1 Timothy 6:13, commentary and pictures

Paul gives a dying charge to Timothy his son in the gospel while shut in prison and fearing his life will soon be cut short. He makes it in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who made a faithful witness before Pontius Pilate. The charge is to keep the commandment without spot and unrebukable until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ as King. Keeping it means fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold on eternal life, fleeing temptation and hurtful lusts and following after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness. The same charge comes to every professing believer today as a personal call to accept service under Christ, to examine himself by the Word and hold firm to the end, and to use his talents and means to God's glory in saving souls.

Setting and Solemn Witnesses

Paul's charge to Timothy was his dying charge to his beloved son in the gospel, dictated to his companion in prison while shut in a dungeon and pressed with infirmities. He feared the wicked Nero would cut his life short before he could see Timothy again, though he had urged him to come without delay.

The charge was laid in the sight of God, who gives life to all things and quickens all things and makes all things live. It was laid before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good and faithful confession. The same charge stands before God who gives life and before Christ who made that faithful confession before Pilate. Christ's witness before Pilate grounds the solemn charge Timothy is to keep, and stands as the model of faithful witness.

Keeping Commandment Until Appearing

The charge leads directly into the command to keep the commandment without spot and unrebukable, faithfully and blamelessly, until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ as King. Christ's faithful confession before Pilate is the model of faithful witness that grounds this duty to keep the commandment faithfully until He appears. The duty is laid on Timothy as a man of God and son in the gospel, and is extended to youth and students entering responsible institutional work as a call to obedience rather than questioning rules, self-indulgence, and rebellion.

Keeping the commandment involves fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold on eternal life to which he was called and had professed a good profession before many witnesses. That profession before many witnesses answers Christ's own good confession before Pilate, and the fight and the laying hold are the way the spotless keeping is carried out until the appearing. The call is to every professing Christian to arouse to duty as firm, spiritual-minded, earnest workers.

As a man of God he is to flee temptation, snare, evil, and foolish and hurtful lusts, and to follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness. This fleeing and following belong together with fighting the good fight and laying hold on eternal life as the substance of keeping the commandment. The charge is part of the Word pointing out peril from deceptions arising in the latter days, when some depart from the faith for seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and for the love of money which drowns men in destruction.

Those who are rich must not be proud or trust in uncertain wealth, but trust in the living God, do good and be generous, storing up a foundation for the future so they may lay hold of eternal life. At His appearing, God will in His own times show Christ as the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality. He dwells in unapproachable light which no man can approach, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom belong honor and everlasting power.

The charge stands in the setting of the Father's love in giving His only Son to suffer for us a life of abuse, insult, mockery, and rejection. The interest and light pointing to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, our King, is to continue as long as probationary time shall last. In the wider passage the foundation of God stands sure, sealing those who are His, and charges everyone who names the name of Christ to depart from iniquity by making the sure word of prophecy the counselor, finding safety only in deep searching of Scripture and drinking from the fountain of living waters instead of turning to human agents and broken cisterns.

Present Call to Faithfulness

The charge is given in the sight of God who gives life to all things and before Christ Jesus who made a faithful confession before Pontius Pilate, commanding the keeping of the commandment faithfully and without blame until Christ appears, and it is to be taken personally as a call to accept God's charge and serve under Christ. It is a charge to every professing Christian to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life to which he is called and wherein he has professed a good profession before many witnesses, keeping the commandment without spot and unrebukable until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. It calls for firm, spiritual-minded, earnest workers who arouse to duty, who will not be deceived and will not turn to the right or to the left to accommodate a worldly standard.

It belongs to self-examination by the Word of God to know whether one is in the faith, holding the beginning of confidence firm to the end, not acting by individual choice and inclination but with a heart desiring to be improved and set in order that wrongs may be corrected. The same charge given by Paul to Timothy his son in the gospel is to be heeded by youth and students entering responsible institutional work, joining the call to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life by keeping the commandment without spot and unrebukable until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. This means not questioning rules, not pursuing self-indulgence, and not encouraging rebellion.

The verse gives God's charge as the direct word of the Lord to the individual believer surrounded by temptation, calling him to place himself under Christ and to use the talents committed to him to God's glory. To be entrusted with money is to receive a talent from God that must not be despised or misapplied by selfishly appropriating it to selfish ends to the injury of the user. It must be wisely employed to confer its benefits in the saving of souls for whom Christ died.