1 Timothy 6 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~AD 62-64, under the emperor Nero
Location
Written to Ephesus, a port city whose banking, temple treasury, and trade made it one of the richest cities in the eastern empire
Audience
Timothy and the Ephesian congregations, a mixed group including slaves, freedmen, and some wealthy patrons
Situation
Paul addresses slaves who have believing masters, then turns on teachers who treat religion as a way to get rich. He closes with a charge to Timothy to guard what has been entrusted to him, and with instructions for the wealthy to be generous rather than proud.
Key Background
Roughly a third of the population of a city like Ephesus was enslaved, and a slave and a master could sit in the same house church, which created a social problem Paul addresses directly. Wandering philosophers and religious teachers of the period commonly charged fees or attached themselves to rich patrons, so the charge that some teach for money was a familiar accusation in the wider culture. Paul's phrase about bringing nothing into the world and taking nothing out echoes both Job and Greek moral writing, a saying his readers would have recognised.
Everyone who is under the as a should consider their own masters worthy of full so that God's name and our aren't spoken against.
And those who have masters who are shouldn't disrespect them just because they're and Instead, they should serve them even better, because the ones benefiting from their good work are and people they care about. Teach and encourage these things.
If anyone teaches something different and doesn't agree with the of our Lord Jesus, The and with the teaching that leads to a
that person is up with and actually understands nothing. Instead, they have a with controversies and arguments about words, which produce jealousy, conflict, slander, and ugly suspicions,
and constant friction between people whose are and who've been of the They think that a is a way to make money.
But a God-honoring life combined with being with what you have — that actually is a huge
Because we brought nothing into the and we can't take anything out of it either.
So if we have food and to we'll be with that.
But people who want to get rich fall into temptation and a and into many foolish and destructive cravings that drag people down into and
Because the love of money is a of all kinds of evil. Some people, by chasing after it, have wandered away from the and with all kinds of pain.
But you — you to — run away from all of this. Instead, chase after a God-honoring life, faith, love, and
the that comes with faith. Grab hold of — that's what you were called to when you made your in front of many
I'm you, in front of God who gives life to everything, and in front of The Jesus who made his before
keep this command or until our Lord Jesus, The One,
God will bring this about at the right time — he is the only who has all the the of and of
the only who has who lives in so no can it, who no human has ever seen or even can see. To him belong honor and power that last forever.
Tell those who are rich in this not to be arrogant and not to put their hope in wealth, which is so Instead, tell them to put their hope in God, who generously gives us everything to enjoy.
Tell them to do to be in to be and to
By doing this, they'll be up for themselves as a solid foundation for the future, so they can grab hold of the that is
Timothy, been to you. Stay away from pointless, empty talk and the contradictions of what is falsely called
Some people have claimed to have this 'knowledge' and have from the be with you all.