Lesson for November 28, 2021
The Book of I Timothy
Chapter 6:1-7
Verses 1-2
“All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and ourdoctrine will not be spoken against. Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these principles.”
The Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written. This passage was written around 66 A.D. during the Roman Empire. At that time, slavery was one of the chief sources of labor. Christian slaves often had masters who were unbelievers. While slavery was a social evil, Paul had no power to rectify the problem politically. The answer for the evil of slavery was faith in Christ and Bible doctrine. For a slave his only hope was salvation and spiritual growth. At the time of writing, slaves actually had a great deal of freedom. They had working hours and they could attend church and advance spiritually.
Just as an employee is to be a testimony for Christ on the job, a slave who was a believer was to be a testimony for Christ in the household where he served. Notice that slaves were to regard their masters as worthy of all honor. The Greek word for regard is “hegeomai,” which means consider it to be true (whether it is or not). This was to be the proper attitude of a slave who was a believer, toward his master. Paul was in no way condoning slavery but was giving doctrinal advice on how to handle yourself as a slave. Our lives as believers are to always be a testimony to those around us. By doing our work as unto the Lord, we will honor God.
Those who have believers as their masters must not be disrespectful to them because they are brethren, but must serve them all the more, because those who partake of the benefit are believers and beloved.
As believers, slaves were to be the best slaves they could be as a testimony for Christ, especially to those masters that were believers and brothers in Christ. The masters deserved to be shown respect whether they were believers or unbelievers as a testimony to the believing slave’s faith in Christ. Both believing master and believing slave are members of the Royal Family of God and as such they are to exhibit love toward one another. This means that slaves are to be respectful to their masters by doing their work as unto the Lord and to their fellow believer. Paul was saying that if you are a slave who is a believer in Christ, you should be the best slave you can be regardless of who you serve.
Teach and exhort these principles. Teach is the Greek word “didasko” meaning to give instruction, The Greek word for exhort is “parakaleo” meaning to urge. Timothy was to teach accurate doctrine and then urge the congregation to follow his teaching. In this case it was being a good testimony on the job by working hard. Therefore, whatever your job is, no matter how humble, it is your full time Christian service, and so do your job as unto the Lord.
Verses 3-5
“If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.”
The problem in the church at Ephesus, like many regions at that time, was the infiltration of false teachers and evil that followed them. Believers were being influenced and duped into believing the lies of these apostate teachers and it caused division among those in the congregation.
If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness. The Judaizers were encouraging members of the church to openly oppose the teaching of grace. Timothy was teaching accurate, sound Bible doctrine but was being bullied by some members of the church who had believed the lies of the false teachers. Sound words refer to accurate Bible doctrine, which are the words of Jesus Christ. Godliness is the Greek word “eusebeia,” which means having the integrity and virtue of God as a lifestyle. Godliness is the righteousness and justice of God in the soul of a believer that produces integrity and virtue. It is not what you do, but what you think that counts in the Christian Way of Life. If your thinking is doctrinally sound, what you do will also be doctrinally sound.
He is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words. Those who rejected the sound teaching of Timothy were arrogant and as a result had no understanding of accurate Bible doctrine. Blind arrogance is a condition of the soul under the influence of Satan’s evil world system and false satanic doctrine (like keeping the Mosaic Law for the spiritual life). This arrogance caused the false teachers, and the reversionistic believers who followed them, to start doctrinal controversies and endless disputes regarding the truth of grace.
Out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth. All the controversy that was being stirred up by the false teachers led to sins of the tongue and mental attitude sins. The first sin was envy, which is the Greek word “phthonos” meaning jealousy. From what Paul said to Timothy regarding his youth and not allowing anyone to despise it, we can clearly see why some of the older members were jealous of Timothy and why they rejected his authority as their pastor. It is God the Holy Spirit Who imparts spiritual gifts, and these gifts should have been respected.
The next sin was strife which is the Greek word “eris,” which means contention and incessant quarrelling. Arrogance leads to a “know it all” attitude and this was the case in Ephesus with these reversionistic believers who were attacking Timothy. And, as Paul already stated, they understood nothing.
Abusive language is the next sin listed by Paul. The Greek word for abusive language is “blasphemia,” which means to speak evil against, blaspheme, or to rail against. Because these reversionistic believers had believed the lies of the false teachers, they were blaspheming God by rejecting the truth of God’s Word and by speaking evil of what Timothy had been teaching them.
Evil suspicions come next in Paul’s list of sins. Evil suspicions is the Greek word “huponoeo,” which means to suppose, to conjecture or to surmise. These believers had no accurate knowledge of God’s Word because they had rejected the teaching of Paul and Timothy. They had been deceived by the Judaizers into believing a lie regarding the purpose of the Law of Moses. They were supposing the false message of these false teachers was true without sound doctrinal evidence to back up their claim.
The summary of Paul’s list of sins was constant friction between men of depraved mind. The Greek word for depraved is “diaphthora,” which means corrupt or destructive. The constant friction of disputes over accurate doctrine caused these reversionistic believers to destroy or corrupt what little accurate doctrine they had in their souls. Evil influence of false satanic teaching always leads to the corruption of the mind whether a person is a believer or an unbeliever. Believing a lie creates a vacuum in the soul which allows into it all type of satanic doctrines resulting in Human Viewpoint Thinking.
Who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. This phrase is a reference to the Judaizers and those who followed their false teaching. These false teachers mistakenly thought that by being “godly” they would have great wealth (blessing) from God because of their “good deeds” of straightening out the supposed false teaching of grace. What they did not understand (as many believers today don’t) that their good deeds do not cause God to bless them. There is a very popular teaching today called “Prosperity Theology.” The concept is that if a believer is a faithful follower of Christ (as defined by them), God will “shower” them with blessings beyond compare. It’s what we call the “fairy god mother” syndrome (God will simply wave His magic wand and all your dreams will come true for wealth and prosperity.
Prosperity does not imply godliness. Godliness is the basis for true prosperity, but prosperity does not imply godliness. Because a believer becomes prosperous or successful, it does not imply that they are godly. God blesses us on the basis of His righteous that resides in us when we have the capacity to receive it without becoming arrogant and forgetting the source. We are godly (“eusebeia”) when we have developed the integrity and virtue of God and are applying it consistently. The most important type of prosperity is spiritual prosperity from the accurate Bible doctrine in our souls.
Verses 6-8
“But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.”
Now we have the contrast between the false concept of prosperity of the Judaizers and the true concept of prosperity taught by Paul and Timothy. The false principle was stated as the fact that anyone who is successful or wealthy or has any prosperity in life is automatically a “godly” believer. This is untrue. Gain is the Greek word “porismos,” which means to procure, or something provided for you. So, godliness is a lifestyle developed through knowledge and application of accurate Bible doctrine and becomes a means of prosperity as you advance spiritually.
Contentment is the Greek word “autarkeia,” which means competence, or self-sufficiency. Therefore, it means that contentment does not depend on material things, but on your relationship with God. It makes no difference what you have, or do not have, if you have a maturing relationship with God through knowledge and application of His Word. Self-sufficiency is a good translation because that is what happens when a believer has developed capacity for life. Capacity for life comes only through accurate Bible doctrine stored in our souls. (II Corinthians 9:8; Philippians 4:11-12; Hebrews 13:5-6)
Capacity for life is the mental attitude of contentment (happiness) based on your relationship with God, while material things are the possessions of life generally associated with so-called happiness. The material things of life with which we have been blessed do not accompany us to Heaven. However, our soul and what is in it goes to Heaven, so we do take the doctrine in our souls with us, and we’ll need it to appreciate everything God has prepared for us.
When believers get their priorities right, their perspective of life will be right. When we have our eyes on Jesus Christ, we have our eyes on the source of blessing. Therefore, blessing from God becomes meaningful because it is always related to the Source. God’s gifts of material prosperity are merely a reminder of His involvement in our lives and that He is the source of everything that we possess that is worthwhile in life. The only way to enjoy blessing is to enjoy the Source of our blessings both now and in eternity. If we are to truly enjoy what God has given us, we must relate it to Who Jesus Christ is and what He did for us on the Cross. The Judaizers and their followers did not understand this!!!!