1 Timothy
Chapter 6
Overview
This chapter gives Timothy practical guidance for a community divided by status, wealth, and competing teachers. It begins in the harsh social world of slavery, then turns to people who treat religion as a path to profit. Timothy is urged to pursue a life shaped by trust, love, endurance, and gentleness. Wealth itself is not condemned, but trusting it is exposed as dangerously foolish: money makes a shaky foundation. The chapter closes by calling both rich believers and Timothy to guard what truly gives life and to avoid arguments dressed up as wisdom.
1All who live under the yoke of slavery must consider their own masters worthy of full respect, so that no one will speak abusively about God’s name or the teaching.
2Slaves who have believing masters must not treat them with less respect because they are fellow believers. Instead, they should serve them even more faithfully, because those who benefit from their good service are believers whom they love. Teach and urge people to do these things.
3If anyone teaches something different and refuses to accept the sound words of our Lord Jesus the Messiah and the teaching that leads to devotion to God,
4that person is puffed up with pride and understands nothing. They have an unhealthy craving for debates and fights over words. These produce envy, conflict, abusive talk, evil suspicions,
5and constant quarrels among people whose minds have been corrupted and who have been robbed of the truth. They imagine that devotion to God is a way to make money.
6Yet devotion to God really does bring great gain when it is joined with contentment.
7After all, we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of it.
8So if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
9But people determined to become rich fall into temptation and a trap. They are caught by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
10The love of money is a root from which every kind of evil grows. By reaching for money, some people have wandered away from the faith and stabbed themselves through with many pains.
11But you, man of God, run away from these things. Pursue what is right, devotion to God, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.
12Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life, the life God called you to when you openly declared your faith before many people who heard you.
13In the presence of God, who gives life to everything, and of Jesus the Messiah, who made the good declaration before Pontius Pilate, I command you
14to obey this command without stain or blame until our Lord Jesus the Messiah appears.
15God will reveal him at the proper time. God is the blessed and only Ruler, the King over all kings and Lord over all rulers.
16He alone possesses immortality and lives in light that no one can approach. No human being has seen him or is able to see him. Honor and eternal power belong to him. Amen.
17Command those who are rich in this present age not to be proud or to place their hope in uncertain wealth. Instead, they must place their hope in God, who richly provides everything for us to enjoy.
18Tell them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to give generously, and to share what they have.
19In this way they will store up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
20Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Turn away from irreverent, empty talk and from the opposing claims of what is falsely called “knowledge.”
21Some people have claimed to possess this knowledge and, as a result, have missed the path of faith. May God’s grace be with all of you.