1 Timothy 6

Wealth in this present age is no pretense, and so is its snare: pride and hope parked on what can vanish in an hour. Charge them: do not be haughty; hope in God, who richly provides everything to enjoy. Wesley: all the rest is dead clay; He holds gifts out in His hand, freely and abundantly, to be enjoyed as His, in Him and for Him.

Provision is sincere kindness, meant to be enjoyed without being trusted. Grace can humble the rich; they remain responsible not to let money become a false savior. Enjoyment is permitted; arrogance is not.

Calvin: in this world lowers riches in our esteem; they fade. Pride springs from a deceitful hope of being supremely happy in wealth. God alone supplies what life needs; to hope in riches is to transfer His prerogative to smoke. He gives abundantly for enjoyment, kind even beyond necessity.

This is fatherly providence and common kindness, not a promise that every recipient is willed unto salvation. The rich are still commanded to relocate hope. God richly provides; He alone is living trust.

The alternative wealth is good works: do good, be rich in them, generous, ready to share. Wesley: make this their daily employ; ready to distribute to particular persons, willing to join public works of charity.

Enabling grace makes generosity possible, and the rich must actually open the hand. Goods are a trust for neighbor-love, not a proof of superior faith. The command is as practical as a purse.

Calvin: the richer anyone is, the more abundant are the means of doing good. Because we are always too slow in giving to the poor, Paul uses many words to commend the virtue.

This is the lawful use of riches under grace, not a purchase of standing. God who provides richly also appoints open-handedness as fruit. Readiness to share is evidence of a hope already moved off the coin.

Generosity stores a foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of what is truly life. Wesley: an abundant reward by the free mercy of God; this cannot be done by alms-deeds, yet they come up for a memorial, and the lack of this may be why God withholds grace and salvation.

Taking hold remains a grace-enabled act. Good works do not buy life, but refusing mercy to the poor is no small danger to those who hope to lay hold of it. Assurance walks with open hands.

Calvin: an incitement from the promise of reward: by bestowing they procure a better treasure than earth can hold, a foundation not exposed to worms, thieves, or fire. The inference that we obtain eternal life by the merit of works is excessively frivolous. After reconciling us by free grace, God accepts our services as they are and bestows a reward which is not due: an appendage to the righteousness of faith, not a rival to it.

Truly life is grasped as gift. The elect are kept unto that life; good works are fruits God kindly rewards, never the purchase price.

O Timothy: the letter turns personal. Guard the deposit entrusted to you: the gospel charge already given. Avoid irreverent babble and the oppositions of what is falsely called knowledge. Wesley: how weary of controversy was this acute disputant; most ancient heretics were great pretenders to knowledge.

The deposit is a trust that can be corrupted if neglected. Grace that committed the gospel to Timothy also enables a holy guard. False knowledge flatters; sound words still accord with godliness.

Calvin: the thing committed is the grace given Timothy for his office, like a talent: we shall give account if its advantage is lost by negligence. Ingratitude often causes gifts to be taken away. Avoiding profane empty noise belongs with guarding, because where an ambitious desire to please prevails, edification dies.

That which is falsely called knowledge overwhelms the simple gospel with swollen subtleties. No science is truly so called but that which instructs in the fear of God. Guard the deposit; laugh off hypocritical wisdom that amazes without building.

By professing the false knowledge some have already swerved from the faith. The danger is not theoretical; names could be named. The letter ends, Grace be with you: plural mercy on the church that must keep the deposit.

A swerve from the faith is treated as a departure from the way. Grace that now rests on you is to be received and not traded for pretentious knowledge. Stay with the entrusted gospel.

Calvin: from the result he shows the danger. God punishes the haughtiness of those who corrupt doctrine for reputation by letting them fall from soundness into absurd errors. Faith here is the summary of religion and sound doctrine. If we abhor revolt from the faith, we must adhere to the pure word and detest useless subtleties.

Those who finally swerve expose a profession God did not effectually keep as saving faith, yet the warning is how the church is kept. Grace be with you is gift, not wage: God finishes what He committed.