First Timothy 6:13

The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy in First Timothy 6:13, “I give thee charge in the sight of God, who makes alive all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession.” In the Bible verse previous to this one Paul mentioned that he knew that Timothy had “professed a good profession before many witnesses.” That is exactly the same thing that Jesus did. Before Pontius Pilate Jesus “witnessed a good confession.” If you want to know one of the important reasons that God has left you here on the earth after you have believed in Jesus and have grown in the knowledge of Him, God wants you to be a witness to a lost and dying world. Jesus Himself was a witness. Timothy was a witness with encouragement from Paul. One of the ways in which you will be judged at the judgment of believers is how good of a witness you have been in the presence of the lost people of the world.

Of course, if you are a witness, at times there will be persecutions. Sometimes when you are a witness there will be those who will believe in Christ as a result of your witness, but there will be others who will not believe. Some of those who do not believe will persecute you. They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Perhaps the persecution will be scorn, perhaps it will be casting you out of their presence and perhaps it will be hatred. No matter what country you live in and no matter what century you live in this basic principle is always true: “They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” As the centuries go by, for some believers the persecution will even mean death. That certainly was the case for Paul and Timothy in the first century.

Perhaps from the world’s standpoint the ultimate persecution is death. Maybe that is why Paul reminded Timothy in First Timothy 6:13 that God makes alive all things. Jesus was put to death by those who hated Him, but He rose from the dead.

Everyone is going to die eventually. The person who serves God through the faith of Christ will be prepared for death when it comes, and will be prepared to meet Jesus when He comes. Paul said to Timothy in First Timothy 6:14, “That you keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul is saying that there is a very important commandment that Timothy keep until the appearing of Jesus Christ. Which commandment is Paul talking about? The last command that Paul had given to Timothy was in verse 12: “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.” To lay hold of eternal life means to live this life with eternity in view. This is just one of many places in the New Testament where the importance of gaining the rewards that the Lord wishes to give to us is emphasized. Throughout the length of your Christian life how well you have fought the good fight of faith, and how tenaciously you have taken hold of the eternal life that was given you, will be big factors in determining the rewards that you will or will not receive from Jesus. He will return. He might return today. When He does return, judgment will begin at the house of God.

Whenever we mention the return of the Lord, it is natural to wonder when He will return. The answer to that is found in the first part of the next verse. First Timothy 6:15-16 says, “Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” Jesus will return in His own time. The Lord has revealed many things to us, but one thing that He has not revealed is the time of His return. Jesus said to the disciples in Acts 1:7, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” He has already waited two thousand years and He could wait another two thousand years if He wants to. Jesus might return today, but He might not. Beware of those who claim to know when Jesus will return. But always be ready, because He might return today. Paul told Timothy that it was important to keep this commandment “without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In speaking of the return of Christ, evidently it inspired Paul to think of the greatness and majesty of Jesus Christ because Paul said about Jesus, “Who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.” There are at least two major implications to the fact that Jesus is the “blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” The first refers to the future when every knee shall bow to Him and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. King Jesus has immortality. Many of the rulers of the earth lust and grab for power, but they will all come to an end. Not Jesus. He will reign forever. Those who belong to Jesus have a wonderful future that awaits them with the King.

The second great implication of the fact that Jesus “is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords,” is the fact that He is not only in the future the King of kings and Lord of lords, but He is right now also. God is in control. The world is on His time-table, and we are all instruments that He uses according to His will. All of the rulers of this earth are given their power from God. They are set up by Him and taken down by Him in their seasons. They will also give an account to Him for what they did with their opportunities and responsibilities. The Lord is in control. Knowing this can bring great peace and confidence to us. We have nothing to fear and nothing to worry about. There is a purpose to all things, because Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Another thing that Paul says about Jesus is that Jesus is “dwelling in the light.” The biggest problem of the world that we live in is the spiritual darkness. All of the corruption and sin is because of spiritual darkness. All of man’s inhumanity to man is because of spiritual darkness. The solution to the problem of darkness is light. Jesus dwells in the eternal light of the glory of God, and Jesus is also the Light of the world. If you need light, you can find it in Jesus.

Notice that an emphasis is made upon the fact that you will not obtain the light by your own efforts. Paul wrote about Jesus, “dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.” This is an emphasis upon the fact that the works of man, the efforts of man, and the accomplishments of man can never be enough to reach God. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Titus 3:5 says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Thank God that what we cannot do for ourselves, Jesus has done for us.

We cannot approach unto the light by our own efforts. We are always dependent upon the grace of God. We are always dependent upon what He has done for us. We enter in to the grace of God and all that He has done for us in Christ through faith. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are you saved through faith.” That is why it says here in First Timothy 6:16, “Whom no man hath seen, nor can see.” Jesus said to the Apostle Thomas in John 20:29, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Because our faith is so important to us, because faith in Christ is what will take us to heaven, because we live by faith and not by sight if we are to follow God in this world; Paul returns to the question of believers who do possess material things in this life and the Bible says in First Timothy 6:17-19, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”

From these verses we can see that some Christians will be rich, but not all. For those that are rich there are three problems that come their way: 1. They might become highminded. 2. They might trust in their riches instead of God. 3. They might waste their riches instead of using them for the purpose for which God gave them. The purpose of a Christian is to humbly follow God. Galatians 6:3 says, “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” The people of this world value material riches too greatly, and the tendency is to esteem people too highly based upon their material wealth. All human beings deserve the same esteem based upon the dignity of the human race. We should give people the same respect, the same honor, and the same consideration no matter if they are rich or poor. It is not what you possess that counts; it is what kind of a person that you are. Jesus said in Luke 12:15, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses.”

A rich Christian might trust in his riches instead of trusting in God. To live for the Lord in this life, we must live by faith. You certainly will not be living by faith if you trust in your riches when you need help and when things go wrong. If a rich person has a health problem, they can always trust in their bank account to get the best medical care money can buy. If they have a legal problem, they can trust in their bank account to get them the best lawyer that money can buy. Concerning transportation, they can trust their bank account to get them a new and dependable car whenever they need to. If you are not rich, you will not be tempted to trust in your bank account in time of need because your bank account is too small. You can tell if you are rich or not, by how much you are tempted to trust in your bank account. Of course, just because you are rich does not mean that you will not live by faith in the Lord, it just means that if you are not careful you will have a greater temptation to do so.

Another thing that may happen to you if you are rich, is that you may not use your material possessions the way that God meant for you to do so. Each of us is here on this earth for a reason. To each of us God has given certain gifts, abilities, and resources that He expects us to use for His glory. If you have material riches, God gave them to you for two reasons. The Bible says in First Timothy 6:17 that God “gives us richly all things to enjoy.” You do not have to feel guilty if you are rich. It is not a sin to be rich. If you are rich, hopefully you have learned to give God the glory for what you have, and to enjoy it in the ways that God wants you to enjoy.

Some people do not enjoy their wealth because of how selfish they are. That ties into the second reason that God has given wealth to the rich. First Timothy 6:18 says, “That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.” This is talking about giving. This is talking about using your material surplus to the benefit of others who are in need and to the spread of the Gospel. That is one of the important reasons that God has given to you what you have. Everything really belongs to God, but He has made you an administrator of a small part of His creation for a short time. The day will come when you will give an account to Him of what you have done with the things that He has given to you.

Paul wrote in First Timothy 6:20-21, “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.” Paul had just spoken of rich people and the importance of them using wisely the riches that had been committed to them. Every believer has something that has been committed to their charge. If you want to know what God’s will for you is, just look at what your responsibilities are. This may not sound spiritual, but it is. God’s will is that you fulfill your responsibilities. Timothy was told, “Keep that which is committed to thy trust.” The “faith” is what was committed to Timothy. Paul knew that some had erred from the faith, and he did not want such a horrible thing to happen to Timothy. In this verse Paul emphasized that we could keep from erring from the faith by “avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.” Profane and vain babblings refer to what you talk about. If you talk about the wrong things, it can lead to the destruction of your faith. If you want to walk the walk, you must also talk the talk. Some people talk themselves out of faith by using negative and faithless words. “Oppositions of science” refers to what you know and what you think about. Some people think they know so much that their own vain human intelligence becomes a stumbling-block to their faith. “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound those that are wise.”

Paul closes his letter by writing, “Grace be with thee. Amen.” In the final analysis if we have the grace of God through Christ, we have all that we need: all that we need for salvation, and all that we need for service. Happy are those who have no confidence in themselves, but who rely totally upon the grace of God. Through Jesus there is always an abundant storehouse of grace available to all who will receive it and rely upon it. And so it will ever be.

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