Lesson for December 12, 2021
The Book of I Timothy
Chapter 6:13-21
Verses 6:13-16
“ I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”
I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus. We are here by the grace of God, and He wants to bless us (gives life to all things) before we go to Heaven. He does this to demonstrate to Satan and the fallen angels that He can bless, promote, give happiness, and everything that is truly great in life to His royal family, totally apart from Satan’s world system.
And of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate. In the presence Jesus Christ means that Christ won the victory at the Cross so that we can be provided everything necessary to live the Christian life and glorify Him while here on earth. Christ’s testimony before Pilate caused him to declare Christ innocent. Yet, the religious Jews insisted they crucify Jesus, which Pilate ordered after six illegal trials. Of course, this was all part of God’s greater plan for the salvation of mankind.
That you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time. Without stain is the Greek word “aspilos,” which means spotless or undefiled. The Greek word for reproach is “anepileptos,” which means blameless. The commandment in context refers to the command to “fight the good fight of faith” from verse 12. Fighting the good fight of doctrine (faith) required Timothy to train and discipline himself to compete and do battle against the false teachers and their false teaching or anyone who opposed his accurate, sound doctrinal teaching. Paul says to continue to do this until the Rapture of the Church if you’re still alive when it happens. The Greek word for bring about is “deiknumi,” which means the Rapture of the Church could have occurred at any time.
He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen. Sovereign is a reference to the unique royalty of Jesus Christ. The King of kings and Lord of lords is the royalty that came through Christ’s victory at the Cross and His royalty is given to us the moment we believe in Him as Savior.
Immortality means not subject to death. Christ’s deity was never subject to death and since the Resurrection, His humanity is no longer subject to death. (John 1:1-3; 8:58; I John 5:11,12). Christ’s humanity died twice on the Cross, not His deity. His spiritual death provided salvation for us. He also died physically on the Cross so that He could be raised from the dead in a glorified body, thus conquering physical death. He now has immortality in His resurrection body according to Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27; 13:35-37; I Corinthians 15:53. Therefore, Christ will always be the unique Person of the universe.
Unapproachable light is a reference to only the deity of Christ (not to His humanity), which cannot be seen. Christ can no longer be approached physically since He is now seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven in a resurrection (glorified) body. There is no one like Him; He is the unique Person of the universe. The Godhead is clothed in a light that cannot be approached by man. We see this when Moses went up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, we see this in the Holy of Holies where the Shekinah Glory of Christ dwelt, and we see it on the road to Damascus when Paul met Christ. David attested to this in Psalm 104:1-2.
To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen. Jesus was given a name that is above all names, which is the highest possible honor that could ever be given to anyone. Eternal dominion means everlasting ruling power. Jesus Christ will supersede the rule of Satan over this world system at the Second Coming. And He will rule during the Millennium, and for all eternity. Philippians 2:9-11, “For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name, which is above every name,so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in Heaven and on earth and under the earth,and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Amen is taken from the Hebrew meaning to believe and is the proper response to what Paul had written to Timothy.
Verses 17-19
“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. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
The instruction which was to be given would be a reminder to those in the congregation who had wealth not to become arrogant or depend upon their riches. The only wealth that is permanent is spiritual wealth.
Conceit is synonymous with arrogance. Seeking to become rich is a sin when a believer neglects or ignores their spiritual life. On the other hand, a believer who is living his/her spiritual life and is blessed by God with wealth is wonderful to see. The body of Christ is often blessed by wealthy believers who give back to God’s work what He has given them. (Psalm 10:2-4)
But on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Depending on God and not on wealth means occupation with the Person of Christ. When we have our eyes fixed firmly upon Christ and not the things that this world system offers, we will never forget the Source of our blessings. It is God Who gives us increased blessings when we are living inside the Divine Dynasphere under the filling of the Holy Spirit. It is God’s desire to bless us abundantly above anything we could ask or think. However, to receive these greater blessings a believer must have the capacity from Bible doctrine to receive, appreciate, and enjoy them. (Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 3:20-21)
Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. A believer’s desire should always be to be rich in divine production (good works) and not in material wealth. If God chooses to bless us with material wealth, then we are to use that wealth to glorify Him. We can share that wealth with those in need, with missionary organizations and especially with your local church. Giving when motivated by the Holy Spirit is divine production and rewardable in eternity. A believer who receives an abundance of greater blessings knows from the doctrine in their soul what to do with their wealth so that it will glorify God.
Storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future . Storing up treasure means a believer is living within God’s power system, the Divine Dynasphere and producing divine good. The future is a reference to eternity where we will reap what we have sown in this life as believers in Christ. Those believers who have not lived their spiritual lives will have a bad foundation for future rewards. Those believers who have successfully lived their spiritual lives will have a good foundation for the future rewards based on the treasure they have been laying up in Heaven by producing divine good works under the power of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 6:19-21)
So that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. What the world system calls “life” and what God calls “life” are quite different. Real life and true happiness for a believer in Christ is never based on the accumulation of riches. Seeking to find happiness by any source other than God results in self-induced misery and divine discipline, neither of which will make a believer happy! We will never enjoy what we have without the capacity to enjoy it. Therefore, we must develop capacity before we can truly be happy, which comes from the knowledge and application of accurate Bible doctrine.
Verses 20-21
“O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”
The Greek word for guard is “phulasso,” which means to watch, to protect, to defend, and to stand guard. It is a warning to Timothy to be alert for the rest of his life. Entrusted is the Greek word “paratheke, which is a word used for bank deposits. Timothy was to guard the deposit of accurate Bible doctrine that had been deposited in his soul, which should be done by all believers.
Avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you. Paul’s charge to Timothy applies equally to all believers. Chatter is the Greek word “kenophonia,” which means empty sound, babblings, or polluted discussions on useless subjects. A message filled with false teaching is polluted even when attributed to God or when mentioned throughout the message. Just because a minister talks about Christ does not mean his message is accurate. As a matter of fact, this is one of Satan’s many ploys to keep believers off track. The Scripture says that the ministers of Satan present themselves as “angels of light” and “ministers of righteousness.” This verse summarizes what was going on in the church at Ephesus. The Judaizers were teaching false doctrine and stirring up the congregation by opposing the doctrine of grace and engaging in arguments about things of which they had no understanding. Their so-called knowledge of God and His Word was not accurate, therefore Paul simply said it was falsely called “knowledge.”
Grace be with you was Paul’s way of saying to stay with grace!