1st Timothy Chapter 6 verse 13 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 13. - I charge thee for I give thee charge, A.V.; of for before (in italics), A.V.; the for a, A.V. I charge thee. It has been well observed that the apostle's language increases in solemnity as he approaches the end of the Epistle. This word παραγγέλλω is of frequent use in St. Paul's Epistles (1 Corinthians 7:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:11: 2 Thessalonians 3:4, 6, 10, 12; and above, 1 Timothy 3; 1 Timothy 4:11; 1 Timothy 5:7). In the sight of God, etc. (compare the adjuration in 1 Timothy 5:21). Who quickeneth, etc. The T.R. has ζωοποιοῦντος. The R.T. has ζωογονοῦντος, with no difference of meaning. Both words are used in the LXX. as the rendering of the Pihel and Hiphil of תָיָה. As an epithet of "God," it sets before us the highest creative act of the Almighty as "the Lord, and the Giver of life;" and is equivalent to "the living God" (Matthew 26:63), "the God of the spirits of all flesh" (Numbers 16:22). The existence of "life" is the one thing which baffles the ingenuity of science in its attempts to dispense with a Creator. The good confession refers to our Lord's confession of himself as "the Christ, the Son of God," in Matthew 27:11; Luke 23:3; John 18:36, 37, which is analogous to the baptismal confession (Acts 8:37 (T.R.); 16:31; 19:4, 5). The natural word to have followed μαρτυρεῖν was μαρτυρίαν, as above ὁμολογίαν follows ὡμολόγησας; but St. Paul substitutes the word of cognate meaning, ὁμολογίαν, in order to keep the formula, ἥ καλὴ ὁμολογία.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(13) I give thee charge in the sight of God.--Better rendered, I charge thee in the sight of God. If possible, with increased earnestness and a yet deeper solemnity as the letter draws to an end does St. Paul charge that young disciple--from whom he hoped so much, and yet for whom he feared so anxiously--to keep the commandment and doctrine of his Master spotless; and, so far as in him lay, to preserve that doctrine unchanged and unalloyed till the coming again of the blessed Master. So he charges him as in the tremendous presence of God.Who quickeneth all things.--The older authorities adopt here a reading which implies, who keepest alive, or preservest, all things. The Preserver rather than the Creator is here brought into prominence. Timothy is exhorted to fight his good fight, ever mindful that he is in the presence of that great Being who could and would--even if Timothy's faithfulness should lead him to danger and to death--still preserve him, on earth or in Paradise.And before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession.--Better rendered, who before Pontius Pilate bore witness to the good confession. The good confession which (1Timothy 6:12) Timothy confessed before many witnesses, Jesus Christ, in the presence of Pilate, had already borne witness to. In other words, Jesus Christ, before Pontius Pilate, bore witness by His own solemn words, that He was the Messiah--the long-looked-for King of Israel. If the preposition which we have, with the majority of expositors, construed "before" (Pontius Pilate) have here its local meaning, the "witness" must be limited to the scene in the Judgment Hall--to the interview between the prisoner Jesus and the Roman governor.Although this meaning here seems the most accurate, it is possible to understand this preposition in a temporal, not in a local, signification--under (that is, in the days of) Pontius Pilate--then the "witness" was borne by the Redeemer to the fact of His being "Messiah:" first, by His own solemn words; secondly, by His voluntary death. The confession was that "He, Jesus, was a King, though not of this world." (See Matthew 27:11; John 18:36-37, where the noble confession is detailed.) He bore His witness with a terrible death awaiting Him. It was, in some respects, a model confession for all martyrs, in so far as it was a bold confession of the truth with the sentence of death before His eyes.