelligence of the whole Church and its individual members increase exceedingly, provided it be only in its own kind, the doctrine being still the same. Let the religion of the soul resemble the growth of the body,which, though it develops its several parts in the progress of years, yet remains the same as it was essentially\" [VINCENTIUS LIRINENSIS, A.D. 434]. \n\navoiding--\"turning away from\" (compare Ti2 3:4). Even as they have \"turned away from the truth\" (Ti1 1:6; Ti1 5:15; Ti2 4:4). \n\nprofane-- (Ti1 4:7; Ti2 2:16). \n\nvain--Greek, \"empty\": mere \"strifes of words,\" Ti1 6:4, producing no moral fruit. \n\noppositions--dialectic antithesis of the false teachers [ALFORD]. WIESINGER, not so probably, \"oppositions to the sound doctrine.\" I think it likely germs existed already of the heresy of dualistic oppositions, namely, between the good and evil principle, afterwards fully developed in Gnosticism. Contrast Paul's just antithesis (Ti1 3:16; Ti1 6:5-6; Ti2 2:15-23). \n\nscience falsely so called--where there is not faith, there is not knowledge [CHRYSOSTOM]. There was true \"knowledge,\" a special gift of the Spirit, which was abused by some (Co1 8:1; Co1 12:8; Co1 14:6). This gift was soon counterfeited by false teachers arrogating to themselves pre-eminently the gift (Col 2:8, Col 2:18, Col 2:23). Hence arose the creeds of the Church, called symbols, that is, in Greek, \"watchwords,\" or a test whereby the orthodox might distinguish one another in opposition to the heretical. Perhaps here, Ti1 6:20, and Ti2 1:13-14, imply the existence of some such brief formula of doctrine then existing in the Church; if so, we see a good reason for its not being written in Scripture, which is designed not to give dogmatic formularies, but to be the fountain whence all such formularies are to be drawn according to the exigencies of the several churches and ages. Probably thus a portion of the so-called apostle's creed may have had their sanction, and been preserved solely by tradition on this account. \"The creed, handed down from the apostles, is not written on paper and with ink, but on fleshy tables of the heart\" JEROME [Against John of Jerusalem, 9]. Thus, in the creed, contrary to the \"oppositions\" (the germs of which probably existed in the Church in Paul's latter days) whereby the aeons were set off in pairs, God is stated to be \"the Father Almighty,\" or all-governing \"maker of heaven and earth\" [BISHOP HINDS].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["Which some professing--namely, professing these oppositions of science falsely so called. \n\nerred--(See on Ti1 1:6; Ti1 2:11) --literally, \"missed the mark\" (Ti2 3:7-8). True sagacity is inseparable from faith. \n\nGrace--Greek, \"the grace,\" namely, of God, for which we Christians look, and in which we stand [ALFORD]. \n\nbe with thee--He restricts the salutation to Timothy, as the Epistle was not to be read in public [BENGEL]. But the oldest manuscripts read, \"be with you\"; and the \"thee\" may be a transcriber's alteration to harmonize with Ti2 4:22; Tit 3:15. \n\nAmen--omitted in the oldest manuscripts.\n\n\n\n\n\nNext: 2 Timothy Introduction\n\n"]}],"introduction":"EXHORTATIONS AS TO DISTINCTIONS OF CIVIL RANK; THE DUTY OF SLAVES, IN OPPOSITION TO THE FALSE TEACHINGS OF GAIN-SEEKERS; TIMOTHY'S PURSUIT IS TO BE GODLINESS, WHICH IS AN EVERLASTING POSSESSION: SOLEMN ADJURATION TO DO SO AGAINST CHRIST'S COMING; CHARGE TO BE GIVEN TO THE RICH. CONCLUDING EXHORTATION. (1Ti. 6:1-21)\n\nservants--to be taken as predicated thus, \"Let as many as are under the yoke (as) slaves\" (Tit 2:9). The exhortation is natural as there was a danger of Christian slaves inwardly feeling above their heathen masters. \n\ntheir own masters--The phrase \"their own,\" is an argument for submissiveness; it is not strangers, but their own masters whom they are required to respect. \n\nall honour--all possible and fitting honor; not merely outward subjection, but that inward honor from which will flow spontaneously right outward conduct (see on Eph 5:22). \n\nthat the name of God--by which Christians are called. \n\nblasphemed--Heathen masters would say, What kind of a God must be the God of the Christians, when such are the fruits of His worship (Rom 2:24; Tit 2:5, Tit 2:10)?\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1TI/6.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1TI","chapter":6},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2TI/1.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2TI","chapter":1},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/1TI/5.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"1TI","chapter":5},"numberOfVerses":20}