This section has six verses:
1 Timothy 6:11-16
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and
follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on
eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and
hast professed a good profession before many
witnesses.
13 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who
quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who
before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
14 That thou keep this commandment without spot,
unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ:
15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the
blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and
Lord of lords;
16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light
which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath
seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power
everlasting. Amen.
We will begin with the Barclay commentary.
CHALLENGE TO TIMOTHY
1 Timothy 6:11–16
First the paraphrase of the verses:
But you, O man of God, flee from these things.
Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of
faith; lay hold on eternal life, to which you are
called, now that you have witnessed a noble
profession of your faith in the presence of many
witnesses. I charge you in the sight of God, who
makes all things alive, and in the sight of Christ
Jesus, who, in the days of Pontius Pilate, witnessed
his noble confession, that you keep the commandment,
that you should be without spot and without blame,
until the day when our Lord Jesus Christ appears,
that appearance which in his own good times the
blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and
the Lord of lords, will show, he who alone possesses
immortality, he who dwells in the light that no man
can approach, he whom no man has seen or ever can
see, to whom be honour and everlasting power. Amen.
THE letter comes to an end with a tremendous
challenge to Timothy, a challenge all the greater
because of the deliberate sonorous [high-flown;
grandiloquent or lofty style] nobility of
the words in which it is clothed.
Right at the outset, Timothy is challenged to excel.
He is addressed as man of God. That is one of the
great Old Testament titles. It is a title given to
Moses. Deuteronomy 33:1 speaks of ‘Moses, the man of
God.’ The title of Psalm 90 is ‘A Prayer of Moses,
the man of God.’ It is a title of the prophets and
the messengers of God. God’s messenger to Eli is a
man of God (1 Samuel 2:27). Samuel is described as a
man of God (1 Samuel 9:6). Shemaiah, God’s messenger
to Rehoboam, is a man of God (1 Kings 12:22). John
Bunyan in The Pilgrim’s Progress calls Great-Grace
‘God’s Champion’.
Here is a tide of honour. When the challenge is
presented to Timothy, he is not reminded of his own
weakness and sin, which might well have reduced him
to pessimistic despair; rather, he is challenged by
the honour given to him, of being God’s man. It is
the Christian way, not to depress people by branding
them as lost and helpless sinners, but rather to
uplift them by summoning them to be what they have
it in them to be. The Christian way is not to fling
a humiliating past in someone’s face, but to set
before that person the splendour of the potential
future. The very fact that Timothy was addressed as
‘man of God’ would make him stand up straight and
throw his head back as one who has received his
commission from the King.
The virtues and noble qualities set before Timothy
are not just heaped haphazardly together. There is
an order in them. First, there comes righteousness,
dikaiosune¯. This is defined as ‘giving both to
other people and to God their due’. It is the most
comprehensive of the virtues; the righteous are
those who do their duty to God and to their
neighbours.
Second, there comes a group of three virtues which
look towards God. Godliness, eusebeia, is the
reverence of the person who never ceases to be aware
that all life is lived in the presence of God.
Faith, pistis, here means fidelity, and is the
virtue of the person who, through all the chances [opportunities]
and the changes of life, down even to the gates of
death, is loyal to God. Love, agape, is the virtue
possessed by those who, even if they tried, could
not forget what God has done for them nor the love
of God to all people.
Third, there comes the virtue which looks to the
conduct of life. It is hupomone¯. The Authorized
Version translates this as patience; but hupomone¯
never means the spirit which sits quietly and simply
puts up with things, letting the experiences of life
flow like a tide over it. It is victorious
endurance. ‘It is unswerving constancy to faith and
piety in spite of adversity and suffering.’ It is
the virtue which does not so much accept the
experiences of life as conquer them.
Fourth, there comes the virtue which considers
others. The Greek word is paupatheia. It is
translated as gentleness, but is really
untranslatable. It describes the spirit which never
blazes into anger for its own wrongs but can be
devastatingly angry about wrongs done to other
people. It describes the spirit which knows how to
forgive and yet knows how to wage the battle of
righteousness. It describes the spirit which walks
in humility and yet also in pride of its high
calling from God. It describes the virtue which
enables people to keep a true balance between
concern and respect for others and self-esteem.
MEMORIES WHICH INSPIRE
As Timothy is challenged to the task of the future,
he is inspired with the memories of the past.
(1) He is to remember his baptism and the vows he
took there. In the circumstances of the early
Church, baptism was inevitably adult baptism, for
men and women were coming straight from the old
religions to Christ. It was confession of faith and
witness to all that the baptized person had taken
Jesus Christ as Saviour, Master and Lord. The
earliest of all Christian confessions was the simple
creed: ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ (Romans 10:9;
Philippians 2:11). But it has been suggested that
behind these words to Timothy lies a confession of
faith which said: ‘I believe in God the Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth, and in Christ Jesus who
suffered under Pontius Pilate and will return to
judge; I believe in the resurrection from the dead
and in the [eternal life].’ It may well have been a
creed like that to which Timothy gave his
allegiance. So, first of all, he is reminded that he
is a man who has given his promise. Christians are
first and foremost men and women who have pledged
themselves to Jesus Christ.
(2) He is to remember that he has made the same
confession of his faith as Jesus did. When Jesus
stood before Pilate, Pilate said: ‘Are you the king
of the Jews?’ and Jesus answered: ‘You say so’ (Luke
23:3). Jesus had witnessed that he was a king, and
Timothy had always witnessed to the lordship of
Christ. When Christians confess their faith, they do
what their Master has already done; when they suffer
for their faith, they undergo what their Master has
already undergone. When we are engaged on some great
enterprise, we can say: ‘We are treading where the
saints have trod’, but when we confess our faith
before others, we are able to say even more; we can
say: ‘I stand with Christ’; and surely this must
lift up our hearts and inspire our lives.
(3) He is to remember that Christ comes again. He is
to remember that his life and work must be made fit
for him to see. Christians are not working to
satisfy other people; they are working to satisfy
Christ. The question a Christian must always ask is
not: ‘Is this good enough to pass the judgment of
others?’ but: ‘Is it good enough to win the approval
of Christ?’
(4) Above all, he is to remember God. And what a
memory that is! He is to remember the one who is
King of every king and Lord of every lord; the one
who possesses the gift of life eternal to give to
men and women; the one whose holiness and majesty
are such that no one can ever dare to look upon
them. Christians must always remember God and say:
‘If God is for us, who is against us?’ (Romans
8:31). ~Barclay Commentary
Now to the other commentaries.
The lesson for tonight is verse 16
1 Timothy 6:16
Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light
which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath
seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power
everlasting. Amen.
The commentaries break this down into four parts:
1] Who only hath immortality
2] Dwelling in the light which no man can approach
unto
3] Whom no man hath seen, nor can see:
4] To whom be honour and power everlasting
1] Who only hath immortality.
Who only hath immortality
- Other beings, His creatures, are immortal by the
appointment of the great Creator. He only has it as
the very essence of His being.
~Popular commentary
Who only hath immortality
- He is the source from whence there comes to
man eternal life. ~People's
New Testament
Who only hath immortality
- The word here - ἀθανασία athanasia - properly
means “exemption from death,” and seems to mean that
God, in his own nature, enjoys a perfect and certain
exemption from death. Creatures have immortality
only as they derive it from him, and of course are
dependent on him for it. He has it by his very
nature, and it is in his case underived, and he
cannot be deprived of it. It is one of the essential
attributes of his being, that he will always exist,
and that death cannot reach him.
~Barnes Notes
Who only hath immortality
- All beings that are not eternal must be mutable [capable
of or subject to change]; but there can
be only one eternal Being, that is God; and he only
can have immortality. ~Adam
Clarke
Who only hath immortality
- Angels are immortal and so will be the bodies of
men after the resurrection; but then neither of
these have immortality of themselves, they have it
from God; who only has it, of himself, originally
and essentially ~John Gill
Who only hath immortality
- In His own essence, not merely at the will
of another, as all other immortal beings. 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 (John 5:26).
~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
Quoted verse:
John 5:26
For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he
given to the Son to have life in himself.
2] Dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto.
Dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto. - The symbolism is
perhaps the highest that man’s thoughts can fashion,
and has abundant sanction in Psalm 104:2. But we
must remember that after all it is but symbolism,
and that from another point of view God Himself is
the Light in which He is here said to dwell, 1 John
1:5. ~Popular commentary
Quoted verses:
Psalm 104:2
Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment:
who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
1 John 1:5
This then is the message which we have heard of him,
and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him
is no darkness at all.
Dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto. - Surrounded by the
divine splendors which no mortal can gaze upon.
~People's New Testament
Dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto - Greek, “Inhabiting
inapproachable light.” The light where he dwells is
so brilliant and dazzling that mortal eyes could not
endure it. This is a very common representation of
the dwelling place of God. Heaven is constantly
represented as a place of the most pure and
brilliant light, needing not the light of the sun,
or the moon, or the stars Revelation 21:23-24;
Revelation 22:5, and God is represented as dwelling
in that light, surrounded by amazing and
inapproachable glory.
~Barnes Notes
Quoted verses:
Revelation 21:23-24
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of
the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24 And the nations of them which are saved shall
walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth
do bring their glory and honour into it.
Revelation 22:5
And there shall be no night there; and they need no
candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God
giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and
ever.
Dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto - All this is said by
the apostle in three words φως οικων απροσιτον,
inhabiting unapproachable light. Such is the
excessive glory of God, that man cannot approach it.
~Adam Clarke
Dwelling in that light which
no man can approach unto - in this present,
frail, and mortal state; yea, angels themselves
cannot bear the lustre of it, but cover their faces
with their wings; for God is light itself, as well
as clothes himself with light, as with a garment;
and is the Father and fountain of lights to all his
creatures. ~John Gill
Note: At
this point in the Bible study I recited a number of
scriptures that speak to firstfruits moving forward
in the Salvation Process to the same Light God is as
shown in this verse.
Psalm 4:6
There be many that say, Who will shew us any
good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy
countenance upon us.
Psalm 18:28
For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my
God will enlighten my darkness.
Psalm 27:1
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and
my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is
the strength of my life; of whom shall I be
afraid?
Psalm 36:9
For with thee is the fountain of life: in
thy light shall we see light.
Psalm 37:6
And he shall bring forth thy righteousness
as the light, and thy judgment as the
noonday.
Proverbs 6:23
For the commandment is a lamp; and the law
is light; and reproofs of instruction are
the way of life:
Luke 11:35
Take heed therefore that the light which is
in thee be not darkness.
John 1:7
The same came for a witness, to bear witness
of the Light, that all men through him might
believe.
Ephesians 5:8
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are
ye light in the Lord: walk as children of
light:
1 Thessalonians 5:5
Ye are all the children of light, and the
children of the day: we are not of the
night, nor of darkness.
1 John 2:10
He that loveth his brother abideth in the
light, and there is none occasion of
stumbling in him. |
3] Whom no man hath seen, nor can
see:
Whom no man hath seen, nor can
see - Consider what the eye itself is, the
poor implement of which we demand so much. A ball of
clay and mortality, it can act only on what is
material and corruptible like itself. It is limited
to a certain province even among these surrounding
things. How delicate an organ it is, that is yet
capable of taking in the broad scenes of the ocean
and the land, and reaching as it were the stars at
their immeasurable distances! At very short
intervals of time it must be shut up within its
fringes from the very light that it lives by; and
when it is in its utmost vigour, the direct flash of
a single sunbeam is more than it can bear. A tear
dims it. A mote takes away from it every capacity
but that of pain. A spark destroys it for ever. It
cannot penetrate even the thin veils of outward
nature. The true light may shine inward, though the
body be dark. The soul sees otherwise and more nobly
than through that narrow window. Is it through these
lenses of flesh—so easily distempered, so often
giving false pictures, so soon to perish—is it
through these that we would gaze on the King
Eternal? ~The Biblical
Illustrator
Whom no man hath seen, nor can
see - Moses himself could only see the symbol
of the Divine presence; but the face of God no man
could ever see. Because he is infinite and eternal,
therefore he is incomprehensible; and if
incomprehensible to the mind, consequently invisible
to the eye. ~Adam Clarke
Whom no man hath seen, nor can
see - Nowhere but in Christ, at least
spiritually and savingly; and that but very
imperfectly in the present state: the sin, frailty,
and mortality of human nature must be taken away, in
order to inherit the kingdom of God.
~John Gill
Whom no man hath teen or can
see. - Better, ‘whom no man ever saw.’ A
comparison of this verse with John 1:18 shows that
the whole passage refers to the Father and not to
the Son, and the two taken together serve to show
the harmony between the two great apostles on this
common point of their theology. The whole passage
has in the Greek a rhythmical, almost metrical
character, and may have been, as many commentators
think, a quotation from some liturgical hymn [characterized
by ceremony].
~Popular commentary
Quoted verse:
John 1:18
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath
declared him.
4] To whom be honour and power
everlasting.
To whom be honour and power
everlasting - As the author of being, and the
dispenser of all good, be ascribed honor and power -
the sole authority of all-pervading,
all-superintending, all-preserving, and everlasting
might.
The words of St. Paul are inimitably [ĭ-nĭm'ĭ-tə-bəl-ly-matchless]
sublime [high spiritual
worth]. It is a doubt whether human
language can be carried much higher, even under the
influence of inspiration, in a description of the
supreme Being. It is well known that St. Paul had
read the Greek poets. He quotes Aratus, Epimenides,
and Menander; this is allowed on all hands. But does
he not quote, or refer to, Aeschylus and Sophocles
too? Scarcely any person suspects this; and yet
there is such a complete similarity between the
following quotations from the above poets and the
apostle’s words, that we are almost persuaded he had
them in his eye. But if so, he extends the thought
infinitely higher, by language incomparably more
exalted. ~Adam Clarke
To whom be honour and power
everlasting. - Which may be considered either
as a wish, that such honour, power, and glory might
be ascribed unto him, as we supply it; or as an
assertion that it is given to him, as it is by the
angels. ~John Gill |