17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and [f]idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge— 21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.
After the brief excursus (a digression in a narrative) we examined last week Paul returns to the issue of wealth. When reading St. Paul we need to be aware of these inspired bunny trails that St. Paul will go on. It is a habit of his. Some people call this habit “a flight of ideas,” and such a habit often is characteristic to highly intelligent people. They will be going along on a particular point and they will say something that reminds them of another subject and off they go pursuing that subject for a while before returning to where they left. It’s the whole “squirrel” thing. Paul does that here.
He was talking about the problems of money earlier and the urgent necessity for Timothy to flee this inordinate love of money led him into a digression in the narrative outburst, first concerning what Timothy should be pursuing and then concerning the greatest of God.
Now, however having expressed himself on that brief tangent Paul returns to the issue of money.
I hope you have noticed how often this issue of money has come up in our walk through 1st Timothy. Sometimes it is explicit as we have twice in chapter 6 but more often it has been implicit. Remember;
I Tim. 2:9 in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and [e]moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, 10 but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works
There the problem with wealth was poking through in the uppity way women were dressing.
And then there was the I Tim. 5
8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
In that context the problem with wealth was that it was being hoarded to the neglect of providing for extended members of the family.
So, this issue of money is a repeated theme in I Timothy, along with the theme of the miscreant false teachers upsetting the Church. Even with that though there is overlap as we saw last week. These miscreant false teachers were seeking to grift off the church in order to line their pockets.
With that all as background St. Paul tees up the issue of wealth, money, and responsibility once again.
The Holy Spirit begins with the attitude that wealth can often work in those who have wealth. Paul starts with a negative by saying if you have wealth “do not be haughty.” We today might say “don’t act snooty,” or “don’t act condescendingly.”
ὑψηλοφρονεῖν (hypsēlophronein)
Verb – Present Infinitive Active
Strong’s 5309: To be high-minded, proud. From a compound of hupselos and phren; to be lofty in mind, i.e. Arrogant.
Clearly, if this disposition were not a problem in the Ephesus Church St. Paul would not have warned against it.
We should note here that the fact that Paul can raise this issue, suggests if we read between the lines, that this was a have and have not congregation. There were the rich who are being told “do not be haughty,” and likewise there must have been the not rich who were being visited with the rich folks “haughtiness.”
In light of this it is interesting that while the Holy Spirit calls for humility among the Rich he does not inveigh against them simply because they have wealth. Their problem is not their wealth. Their problem is that they think wealth allows them to look down on those without wealth. Paul does not call for a forced wealth redistribution program within the Church as headed up by Timothy. Rather the Holy Spirit calls the wealthy Christians to become familiar with the Christian under-estimated and seldom practiced virtue of humility. He doesn’t browbeat them for having wealth … something that has been present too often in church history. He corrects them by telling them “do not be haughty.”
This problem of haughtiness is a product of pride and remember pride along w/ unbelief is the motherlode of all sin. We, as fallen humans, have a predisposition to be haughty about any combination of things.
O Spirit of Christ grant us all grace to recognize how we each are haughty in our lives towards others. Grant each of us the humility to have this mind in us with was also in Christ Jesus whose whole life was one of humble service. Thanks be to God that Christ paid for the sin of our haughtiness and gave us the Spirit of Christ to put off the old man of pretend superiority and put on the new man of humility towards others.
The first negative word on this disposition was “do not be haughty.” A second negative word is given when St. Paul says that rich folks ought not to trust in uncertain riches. Here Paul is echoing God’s Word;
Proverbs 23:5 When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
Psalm 62:10 If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
So, God’s Word does not condemn being rich but it does instruct the rich how to be rich. Hold on to your wealth with a open hand. Understand that your riches are always going to be uncertain.
We all should hear well here. Understanding that here in America there exists different levels of wealth, it is still the case that all Americans are, as compared to world history, and compared to the world today we are all wealthy and being wealthy we ought not to trust in uncertain riches.
Instead we are to richly enjoy all things that God has given us.
Notice the play on words here … “riches are uncertain,” but “God gives us richly all things to enjoy.
Note here that there is no evil found in enjoying the rich things that God gives us, and that includes wealth. Everything is to be received w/ thanksgiving.
From the negative proscriptions that the Holy Spirit gives
-Do not be haughty (Violation of 6th Commandment)
-Do not trust in uncertain riches (Violation of 1st Commandment)
St. Paul, inspired by the Spirit of the living God gives positive proscriptions;
– Let them do good
– That they be rich in good works
God has blessed the wealthy that they in turn may be a blessing to those around them. Of course, we understand this in light of what we have learned elsewhere in I Timothy. This doing good and being rich in good works follows the ordo amoris (order of affections) pattern that we find in I Tim. 5:8. Should it be the case that God blesses us with wealth we need to look around us in our families and local church first to be rich in good works. These are the “neighbors” in our lives that God has placed in our lives that we dare not pass by.
Of course the idea in this passage is that the Christian rich have a responsibility to not hoard. Their wealth ought to be a blessing to others in need in their Christian families or Christian churches or Christian communities, depending on the level of wealth we are talking about.
The Holy Spirit correlates the doing of good now and the being rich in good works now and the readiness to give and share in this present age with realities for them in the time to come.
18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
The text clearly communicates that there is continuity in the way we are rich in good works, ready to give, and willing to share here and our future after this life.
Now, the prosperity / health & Wealth preachers have taken this truth and debauched it so as to teach that people need to send in money to them and then they can be sure that God will return their investment. People like Kenneth Copeland and other Word-Faith grifters have turned this idea into a way to get rich. The “Hole you give through is the hole you get through” is the spiel and so if you want to be rich you will send in your money to them and God will bless you with a greater return. May God have mercy on them.
What is clearly being called for here is generosity. Another Christian virtue. It is the widow’s mite given. It is;
9 Lay(ing) not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay(ing) up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
What is being called for here is seen elsewhere in Paul’s corpus when he says to the Corinthians;
II Cor. 9:3 — For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting to the Macedonians that since last year you in Achaia were prepared to give. And your zeal has stirred most of them to do likewise.
In his Epistles, particularly in 2 Corinthians but also elsewhere, Paul often boasts about the generosity of the churches. Here he is again enjoining the Christian virtue of generosity.
I want to tread lightly here because I have seen that through the years this congregation has been a generous people. Still, we have need, all of us, to examine ourselves on the issue of generosity. Are we storing up for ourselves a good foundation for the time to come via our generosity here and now?
We learn thus that the way we live now has eschatological impact on the life to come. While doing good for others the rich can simultaneously store up or lay up for themselves a good foundation for the future age to come.
What excites me about this passage is to see the continuity that will exist between this life and the life to come. The way we live now will impact the way we live in the eschatological state. This is inspiring to the end of being a generous people.
Before turning to the final charge we want to note how all this is consistent w/ Paul’s teaching throughout his corpus. What Paul says to the rich through Timothy — live with a view of the age to come — is what he says to Timothy in 11ff
12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
This idea of living with a view of the age to come is what Paul has said of himself elsewhere;
I Cor. 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may [a]obtain it.25 And everyone who competes for the prize[b]is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
This idea of living with a view of the time to come is what Paul speaks to others;
Gal. 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Good works thus are seen as demonstrative of the reality of faith and salvation and are present when eternal life is received and is to be received. Jesus himself taught about the the godly and generous use of wealth, which stores up treasure in heaven. Similarly our Lord Christ taught that good works show that a person has an indestructible foundation (Mt. 7:25). What Scripture everywhere teaches is that one who has accepted God’s grace in justification must evidence salvation in one’s life. This is not salvation by works. This is works because of the grace of God in forgiveness. It is the cry of the soul unchained from the accusation of the law to walk in gratitude for God’s great grace given in Christ.
Paul now pivots to a final injunction to his young padawan;
20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and [f]idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge— 21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.
One reason I love the Scriptures is the earnestness you find throughout. The inspired writers are not blase men. When they write their pens are fire and their thoughts are gasoline and the result is explosive.
Note the earnestness here. The passion. The depth of expression.
This is a plea. This is a command.
The idea of guarding here communicates a diligence that requires work. The need for it suggests that there are those who would abscond with that is to be guarded. What has been committed to Timothy’s trust is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ considered in its broadest meaning. What has been committed to Timothy we might say today is “Biblical Christianity.” Here Timothy is told to guard. Elsewhere he was told to fight the good fight. We find all these militaristic masculine terms. It’s enough to send a WOKE feminist “Christian” screaming.
Paul is asking of Timothy what he himself spent his life doing and all only for the desire to hear the “well-done thou good and faithful servant.”
And so the Christian life is for the conscientious clergy a matter of being at war. Defending. Fighting. Guarding. Refuting. Correcting. Discipling. All that God’s Word might continue to be seen as glorious as it never ceases to be.
Fellow believers, inasmuch as we have all been called by God to the Christian life, and inasmuch as we are each and all of us Prophets, Priests, and Kings under Sovereign God we likewise are called, along with Timothy, to guard what has been committed to our trust.
Paul makes reference again to the Gnostics who are inside the Church. The counsel is to avoid their teachings, which I take to mean to “not be ensnared by them.” Remember my friends, the effect of what these Gnostics were doing was to empty the Gospel of being the Gospel. Wherever you find men emptying the Gospel of being the Gospel there the battle lines are drawn and there the battle must be engaged.
I personally find the mention of “contradictions” to be fascinating if only because I have been taught and trained that to locate the contradiction is to locate the vain babbling. Vain babbling is always characterized by the presence of contradiction.
Paul reminds Timothy that the worst thing imaginable has occurred because of these vain babblers… and that worst thing imaginable is that some have strayed from the faith.
My friends …. in that final day, I want to meet with you in heaven. To that end may none of us ever stray from our undoubted catholic Christian faith.
May we all together guard the faith.
It needs guardians.
