1 Timothy 6:14 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Timothy 6:14

Comments

All this is to encourage Timothy. He is going to be given a view of God the Father and of Christ the Son who he is co-equal with the Father. He is equally powerful, equally glorious. The teaching is that when Christ shall appear, then as never before the glory and the power and the immortal life and eternity of God will be revealed. We will see and appreciate the attributes of God more than ever before. That future certainty must hold Timothy in his resolve to carry out what Paul has instructed him.Timothy needed courage. We see this in 2 Timothy 1:8: ‘Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.’ Now we generally assume that Timothy by nature was probably rather a nervous man and a fearful man, because this is not the only exhortation along these lines. He needed courage and what is more calculated to impart courage to the Christian than an adequate view of God and his greatness and his glory, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. What could impart courage to us more than an adequate view of the living God? Then also Timothy needs constancy. He must apply himself and there are many exhortations of Paul to Timothy along these lines. There are texts in these two letters to Timothy that imply that Timothy was not only inclined to be fearful, but that he could let things go, as we all do. He often needed to be stirred up to stay on the mark for the Lord. Timothy is exhorted to be loyal. Not that he was disloyal, but these exhortations are given in the context of the prevailing false teaching that surrounded him. Timothy was in a minority. He was surrounded by false teachers. It was his job, his task, to instruct them, if necessary to rebuke them, if necessary to put them out of the church. In such circumstances there may be a temptation to be battle-weary, to let go and not to be loyal. He therefore needs this exhortation, and what encourages loyalty more than a view of God? Of all the exhortations that are here, the greatest possible encouragement is this doxology, this wonderful view of God.

Application

Questions

There are those cynics and liberal Bible teachers, who do not believe in the inspired inerrant word of God, and immediately they find fault with this verse. This is one of a number of similar verses which the cynics seize on, and they begin to criticize the Bible and say, ‘Look, here is an example of the Apostle Paul instructing Timothy in such a way that it's obvious that he thought that the Lord Jesus would appear soon in Timothy's lifetime. So the Apostle Paul could not have been completely inspired. He frequently says things that are mistaken. He doesn't tell him to keep the faith until the time of his death, he tells him to keep the faith until he sees the Lord, until the Lord appears.’ Well is that criticism justified? Of course it isn't. These people are such infants in the handling of the Scripture. They do not begin to understand the language of Scripture. Now we understand well enough – because the Bible is self-interpreting and it tells us to look at things in this way – that when the Apostle Paul speaks to Timothy, he not only speak to Timothy, he speaks to him and all his successors as teachers and members of the church of Jesus Christ. He is not only speaking to Timothy; he is speaking to the church as an institution; he is speaking to believers down the ages. Paul is not committing himself to the idea that he knows when the Lord is going to return. In fact, this is evident from what comes next in verse 15. The Apostle Paul is quite clear that no man knows the day or the hour of the coming of the Lord, that we cannot assume anything; that God must reveal that day and it cannot be known before then. The Apostle Paul has taught the same elsewhere, and the Lord Jesus Christ has taught in the parables that it may be that we have to wait a long time, perhaps many generations for the coming of the Lord. The Apostle Paul knows perfectly well that only God knows the day or the hour. This is what he means when he exhorts Timothy to keep the faith until the appearing of Christ. Yes, he is exhorting Timothy, but not implying that Christ will appear in his lifetime. Because even though we may die before the coming of Christ, the second coming of Christ, and even though we may be in the paradise of Christ for centuries before Christ comes again, everything we do on earth is to be done, every moment of our life is to be lived, in the light of the great triumph day of Christ.

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Introduction

1 Timothy 6:14 Commentary and Bible Study

The meaning of 1 Timothy 6:14 explained