Keep the Commandment; Charge to the Rich (1 Timothy 6:14–19)

1 Tim. 6:14. That you keep the commandment without spot and blameless until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Which commandment? This one—the commandment of non-acquisitiveness. The flow of the discourse requires this interpretation. Such a meaning may also be given to the words of blessed Theodoret, who writes: “that you keep the commandment”—that is, this very thing about which I am writing. And what is written—before this, the warning against love of money in the command: flee this, and pursue every virtue—and afterward, the instructions on the salvific use of wealth. Therefore it is entirely appropriate to understand by the commandment here the injunction to preserve oneself free from participation in this ruinous passion of love of money.

But all our other commentators understand by the commandment here the faith and life according to faith. Blessed Theodoret too, in the obligation to keep the commandment without spot and blameless, sees the lesson: “do not mix anything foreign into the divine teaching”—that is, keep the Christian teaching pure. Others add to pure belief also a blameless life. St. Chrysostom says: “that you keep the commandment without spot” means: so that neither for your beliefs nor for your life may you incur the slightest reproach. Oecumenius and Theophylact: “so that neither in doctrine nor in life may you stain yourself in anything.”

Accepting this meaning, one must recognize this entire testament of the Apostle (1 Tim. 6:13–16) as the concluding word of the Epistle; and the subsequent discourse of the Apostle—as an appendage, yet related to the preceding word against love of money. Having finished the testament with a prayerful address to God, the Apostle recalled that not everything had been said concerning acquisitions—namely, that acquisitions themselves are not to blame for their harmfulness, but the improper use of them, and he added instructions on how wealth should be used not to the harm of salvation but to its furtherance. Having said this, he repeats, as it were, the testament—saying instead of “keep the commandment”: “guard the deposit” (1 Tim. 6:20), which words may be understood as an interpretation of the preceding: “keep the commandment.”

“The commandment without spot and blameless.” The commandment is always pure, without spot and blameless, however much anyone may violate it. But whoever violates it defiles himself with what is contrary to the commandment, and thereby becomes blameworthy.

“Until the appearing of the Lord.” This does not mean that it was being foretold to St. Timothy that he would continue living until the coming of the Lord, but only expresses: forever, until the end of his own life; for each person’s passage from this life to the other is the moment of standing before the Lord and, consequently, of the Lord’s appearing, επιφανεια, to him. St. Chrysostom says: “until the appearing of the Lord”—that is, until your death, until your departure. He did not say it so (literally), but said: “until the appearing of the Lord,” so as to encourage him more—to “more fully enliven and arouse his zeal by the reminder of the appearing of the Lord, recalling also that fearful glory” (Oecumenius, blessed Theophylact)—both that which will accompany the Lord appearing in judgment, and that which, after the judgment, will become the inheritance of believers deemed worthy of the blessed life. — Or the Apostle said this in the same sense in which the Lord said to the Apostles: “behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). In the person of the Apostles the Lord saw all believers and blessed them with that promise. And here the Apostle, in the person of St. Timothy, saw all archpastors and pastors and set it as a law for them to preserve this commandment (whether the faith of Christ or only non-acquisitiveness is meant here) by mutual succession until the appearing of the Lord, until His second coming, the universal resurrection, judgment, and final decision of the fate of all—instilling in them this warning: “watch, for you do not know at what hour your Lord is coming” (Matt. 24:42).

1 Tim. 6:15. Which He will manifest in His own time—He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Having mentioned the appearing of the Lord and thereby called to mind everything connected with it—resurrection, judgment, eternal blessedness and eternal torments—for the purpose of arousing vigilance and watchfulness in the observance of what has been commanded, the Apostle, for the same purpose, now depicts the most impressive attributes of God, at the same time deepening the conviction that this will most certainly come to pass. Why the Apostle does this, St. Chrysostom explains thus: “The Apostle did well in setting forth such a theology. This was what was needed. For since he called God as witness, he says much about this witness, in order more deeply to imprint the thought of Him”—and thereby intensify vigilance and zeal. And blessed Theodoret writes that by depicting “what is proper to and belongs to God, the Apostle intended to confirm the teaching on resurrection, judgment, and retribution”—to enliven and strengthen the conviction of it with the same aim—namely, to enliven zeal; for nothing is so powerful in sustaining moral energy as the remembrance of the last things.

The appearing of the Lord will be brought about by God—the Triune God. The incarnate Son will appear, according to the will and good pleasure of the Father in communion with the Holy Spirit, as was also the first appearing for the economy of salvation. “In His own time”—in the time held in the mystery of the Godhead and known to Him alone—“that is, the appropriate, due time” (St. Chrysostom)—“the foreordained time” (Oecumenius, blessed Theophylact). The Apostle said this to cut short the impulse—so natural to human weakness—to determine the moment of the Lord’s appearing, and instead to dispose one to await Him at every moment. The Lord will appear without fail and will decide your fate forever. What need have you to know whether He will appear today or tomorrow? Be ready—that is what is needed!

After this the most impressive attributes of the Godhead are depicted. In the first place is placed the blessedness of God. God is blessed in Himself and worthy of praise from all the diverse created beings—that is, He is all-sufficient, all-perfect, the fullness of all things, and therefore all-glorious. “He is blessedness itself” (St. Chrysostom). If He is all-blessedness, then He desires nothing more than to bless all, to make all blessed. The appearing of the Lord is fearful, for it will be accompanied by a fearful judgment; but it is also boundlessly joyful, for it will mark the beginning of all-blessed life, “where there will be no more sorrow or sighing” (St. Chrysostom). Only be ready—“do not look at the seemingly blessed goods of this life, but fix your gaze on Him alone who is blessedness itself” (blessed Theophylact), “from whose presence every sorrow and grief flees” (Oecumenius)—so that even here you will begin to taste the blessedness that will be fully revealed only at the appearing of the Lord.

“And the only Potentate,” δυναστης,—the one Ruler. All things are in His right hand. Therefore He is not only willing but also able to bless all. Taking into account all that is recalled by the appearing of the Lord, this means: He is able to resurrect all, to gather them together, to conduct the judgment, to divide some to the right and others to the left, and to bless some while consigning others to eternal torments—and to seal all this forever with His unchangeable decision and determination. For who can resist His will? There are even among creatures those who appear clothed with royal and lordly power, but they too are all in His authority. For He alone is the “King of kings and Lord of lords.” So be confident that every promise of God will be fulfilled without fail. Just as no one compelled His promises—they are the work of His free good pleasure—so no one can hinder their fulfillment; and God’s determination concerning them will not be changed, for God is unchangeable. So be confident; but at the same time fear. For if all things are in His power, then there is nowhere for you to slip away and hide from Him, if by misfortune you anger Him and merit condemnation. Therefore turn all your zeal toward doing only what is pleasing before Him, and at the end appearing acceptable to Him. “And have no fear of any earthly rulers or kings” (blessed Theophylact), if they come with threats to turn you away from what is pleasing to God.

1 Tim. 6:16. Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.

“By ‘immortality’ he means perpetuity” (blessed Theodoret)—or, more fully—the fact that He is the Self-existent, the ever-living, having the source of life within Himself, borrowing nothing from elsewhere and never exhausted by anything. From Him everything else has its being and life. He is the one who “gives life and breath and all things to all” (Acts 17:25). Oecumenius raises the question: “How does he say of God that He alone has immortality, when the Angels, souls, and demons also have immortality?” And he answers: “These do not have immortality in themselves, but are partakers of the immortality of Him who alone is immortal by nature. For that—being immortal—has been given to them by God. God is He of whom we partake, as of everything else excellent, so also of immortality.” The Apostle mentioned this attribute, according to blessed Theodoret, in order to deepen, along with the indication of omnipotence, the conviction that the One who is such is able to accomplish both the appearing of the Lord and everything connected with it. But if we here raise our thought to the general content of the Apostle’s discourse—to non-acquisitiveness—we may say that he mentioned this attribute to impress this: here is the One to whom you should cleave, or whom you should strive to obtain, leaving behind everything corruptible.

“Dwelling in unapproachable light. This light is unapproachable, because, on account of its immeasurable brilliance, no one can approach it” (blessed Theophylact)—approach and gaze upon it; for the power of the light darkens vision. This does not point to material light—although it is possible to imagine that God, somewhere in the universe, manifesting to created beings His divine presence in such greatness as they can bear, manifests it in the immeasurable brilliance of light—but this is a figurative expression for the incomprehensibility of the divine nature: “on account of the impossibility of inquiring into the very nature of God, he pointed to the unapproachable light surrounding that nature” (blessed Theodoret). The holy prophet David expresses the same thing with the word “darkness”: “He made darkness His covering” (Ps. 17:12). St. Chrysostom says: “Is He Himself one thing, and the light in which He dwells another? (‘but this cannot be applied to God; His nature is uncircumscribable, and if He dwells in light, He would be circumscribed by light’ [blessed Theodoret]). Is He also defined by place? Not at all. Not with the aim that we should think this, but so as to show us the incomprehensibility of the divine nature, did the Apostle say that God dwells in unapproachable light—explaining the doctrine of God to the extent that was possible for him. Do you see how weak our tongue is when it wishes to utter something great? The Apostle, as much as possible, hymns God and extends his gaze as far as it is able to reach” (blessed Theodoret).

“If around Him the light is unapproachable, then how can He be seen? Therefore he added: ‘whom no man has seen or can see’” (blessed Theodoret). Not only men, but all the ranks of Angels—Archangels, Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim—do not see the divine nature. They too see only the manifestation of the divine majesty to the degree they can bear, but not the nature itself, which is hidden. God is present everywhere by nature and is hidden everywhere. When the Saviour says that Angels see the face of the Heavenly Father, by “face” He means the close and vivid manifestation to the Angels of the divine presence—to the degree receivable by them—and the intellectual, unceasing contemplation by the Angels of the Godhead, to the degree attainable by them. But His nature is visible to none. “No one has ever seen God” (Jn. 1:18). For all creatures He has “made darkness His covering.” St. Chrysostom adds: “And the Son no one has seen, nor can see.” — “That is, according to His divinity,” blessed Theophylact clarifies, “He was (and is) visible only according to His humanity. And the Godhead of the Holy Spirit no one has seen—as being of the Father and the Son,” Oecumenius supplements. The Apostle speaks of the attributes of the divine nature—or of God the Trinity, the One Undivided.

“To whom be honor and everlasting power”—let it be rendered and ascribed by us. “His honor always, His dominion always abides” (St. Chrysostom). Our duty is to honor Him reverently and to praise Him, surrendering at the same time entirely to His omnipotence—incomprehensible but always beneficent. “Glory to Him! We can only say this, only do this, without inquiring what He is in Himself” (St. Chrysostom). “This alone can we blamelessly do—that is, glorify Him, and not curiously inquire into Him” (blessed Theophylact). One may also think that with these words the Apostle transfers attention from the darkness covering the divine nature to the darkness hiding the ways of divine providence. He speaks as if to say: do not be troubled that not all honor the Triune God, and still more the incarnate Son of God. This does not diminish either the divine honor or the glory of the economy of the incarnation. There and here the divine honor remains unchanged. Do not be troubled either if in the universal events and in the course of human affairs and circumstances some do not see the dominion of God, and perhaps even to yourself the finger of God, which moves all things and governs all, is not clearly visible. The dominion of God is not cut short. Believe and rest in God, without multiplying unanswerable questions about why this, from which that. “Suppose that something in the present time is not being fulfilled—His everlasting dominion abides nonetheless” (St. Chrysostom).

γ) What then should the wealthy specifically be taught? (1 Tim. 6:17–19)

The Apostle’s word on this is brief but complete. Teach them, he says, that the wealthy should: αα) not be high-minded (1 Tim. 6:17); ββ) not set their hope on riches but on God (1 Tim. 6:17); and γγ) be rich in good works, thereby laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future (1 Tim. 6:18, 19).

αα) That the wealthy not be high-minded (1 Tim. 6:17)

1 Tim. 6:17. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be high-minded.

“Command,” παραγγελλε,—tell, order, enjoin—that is, use not persuasion alone, but also authority. For nothing is so contrary to the spirit of Christ as those evil dispositions which wealth implants in those who relate to it without discernment. And according to the Apostle, in the assembly of Christians all ought to be holy and full of the spirit of Christ. One lacking this was cast out. So that this might not have to be done with the wealthy as well, as was done with fornicators, the Apostle commands that this be forestalled—enjoining upon the wealthy not to allow in their hearts that evil which wealth engenders in those who are inattentive to themselves.

“Command not to be high-minded. This he enjoins knowing that nothing so stirs up insolence, pride, and haughtiness as money” (St. Chrysostom). High-mindedness is the first offspring of an unreasonable relation to wealth. Wealth is given by God, and if He does not see fit to give it, you will not become rich however hard you try. Yet the way in which God provides is invisible, while one’s own efforts are visible, tangible, and palpable. Fixing one’s attention on the latter—what is one’s own—and forgetting to look through it to the former—God’s part—some attribute everything to themselves and naturally begin to think highly of themselves. — Moreover, wealth provides the means to surround oneself with comfort and splendid appearances—in home, clothing, maintenance, and everything. This tinsel display, which has nothing substantial in itself, yet fills the mind with the notion that, since all this external splendor is good, the one who possesses it is himself good within. This thought then passes into a feeling of personal excellence, or self-complacency, from which there immediately springs a new shoot of high opinion of oneself—and from this all the manifestations of pride. — The honor involuntarily shown to wealth by everyone also leads to the same. For when others honor one, how not to honor oneself? Some begin to regard themselves as some highly distinguished personage and to look down on others. And there is high-mindedness. Thus wealth is a very slippery path and of itself presents many obstacles to maintaining the spirit of Christ—as the Saviour determined: “it is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom” (Matt. 19:23). “Hard”—not: impossible. The Apostle guides him toward this—clears his path to the Kingdom. First: do not be high-minded. Wealth is not yours; it is transient—it exists today and tomorrow is gone; it is outside you and is not your personal merit. Therefore it is the height of foolishness to be high-minded on account of wealth, when it is nothing. Since it is difficult even for the wealthy man himself to hold on to such wise thoughts, it is the duty of the pastor to remind him of this more often. Sound the trumpet, good pastor: the wealthy must not be high-minded. Those who are wealthy in the present age—that is, in perishable goods that have their place only in the present age. But by adding this word, the Apostle hinted at a wealth that has its place beyond the present age, that is valuable beyond its limits, yet is acquired in this age. St. Chrysostom says: “Well did the Apostle say: in the present age; for there are other wealthy ones—in the age to come.” Blessed Theodoret adds: “for there are wealthy ones of the age to come, who possess abiding and lasting wealth.” These are “the righteous”—blessed Theophylact and Oecumenius complete the thought. How to acquire such wealth—for the wealthy as well—the Apostle indicates a little further below: namely, through perishable wealth, by turning it toward acts of charity.

ββ) That they not set their hope on riches (1 Tim. 6:17)

1 Tim. 6:17. Nor to set their hope on uncertain riches but on the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

The second offspring of an unreasonable relation to wealth is hope placed in it. Wealth gives the wealthy person power—both among people generally and before authorities—not by its own nature, but through that same weakness of love of money; and the wealthy man, having succeeded in arranging one thing or another through his wealth, begins to feel that wealth is power, that with it one can arrange everything and achieve anything; success repeated many times disposes him to lean upon wealth, and afterward to place his full hope in it. And wealth has become for him a god. There lies the ruin. For by this relationship to wealth the inner order—required and determined by human nature—is perverted: what ought to be at one’s feet is placed at the head. By nature a person ought to live in God and, having surrendered himself to Him, hope in Him entirely; while all that is creaturely ought to be held beneath him or around him—some things as quite unnecessary, others as a subsidiary means, a support. But the wealthy man has placed at the position where the one God ought to be what is unnecessary, worthless, something at one’s feet. — And he has come to resemble someone walking on his head with his feet in the air.

This is the inner harm from placing one’s hope in wealth—the thought of which is suggested by the word “to set their hope.” But the Apostle, in turning them away from it, further presents a more palpable incentive—the unreliability and impermanence of wealth: “nor to set their hope on uncertain riches,” μηδε ηλπικεναι επι πλουτου αδηλοτητι,—and not to rest all one’s hope on the uncertainty of wealth, or on uncertain wealth. Ηλπικεναι — to have placed all one’s hope, to lean entirely. Αδηλοτης — obscurity, invisibility, unclearness. Is it clearly visible what will happen to wealth in a day or even an hour? No one knows this; no one can say it with certainty. But in that case is there any sense in relying on it? That it is unstable and inconstant you see all around: “now it comes to one, now it passes to another” (blessed Theodoret), and at the door of the grave it leaves everyone. “Why then do you hope in something that is unstable? Why do you place your hope in what cannot be relied upon?” (St. Chrysostom). — Do you see how he convicts those who place their hope in wealth of senselessness? For who with sense would hope in something uncertain? (Oecumenius). — Our Slavonic translation expressed the Apostle’s thought well: “on perishing riches.” It is already perishing, though it appears to be standing firm: it is on the point of ruin. So let the wealthy man feel that he is walking as if across a bog, or on brittle ice, or on a weak plank over an abyss. Every moment there is the risk of collapse and being swallowed up. Wealth is an extremely fragile support—“unreliable, easily broken, unstable” (blessed Theophylact). — But the wealthy man’s eyes are blinded by wealth and he does not see this—opening his eyes to see it is the pastor’s task. Instruct him, he says, more frequently, so that he does not place his hope in riches.

But since a person cannot live without hope—for the sense of his own weakness lies deep within him—the Apostle does not leave the wealthy man without support and without help; but, having expelled hope in perishing riches, commands that it be transferred where it ought to be placed—“on the living God.” The soul is naturally inclined to hope in God, and if passions—especially attachment to wealth—do not disturb it, it always shows its hope in God. Such hope is awakened, sustained, and enlivened by attentiveness to how our life unfolds. It is to these experiences that the Apostle directs the thought, in order to persuade that he is proposing nothing difficult to believe when he says: let them hope “on the living God”—when He “gives us richly all things to enjoy.” “Well said: ‘all things richly’—pointing to heaven, water, air, light, diverse plants, and everything else. Do you see how abundantly and with what generosity He provides all this for us?” (St. Chrysostom, blessed Theophylact, Oecumenius). From this given and received, reason about the rest as well. St. Paul more than once turned in his discourses to these natural bounties of God in order to enliven in his hearers faith in God and hope in Him. Thus, persuading the Lystrians to turn to the living God, he said that God “did not leave Himself without witness, doing good, giving us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). So also to the Athenians he explained that God, though invisible, “gives life and breath and all things to all”—that He “is not far from each one of us” and cannot fail to be felt in the natural bounties flowing from Him upon us. “For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:25, 27, 28). Coming into the world for temporal life, we are like a wanderer who enters the house of a wealthy proprietor where he finds shelter, food, rest, service, and all he needs—and where, in case of some particular need, he is told: if you need anything else, turn to the proprietor; he will provide everything. Seeing such care taken for him, what wanderer, in his right mind, would not be disposed to place full trust in such a proprietor? So also we, entering the world, find all necessities of life already prepared for us in advance, and we have the promise from the very Master of the world that He is ready to fulfill everything we ask. Is it reasonable after this to place our hope not in this most merciful and most generous Master, but in something else?

γγ) That they be rich in good works (1 Tim. 6:18, 19)

1 Tim. 6:18, 19. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, laying up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may take hold of eternal life.

Rising up thus against an unreasonable relation to wealth, the Apostle does not, however, say that they should throw away their wealth, but only urges them to turn it to good use—so as in this way to give the very habit of possessing much and being wealthy a different, soul-saving direction. If you are accustomed, he says, to being wealthy and having your coffers full, then be rich—but in good works; lay up treasure—but in heaven for the age to come. “If you wish to be rich, be rich in beneficence” (blessed Theophylact). “If you seek wealth, seek that which remains firm and unchangeable, which comes from the doing of good works” (St. Chrysostom). Both you will accomplish by turning your wealth toward acts of charity for your neighbors. To impress all this on the wealthy—this is the pastor’s task.

Urge them, he says, “to do good,” αγαθοεργειν,—to do beneficent deeds. Let them be ready for every good work and, as soon as an occasion presents itself, perform it. As a hungry person thinks of nothing but how to get something to eat and, seeing food, rushes toward it irresistibly—so let the wealthy man have no other thoughts than how and where to do good to someone, and as soon as he thinks of it, let him hasten to do it. This manner of conduct will make it so that he is continually “rich in good works.” Being rich in good works and doing beneficent deeds mean the same thing—increasing the sum of visibly manifested good deeds. But since beneath this good outward appearance unworthy dispositions may conceal themselves, the Apostle adds: “ready to give, willing to share.” “The first relates to money, the second to love” (St. Chrysostom). Let them do all this from the soul; let not only hands and feet be charitable, but above all the heart. One is ready to give who willingly gives in proportion to the need of the needy. His heart is detached from wealth and does not contract when he spends it, but rejoices. If he does not give everything at once and to one person, what causes him to act so is not the contraction of the heart, but prudence guided by good aims. Aware of himself as God’s steward, he gives each his allotted portion—that is, having looked into the need, he satisfies it willingly and with joy. The Apostle has: ευμεταδοτους — being ready to transmit, as if transmitting what belongs to another, without the heart clinging to what is being transmitted in order to keep it. “Willing to share,” κοινωνικους,—that is, “communicative, welcoming” (St. Chrysostom). “Condescending, warmly sympathetic” (Oecumenius). The one who is sociable not only considers everything his own as common, but also considers everyone in general as his own—he holds himself apart from no one, is estranged from no one; everyone is to him as a relative, he is cordial and welcoming to all, and gives to all not only things and money but his very heart—as witnessed by the tone of his speech, the look in his eyes, his expression, and every movement. And therefore all regard him as their own and turn to him as to a close relation—with warm trust and confidence that they will find heartfelt sympathy.

“Laying up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come.” — “Laying up,” αποθησαυριζοντας,—setting aside as into a treasury. One who places something in a treasury is confident that what is placed there will be preserved intact and safe. It is this safety and permanence of what is deposited that St. Paul had in mind when he used this word. Benefactors are laying up for themselves, placing firmly and reliably a good foundation for the future, εις το μελλον,—for what is to come, for their future lot. “Where there is a firm foundation, nothing is unstable, but all is firm, immovable, indestructible, abiding” (St. Chrysostom). “Since works of virtue assuredly secure the future, the Apostle mentioned the foundation here” (blessed Theophylact). “Laying up ‘a foundation’ is the same as laying a firm foundation” (Oecumenius).

“That they may take hold of eternal life.” Here is what that future is for which good works of charity lay a firm foundation—the reception of eternal, blessed life. The doing of good works, in the spirit of the faith of Christ, secures the inheritance of eternal blessedness. And this ought to be the final goal of our strivings and labors. “To this one must strive by every means—to lay a firm foundation for the future blessed life. How can this be accomplished? By laying this foundation through works of charity here, in this life. For the Apostle called the doing of good works the foundation of the future life, and it has the power to obtain for us the enjoyment of that life” (Oecumenius). “True life is that which we hope for in the age to come, which knows no setting and is not determined by time—for it is eternal—and is therefore justly called true. The present life is only an image of life, not its truth. But by the very fact that it is an image of true life, it is not altogether nothing (inanitas—an illusion), but rather is what gives the possibility of obtaining true life. The temporal is the means of acquiring the eternal, when by means of this we hasten toward that. How does this happen? When we are not attached to the goods of this life, but by means of them strive to be rich in good works. Therefore let us set as our goal to become rich in good works and by means of earthly treasures to acquire spiritual treasures; let us sow on earth so as to reap in heaven, where from the good sown on earth eternal treasure is formed” (Ambrosiaster).