1 Timothy 6:11

But thou, O man of God,.... Not only by creation, as every man is; nor merely by special grace, as everyone is, that is chosen of God, redeemed by Christ, and regenerated and sanctified by the

But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. But thou - in contrast to the "some" (1 Timothy 6:10).

O man of God; that is, O thou minister of God, whose service is not the service of the world. It is a compellation borrowed from the Old Testament, where we find it often applied to such whose work was to reveal the Divine will, 4:40,42. By giving Timothy this compellation, he mindeth him how much he was concerned to contemn the world. Flee these things; flee this eager pursuit of riches. And follow after righteousness; and follow after justice, or the business of a righteous life, in thy conversation with men. Godliness; piety toward God. Faith; the exercise and life of faith. Love; love to God and thy neighbour. Patience; a quiet bearing of injuries. Meekness; a gentleness of spirit, opposed to all rash anger.

11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Ver. 11. But thou, O man of God] If Timothy were that angel of the Church of Ephesus, Revelation 2:1, that left his first love (as some think he was), this counsel was but needful. Christ cautions his disciples to beware of worldliness, Luke 21:34. Flee these things] Remis velisque, with all thy might, that thou be not tacked with them, taxed for them. Follow after righteousness] These are notable antidotes against covetousness. Paul shows him a better project; points him a sovereign amulet or antidote made up of these precious ingredients: 1. Righteousness, which gives every man his own. 2. Godliness, which gives God likewise his own (this the covetous man cannot awhile to do). 3. Faith, which feareth no famine, quelleth and killeth distrust. 4. Love, a professed enemy to sinful self-love, that nurse of covetousness. 5. Patience, to wait upon God, and not to make haste to be rich. 6. Meekness, in case of cross accidents; when the covetous, troubled by others, troubleth his own house, and meditateth revenge.

(11) But thou, O man of God, flee these things.—A commentator always speaks with great caution when he approaches in these inspired writings anything of the nature of a direct personal reference. The writers and actors in the New Testament history we have so long surrounded with a halo of reverence, that we are tempted often to forget that they were but men exposed to temptations like us, and not unfrequently succumbing to them. We owe them, indeed, a deep debt of reverence for their faithful, gallant witness—for their splendid service in laying so well the early storeys of the great Christian Temple; but we lose somewhat of the reality of the Apostolic story when in the saint we forget the man. After the very solemn, the intensely earnest warning against covetousness—that fatal love of gain and gold which seems to have been the mainspring of the life of those false teachers who were engaged in marring the noble work St. Paul had done for his Master at Ephesus—after these weighty words, the fact of St. Paul turning to Timothy, and, with the grand old covenant title Timothy knew so well, personally addressing his loved friend with “But thou, O man of God, flee these things,” leads us irresistibly to the conclusion that the old Apostle was dreading for his young and comparatively untried disciple the corrupting danger of the wealth of the city in which he held so great a charge; so he warns Timothy, and, through Timothy, God’s servants of all grades and powers in different ages, of the soul-destroying dangers of covetousness—“Flee these things.” A glance at Timothy’s present life will show how possible it was, even for a loved pupil of St. Paul—even for one of whom he once wrote, “I have no man likeminded;” and, again, “Ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel” (Philippians 2:20-22)—to need so grave a reminder. Since those days, when these words were written to the Philippians, some six years had passed. His was no longer the old harassed life of danger and hazard to which, as the companion of the missionary St. Paul, he was constantly exposed. He now filled the position of an honoured teacher and leader in a rich and organised church; many and grievous were the temptations to which, in such a station, he would be exposed. Gold and popularity, gain and ease, were to be won with the sacrifice of apparently so little, but with this sacrifice Timothy would cease to be the “man of God.” To maintain that St. Paul was aware of any weakness already shown by his disciple and friend would, of course, be a baseless assertion; but that the older man dreaded for the younger these dangerous influences is clear. The term “man of God” was the common Old Testament name for “divine messengers,” but under the new covenant the name seems extended to all just men faithful to the Lord Jesus.

Verse 11. But thou, O man of God] Thou, who hast taken God for thy portion, and art seeking a city that hath foundations, whose builder is the living God, flee these things. Escape for thy life. Even thou art not out of the reach of the love of money. How many of the ministers of religion have been ruined by this! And how much has religion itself suffered by their love of money! Follow after righteousness] Justice and uprightness in all thy dealings with men. Godliness-a thorough conformity to the image of God and mind of Christ. Faith in Jesus, and in all that he has spoken; and fidelity to the talents thou hast received, and the office with which thou art intrusted. Love] To God and all mankind. Patience in all trials and afflictions. Meekness.] Bearing up with an even mind under all adversities and contradictions.

11–16. A further exhortation to Timothy. The Lord’s appearingTimothy’s own true life and bearing are solemnly dwelt upon in contrast to the false and low; see on 1 Timothy 6:3.thou, O man of God] Opposed not only to the ‘some’ of 1 Timothy 6:10 but to the ‘any’ of 1 Timothy 6:3. The phrase ‘man of God’ occurs also with the same reference to the ministry, 2 Timothy 3:17, derived probably from the O. T. ministry of the prophets; cf. 2 Peter 1:21, where the best reading, however, slightly varies the phrase ‘men spake from God;’ and 1 Kings 17:18; 1 Kings 17:24. It marks the high tone of this final address; and is in keeping with the full dignity of title which in both these last contrasts of the false and the true ministry is given to the great Head of the Church’s ministry (and given here only in these Epistles) ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ.’flee these things] ‘Unsound words, and ungodly doctrine,’ ‘questionings and evil surmisings,’ ‘traffic in godliness and love of money.’ These three heads of evil, in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th to 10th verses respectively, are opposed by three pairs of contrasted virtues: ‘righteousness and godliness,’ ‘faith and love,’ ‘patience and meekness.’ In the first pair ‘the sound words,’ ‘the words of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ go to the very root of the matter as fully expounded, Romans 6. ‘Baptised into Christ Jesus … dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus … obedient from the heart to that form of teaching … ye became servants of righteousness,’ and 1 Corinthians 1. ‘We preach Christ crucified … Christ the power of God … of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness’; all this being but the working out of the very ‘words of the Lord,’ Matthew 5:6, ‘Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.’ In the second pair ‘faith’ is as evidently the antidote to ‘ignorance,’ ‘questionings,’ and ‘disputes of words,’ as ‘love’ is to ‘envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings. In the third pair ‘patient endurance’ and ‘meekness of heart’ are well fitted to produce ‘godliness with contentment,’ as being the very graces to which ‘the words of the Lord’ assign the blessings of that ‘kingdom of heaven’ which is ‘godliness,’ and that ‘inheritance of the earth’ which is ‘contentment.’ ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit,’ ‘Blessed are the meek.’meekness] The compound word, meekness of heart, a word peculiar here, is to be read. See note on 2 Timothy 2:25.

But thou, O man of God, flee these things - These allurements of wealth, and these sad consequences which the love of gold produces. And follow after righteousness, ... - Make these the grand object of your pursuit.

2. Final charge, 1 Timothy 6:11-21.11. But—In opposition to the guilty and fatal course of the apostate, mercenary errorist. Man of God—The solemn title of the Old Testament prophets, to which Timothy is heir.