1st Timothy Chapter 6 verse 8 Holy Bible

1st Timothy 6 : 8 Bible Verse Songs

• Enough by Anthony Brown

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 8. - But for and, A.V.; covering for raiment, A.V.; ice shall be for let us be, A.V. Food (διατροφάς); here only in the New Testament, but common in the LXX., rare in classical Greek. Covering (σκεπάσματα); also a ἅπαξ λεγόμενον in the New Testament, not found in the LXX., and rare in classical Greek. The kindred words, σκέπη and σκέπας, with their derivatives, are used of the covering or shelter of clothes, or tents, or houses. St. Paul may therefore have used an uncommon word in order to comprise the two necessaries of raiment and house, though Huther thinks this "more than improbable." The use of the word "covering" in the R.V. seems designed to favor this double application. Ellicott thinks the word "probably only refers to clothing." Alford says, "Some take ' covering' of both clothing and dwelling, perhaps rightly." If one knew where St. Paul got the word σκεπάσματα from, one could form a more decided opinion as to his meaning. We shall be therewith content (ἀρκεσθήσομεθα). The proper meaning of ἀρκεῖσθαι followed by a dative is "to be content with" (Luke 3:14; Hebrews 13:5). There is probably a covert hortative force in the use of the future here.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(8) And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.--The Greek word rendered "let us be content" is better translated, we shall have a sufficiency. The argument will run thus: "All earthly possessions are only for this life; here, if we have the wherewithal to clothe us and to nourish us, we shall have enough;" if we have more than this, St. Paul goes on to show, we shall be in danger of falling into temptation.There is no contradiction between this reading and that contained in this same Epistle (1Timothy 4:1-5). There the Apostle is warning the Church against a false, unreal asceticism, which was teaching men to look upon the rich gifts of this world, its beauties and its delights, as of themselves sinful, forgetting that these fair things were God's creatures, and were given for man's use and enjoyment. Here the same great teacher is pressing home the truth that the highest good on earth was that godliness which is ever accompanied with perfect contentment, which neither rejects nor deems evil the fair things of this life, but which, at the same time, never covets them, never longs for them. It was one thing to be rich, it was another to wish to be rich; in God's providence a man might be rich without sin, but the coveting, the longing for wealth, at once exposed him to many a grave danger both to body and soul.