Survey of the Letters of Paul:  1 Timothy 6:6

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

1 Timothy 6:6-8
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
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Let us first look at the Barclay commentary on verses six through eight:
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THE CROWN OF CONTENTMENT
1 Timothy 6:6–8
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And in truth godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into the world, and it is quite clear that we cannot take anything out of it either; but if we have food and shelter, we shall be content with them.
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THE word here used for contentment is autarkeia. This was one of the great slogans of the Stoic philosophers. By it, they meant a complete self-sufficiency. They meant a frame of mind which was completely independent of all outward things, and which carried the secret of happiness within itself. Contentment never comes from the possession of external things. As the poet George Herbert wrote:

For he that needs five thousand pounds to live
Is full as poor as he that needs but five.

Contentment comes from an inward attitude to life. In the third part of Henry VI, Shakespeare draws a picture of the king wandering in the country places unrecognized. He meets two gamekeepers and tells them that he is a king. One of them asks him: ‘But, if thou be a king, where is thy crown?’ And the king gives a magnificent answer:

My crown is in my heart, not on my head;
Not deck’d with diamonds and Indian stones,
Nor to be seen; my crown is call’d content –
A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.

The great men and women have always been content with little. One of the sayings of the Jewish Rabbis was: ‘Who is rich? He that is contented with his lot.’ In his commentary, Walter Lock quotes the kind of training on which a Jewish Rabbi engaged and the kind of life he lived: ‘This is the path of the law. A morsel with salt shalt thou eat, thou shalt drink also water by measure, and shalt sleep upon the ground and live a life of trouble while thou toilest in the law. If thou doest this, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee; happy shalt thou be in this world and it shall be well with thee in the world to come.’ The Rabbi had to learn to be content with enough. E. F. Brown quotes a passage from the great French Dominican preacher Henri Lacordaire: ‘The rock of our present day is that no one knows how to live upon little. The great men of antiquity were generally poor . . . It always seems to me that the retrenchment of useless expenditure, the laying aside of what one may call the relatively necessary, is the high road to Christian disentanglement of heart, just as it was to that of ancient vigour. The mind that has learned to appreciate the moral beauty of life, both as regards God and men, can scarcely be greatly moved by any outward reverse of fortune; and what our age wants most is the sight of a man, who might possess everything, being yet willingly contented with little. For my own part, humanly speaking, I wish for nothing. A great soul in a small house is the idea which has touched me more than any other.’

It is not that Christianity pleads for poverty. There is no special virtue in being poor, or in having a constant struggle to make ends meet. But it does plead for two things.

It pleads for the realization that it is never in the power of things to bring happiness. E. K. Simpson says: ‘Many a millionaire, after choking his soul with gold-dust, has died from melancholia.’ Happiness always comes from personal relationships. All the things in the world will not make people happy if they know neither friendship nor love. Christians know that the secret of happiness lies not in things but in people.

It pleads for concentration upon the things which are permanent. We brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of it. The wise of every age and faith have known this. ‘You cannot’, said Seneca, ‘take anything more out of the world than you brought into it.’ The poet of the Greek anthology had it: ‘Naked I set foot on the earth; naked I shall go below the earth.’ The Spanish proverb grimly puts it: ‘There are no pockets in a shroud.’ Simpson comments: ‘Whatever a man amasses by the way is in the nature of luggage, no part of his truest personality, but something he leaves behind at the toll-bar of death.’

We can take only two things to God. We can, and must, take ourselves, and therefore our great task is to build up a self that we can take without shame to God. We can, and must, take that relationship with God into which we have entered in the days of our life. We have already seen that the secret of happiness lies in personal relationships, and the greatest of all personal relationships is the relationship to God. And the supreme thing that we can take with us is the utter conviction that we go to one who is the friend and lover of our souls.

Contentment comes when we escape the slavery to things, when we find our wealth in the love and the fellowship of others, and when we realize that our most precious possession is our friendship with God, made possible through Jesus Christ. ~Barclay commentary

Now to the commentaries.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. - The inseparable companion of true, vital religion. Is great gain - Brings unspeakable profit in time, as well as eternity. ~John Wesley
Explanatory Notes


But godliness with contentment is great gain. - Those that make a trade of Christianity to serve their turn for this world, will be disappointed; but those who mind it as their calling, will find it has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. He that is godly, is sure to be happy in another world; and if contented with his condition in this world, he has enough; and all truly godly people are content. When brought into the greatest straits, we cannot be poorer than when we came into this world; a shroud, a coffin, and a grave, are all that the richest man in the world can have from all his wealth. If nature should be content with a little, grace should be content with less. The necessaries of life bound a true Christian's desires, and with these he will endeavour to be content. We see here the evil of covetousness. It is not said, they that are rich, but they will be rich; who place their happiness in wealth, and are eager and determined in the pursuit. Those that are such, give to Satan the opportunity of tempting them, leading them to use dishonest means, and other bad practices, to add to their gains. Also, leading into so many employments, and such a hurry of business, as leave no time or inclination for spiritual religion; leading to connexions that draw into sin and folly. What sins will not men be drawn into by the love of money! People may have money, and yet not love it; but if they love it, this will push them on to all evil. Every sort of wickedness and vice, in one way or another, grows from the love of money. We cannot look around without perceiving many proofs of this, especially in a day of outward prosperity, great expenses, and loose profession. ~Matthew Henry Concise commentary

But godliness with contentment is great gain. - Piety; religion. The meaning is, that real religion should be regarded as the greatest and most valuable acquisition. “With contentment.” This
word, as now used, refers to a state of mind; a calm and satisfied feeling; a freedom from murmuring and complaining. The idea is, that “piety, connected with a contented mind - or a
mind acquiescing in the allotments of life - is to be regarded as the real gain.” Tyndale gives substantially the same interpretation: “Godliness is great riches, if a man be content with that
he hath” Coverdale: “Howbeit, it is of great advantage, who is so godly, and holdeth him content with that he hath.” The word which is used here - a??ta´??e?a autarkeia - means,
properly, “self-sufficency,” and is used here, in a good sense, to denote a mind satisfied with its lot. If there be true religion, united with its proper accompaniment, peace of mind, it is to
be regarded as the true riches. The object of the apostle seems to be, to rebuke those who supposed that property constituted everything that was worth living for. He tells them,
therefore, that the true gain, the real riches which we ought to seek, is religion, with a contented mind. This does more to promote happiness than wealth can ever do, and this is what
should be regarded as the great object of life. ~Barnes Notes

But godliness with contentment is great gain - The word godliness, ευσεβεια, here, and in several other places of this epistle, signifies the true religion, Christianity; and the word
contentment, αυταρκεια, signifies a competency, a sufficiency; that measure or portion of secular things which is necessary for the support of life, while the great work of regeneration is
carrying on in the soul. Not what this or the other person may deem a competency, but what is necessary for the mere purposes of life in reference to another world; food, raiment, and
lodging. See 1 Timothy 6:7. So, if a man have the life of God in his soul, and just a sufficiency of food and raiment to preserve and not burden life, he has what God calls great gain, an
abundant portion.

It requires but little of this world’s goods to satisfy a man who feels himself to be a citizen of another country, and knows that this is not his rest. ~Adam Clarke

But godliness with contentment is great gain. - He properly dismisses the name of gain and lucre, confessing that godliness is great gain, but in a far different manner, that is, because it
brings true sufficiency. ~John Darby Synopsis

He mocks the folly of those who do so greedily hunger after frail things, who can in no way be satisfied, and yet nonetheless cannot enjoy their excess. ~Geneva Bible Translation Notes

But godliness with contentment is great gain. - By "godliness" is not meant any particular grace, but all the graces of the Spirit of God; as faith, hope, love, fear, &c. the whole of internal
religion, as it shows itself in outward worship, and in all acts of holiness of life and conversation; and which the doctrine that is according to godliness teaches and engages to; and this is
gain, very great gain indeed. A man possessed of true godliness is a gaining, thriving, man: such as are godly, or truly gracious, they are come into good and happy circumstances, and are
possessor of the true, solid, satisfying, durable, and unsearchable riches of grace; all their debts are paid, they are richly clothed, and deliciously fed, and are in a good family, even the
household of God, who before were in debt, arrayed in rags, were in a starving condition, and strangers and foreigners; yea, they are heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, and have both
a right and a meetness for the heavenly inheritance; they are now made kings and priests to God, and, in the present state of things, have God to be their portion, and exceeding great
reward; they have an interest in Christ, and in all spiritual blessings in him, and have the Spirit as the earnest of their future inheritance; they are rich in faith, and in good works; their
souls, which were lost, are gained, and shall be saved with an everlasting salvation; and ere long they will be possessed of all the riches of glory, signified by a house not made with
hands, a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God, an incorruptible inheritance, and a kingdom and glory: how great is the gain of godliness! And what adds to this
gain, and now goes along with it, is "contentment"; for this is not to be considered as the condition of godliness being great gain, as if it was not so without it; but as the effect of
godliness, what that produces, and as a part of its gain.

The word here used signifies "sufficiency"; and so it is rendered in the Vulgate Latin version: it designs a competency of the good things of this life; and what that is, is expressed in 1
Timothy 6:8 and such God gives to them that fear him, his godly ones, who shall lack no good thing convenient for them; for godliness has the promise of this life, as well as of that which
is to come; and God does give to such all things pertaining to life and godliness, even all things richly to enjoy. The word indeed properly signifies "self-sufficiency", which in its strict
sense, only belongs to God, who is "El-Shaddai", God all-sufficient and self-sufficient; but here it intends such a sufficiency as a man himself judges to be so; for this phrase does not so
much design the thing itself, which is a sufficiency, as the opinion, the sense which the godly man has of it, who himself judges it, as Jacob did, to be enough; and such a man is content
with what he has, and thankful for it, submits quietly to the will of God, and patiently bears every adverse providence: and this is now the fruit and effect of godliness, or true grace, and is
a considerable part of that gain which godliness brings with it; and such a man is a happy man indeed, let his circumstances be what they will. The Jews have a saying (n), that

"he is a rich man whose spirit rests in, or is contented with his riches;''

that is, as the gloss explains it.

"who rejoices in his portion, be it little or much: thus, though godliness is not gain, nor gain godliness, in the sense of the false teachers, yet is it true gain in a spiritual sense.''

Quoted verse:
1 Timothy 6:8
And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. ~John Gill

From the mention of the abuse which some put upon religion, making it to serve their secular advantages, the apostle,

I. Takes occasion to show the excellency of contentment and the evil of covetousness.

1. The excellency of contentment, 1 Timothy 6:6-8. Some account Christianity an advantageous profession for this world. In the sense they mean this is false; yet it is undoubtedly true
that, though Christianity is the worst trade, it is the best calling in the world. Those that make a trade of it, merely to serve their turn for this world, will be disappointed, and find it a sorry
trade; but those that mind it as their calling, and make a business of it, will find it a gainful calling, for it has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come.
(1.) The truth he lays down is that godliness with contentment is great gain. Some read it, godliness with a competency; that is, if a man have but a little in this world, yet, if he have but
enough to carry him through it, he needs desire no more, his godliness with that will be his great gain. For a little which a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked,
Psalm 37:16. We read it, godliness with contentment; godliness is itself great gain, it is profitable to all things; and, wherever there is true godliness, there will be contentment; but those
have arrived at the highest pitch of contentment with their godliness are certainly the easiest happiest people in this world. Godliness with contentment, that is, Christian contentment
(content must come from principles of godliness) is great gain; it is all the wealth in the world. He that is godly is sure to be happy in another world; and if withal he do by contentment
accommodate himself to his condition in this world he has enough. Here we have,

[1.] A Christian's gain; it is godliness with contentment, this is the true way to gain, yea, it is gain itself.

[2.] A Christian's gain is great: it is not like the little gain of worldlings, who are so fond of a little worldly advantage.

[3.] Godliness is ever accompanied with contentment in a great or less degree; all truly godly people have learned with Paul, in whatever state they are, to be therewith content,
Philippians 4:11. They are content with what God allots for them, well knowing that this is best for them. Let us all then endeavour after godliness with contentment.

Quoted verses:
Psalm 37:16
A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.

Philippians 4:11
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. ~Matthew Henry commentary

Let us finish with the Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge:

Godliness:
1 Timothy 4:8
For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

Psalm 37:16
A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.

Psalm 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Proverbs 3:13-18
13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

Proverbs 15:16
Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.

Proverbs 16:8
Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.

Matthew 6:32-33
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Luke 12:31-32
31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

2 Corinthians 5:1
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Hebrews 13:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Contentment:
Luke 3:14
And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.

Philippians 4:11-13
11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

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