Las Vegas, Nevada Church
Affiliated with the Intercontinental Church of God and the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

 
 
 Survey of the Letters of Paul:  1 Timothy 6:19  
  
                                                                                                                                                                                    
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1 Timothy 6:19
Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
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1 Timothy 6:19
Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

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 verse again is verse 19

1 Timothy 6:19
Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

When I looked at this verse I put it into five parts:

1] Laying up in store
2] For themselves
3] A good foundation
4] Against the time to come
5] That they may lay hold on eternal life.


However, the commentaries are all over the place on this one. Some give an overall commentary while others deal with a phrase and then give separate commentary on a single word in that phrase. Let us begin with the Matthew Henry Concise which 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

Here is what the Barnes Notes has:

Laying up in store for themselves. - The meaning of this verse is, that they were to make such a use of their property that it would contribute to their eternal welfare. It might be the means of exalted happiness and honor in [The Kingdom], if they would so use it as not to interfere with religion in the soul, and so as to do the most good possible. See the sentiment in this verse explained at length in the notes on Luke 16:9.

Quoted verses:
Luke 16:9
And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
 

I like the commentary in the Adam Clarke more than the Barnes Notes for this first part.

The mammon of unrighteousness - Μαμωνα της αδικιας - literally, the mammon, or riches, of injustice. Riches promise Much, and perform Nothing: they excite hope and confidence, and deceive both: in making a man depend on them for happiness, they rob him of the salvation of God and of eternal glory. For these reasons, they are represented as unjust and deceitful. See Matthew 6:24, where this is more particularly explained. It is evident that this must be the meaning of the words, because the false or deceitful riches, here, are put in opposition to the true riches, Luke 16:11; i.e. those Divine graces and blessings which promise all good, and give what they promise; never deceiving the expectation of any man. To insinuate that, if a man have acquired riches by unjust means, he is to sanctify them, and provide himself a passport to the kingdom of God, by giving them to the poor, is a most horrid and blasphemous perversion of our Lord’s words. Ill gotten gain must be restored to the proper owners: if they are dead, then to their successors. ~Adam Clarke

Quoted verses:
Matthew 6:24
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Luke 16:11
If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

For the phrase, "When ye fail." For this I like the Barnes Notes:

When ye fail - When ye “are left,” or when ye “die.” The expression is derived from the parable as referring to the “discharge” of the steward; but it refers to “death,” as if God then “discharged” his people, or took them from their stewardship and called them to account. ~Barnes Notes

They may receive you - This is a form of expression denoting merely “that you may be received.” The plural form is used because it was used in the corresponding place in the parable, Luke 16:4. The direction is, so to use our worldly goods that “we may be received” into the Kingdom when we die. “God” will receive us there, and we are to employ our property so that he will not cast us off for abusing it. ~Barnes Notes

Quoted verse:
Luke 16:4
I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

Everlasting habitations - Speaking of the Kingdom of God.

Continuing with the commentaries for verse 19.

Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation - “Treasuring up a good foundation to them for the future, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” This cannot be done by almsdeeds [money or goods give to the poor]; yet, they [the almsdeeds] come up for a memorial before God; Acts 10:4. And the lack even of this [the almsdeeds] may be the cause why God will withhold grace and salvation from us.” Christ has said: Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. They who have not been merciful according to their power, shall not obtain mercy; they that have, shall obtain mercy: and yet the eternal life which they obtain they look for from the mercy of God through Jesus Christ.

Quoted verse:
Acts 10:4 but I will read from verse 1

Acts 4:1-4
1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,
2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.
3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.
4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.

Notice the commentary

Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial - Being all performed in simplicity and godly sincerity, they were acceptable to the Most High.

Come up for a memorial - This form of speech is evidently borrowed from the sacrificial system of the Jews. Pious and sincere prayers are high in God’s estimation; and therefore are said to ascend to him, as the smoke and flame of the burnt-offering appeared to ascend to heaven. ~Adam Clarke
 

So almsdeeds are one thing, but God wants even more. Notice other commentaries on this phrase for clarity.

A good foundation against the time to come - by which is meant, not a foundation of happiness, for that is laid already, and by God himself; and much less by doing acts of beneficence [action done for the benefit of others] is that foundation laid; for there is no other foundation of happiness, life, and salvation, that can be laid, besides what is laid, which is Jesus Christ: nor is the apostle speaking of laying a foundation here, to build upon, but of laying up a foundation in heaven, by which he intends happiness itself; and which he calls a "foundation", because it is solid and substantial, permanent and durable, in opposition to the uncertain, precarious, transitory, and perishing enjoyments and treasures of this life. ~John Gill

The People's New Testament explains this by looking back at verse 18:

Laying up store - Treasure in heaven by giving for good purposes. See close of 1Timothy 6:18. ~People's New Testament

Quoted verse:
1 Timothy 6:18 [See Lesson]
That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.

Let us go to another in the Jamieson, Fausset, Brown

Good foundation — 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 (Proverbs 11:24; Proverbs 13:7; Luke16:9). ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown

Quoted verses:
Luke 16:9 is already handled above.

Proverbs 11:24
There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.

Proverbs 13:7
There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.

See what we are talking about here in this, "good foundation"? We are talking about mindset and attitude and not just actions. Even the almsdeeds have to be done in a right attitude and not as, say, the hypocritical Pharisees would.

Robertson's Word Pictures says, "“laying up in store” by giving it away." Clearly an attitude and way of life.

The F. B. Meyer says, "“laying up in store” by giving it away." Again, an attitude and way of life.

Laying up a good foundation has much to do with having the same mindset as both God the Father and Jesus Christ who are giving virtually everything for your Salvation and for the family of God. Nothing about them is hoarding our counting on money and riches. There is a foundation [an example to us] of "seeking ye the other man's wealth [well-being]. We are not talking about self-denial. Remember this is an admonition to those with riches. God is not asking for them to give up the riches but to use them with pious attitudes and as Christ would.

1 Peter 1:3-5
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

The better your godliness, the better your spiritual character, the better your actions with riches will be. The righteous attitude through or with the riches is laying the foundation. This foundation is Christ.

The time to come - most commentaries do not even address this as the phrase is self-evident: The Kingdom of God.

That they may lay hold on eternal life - Notice a previous lesson

1 Timothy 6:12 [See Lesson]
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.

Borrowing from that lesson for, "Fight the good fight of faith.":

Fight the good fight of faith - “Agonize the good agony.” Thou hast a contest to sustain in which thy honor, thy life, thy soul, are at stake. Live the Gospel, and defend the cause of God. Unmask hypocrites, expel the profligate, purge and build up the Church, live in the spirit of thy religion, and give thyself wholly to this work. ~Adam Clarke [emphasis mine]

 



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