Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Timothy 6:8

"but having food and covering we shall be therewith content." — 1 Timothy 6:8 (ASV)

And then.—Finally, when the obstructor is gone, two things will happen:

1. The Lawless One will be revealed, and
2. Then the Lord will come and destroy him.

The purpose with which St. Paul began this chapter was to show relatively the date of our Lord’s Advent; but he is now so engrossed in describing the events that must precede it, that when he does mention the Advent again, he does so in a parenthetical relative clause.

That Wicked.—Or, the Lawless One. The English version has again obscured the passage by not keeping the same word as in 2 Thessalonians 2:7. The general tendency to “lawlessness” or “rebellion” will be brought to a head in the person of “the Lawless One” or “the Rebel,” just as the “obstruction” is impersonated in “the Obstructor.”

The publication of the “secret of rebelliousness” will be brought about by the manifesto of the Rebel-in-chief. Of course, this Rebel is the same person as the Man of Sin. The change of title is due to the specification of his sin by the word “lawlessness” in 2 Thessalonians 2:7. The specification of the time is the only additional information; therefore, all the emphasis of the sentence rests on “And then.”

The Lord.—The best text adds the name Jesus, which serves more clearly to contrast Him with His rival. The word “whom” might be more pointedly paraphrased as “and him.”

With the spirit of his mouth.—St. Paul is quoting roughly from Isaiah 11:4 (Psalms 18:15; Wisdom 11:20: might have fallen down with one blast, . . . scattered abroad through the breath of Thy power); and therefore, we are to understand that it signifies the perfect ease with which Christ will destroy Antichrist. Even when the phrase is used of speech (as it may perhaps be here), the absence of effort is the point to be noticed (e.g., Psalms 33:6).

With the brightness of his coming.—Rather, with the appearing of His presence. Here, again, it is the mere fact of the true Christ’s appearing that will reduce to nothingness (such is the meaning of the Greek for “destroy”) the false Christ. When they stand face to face, there will be no possibility of delusion any longer.

And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.—The Greek word rendered “let us be content” is better translated, we shall have a sufficiency. The argument will run thus: “All earthly possessions are only for this life; here, if we have the means to clothe us and to nourish us, we shall have enough;” if we have more than this, St. Paul goes on to show, we shall be in danger of falling into temptation.

There is no contradiction between this reading and that contained in this same Epistle (1 Timothy 4:1–5). There the Apostle is warning the Church against a false, unreal asceticism, which was teaching people to look upon the rich gifts of this world, its beauties and its delights, as sinful in themselves, forgetting that these fair things were God’s creatures, and were given for human use and enjoyment.

Here the same great teacher is pressing home the truth that the highest good on earth was that godliness which is always accompanied by perfect contentment, which neither rejects nor considers evil the fair things of this life, but which, at the same time, never covets them, never longs for them. It was one thing to be rich; it was another to wish to be rich. In God’s providence a person might be rich without sin, but the coveting, the longing for wealth, at once exposed them to many a grave danger both to body and soul.

In flaming fire.—Most critics agree to change the punctuation here, by omitting the comma after “angels” and inserting it after “fire.” The flaming fire here is not the instrument of the vengeance—that is, hell-fire—but the common pictorial attribute of the Divine Presence (Exodus 3:2; Exodus 19:18; Daniel 7:9).

Taking vengeance.—The expression in the original is one which is said to be found nowhere else in Greek literature, except in Ezekiel 25:14 (though in Hebrew there is an almost exact equivalent in Numbers 31:3), so that it is difficult to assign the correct meaning. It certainly does not mean “taking vengeance” in the sense of “taking His revenge,” as though our Lord had conceived a personal grudge and were wreaking it. What it does mean would seem to be “assigning retribution:” appointing, that is, to each man what satisfaction of justice he must make. The very word for “vengeance” can only mean vengeance exacted on someone else’s behalf. (Compare to 1 Thessalonians 4:6, and Psalms 79:10.)

On them that know not God.—According to the Greek, the word “them” should be repeated also in the next clause. The effect will then be to mark off the culprits into two classes: “them that know not,” and “them that obey not.” A comparison of Ephesians 4:17-18 and 1 Thessalonians 4:5 shows that the first class refers to Gentiles; a comparison of Romans 10:16; Romans 10:21 (and many other passages) will show disobedience to be the characteristic of the Jews.

The Greek negative particle here shows that the ignorance of the one group and the disobedience of the other were the very reasons for their punishment. Therefore, of course, only those Gentiles whose ignorance was voluntary—who chose (Romans 1:28) to be Gentiles when they could have been joined to the true God—are objects of wrath. Here, as the context shows, St. Paul is thinking chiefly of those Gentiles and Jews who actually persecuted the truth.

Obey not the gospel.—This is a noteworthy phrase. The gospel, the “glad tidings,” contains not only a statement of facts, but also a call to obey a law which is the outcome of the facts. Even the acceptance of evangelical promises requires submission. (Acts 11:18; Revelation 22:3.) It is here called specially the gospel “of our Lord Jesus Christ,” because the sin of the Jews (who constitute this class of sinners) consisted precisely in the wilful rejection of Jesus as the Christ.

Neither.—They might have thought it possible to live on others without incurring so serious a charge as “disorderliness.”

Eat any man’s bread.—Still more literally, eat bread from any man—i.e., “from any man’s table.” St. Paul always becomes picturesque and vivid in a passage of this kind, and generally Hebraistic (“eat bread,” 2 Samuel 9:7, and often). “For nothing” is literally at a gift. There is a flavour of scorn in St. Paul’s disclaimer of such a parasite’s life.

Wrought.—In the original it is the participle, “working,” which better suits the rapid flow of the sentences. The order also is slightly more forcible: “We ate bread from no man’s table at a gift, but in toil and travail, all night and day labouring that we,” etc. To “be chargeable” means more than “to make you pay”: it contains the notion of burdensome expense.