Chapter Six
1 Tim. 6:1. Slaves who are under the yoke should regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed.
Teach them, he says, and exhort them, so that even though their masters are unbelievers, they should obey them, showing them every honor in both words and deeds. For do not think that you are free because you are a believer: you are free in spiritual nature, you freely approach the Lord, but you are a slave in body. Freedom itself, I say, consists in serving in the name of Christ. And an unbeliever, if he sees a prideful slave, will revile the teaching as inciting rebellion. But if he sees that a slave obeys with love, he will rather marvel at the teaching, which corrects even slavish habits that are difficult to reform.
1 Tim. 6:2. Those who have believing masters must not treat them with negligence because they are brothers; but must serve them all the more, because they are faithful and beloved and do good [to them].
It is not right that, because you have come to have your master as a brother by virtue of baptism, you should treat him carelessly; on the contrary, find in this very thing a motivation to serve and be subject to him with even greater zeal, because he too is faithful and beloved, that is, a brother instead of a master. Then remember that he is also your benefactor, who concerns himself and takes care of you, to feed you, to clothe you, and to satisfy your every other need and necessity — so that he has many claims upon you, besides the fact that he purchased you. By saying "beloved," the apostle drives out fear, which servants, having toward their masters, often fall into hatred of them — and in its place introduces love. Thus, he says, those who receive benefits, that is, the slaves, ought to serve all the more. To make a convenient transition in his discourse, he adds this, while in the expression "they are faithful and beloved" the word "masters" must be understood. Or it can simply be understood as the text says: "and they benefit [them]," that is, the masters who diligently strive to do good to their slaves.
1 Tim. 6:2. Teach these things and exhort.
A teacher needs not only authority, which is expressed by the word "teach," but also gentleness, which is contained in the present expression: "exhort." For he is a physician, and a physician sometimes uses gentleness, and sometimes also strict compulsion.
1 Tim. 6:3–4. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not follow the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching of godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing.
Do you see that complete ignorance drives a person to madness and makes him arrogant, so that whoever does not accept sound teaching is proud? And pride is to a sick soul what inflammation is to a bodily wound. So then, if he had not become proud, he would have accepted the teaching of the Lord, Who humbled Himself, washed the feet of the disciples, and said: "Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly" (Matt. 11:29). He called blessed the "poor in spirit" (Matt. 5:3); He sent the tax collector away justified for his humility (Luke 18:13–14). Whoever does not accept this and does not know it is undoubtedly proud.
1 Tim. 6:4. But infected [with a passion] for disputes and quarrels over words.
So, contention is a disease: for where there is no faith, everything is sick; there only a war of words flares up and nothing more – wherein the more skilled in debate strains to overthrow the other. Faith is the eye; he who has no eyes finds nothing, but only searches.
1 Tim. 6:4. From which arise envy, strife, evil speakings, wicked suspicions.
That is, from contentions are born harmful dogmas. When we give ourselves over to contentions, we begin to blaspheme and to think about God what we ought not.
1 Tim. 6:5. Empty disputes (διαπαρατριβαὶ).
By "pouring from empty to empty" – diatribe – idle conversations were usually meant. Or because just as mangy sheep, when they rub against healthy ones, infect them too with their disease, so also the heterodox rub up against others with their conversations, paratribomenoi, and corrupt them.
1 Tim. 6:5. Among men of corrupt minds, devoid of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
Do you see that disputes give birth to shameful gain? And rightly so. For these quarrelers, attracting to themselves a greater number of disciples, exploit them, and contend more and more in disputes in order to attract them to themselves more and more.
1 Tim. 6:5. Withdraw from such people.
He did not say: engage with them and fight, but: "withdraw," that is, "after the first and second admonition" (Titus 3:10). For those who fight over profit and money, when and with what can they be persuaded? Therefore withdraw from those people who are incorrigible.
1 Tim. 6:6. It is a great gain to be godly and content.
Those disputants, he says, do not consider being pious an acquisition. But there is acquisition in piety as well, only not the kind they suppose, but a far higher one. In it the acquisition is not when you have, but when you do not have, for it teaches contentment. And contentment is a great and lasting wealth. Therefore let not the pious lose heart, as though they were without possessions.
1 Tim. 6:7. For we brought nothing into the world; it is clear that we cannot carry anything out of it either.
The Apostle shows that the gain which those people seek has no significance whatsoever. For it remains here and does not accompany us there. Therefore, what need have we of surplus, if we shall carry nothing with us there?
1 Tim. 6:8. Having food and clothing, let us be content with these.
He defines here in what one should find contentment, and says: in having only as much as is sufficient for sustenance, and not for pleasure; one should clothe oneself with what protects the body, and this can be fulfilled even by simple clothing.