1st Timothy Chapter 6 verse 11 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 11. - O man of God. The force of this address is very great. It indicates that the money-lovers just spoken of were not and could not be "men of God," whatever they might profess; and it leads with singular strength to the opposite direction in which Timothy's aspirations should point. The treasures which he must covet as "a man of God" were "righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience meekness." For the phrase, "man of God," see 2 Timothy 3:17 and 2 Peter 1:21. In the Old Testament it always applies to a prophet (Deuteronomy 33:1; Judges 13:6; 1 Samuel 2:27; 1 Kings 12:22; 2 Kings 1:9; Jeremiah 35:4; and a great many other passages). St. Paul uses the expression with especial reference to Timothy and his holy office, and here, perhaps, in contrast with the τοὺς ἀνθρώπους mentioned in ver. 9. Flee these things. Note the sharp contrast between "the men" of the world, who reach after, and the man of God, who avoids, φιλαργυρία. The expression, "these things," is a little loose, but seems to apply to the love of money, and the desire to be rich, with all their attendant "foolish and hurtful lusts." The man of God avoids the perdition and maul fold sorrows of the covetous, by avoiding the covetousness which is their root. Follow after (δίωκε); pursue, in direct contrast with φεύγε, flee from, avoid (see 2 Timothy 2:22). Meekness (πρα'υπαθείαν). This rare word, found in Philo, but nowhere in the New Testament, is the reading of the R.T. (instead of the πρᾳο;τητα of the T.R.) and accepted by almost all critics on the authority of all the older manuscripts. It has no perceptible difference of meaning from πραότης, meekness or gentleness.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(11) But thou, O man of God, flee these things.--A commentator always speaks with great caution when he approaches in these inspired writings anything of the nature of a direct personal reference. The writers and actors in the New Testament history we have so long surrounded with a halo of reverence, that we are tempted often to forget that they were but men exposed to temptations like us, and not unfrequently succumbing to them. We owe them, indeed, a deep debt of reverence for their faithful, gallant witness--for their splendid service in laying so well the early storeys of the great Christian Temple; but we lose somewhat of the reality of the Apostolic story when in the saint we forget the man. After the very solemn, the intensely earnest warning against covetousness--that fatal love of gain and gold which seems to have been the mainspring of the life of those false teachers who were engaged in marring the noble work St. Paul had done for his Master at Ephesus--after these weighty words, the fact of St. Paul turning to Timothy, and, with the grand old covenant title Timothy knew so well, personally addressing his loved friend with "But thou, O man of God, flee these things," leads us irresistibly to the conclusion that the old Apostle was dreading for his young and comparatively untried disciple the corrupting danger of the wealth of the city in which he held so great a charge; so he warns Timothy, and, through Timothy, God's servants of all grades and powers in different ages, of the soul-destroying dangers of covetousness--"Flee these things." A glance at Timothy's present life will show how possible it was, even for a loved pupil of St. Paul--even for one of whom he once wrote, "I have no man likeminded;" and, again, "Ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel" (Philippians 2:20-22)--to need so grave a reminder. Since those days, when these words were written to the Philippians, some six years had passed. His was no longer the old harassed life of danger and hazard to which, as the companion of the missionary St. Paul, he was constantly exposed. He now filled the position of an honoured teacher and leader in a rich and organised church; many and grievous were the temptations to which, in such a station, he would be exposed.Gold and popularity, gain and ease, were to be won with the sacrifice of apparently so little, but with this sacrifice Timothy would cease to be the "man of God." To maintain that St. Paul was aware of any weakness already shown by his disciple and friend would, of course, be a baseless assertion; but that the older man dreaded for the younger these dangerous influences is clear. The term "man of God" was the common Old Testament name for "divine messengers," but under the new covenant the name seems extended to all just men faithful to the Lord Jesus. (See 2Timothy 3:17.) The solemn warning, then, through Timothy comes to each of His servants, "Flee thou from covetousness."And follow after righteousness.--"The evil must be overcome with good" (Romans 12:21). The "man of God," tossing away from him all covetous longings, must press after "righteousness;" here used in a general sense, signifying "the inner life shaped after the Law of God."Faith, love.--The two characteristic virtues of Christianity. The one may be termed the hand that lays hold of God's mercy; and the other the mainspring of the Christian's life.Patience.--That brave patience which, for Christ's dear sake, with a smile can bear up against all sufferings.Meekness.--The German "sanftmuth"--the meekness of heart and feeling with which a Christian acts towards his enemies. His conduct who "when he was reviled, reviled not again" best exemplifies this virtue. . . .