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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
6:2b-21 Confronting the False Teaching Again. This concluding section of the letter bears strong similarity to the opening section (1:3-20). Both sections are bracketed by discussion of false teachers (1:3-7, 18-20; 6:2b-10, 20-21). Both contain exhortations to Timothy in light of this false teaching, specifically calling him to fight the good fight of faith against it (1:18; 6:12); and both contain a doxology (1:17; 6:15-16).
6:2b-10 False Teachers and Greed. The concern with false teachers here centers on their greed and their apparent exploiting of the faith for material gain. A number of the problems listed here are answered in vv. 17-19.
6:2b Teach and urge these things. This summary statement connects strongly with what precedes and what follows. "These things" most likely refers to the preceding section of instructions (5:1-6:2a), though some take it to refer to all that Paul has taught up to this point in the letter. This sound teaching then provides a contrast to the false teachers (6:3-10).
6:3 Sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ does not refer to specific statements of Jesus but affirms that Paul's gospel and its ethical implications flow out of the teaching and work of Jesus. teaching that accords with godliness. True (apostolic) teaching is that which fits with or leads to godliness, as opposed to the negative effects of the false teaching (1:4, 6-7; 4:6; 6:4-5; see 2 Tim. 2:14, 16-18, 23). True doctrine is often recognizable by the impact it has on everyday living.
6:5 depraved in mind. The false teachers are often referred to in the Pastorals as having faulty reasoning (v. 4; 1:7; 2 Tim. 3:8). Since the gospel is the truth, to deny it is to think in a faulty manner. imagining that godliness is a means of gain. People who wrongly preach that God will give material health and wealth if only one has enough faith fall under the condemnation of this passage.
6:6-8 An eternal perspective (v. 7) helps believers to avoid the allure of greed, with the result that they are content with what God has given them, even if it consists of only food and clothing.
6:9-10 What is condemned here is the desire to be rich, not material things per se when rightly used for the glory of God. The desire to be rich leads one to fall into temptation. This in turn results in the love of money, which Paul identifies as a root of all kinds of evils (v. 10). The connection between false teaching and the desire to be rich has been a problem from the church's very beginning. wandered away from the faith. The warning is not simply that "love of money" is harmful but that this has led some to deny the faith, showing themselves to be unbelievers (cf. 1:19).
6:11-16 Timothy's Behavior in Contrast. Paul draws a direct and intentional contrast ("But as for you") between Timothy and the false teachers. True ministry is not motivated by greed but by the reality of eternal life and an awareness of accountability to God.
6:11-12 The reference to Timothy as a man of God affirms his authority and stands in contrast with the false teachers, who are not men of God. "Man of God" is used often in the OT of a prophet (e.g., Deut. 33:1; 1 Sam. 9:6; Ps. 90:1). The call to fight the good fight of the faith and to take hold of the eternal life involves both fleeing from sin and vigorously pursuing virtue (cf. note on 2 Tim. 2:22).
6:13-14 Another solemn charge (see 5:21 and note). Jesus' good confession before Pontius Pilate (see, e.g., Matt. 27:11; John 18:37) is the example for the believer's "good confession" (1 Tim. 6:12, 14).
