Voices of the Bible: The Life That Really Is Life
1 Timothy 6:6-19 (CEB) · Passing the Flame
I invite you to connect with the voices of the Bible. This week we are listening to a section of Paul’s first letter to a young pastor named Timothy, who was leading the church in the city of Ephesus. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, Paul moves from correcting false teachers to addressing one of the most practical and spiritually dangerous topics in the letter: money. What he writes is less a warning against being wealthy than an invitation to something Paul calls “the life that really is life.”
First Timothy is one of what scholars call the Pastoral Epistles, letters Paul wrote to leaders he had mentored. Timothy has been left in charge of the church in Ephesus, a major port city where money, status, and trade flowed in abundance. Paul has already named the problem earlier in the chapter: some teachers in Ephesus are using religion to get rich, imagining that godliness is a way to become wealthy. Paul has to correct that distortion, and then he turns to a positive vision of what a life with God actually looks like.
He begins with a surprising claim. “Actually, godliness is a great source of profit when it is combined with being happy with what you already have.” The phrase for being happy with what we have is often translated as contentment. Paul is saying: if you want real gain, don’t stack godliness on top of ambition. Stack it on top of contentment. “We didn’t bring anything into the world, and so we can’t take anything out of it: we’ll be happy with food and clothing.” The starting point of a faithful life is not how much we have but whether we can recognize that what we have is already enough.
Then comes the diagnosis. “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Paul does not say money is evil. He does not say rich people are evil. He says the love of money is the root. It is the posture of the heart that causes the trouble, and some have wandered away from the faith because of it. Wandering is a quiet verb. Nobody wakes up deciding to drift. The drift happens slowly, one small choice at a time.
So Paul tells Timothy to run. “But as for you, man of God, run away from all these things. Instead, pursue righteousness, holy living, faithfulness, love, endurance, and gentleness.” Two movements: running away from something, and running toward something else. Both halves matter. Paul wants Timothy to name what he is chasing, not just what he is avoiding. The list of virtues is not a performance report card. It is a description of a life strong enough to hold everything else.
Then Paul hands Timothy a phrase that shapes the whole passage. “Compete in the good fight of faith. Grab hold of eternal life, you were called to it, and you made a good confession of it in the presence of many witnesses.” The language is physical. Wrestling. Holding on. Paul is not telling Timothy to earn eternal life. He says Timothy was called to it, and now his job is to hold on. Faith is a grip, not a climb.
Finally, Paul turns directly to the wealthy members of the Ephesian church. He does not tell them to give up their wealth. He tells them to be careful where they place their hope. “Tell people who are rich at this time not to become egotistical and not to place their hope on their finances, which are uncertain. Instead, they need to hope in God, who richly provides everything for our enjoyment.” Wealth moves. Markets shift. Hope placed there eventually disappoints. So Paul redirects: be rich in good works, be generous, share. “When they do these things,” Paul writes, “they will save a treasure for themselves that is a good foundation for the future. That way they can take hold of what is truly life.”
That final phrase is the gift of this passage. The life that really is life. Paul is not describing heaven. He is describing a life available now, a life that holds together in the middle of loss and uncertainty because it is not built on anything that can shift.
As you sit with this passage this week, consider where you are keeping score and where you are being invited to be generous. Notice where the love of something has been slowly wandering you away from the life you wanted to live. And listen for the invitation buried in Paul’s words: God has already given you enough. The grip is not earning. It is holding on to what you have already received.
This is part of the Voices of the Bible series from Andrew Conard. Each week we explore the scripture passage for the upcoming sermon, helping you encounter the text before Sunday morning.