1 Timothy 6.17-Paul Tells Timothy To Command The Rich To Not Be Arrogant Or Place Their Confidence Upon Riches But On God Who Richly Supplies All Things To Enjoy
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday October 20, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 6:17-Paul Tells Timothy To Command The Rich To Not Be Arrogant Or Place Their Confidence Upon Riches But On God
Lesson # 139
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 6:17.
1 Timothy 6:17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. (NASB95)
“Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited” is composed of the articular dative masculine plural form of the adjective plousios (πλούσιος) (ploosee-oce), “those who rich” and this is followed by the preposition en (ἐν), “in” and its object is the articular dative masculine singular for the adverb of time nun (νῦν) (neen), “this present” and then we have the dative masculine singular form of the noun aion (αἰών) (aye-own), “world” and this is followed by the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb parangello (παραγγέλλω) (pah-dahn-yellow), “instruct” and then we have the negative particle me (μή) (me), “not” which is negating the present active infinitive form of the verb hupselophroneo (ὑψηλοφρονέω) (eepseeloe-froe-neh-owe), “to be conceited.”
The verb parangello means “to command, order” and denotes that Paul is telling Timothy to command the rich Christians in Ephesus to not be arrogant because they are rich or place their confidence upon the uncertainty of temporal wealth but rather place their confidence upon God the Father.
The present imperative form of the verb parangello is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for Timothy to simply continue commanding the rich in the Ephesian Christian community to not be arrogant or place their confidence upon their riches but rather to place their confidence upon God the Father
Paul’s statements in 1 Timothy 1:3 and 4:6 indicate that Timothy was carrying out everything he wrote in this epistle.
Thus, this command here in 1 Timothy 6:17 is simply a reminder to Timothy to continue doing what they talked about before Paul left for Macedonia.
Plousios means “the rich” or “the wealthy” and is placed in the emphatic position in the sentence emphasizing the importance of what Paul is saying in verse 17 to the rich in Ephesian Christian community.
The noun aion means “age” referring to the particular period of human history in which the devil is the temporary ruler over planet earth in contrast to the age to come, i.e. the millennium, when Christ will rule planet earth (cf. Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 John 2:17).
The adverb of time nun denotes “the present” period of human history where Satan is the god of this earth in contrast to when Christ will rule the earth during His millennial reign.
This age is characterized by suffering for the Christian in contrast to the millennial age in which he will be free from suffering.
The noun aion, “age” is the object of the preposition en, which functions as a marker of a period of time in which the rich in the Christian community in Ephesus live.
The verb hupselophroneo means “to possess an arrogant attitude” and its meaning is negated by the negative particle me, “not.”
Together they deny any idea of the rich Christians in Ephesus possessing an arrogant attitude of superiority (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
Paul does not want the rich in the Ephesian Christian community to become arrogant because their wealth is in reality a gift from God (Deuteronomy 8;18; Ecclesiastes 5:19).
Those who are wealthy are often deceived into thinking that they are more important than others.
This is sin because their wealth is a gift from God and both the rich and the poor leave this earth with nothing.
The Lord Jesus Christ taught His disciples of the futility of storing up treasures for themselves on earth and not being rich toward God (Luke 12:16-21).
1 Timothy 6:17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. (NASB95)
“Or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches” is composed of the negative disjunctive particle mede (μηδέ) (me-theh), “or” and this is followed by the present active infinitive form of the verb elpizo (ἐλπίζω) (el-pee-zoe), “fixed their hope” and the preposition epi (ἐπί) (eh-pee), “on” and its object is the genitive masculine singular form of the noun ploutos (πλοῦτος) (plootoce), “of riches” and it is modified by the dative feminine singular form of the noun adelotes (ἀδηλότης) (ahtee-loe-teece), “the uncertainty.’
The verb elpizo means “to place one’s confidence” upon something and is used with the rich Christians in Ephesus as its subject and temporal wealth as its object.
The word’s meaning is negated by the negative disjunctive particle mede, “nor” and together, these two words indicate that Paul wants Timothy to command the wealthy Christians in Ephesus to “not place their confidence” upon temporal or material wealth or riches.
The idea with these two words is that Paul does not want the rich Christians in Ephesus to find their security in their material wealth but rather they must find their security in God the Father.
The noun ploutos is used in a literal sense and means “wealth” referring to an abundance of possessions and money that exceeds the norm of a particular society.
Material riches are regarded by the Scriptures as neither good nor bad in themselves, but only according as they are properly or improperly used.
They are transitory (Proverbs 27:24); they are not to be trusted in (Mark 10:23; Luke 18:24; 1 Tim 6:17); they are not to be gloried in (Jer 9:23); the heart is not to be set on them (Psalm 62:10); but they are made by God (Ps 104:24), and come from God (1 Chronicles 29:12); and they are the crown of the wise (Proverbs 14:24).
Believers are to be good stewards with their money and talents that they have received from God (Luke 16).
In the New Testament, many warnings are given of the dangers of letting money and things possess a person's heart.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke of “treasures on earth” and “treasures in heaven” and called upon His followers to be careful of which treasure they chose (Matthew 6:19-21,24).
Many of Jesus’ parables, such as the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21) and the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), deal with people who made the wrong choice, choosing earthly wealth over heavenly wealth.
But the only true and lasting wealth is the spiritual riches of God's grace (Matthew 13:44-46).
The noun ploutos is modified by the noun adelotes, which means “uncertainty, undependable.”
There is an uncertainty with regards to wealth because it is transitory meaning it is temporary or unpredictable or undependable since it can be lost through misfortune and will be permanently lost at physical death (cf. Luke 12;13-31; James 1:9-12; 4:13-17; 5:1-6).
Material wealth is uncertain because it belongs to this period of human history when Satan is the god of this world and does not belong to millennial age or eternity future.
“But on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” is composed of the conjunction alla (ἀλλά) (ah-lah), “but” which is followed by the preposition epi (ἐπί) (eh-pee), “on” and its object is the dative masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), “God” and then we have the articular dative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb parecho (παρέχω) (pah-reh-owe), “who supplies with” and this is followed by the dative first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ) (eh-go), “us” and then we have the accusative neuter plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “all things” and this is followed by the adverb plousios (πλουσίως) (ploo-see-oce), “richly” and then we have the preposition eis (εἰς) (eece), “to” and its object is the accusative feminine singular form of the noun apolausis (ἀπόλαυσις) (ahpoe-lahseece), “enjoy.”
The strong adversative conjunction alla is marking an emphatic contrast between these wealthy Christians trusting in material wealth as their security in life with that of their placing their confidence upon the Father.
The noun theos means “God” and refers to the Father since James 1:17 teaches that every good thing given and every perfect gift from above comes down from the Father and Ecclesiastes 5:19 teaches that wealth is a gift from God.
Furthermore Matthew 6:25-34 and Philippians 4:19 teach that the Father provides for the Christians with all things to enjoy including temporal needs (James 1:17; Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:19).
The verb parecho means “to provide” from one’s own resources indicating that the Father from His own infinite resources “provides for” the Christian all things abundantly to enjoy.
The adverb plousios denotes that the Father “abundantly” provides all things for the Christian as well as the rest of the human race and thus refers to the “generosity” of the Father.
The personal pronoun ego refers to Paul and his fellow Christians in Ephesus.
The adjective pas refers to the essentials life such as food, shelter and clothing as well as material possessions and money.
The noun apolausis means “enjoyment” and refers to the enjoyment that is experienced by every Christian because of not only having their needs met abundantly by the Father but also their desires.
So it speaks of the joy that the Christian experiences as a result of the Father abundantly providing them each and every thing.
The noun apolausis is the object of the preposition eis, which functions as a marker of purpose indicating that the Father abundantly provides the Christian with all things “for the purpose of” enjoyment.