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1 Timothy 6:17 |
Charge them that are rich in this
world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in
uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth
us richly all things to enjoy;
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This section has three verses.
1 Timothy 6:17-19
17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that
they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain
riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly
all things to enjoy;
18 That they do good, that they be rich in good
works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
19 Laying up in store for themselves a good
foundation against the time to come, that they may
lay hold on eternal life.
We will begin with the Barclay commentary:
ADVICE TO THE RICH
1 Timothy 6:17–19
First the paraphrase of the three verses
Charge those who are rich in this world’s goods not
to be proud, and not to set their hopes on the
uncertainty of riches, but on God who gives them all
things richly to enjoy. Charge them to do good; to
find their wealth in noble deeds; to be ready to
share all that they have; to be men who never forget
that they are members of a fellowship; to lay up for
themselves the treasure of a fine foundation for the
world to come, that they may lay hold on real life.
SOMETIMES we think of the early Church as composed
entirely of poor people and slaves. Here we see
that, even as early as this, it had its wealthy
members. They are not condemned for being wealthy,
nor told to give all their wealth away; but they are
told what not to do and what to do with it.
Their riches must not make them proud. They must not
think themselves better than other people because
they have more money. Nothing in this world gives
anyone the right to look down on another person,
least of all the possession of wealth. They must not
set their hopes on wealth. In the chances and the
changes of life, we may be wealthy today and find
ourselves in poverty tomorrow; and it is folly to
set one’s hopes on what can so easily be lost.
They are told that they must use their wealth to do
good, that they must always be ready to share, and
that they must remember that every Christian is a
member of a fellowship. And they are told that such
wise use of wealth will build for them a good
foundation in the world to come. As it has been put,
‘What I kept, I lost; what I gave, I have.’
There is a famous Jewish Rabbinic story. A man
called Monobaz had inherited great wealth, but he
was a good, a kindly and a generous man. In time of
famine, he gave away all his wealth to help the
poor. His brothers came to him and said: ‘Your
fathers laid up treasure, and added to the treasure
that they had inherited from their fathers, and are
you going to waste it all?’ He answered: ‘My fathers
laid up treasure below: I have laid it up above. My
fathers laid up treasure of Mammon: I have laid up
treasure of souls. My fathers laid up treasure for
this world: I have laid up treasure for the world to
come.’
Every time we could give and do not give lessens the
wealth laid up for us in the world to come; every
time we give increases the riches laid up for us
when this life comes to an end. The teaching of the
Christian ethic is not that wealth is a sin but that
it is a very great responsibility. If wealth
ministers to nothing but personal pride and enriches
no one but the wealthy individual, it becomes that
person’s ruination, because it impoverishes the
soul. But if wealth is used to bring help and
comfort to others, in becoming poorer, the wealthy
person really becomes richer. In time and in
eternity, ‘it is more blessed to give than to
receive’ (Acts 20:35).
~Barclay commentary
Now to the other commentaries.
Our lesson again is verse 17
1 Timothy 6:17
Charge them that are rich in this world, that they
be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches,
but in the living God, who giveth us richly all
things to enjoy;
The commentaries generally break this down into 4
phrases:
1] Charge them that are rich in this world, that
they be no high-minded. Note: some divide this into
two phrases.
2] Nor trust in uncertain riches
3] But in the living God.
4] Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
Before we get into these 4 phrases, let us read the
Matthew Henry Concise commentary that covers verses
17-21.
Being rich in this world is wholly different from
being rich towards God. Nothing is more uncertain
than worldly wealth. Those who are rich, must see
that God gives them their riches; and he only can
give to enjoy them richly; for many have riches, but
enjoy them poorly, not having a heart to use them.
What is the best estate worth, more than as it gives
opportunity of doing the more good? Showing faith in
Christ by fruits of love, let us lay hold on eternal
life, when the self-indulgent, covetous, and ungodly
around, lift up their eyes in torment. That learning
which opposes the truth of the gospel, is not true
science, or real knowledge, or it would approve the
gospel, and consent to it. Those who advance reason
above faith, are in danger of leaving faith. Grace
includes all that is good, and grace is an earnest,
a beginning of glory; wherever God gives grace, he
will give glory. ~Matthew
Henry Concise
1] Charge them that are rich in
this world, that they be no high-minded.
Charge them that are rich.
- Some in Ephesus had riches. These must be humble
and "condescend to men of low estate." Their trust
must be in God, rather than in uncertain riches.
~People's New Testament
Charge them that are rich in
this world, that they be not high-minded -
One of the evils to which they are particularly
exposed. The idea is, that they should not value
themselves on account of their wealth, or look down
with pride and arrogance on their inferiors. They
should not suppose that they are any better people
or any nearer [Salvation], because they are wealthy.
Property really makes no distinction in the great
things that pertain to character and salvation, It
does not necessarily make one wise, or learned, or
great, or good. In all these things, the man who has
not wealth may be vastly the superior of him who
has; and for so slight and unimportant a distinction
as gold can confer, no man should be proud. Besides,
let such a man reflect that his property is the gift
of God; that he is made rich because God has chosen
to arrange things so that he should be; that it is
not primarily owing to any skill or wisdom which he
has; that his property only increases his
responsibility, and that it must all soon be left,
and he be as poor as the “beggar that lies at his
gate;” and he will see ample reason why he should
not be proud. ~Barnes Notes
Charge them that are rich
- He had before, in 1 Timothy 6:9-10, given them a
very awful lesson concerning their obtaining riches;
and now he gives them one equally so concerning
their use of them. ~Adam
Clarke
Quoted verse:
1 Timothy 6:9-10
[see
lessons]
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation
and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil:
which while some coveted after, they have erred from
the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.
That they be not high-minded
- That they do not value themselves on account of
their wealth, for this adds nothing to mind or moral
worth. ~Adam Clarke
Charge them that are rich in
this world - Or in the things of this world.
The Arabic version reads, "in this present world":
in distinction from the world to come: some are poor
in this world, and rich in another; others are rich
in this world, and poor, and wretched, and miserable
in the world to come: some are rich in both worlds,
and such were at least some of those the apostle
here refers to, who were members of the church at
Ephesus, which was a rich city, and some rich men in
it were called by the grace of God; and to
distinguish these from others, who, though poor in
this world, were rich in grace and in spiritual
gifts, he so calls them; as well as to observe that
their riches were like the world they were in,
deceitful, empty, unsatisfying, and perishing: these
the apostle would have not only spoke to,
instructed, exhorted, and entreated, but strictly
charged and commanded, without paying any regard to
their worldly grandeur and riches.
~John Gill
That they be not high minded
- the Ethiopic version reads - "that they be
not lifted up in this world"; with their wealth and
worldly substance, and look down from the height of
their honour and riches with contempt upon the poor,
entertaining high thoughts of themselves, as if
their bodies were of another matter and make, when
they have all one Maker, are of one blood, and of
the earth, earthly, and must return to it; or as if
their souls were more large and capacious [more
spacious or roomy], and they were wiser
and more knowing, whereas riches are not always to
men of understanding, a fool may be rich, and a wise
man poor; or as if they [the
rich] were the peculiar favorites of
heaven, when, for the most part, God chooses and
calls the poor of this world; or as if others [the
poorer] were unworthy of their looks,
company, and conversation. Riches produce pride;
rich men are apt to be proud of themselves, and
despise others; and therefore this evil is taken
notice of, as what they are to be cautioned against,
and charged to the contrary.
~John Gill
2] Nor trust in uncertain riches.
Nor trust in uncertain riches
- Margin, “The uncertainty of.” The margin expresses
the meaning of the Greek more accurately than the
text, but the sense is not materially varied. Riches
are uncertain because they may soon be taken away.
No dependence can be placed on them in the
emergencies of life. He who is rich today, has no
security that he will be tomorrow; and if he shall
be rich tomorrow, he has no certainty that his
riches will meet his necessities then. A man whose
house is in flames, or who is shipwrecked, or whose
child lies dying, or who is himself in the agonizes
of death, can derive no advantage from the fact that
he is richer than other people. That against which
Paul here directs Timothy to caution the rich, is
that to which they are most exposed. A man who is
rich, is very liable to “trust” in His riches, and
to suppose that he needs nothing more; compare Luke
12:19. He feels that he is not dependent on his
fellow-men, and he is very likely to feel that he is
not dependent on God. It is for this cause that God
has recorded so many solemn declarations in his word
respecting the instability of riches (compare
Proverbs 23:5), and that he is furnishing so many
instructive lessons in his providence, showing how
easily riches may suddenly vanish away.
~Barnes Notes
Quoted verses:
Luke 12:19
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much
goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat,
drink, and be merry.
Proverbs 23:5
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that
which is not? for
riches
certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an
eagle toward heaven.
Nor trust in uncertain riches
- Πλουτου αδηλοτητι· The uncertainty of riches;
things which are never at a stay, are ever changing,
and seldom continue long with one proprietor;
therefore, as well as on many other accounts, they
are not to be trusted in: they cannot give
happiness, because they are not fixed and permanent,
but in the living God, who is the unchangeable
fountain of perfection.
~Adam Clarke
Nor trust in uncertain riches
- or "in the uncertainty of riches"; they are here
today, and gone tomorrow; no man that is possessed
of them can be sure of them a moment; they make
themselves wings and flee away; he that gives them,
can take them away at pleasure: and there are
various ways by which they are suddenly, and at once
taken from the owners of them; as by loss in trade,
by shipwreck, by inundations [floods],
by fire, by thieves, etc., and yet men are apt to
promise themselves a continuance of them, and to
have their dependence upon them, and place their
trust and confidence in them, yea, even good men;
and that very much to the neglect of, and disregard
to the providence of God, which is always best and
safest in every circumstance and station of life to
depend upon, as follows:
~John Gill
3] But in the living God.
But in the living God -
(1) He is able to supply all our needs, and to do
for us what riches cannot do; and,
(2) he never changes, or leaves those who put their
trust in him. He is able to meet our needs if in the
flames, or in a storm at sea, or when a friend dies,
or when we lie down on a bed of death, or wherever
we may be in the eternal world.
~Barnes Notes
But in the living God, who
giveth us richly all things to enjoy - Almost
every word carries in it an argument or reason why
he should be trusted, because he is God, and not a
creature; the "living" God, who has life in himself,
essentially and originally; is the author, giver,
and maintainer of life in others; and who always is,
ever continues unchangeably the same: and "giveth
all things"; every good gift comes from him; all the
gifts of nature, and bounties of Providence; and as
he gives, he can take away, and therefore should be
only regarded; and he gives all things "richly",
largely, and plenteously; what is necessary and
convenient, and abundantly more than men deserve:
and that "to enjoy"; not to lay up, but to use for
support, refreshment, and pleasure, though not to
abuse. ~John Gill
4] Who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy.
Who giveth us
richly all things to enjoy - Who not only has
all good, but dispenses it liberally for the supply
of the wants of all his creatures; and he does not
give merely what is necessary, but he gives what
tends to render life comfortable. The comforts of
life come from God, as well as the necessaries. He
not only gives us a bare subsistence, but he gives
us enjoyments. Were it not for the oppression and
rapine [seizure of
property; plunder] of wicked men, every
situation and state in life would be comparatively
comfortable. God gives liberally; man divides it
badly. ~Adam Clarke
Who giveth us richly all
things to enjoy - The meaning of this seems
to be, that God permits us to enjoy everything.
Everything in the works of creation and redemption
he has given to man for his happiness, and he should
therefore trust in him. He has not merely given
wealth for the comfort of people, but he has given
everything, and he on whom so many and so great
blessings have been bestowed for his comfort, should
trust in the great Benefactor himself, and not rely
merely on one of his gifts; compare notes on 1
Corinthians 3:21-23.
~Barnes Notes
Let us close with some quotes regarding
both kinds of riches.
--Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot.
In your soul are infinitely precious things that
cannot be taken from you.
--Death and life have their determined appointments;
riches and honors depend upon heaven [God].
--To be able to give away riches is mandatory if you
wish to possess them. This is the only way that you
will be truly rich.
~Muhammad Ali
--Let parents bequeath to their children not riches,
but the spirit of reverence.
--The greatest good you can do for another is not
just to share your riches but to reveal to him his
own.
--The god of this world is riches, pleasure and
pride.
--To be satisfied with a little, is the greatest
wisdom; and he that increaseth his riches,
increaseth his cares; but a contented mind is a
hidden treasure, and trouble findeth it not.
--A man's felicity [Great
happiness; bliss] consists not in the
outward and visible blessing of fortune, but in the
inward and unseen perfections and riches of the
mind.
--Riches are not an end of life, but an instrument
of life.
--If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his
riches but take away from his desires.
--Riches do not consist in the possession of
treasures, but in the use made of them.
~Napoleon Bonaparte
--Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and
riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that
is character.
--Real riches are the riches possessed inside.
--Frugality is founded on the principal that all
riches have limits.
See sermon, "Assiduity." |
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